It has been a little while since I have written about diabetes for William. Yesterday was the quarterly check up that every type 1 has to endure. The finger poke, peeing in a cup, the numbers review and ultimately the dreaded A1C number is revealed. Things were going good yesterday until William found out that he had to have blood drawn. It was his annual blood draw to make sure everything was going well. You would think that being diabetic he would be used to being poked with needles but it was the worst time ever yesterday. I had to physically pick him up and take him into the room to have the blood draw. We tried everything that we could to calm him down before I picked him up and took him in. In all fairness I remember doing the same thing when I was young. I remember having 4-5 people hold me down to gets shots or to have blood drawn when I was a kid too. I had my legs holding his legs down and my arms wrapped around his body and one arm. The male nurse held his other arm out while the lady (Kim) took his blood. It was a most amazing moment just before she poked him with the needle he calmed down and let her take his blood. No movement, no crying just calm. I am not sure what caused him to calm down just at that moment but I was relieved that he didn't keep fighting.
I am still a little bewildered by his fear of needles outside of the diabetes stuff (How can he be so afraid of needles?). I guess I am glad to see him act like other kids when it comes to this though. I am glad that his life with diabetes is just slightly different than an average person's. That diabetes only jumps out a few times a day to say "remember me?". He takes everything in stride and I am glad to see that. He is starting to take on more as he is getting older. I am glad and sad to see him have to take on this responsibility. The everyday grind that this will become in his life but the freedom that he gets by learning it all is also good. I want to protect him for as long as I can. I want to keep him from having to learn all of this and just let him become another kid in the class. I can't do that though. It would be irresponsible for me not to put him in charge of his body. It would be a poor choice to not show him how to take care of himself but at the same time I would like to shield him from the grin as long as possible. I am not looking forward to the days when he just doesn't want to do it any more.
I am proud of how brave you are in all of this,
Your Loving Dad
I am still a little bewildered by his fear of needles outside of the diabetes stuff (How can he be so afraid of needles?). I guess I am glad to see him act like other kids when it comes to this though. I am glad that his life with diabetes is just slightly different than an average person's. That diabetes only jumps out a few times a day to say "remember me?". He takes everything in stride and I am glad to see that. He is starting to take on more as he is getting older. I am glad and sad to see him have to take on this responsibility. The everyday grind that this will become in his life but the freedom that he gets by learning it all is also good. I want to protect him for as long as I can. I want to keep him from having to learn all of this and just let him become another kid in the class. I can't do that though. It would be irresponsible for me not to put him in charge of his body. It would be a poor choice to not show him how to take care of himself but at the same time I would like to shield him from the grin as long as possible. I am not looking forward to the days when he just doesn't want to do it any more.
I am proud of how brave you are in all of this,
Your Loving Dad
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