Diabetes is a very serious medical condition that comes in two types. Type one and type 2. Type one has no known cause. It is an autoimmune disorder where the T cells attack the insulin-producing beta cells. Type 2 has several factors including genetics, lifestyle, and environment. It is usually later onset but not all the time. It causes the body to resist insulin so the pancreas has to work overtime to make more insulin.

What A experiences

As many of you know, one of my children is a type one diabetic. He came to us when he was 5. He is 9 now. He is the most badass kid I know.

Type one diabetes, of course, affects the diabetic but also effects the people taking care of them.
Let’s call my son A. A wears a device called a Dexcom. It measures his blood sugar every 5 minutes. It pushes the number to my phone, my husband’s phone and his phone. He also has an insulin pump. It calculates insulin for him and suspends it when his glucose goes too low. This gives him some normalcy and some freedom but it was not always like that. He operates his own pump now and knows when to have a snack when his glucose goes too low. Most adults I know will not do that.

Before the Dexcom, he needed to perform a blood glucose test at least 6 times a day. He had at least 6 injections a day. When his sugar is high, he had to test his ketones to make sure they were not too high. Ketones are eliminated by insulin. If he does not produce insulin, we have to calculate the insulin to administer to get rid of the ketones.

What would happen if he had ketones in his blood and we didn’t eliminate them at home? He is in danger of having a very fatal complication called Diabetic Ketoacidosis. It is when there is an abundance of ketones in his blood and it turns acidic. This is life-threatening and has been near death 4 times.

What My Husband and I experience