Friday, November 24, 2006

Dog Days of Blog Days

I have read a few blogs on here about how out to lunch some people can be towards type 1. I read them and yes i do get mad and a little confused at the same time. But i sort of written those posts off as being other peoples experiences with that issue.
Thinking if i ever did run into a situation like that i would call the spade a spade wtihout missing a step.
This today my friends happened to me:

ME: "...yea i got a flu shot the last Wednesday and my arm is extremely sore even today..."

CUSTOMER: "..why do you need a flu shot?.."

ME: "well my daughter has type 1 diabetes and sick days such as the flu will really reek havoc on her blood sugars.."

CUSTOMER (just short of cutting me off in mid sentence): "oh yea well i found out after $1200.00 that my Dog has diabetes and I'm so scared that i have to give him needles."

ME: "you know what?...I really wish my DOG had diabetes. I hear needles really hurt dogs. Have a good weekend"

AAAARGGG!!!! Things really do not bother me too much. I am Ukrainian i can let things bother me for the rest of my life and just deal with it within me. But this for some reason got me so jacked up. I couldn't believe my ears.

And why does it bother me when i am talking about Emma and her diabetes that people tend to mention their overweight uncle from the farm has type 2 diabetes and roll Emma into that ball of wax. In a sense it feels like they are insinuating we didn't take care of Emma from the beginning and this is the result. Arrrrrg (squared).

On a much less hostile side i am reading all of your blogs from the US and feel so inspired on how much you all celebrate your Thanksgiving. Its awesome!!!! Our work has basically come to a standstill because of the American Thanksgiving. I guess im thankful for that. So im entitled to some turkey now i think.

We went shopping for Mom's birthday gift which is tomorrow. If Emma didn't come it would have taken me 30 minutes. But since she was there it took us a good 2 hours. She had to stop and talk to almost everyone that would stop and talk to her. It was so frickin' adorable.

Oh yea Emma is doing quite well. However we are finding her BG's are a little higher in the morning now. Does this mean that she is possibly morphing out of her honeymoon phase? Just a little bit?

Anyhow that is it for now. I must say alot happens in between posts in terms of Emma, her diabetes, questions for readers of this blog, comments on great posts. But i dont get around to post what i mean to.

We will even have table talk (dinner converstion) regarding some of the blogs we have read. We talk as if we know you (we do but you know what i mean). Not gossip but just like "oh did you read that comment on my blog wtih the father who has a son with type 1. Yea it sounds like they hav alot figured out, that was a good one...." etc. Sorry to make you an example;) Ha ha. We love the emails and support and love to read the comments on the Rubbing Blog!

Take Care
Chris

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I understand how you are feeling. It makes me so mad, and offended as well, when people say that I have Type II diabetes....or when they start talking about how tough it is because the dr wants them to check their sugars twice a day. I just want to say "How rough...try 10 times a day!"
The worst part is when someone says "Oh, well diabetes isn't that bad b/c you can just take insulin".......if only they understood!
The picture on the post below is adorable and by the way...I was just listening to Better than Ezra today!

Allison said...

I've definitely been a victim of those kinds of comments, but I'm starting to think most people say it because they are trying to be sympathetic and in their own way to show they have some kind of connection to it so that maybe they can either learn more or just know someone else who is going through something similar. It isn't exactly the same thing as giving shots to a child, but I certainly wouldn't want to give shots to a dog either. I think most people really don't understand how different it is, so then they think "Well, hey, we both take shots, we have something in common." While we're huffing and puffing, I think most people are trying to find common ground and then we end up alienating people because we clam up in fury rather than talking about how the two are different.

Well, those are just my thoughts. I'm not saying you were wrong, I do it all the time. It's so grating when people make assumptions, but I'm trying to teach myself to be more tolerant and to just realize that people really are just trying to find a common denominator.

Major Bedhead said...

Emma's growing and the body releases growth hormones during the night. What insulin regimen is she on? If it's NPH, you might want to ask about Levemir or Lantus. Both are peakless and, at least in our case, worked much, MUCH better than NPH.

O's overnight blood sugars can run really high (oh, the joys of puberty. Or not). I check her during the night, around midnight, and correct if needed. If you're on NPH, be very careful about doing that, but if you switch to Lantus/Levemir, you'll be fine.

Chris said...

Allison
I totally aggree with you by saying people try to finda common ground to gain a connection. I have believed that from the begining. I just had a moment i gues yesterday. I usually give people the benefit of the doubt. People are awesome. Something just rubbed me the wrong way that morning or maybe i missed my morning coffee.
Normally when people do go into talking about type 2 i listen and discuss with with them as well in a great deal they are similar. We all must be tollerant. The last thing i want to convery is poor me and pour out the negative juice.
We all need to rant at times.
But im sure it gets more difficult to manage comments like this as a diabetic as you/she grows older because it will be constant. I just hope we can raise emma so that she can be tolerant and diplomatic regrading her diabetes questions.

Julia,
we have contemplated Glargine. Does it sting? Other than the way they work are there any differences? How do diabeteics adjust to changeing insulins?

