Injections, Injections, Injections.
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 out the dose,once we test his blood sugar and enter in the carbs. The doses are already preset into the meter and we will change the settings dependant on his levels weekly or sometimes daily.
Oliver has now had well over 2000 injections and minimum of 3500 finger pricks. This is just an insane amount for a 4 year old. He is literally a pin cushion. It is something he has had to get used to as this is now his life.
Thing is there are so many different types and sizes - ones with auto shield for schools - Oliver hates these and to be honest I cant get used to them either - the insulin just never seems to go in and you feel like you are pushing down a lot harder than our usual 4mm BD needles. Then there's the needle cases to insert the cannula's , if you have a continuous glucose monitor - there's more for that and many many more.
All of these are administered by us - none are done in hospital.
When we go out you still get the stares when people see you injecting your child or testing his finger. We cannot let this get to us and if people ask we re just open about it - Oliver is different - hes living with an auto immune disease but this does not stop him doing anything he wants to have a go at.
If its a young child he will sometimes look back at them and say - whats wrong? I'm diabetic - I need insulin and this is my injection. Most children of his age just shrug their shoulders and accept this , others pull funny faces or say ouch and some just run away. I think right from this very young age it important for him to let people know. At first I wasn't sure and I would ask mums - are you OK with me testing and injecting Oliver here as I can take him to another room. But now I just think its part of Oliver - people can make their own decisions but its not his or our fault we live with this so I don't excuse it anymore.
Injecting 6 times a day has by no means cured my phobia of needles - still hate the little blighters - especially when you go to put the needle cap back on when your in a rush and all of a sudden the shock of stabbing yourself up the finger nail rushes right through you and out the other side and you dance around the kitchen pretending everything is fine but are screaming inside ! I'm not a wimp honest! Just turns out that my 4 year old is a lot braver than me! Its true what they say - sometimes real superheros live in the hearts of small children fighting big battles.
Oliver has now had well over 2000 injections and minimum of 3500 finger pricks. This is just an insane amount for a 4 year old. He is literally a pin cushion. It is something he has had to get used to as this is now his life.
Thing is there are so many different types and sizes - ones with auto shield for schools - Oliver hates these and to be honest I cant get used to them either - the insulin just never seems to go in and you feel like you are pushing down a lot harder than our usual 4mm BD needles. Then there's the needle cases to insert the cannula's , if you have a continuous glucose monitor - there's more for that and many many more.
All of these are administered by us - none are done in hospital.
When we go out you still get the stares when people see you injecting your child or testing his finger. We cannot let this get to us and if people ask we re just open about it - Oliver is different - hes living with an auto immune disease but this does not stop him doing anything he wants to have a go at.
If its a young child he will sometimes look back at them and say - whats wrong? I'm diabetic - I need insulin and this is my injection. Most children of his age just shrug their shoulders and accept this , others pull funny faces or say ouch and some just run away. I think right from this very young age it important for him to let people know. At first I wasn't sure and I would ask mums - are you OK with me testing and injecting Oliver here as I can take him to another room. But now I just think its part of Oliver - people can make their own decisions but its not his or our fault we live with this so I don't excuse it anymore.
Injecting 6 times a day has by no means cured my phobia of needles - still hate the little blighters - especially when you go to put the needle cap back on when your in a rush and all of a sudden the shock of stabbing yourself up the finger nail rushes right through you and out the other side and you dance around the kitchen pretending everything is fine but are screaming inside ! I'm not a wimp honest! Just turns out that my 4 year old is a lot braver than me! Its true what they say - sometimes real superheros live in the hearts of small children fighting big battles.
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