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Fellow Travelers

© Jeni Tambush

Talking with other parents, it's easy to find common ground when it comes to things like the 'terrible twos' and adolescence or even the best way to get grass strains out of kid's clothes. Yet I've found that it's a rare conversation when I'm talking with another parent and our mutual topic is that of our child's blood glucose levels. As difficult as it is being a parent of someone with diabetes to find another person in the same situation, it's harder still for the person that actually has the disease.

Corey brought this home to me during the last week of school when he excitedly ran up to me as I picked him up from school. There had been an 'end of the school year' outing for his kindergarten class. Each child in his class had an older child from the fourth grade that would come to their class once a week during the school year and read with them. These were their 'reading buddies' and they had been able to spend this particular afternoon outside playing with their reading buddies.

"I had a popsicle today!" he told me.

"You did? What about your snack? Did you have your snack AND a popscile?" I asked him a little concerned.

"Yes," he told me with eyes cast downward.

"Corey, who gave you the popsicle?" I asked, knowing that his teacher was vigilant about his snacks and the correct amount of carbohydrates.

"My reading buddy gave it to me," he told me glumly.

"Sweetheart, why didn't you tell your reading buddy that you needed to ask the teacher first? You know that you can only have so much at snack time," I tried to say gently seeing that he was already upset about my initial reaction.

"I took it because I didn't want him to think I was some kind of freak!" he told me as tears threatened to fall.

"You aren't a freak, don't ever think that! There are other kids at your school that have diabetes just like you do and they aren't freaks and neither are you!"

"But Mom, I don't know the other kids that have diabetes and they aren't in my class so as far as I know, I AM the ONLY one!"

Another lesson learned; we all need to know that we are not alone and that there are others living the same kind of life that we are.

'No man is an island' but diabetes can definitely make one feel as if they are on one, alone and separate from everyone else who doesn't have to inject themselves with insulin or monitor their blood or worry about carbohydrates and hypos and complications.

The copyright of the article Fellow Travelers in Juvenile Diabetes is owned by Angela Lantzy. Permission to republish Fellow Travelers in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.