I so often hear parent of children with diabetes say the words . . . he is a normal boy and can do anything anyone else can do.  I'm guilty of uttering those words myself.  With all of the chatter about 1 in 20 I am a little worried that people around me may get the wrong idea.  So, for the record Nate is a very healthy little boy.  Besides diabetes there is nothing else ailing him.  He can do just about anything any other little boy can do.

Well, EXCEPT FOR WHEN HE CAN'T.

As much as I like to say that he can there are times when he actually cannot be like any other little boy . . .

Nate CAN eat anything he wants and we don't restrict him on much but unfortunately he cannot eat anything with carbohydrates if his blood sugar is over 190. There's no law against it --- it's just the number we try to stay below so if he's already there then we need to wait until his blood sugar is lower to feed him.  Sadly, sometimes this can take hours.  No, we don't starve him but we do try and offer carb free options.  Not always a big hit with a 3-year old!

Nate can eat anything he wants for breakfast we just need to know what he wants to eat and how much he will eat of it about 30 minutes before he can actually eat it.  Yea - he's 3.  It's not always easy to distract a 3 year old for 30 minutes after they wake up hungry and wanting to eat or figure out how much of what he will eat but we do it each and every single day.

Nate loves gymnastics and is quite the little gymnast.  I'm pretty sure he is Olympics bound. He can run and jump and climb and swing and bounce and stretch and do everything the other little boys are doing except when his blood sugar is 43. When he blood sugar is low he really can't do much of anything. Especially gymnastics.

Nate is a very sweet, kind-hearted little boy.  He loves to sing, dance and give him mama big bear hugs.  I love those big bear hugs!!  He can be a very well behaved little boy except for when he can't.  Sometimes his blood sugar is too high and it makes him feel really bad and sometimes his blood sugar drops from high to low rapidly and he cannot control his behavior or emotions. When this happens he loses all control and to someone on the outside it might look like he is having the mother of all tantrums but sadly they are out of his control.

Nate really is a very normal little boy but he does have diabetes so the fact of the matter is there are times when he just can't do things that others can do.  These are the times when I wish I could take his diabetes from him.  Unfortunately, I can't but what I can do is keep advocating for type 1 and asking you to do the same.

Please sign the Artificial Pancreas petition and help those living with diabetes at http://bit.ly/nQY3QM!'







This post was written as part of NHBPM – 30 health posts in 30 days: http://bit.ly/vU0g9J