Friday, March 25, 2011

My rainbow has flair.

He is my squishy.

He is everything a 7 year old should be. He is innocent, he is adorable, and he is funny.

He is my baby.

Everything he does brings a smile.

Looking at his big round sweet eyes makes everything better, always.

L is my rainbow.

Last summer he began feeling his lows and he hasn’t looked back since. He has always had such pride in feeling the lows, but nowadays it’s almost like he takes ownership of them. It makes him feel grown up to handle the lows on his own, so he handles them the only way he knows how…with flair.

He won’t tell me he feels low when we are home. He just goes and checks his sugar. Then, once his suspicions are confirmed, he’ll march past me at a good clip, maintaining intense, serious eye contact until he gets to the low cupboard. Once he is there he directs his attention to the choices inside.

If he grabs an apple juice, I know he is in the 50’s.

If he grabs a banana or a pudding, I know he is in the 60’s.

He’ll eat the treat in an important manner and then walk by me slowly, waiting for me to ask what his number was…and then he’ll nonchalantly say something like, “Oh! I was just 62.” Not missing a beat to his swagger, he’ll walk out of the room with his chin up.

Sometimes he’ll be low and I’ll be in the laundry room or something. He’ll come in and say, “By the way, I was 56.”

“You better eat something.”

And he’ll retort back in a shocked manner, “Well, of course I ALREADY ate something.” Kinda’ like he’s saying, “Duh mom! No brainer!”

He knows it is a very grown up thing to do. He is taking control of his diabetes in his own way, and that makes me burst with pride.

He’s so good at feeling his lows, he came to me yesterday…brows furrowed, needing some answers.

(Sitting on my lap,) “Mom, I felt low and I checked my sugar. But it said 111! So then I went and washed my hands really good and it said 112. I’m so confused! I’m always right!”

“We are having lunch in a few minutes; we’ll get you feeling better in no time!”

Wrong answer.

I should have said what I usually do, “The monitor can say what it wants, but you should always listen to what your body is telling you, go grab a snack.”

But I didn’t, and my husband walked through the door at that very minute, and within minutes he was on the phone with my sister in law, who instantly said she was coming to pick up the boys for lunch, (and a sleepover!) So we jumped up to pack up the stuff and they were out the door within 10 minutes.

As she drove away I yelled, “I have no idea what their sugars are! They need to test when they get to your place!” (They live just a few blocks away.)

Later I found out that L’s sugar was in the 60’s when they got to her house.

Never question a seven year olds sugar intuition.

On a side note: My boys went through phases where they would feel low and the meter would say otherwise. They would call me from school, upset…promising they felt low, but they would always be in the 100’s.

I don’t know if they were just dropping fast, or what…but I always had them eat a snack. (Even if it was just 3 small pretzels.) It made them feel better. They needed to know that I believed them. They needed to know that they always need to trust what they are feeling. Each boy went through the phantom low phase, and each only lasted a couple months. I wanted to throw this in because I know many others have had this problem in the past, and I wanted you to know it is pretty normal.

I don’t want the boys to ever doubt what they are feeling.

Feeling lows is a blessing, I know that.

And every time L walks by me with his important march and intense eye contact…I say a silent prayer of thanks…

Because my little boy feels his lows.

AND because my little boy is so freaking wonderfully squishy cute! (Seriously, can I freeze him in time or something? Can I can him and put him on a shelf?)

17 comments:

  1. Oh, Meri! I love this post! Reminds me exactly of how I feel about Leo. If I could just stop him from growing up and keep him my little boy forever! I feel so blessed to have one adorable little man, I can only imagine how much more blessed you've felt to have 4 of them!

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  2. OK "sugar intuition" AND "phantom low phase" - you are the DIABETES DIALOGUE QUEEN girl!!!

    Love L in all of his low glory. I loved your description of him treating his lows and sauntering around the house ... with a "BTW...I was..." You are my Mama Pancreas Hero. I love the stories of how your boys cope and grow. Beautiful.

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  3. Thank you so much for this post! My son has been having lows and not feeling them and then he'll be high and feel low??? I'm glad that you shared a similar story.

    I was just smiling ear to ear thinking about your little guy marching through the house to his "low" cupboard. It's wonderful how he is taking control of his diabetes at such a young age.

    Thank you again for helping me!

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  4. What a great description Meri - love it. Good to hear from other mamas about how their kids treat lows, feel them and how we all react to them. I learn something new, or are reminded of something new, every time I read about your kiddos. Thank you for that. And L looks totally squishy.

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  5. How weird about the phantom lows. My daughter Kaitlyn -14yrs old and 3 years since dx had problems this week with that. Except that she was 249 and really felt low. The nurse kept her and Kaitlyn told her again that she still felt low stomach hurt, headache, recheck and BG 233. I went to school and got her because we didn't know what was going on. She said again that she felt really low, she looked low recheck 230. Used another meter, 235. Never happened before. This has been a week of unexplainable numbers and reasons for them. Have any of your boys had numbers like that and felt low? Thanks for your blog, I love to read it.

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  6. I forgot to include my email. kgroenbeck@mcshi.com

    Thanks Meri!!!

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  7. Ellie has just started to catch lows. When she feels them (so far) she is somewhere between 60 and 75...but she has told me she was low a couple of times when she is in the low 100's. I've always thought it was a feeling she was getting from dropping quickly. Thanks for sharing this post. You have given me a good glimpse of the future and I will remember forever the three day rule and this new rule...always listen to what your body is telling you. Thanks!

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  8. After reading this, I want to hug him for his squishiness and I want to high-five him for his maturity. What a great kid!

    My youngest is also squishy, and I can't get enough of him. I say all the time that I want to stop time just temporarily so that I can enjoy him more.

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  9. Great wisdom in this post! My daughter feels her lows which I am very grateful for but sometimes she isn't & I never thought about maybe she is dropping quickly...& I will use your quote "no matter what the meter says you should always listen to your body!" Love that!

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  10. So sweet. I love how proud he is to be in charge. I do know that my 9 year old feels low if she is dropping quickly. Meter might say 100 but we know she could be low in a few minutes. I guess L feels the same. A good thing to pay attention to. Have a good weekend!

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  11. what a great point - my husband has told me frequently that the meter isn't always right. It may say that he's one thing but if he feels differently he goes with how how he feels and it is usually more correct,
    Your little guy sounds absolutely adorable and actually from the pics I see he looks like my nephew whom is the same in this little stompy-like march when he's right about something that is a mature thing to be right about. Simply adorable.

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  12. He is absolutely in tune with his body. Just wonderful. He picked up a warning that he was dropping. I remember having similar conversation with Marty, except he tested like 10 times (NO LIE). But now he knows to wait 15 and test again. If he's dropped he definitely knows he headed a low off at the pass and feels like he's struck one in the win column. L definitely struck one in the win column.

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  13. OK I'm a geeky, sciencey nerd, but I give a lot of weight to feelings as well as meter readings, when we do our big complex guesstimates.
    Cheers to Meri and family.

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  14. Sometimes I can feel myself dropping and other times I feel low when I am high...it's unexplainable sometimes!

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  15. I LOVE this! You must be so proud of him! I feel blessed too that Charlotte is able to feel her lows...she knows to grab a juice or snack, but usually still reports her low and asks for me to grab her something though. It's amazing how much at 7 they know already! And I know what you mean about freezing him in time...I think the same thing about my girls at times too!

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  16. He is darling. I love your description of him...I can just picture it! Umm, can we please clone your sister-in-law? She sounds like a dream.

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  17. What a sweetie. So responsible. So proud of him. :)

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