The Battle of the Pancreases

Today I'm writing about the the fun side of living in a household with multiple T1Ds.

There's enough struggle and rollercoaster-riding with one person's diabetes journey, but add another T1D to the mix and it gets all sorts of complicated.

Not all of it is bad, though. In fact being back home with my brother has definitely pushed me to improve my diabetes care in ways I never thought it would. We compete with each other, trivially, in lots of ways when it comes to our diabetes care.

It's been a while since the two of us have compared A1Cs (because neither of us are great at diabetes care and we're both aware of it) but day-to-day BG checking and competing with carbohydrate counts creates a fun dynamic that is unique to the T1D lifestyle.  I can think of a few times even when Dillon, before being diagnosed, noted that he felt left out because the two of us were nagging each other and making digs about diabetes.

The competitive side of both myself and my brother reached new levels when we both got the Dexcom CGM, which has a "follow" feature on our phones. While the program was created to help parents manage their children's diabetes care, by giving them low and high alerts (PS if you didn't know this existed, check it out- it's awesome,) it also allows fellow T1Ds to compare data with each other, which can be fun.

The other day Aiden and I were out adventuring together, and my phone went off with a "fall rate alert" from my CGM (see, I'm telling you, this thing is awesome). Aiden, naturally, checks my phone and starts giving me a hard time about not noticing I was dropping, etc etc, and teasing me about my daily trends. This inevitably led to me checking his data and comparing his daily numbers to mine. Yes, kind of nerdy and maybe a little self-deprecating in the humor department, but we've gotta get our kicks somewhere right?

It's these little moments that act as a spark of light in the darker moments of living with diabetes. I've been struggling the last few days with our middle brother's diagnosis, but this moment of shared laughter and light teasing about something neither of us can really do much about- the fact that our pancreases are broken- made me smile.

So through it all, my fellow T1Ds and family members of T1Ds, I think it's good to reflect on the wise words of one of my favorite disney characters, Mary Poppins:

TTFN,
Heather

And then there were three

AND THEN THERE WERE THREE

So most of you reading this already know that I have type one diabetes. It isn’t something I’ve, really, ever been quiet about and it’s something that I’ve taken pride in embracing and not letting effect my life.  I’ve been living with the disease for nearly 14 years and, while I’ve accepted that diabetes is a part of my life, it seriously sucks.

My brother just got diagnosed with T1D, going into his sophomore year of college. Like, literally the same week he moved back to school. Now there’s certainly not a good time to ever be diagnosed with a chronic illness like diabetes, but I think the universe would agree that the week of orientation at college is right up there with the worst timing ever.  He’s going to have to navigate the entire process of being newly diagnosed while adjusting to his new class schedule, a new roommate, and re-adjusting to the college life in general. I wouldn’t wish that on anybody.

The thing is, though, if anyone can do it it’s my brother. He’s been dealt a lot of crap in his life and he’s taken it all like a champ, and come out ahead of nearly all of it. Even this diagnosis, which for all intents and purposes should have been made two years ago, has taken five years to reveal itself.  His inner strength doesn’t make the situation suck any less.

I try my best to keep positive when I talk about diabetes- because let’s face it, it's way easier to give the negative spin- but today I’ve got a lot of mixed feelings.  Diabetes sucks. Even when you’ve got it under control (for a millisecond) it kind of takes over your life. Dillon has seen that, in me and in our youngest brother, Aiden. So it’s got to be extra scary for him to be dealing with all of that.

And it’s kind of selfish of me to be internalizing at all, but I really do empathize with him. I’ve been in that position, although it’s been a long time since I made the transition. I’ve processed through the whole shindig and suffered through the burnout more than once. So imagining my little brother dealing with all of that for the first time is tough.  It’s even tougher for him, for obvious reasons.

Being diagnosed with diabetes is difficult for the entire family. It’s an adjustment- even when two of the three siblings in the family are already living with it. And it’s a personal journey, which I think is the most important thing to remember. We each deal with it in different ways.

So I’ll finish this post (which is way overdue, sorry…) with a few wishes for my brother, and for all newly diagnosed diabetes patients (brand new or T3 turned T1D):

I hope that your journey is full of salty and sweet, so that while you endure you remember that there are moments to savor as well.

I hope that each setback is met by reinforcements, between your friends and your family, backing you up and picking you up off of the ground.

I hope that you learn about yourself as you learn to navigate this new way of life.

I hope that you embrace your own experience and own that your diabetes is YOURS, no matter how many people around you are there supporting you or fighting their own dragons (however similar).

and finally,

I hope that you grow to love your pump, your finger pricks, the highs and the lows, and I hope that you find a community that you surround yourself with who all do the same.

Love and well wishes,

Heather

Type 1 Diabetic

Big Sister

College Grad