This past summer, I traveled from my small hometown in Ohio to suburban North Carolina to live with my older sister and her family. My sister and I have a pretty large age gap compared to most siblings: 15 years, that is. With her living so far away, I did not have many chances before this summer to really get to know her children, my nephew and niece. I love all four of my nephews to death, but this summer, I became especially close to my only niece, Stella. It took all of about five minutes for us to become inseparable. She was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in May of 2015, when she was just 2 years old. After spending a whole summer at her side, I learned that diabetes is much more than a broken pancreas.
1. Juvenile diabetes affects more than just the diabetic patient.
Diabetes doesn't sleep or get weekends off; it's an around-the-clock job. Every night, my sister wakes up in the middle of the night to go check Stella's blood sugar and make sure it isn't too low or too high. My older sister hasn't gotten many full nights of sleep since her daughter was diagnosed.
2. Insulin pump changes are a battle.
Not all insulin pumps are the same, but in Stella's case, her's has to be changed every three days. Being a small 4-year-old, she does not yet have enough body fat on her stomach or back to keep her insulin pump there. She, instead, has to keep her's on her arm or leg. Frequent insulin pump changes make her skin irritated, so she has to switch between each of her arms and legs to keep the pump sites from accumulating too much scar tissue and causing rashes. Trying to convince a 4-year-old to let you stick a contraption with a little needle on it into their arm without crying or a fight is no easy task--especially when you have to do it twice a week.
3. Having diabetes requires math skills
Units of insulin? Carb count? The amount of sugar in any given amount of food? I still don't completely understand how it all works, but when your child has diabetes, you have to learn how to calculate all sorts of numbers and relate them to each other before every breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime snack. It made my head spin just listening to my sister and brother-in-law discuss how many units of insulin Stella would need at any given time.
4. Blood sugar levels actually make no sense sometimes
I have two older sisters; Stella's mom does not have diabetes, but my other sister does. I remember one day, she ate a donut in the middle of a grocery store because her blood sugar was low, and for some odd reason, it was still pretty low, no matter what she ate for the rest of the day. Stella's blood sugar could spike in the middle of the night after having not eaten in hours. How? These mysteries have not yet been solved.
5. Modern technology is amazing
100 years ago, most people who were diagnosed with diabetes were basically given a death sentence with their diagnoses. In today's age, my older sister is able to be alerted by an app on her watch if Stella's blood sugar is going too high or dropping too low.
6. There are 15 carbs in a nectarine
Stella's favorite fruit is a nectarine. All summer, she asked for them and talked about how much she loves them. All day. Every day.
7. Having low blood sugar is scary.
If you've seen the movie, Steel Magnolias, you probably remember the iconic "Shelby, drink your juice!" scene, in which Julia Roberts' diabetic character almost passes out due to having low blood sugar. One night, Stella's blood sugar dropped to 35 when she was asleep and my sister and her husband had to wake her up so she could drink some orange juice to spike her blood sugar up again. They basically had to get her to drink it while asleep, since her drastically low blood sugar wouldn't allow her to wake up all the way.
8. Life isn't fair
Anyone who knows me, knows that I have the diet of an 8-year-old trapped in a gas station. My four main food groups are pizza, chicken nuggets, ice cream, and chocolate. I have never checked my blood sugar level or had to take an insulin shot. My sister feeds her children meals that are ten times healthier than the ones I've been eating for the last 20 years, and yet my favorite little girl in the entire world lives with this life-altering disease, while I never even have to think about what food I put in my body. It makes no sense to me why my niece, sister, and countless other people in the world have to live with this terrible disease, and people like me do not.
9. Diabetic people are strong
The only kind of needles I like are the ones in a tattoo gun; otherwise, I am a huge scaredy-cat when it comes to needles. I cannot imagine having to stick a needle in my body every time I eat, or having to have an insulin pump stuck to me all the time. I have so much respect for diabetic people and all of the challenges they go through just to try to live their lives like everyone else.
10. The pain of diabetes is not only physical
Stella is only four years old and already, even at her young age, she understands that she is different from most of the other kids she knows. She puts on a brave face, but sometimes she gets upset and frustrated that she has to go through all of the pains of being diabetic and the other kids she knows don't have to.
11. Having diabetes doesn't stop anyone from living their lives to the fullest
I know three people with type 1 diabetes: my niece, my sister, and one of my good friends from high school. Having diabetes from a young age has not stopped any of them from living their lives to the fullest. Stella loves to do tumbling, play with her friends on the playground and ride her Strider bike, like any other kid, My sister is a successful wedding planner, wife, and mother. My friend from high school is one of the funniest, most adventurous people I have ever had the pleasure of meeting. Diabetes may hinder some aspects of a person's life, but it only makes them more resilient in the end.
