Our Type One Jelly Tot

So - your little one goes from living a normal life of just having had the routine immunisations when they are babies - some scream - some don't - Just like adults really -  bit like Marmite - you either don't mind them ( dare I say there are actually people out there that love them) and some hate them. The moments when Mummy and Daddy both go to the doctors and Mummy is actually going to stand outside for a bit and come back for comforting baby afterwards! We all have our own ways of coping with it. Then all of sudden injections are a new family member.  The thought as a parent pretty much just smacks you in the face -your knocked out - you don't want to get back up. So goodness knows how it makes little ones feel- all of a sudden - for reasons unknown to them they have to have needles - they also probably want to run?! Lets face it none of my family have to do this so why should I?  It took me a while to remember that  even though I know this is what w...

It had been 1 day since we left hospital. It was Christmas day - eat drink and be merry was usual in our family - a traditional Christmas. Although this was to be slightly different this year with the build up to it being in hospital, but we were home after all - taking the silver lining and all that. All I can say is we are so thank full that Santa was so organised this year with his present sorting and that his elves helped him out with all the wrapping!  Still most of the day went without any mishaps - the floor was no longer visible with the take over of the new toy shop that seems to invade the house year on year. The attempt to walk from one area of the house to the other became a dice of foot death as you were sure to stand on the smallest, sharpest of them all at least once, and then hop around doing the chicken dance for the next 5 minutes before managing to stop shouting all swear words under the sun. It was normality and it was nice. Being able to relax - plan food whe...

Its one of those places that if you take a visit you wouldn't want to stay for long - it brings life, joy, sadness and death. All very different emotions for every single one of us. Once you enter its like entering your own dream, a nightmare or a trance, outside life seems to stand still and all that you truly hang on to is the hope that everything will be manageable when you return to that world. Whether it be a routine appointment, a visit to a loved one who is sick , a job that you do, bringing a  new life to the world or just taking care of someone, you have that feeling of anxiety, of not knowing what is truly going to be.  We certainly felt this with our visit this time. It was 22nd December 2015, it was supposed to be Christmas, an enjoyable time for our family. Instead we found ourselves in a children's ward which was warm, smelt clinical and felt a million miles away from comfort.  Oliver had already had a urine test , blood tes...

Ok so you are all already aware I hate needles. Its something that clearly I had to learn to deal with. The fact that I now live with a yellow sharps bin that has at least 200 in, a cupboard full of extra needles and now looking into the cannula's for the start of possible pump therapy.  I always revert back to - IF I DON'T INJECT HIM THEN HE WILL DIE- ITS THAT SIMPLE.  When I say that to people you generally get that look- the one where they are thinking yeah OK love its not that bad ... but literally it is. So its a pretty big motivator to me.  Thing is at first I thought ( like I'm sure many of you) OK so hes diabetic - so we will have to inject him - what-once a day with some insulin and all will be fine. NO that is not the case. Every time he eats anything that contains carbohydrate we have to work out how many carbs are in the food and then work out his dose of insulin from that. We are now lucky that we have an Aviva Expert meter that works ...

Welcome to our blog and firstly thank you for taking the time to read and support us all in our life long journey with type 1 diabetes.  For those of you who don't know we are a family of 4 living in Oxfordshire. Mummy ( Suzie ) , Daddy ( Stuart), Big sister Grace age 7 and our little jelly tot himself - Oliver.  Oliver was diagnosed at the age of 2 with type one diabetes. Oliver has now just turned 4 and has had over 2112 injections so far in 18 months.This will never end for him unless there is a miracle cure that we all pray for. This blog is our way of sharing our journey to family, friends and others who may or may not be experiencing the same highs and lows of this auto immune condition. Its also about giving you all a true understanding about T1 and ironing out some of the common misconceptions of diabetes. If by doing this it helps just one family out there feel like they are not alone then its a success. I am also hoping it will help me -mainly to vent out all...

After another restless night  ( this was now to become the norm to us) today was hopefully finally the day we got go home!  The morning was lovely as Oliver got to see Santa and got given a little gift - this lifted his spirits up and he said - "do we get to go home so Santa can come to our house tonight?" I smiled and said hopefully but you know what if we cant then Santa will know exactly where you are so we can still have a lovely Christmas day. He seemed to accept this (strangely) and at this point my heart was melting - no arguing just pure cuteness. He was happy playing with the toys - as a parent you sit and think about all the amazing charity events that have happened to raise money to buy such lovely toys for them to play with - even the donations of toys - there are nice thoughtful people out in the world!  Still lunch time had hit - it was becoming the routine of testing the blood sugar before eating and I had started to over come the fears ( emphasis on ...

The day of the 'hangover' - Oliver woke up at the crack of dawn - typically just when I was finally dozing off. He did as he always does - straight up like a bouncy ball - apparently the bed was his new trampoline. He had a smile on his face - I just let him role with it as it was nice to see.   Then he asked me a question I was dreading - Where do we have breakfast? - I am hungry........Of course I couldn't find a nurse - I hadn't been shown yet what to do in order for him to eat- something we had completely taken for granted before now. Food for every child had been ordered and placed on the end of the beds- even Oliver's- the form had been filled out to say please give the food to the nurse station first, this hadn't happened so of course Oliver just went straight for it- its the first and only time I had ever taken food away from him.  I found  myself frantically walking up and down the corridors like a lost sheep trying to find out how to give my c...