Chris said...

Vic,
Like as if you tell me right after i tell you that my daughter has diabetes that your uncle got his legs amputated because of this. Yea that is so compassionate and is going to make me feel awesome. I just think that is people trying to be dramatic and showing they have one up on you insome sick way.
Note to self: never tell vic what to eat ...ever! haha. Thanks for the comment.

Danna,
well said. Maybe i should have been a little less hostile and posted something like your comment. You must be in politics. Did you see kerri's comment on "better than ezra" post? Its hillarious what she said about SNL.

Christine said...

Man, I would be majorly irked by that conversation! I mean, fine, mention your dog, but let you talk about your daughter first!

As far as glargine is concerned, it can sting if you push it in too fast, but should be fine, especially if Emma takes small doses.

Lili said...

Oh, how nice. Just yesterday an acquaintance told me I'm the only skinny diabetic they know. I tried to explain the difference between Type 1 and Type 2, but they just weren't listening. Very frustrating.

As far as Lantus goes, I find it stings for me - and you are apparently supposed to push it in somewhat fast if you use a syringe so it doesn't crystallize - and the site is a little red for about an hour. But it's not bad enough that I want to switch to Levemir. The sting isn't as bad if you use it at room temp, but Lantus is *very* picky about heat so it has to be kept in a cool place. Um, did I mention it's wonderful? ;)

Chris said...

Lili,
Yes what is it with that? It in most cases it seems like they are not even listening when you start inon the differences between the two.
How would you rate the sting. If you could compare it to the needle itself. Or any other account. We have a vile of glargine just looking at us everytime we open the fridge door. Tempting but up until now NPH has been working great. We will call our Endo later on. And will keep ou all updated.


Megan,
Holy IRKVILLE!!! I think that is all i wanted out of that is to say something about Emma.
Emma is only taking 1.5 (thinking of going to 2) units per day so i think this may be what we need.

Thanks everyone this has been a great comment session so far and its only 1:00 on saturday.

Vivian said...

Daniel started on NPH in the beginning and I thought it was working pretty good for us. The new endo started him on Lantus and we were amazed at how much better he did. Then we went to the Levemir because of the sting and I think I love it even better, and Daniel says it doesn't sting at all. Just my 2 cents. Hope this helps.

Anonymous said...
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Sarah said...

Chris,
One of the most pissy things another person ever told me after my daughter was diagnosed is:
"Well, didn't you think since you are a diabetic that one of your kids would end up diabetic too? I mean, it makes SENSE." I seriously wanted to smack her. i could talk her up and down and around about why I shouldn't EXPECT my children to have diabetes, but all it would have done was piss me off more, so I chose to remain mute. I've been around the block for fifteen years as a diabetic, and now I get to do it twice over with myself and my peanut. People will never learn how to be sensitive concerning the issue unless their s.o. is a diabetic, their child is a diabetic, or they are a diabetic. I think that you really need to BE IN DIABETES to understand why it pisses us off so much!

Lili said...

Well, things seem to hurt me more than they hurt other people, and I don't think it's that bad. But it may be individual, too, I don't know. If a 10 is a bee sting, I'd say it's something like a .3 on that scale.

Jamie said...

Hey Chris - hope you guys got my email.

We've all been there with regard to people saying stupid things. I've been trying my darnedest to educate the people locally about Type 1 Diabetes. This trip we won to Ottawa REALLY helped in that department.

But, we do need to vent sometimes. As Allison said, I do believe people are just trying to find a common ground with you - but it doesn't make you feel any better. I try to think that way, but I don't always - I think back to before Danielle was diagnosed and I was just like them. I didn't know ANYTHING about Type 1.

Hang in there and let me know if you guys decide to give Lantus a go. It will help with those morning highs.

Shannon said...

Oh the comments and the stories have begun...oh my.

We've gotten the "is he allowed to have this" (as they wave a cupcake in front of Brendon's face). And the infamous "my Aunt has type 2 and had to have her legs amputated and now she's on dialysis." And "he has diabetes?!!? He looks so healthy."

And then I get info from people about cures or treatments and when I say that it's for type 2, they insist it's for type 1. Of course, I go and look it up on the internet and there you have it....the info was about treatments for TYPE 2!!

I just stare a people and nod anymore. I don't bother saying anything.

Major Bedhead said...

Lantus stings, Levemir doesn't, according to O.

When we switched from NPH to Lantus, we just gave her the Lantus at night, in place of her evening NPH shot. We spent about a week and a half tweaking that dose initially, starting off rather conservatively and correcting with Humalog, until we got a good basal dose down.

The nice thing about Lantus is there's no more prescribed meal times or carb requirements. If she wants 12 slices of pizza, she can have them. If she wants to eat a huge salad with no discernible carbs, that's fine, too. (I know, she's only three, but you never know....) You'll figure out her insulin to carb ratio and just shoot her up for what ever she's eating. It's fantastic, especially for a toddler. I wish they'd had this stuff when O was Em's age. We struggled with NPH and Regular. When Humalog came along, I was ecstatic.