On November 29 it will be one year since my daughter was diagnosed with T1D. I am looking for suggestions on what to do for this, any suggestions?
We made it a way to celebrate the whole family's diaversary and went to see Cirque de Soleil.
My 15 year old son and I are going paddle boarding all day. He was in a come Nov. 17th 2010...last year. We are so proud of how he has worked back to be healthy and strong. We are celebrating with his favorite thing to do. We will include our whole family and just be together.
My husband didnt see the reason for celebrating this day. I see it as a time to reflect what successes you have had, what changes you need to make, and what you plan to do foe your future. Like you should do in a marriage. This is a life changing event. I am all on board with recognizing the day as a new part of a life long journey...with a strong hope for a cure.
Have fun and thank you for sharing.
to be honest i was probably feeling a little sad at that point and heard that kids could have a resurgance of sadness too at the one year, my husband also does not like anniversery's of that sort either. my son was doing really well at the time and i guess i didn't want to ruffle any feathers so to speak. we are coming up on our 3 year and i remind him always how proud of him i am for being so responsible and so accomplished in other parts of his life ; for having a great personality and a bright spirit. i guess i try to downplay the diabetes talk since it really is such a big part of our lives and focus in on the other parts. i do think it is a great idea to celebrate if you feel it will be well received by the family, these kids go through a lot and need all the positive things they can get! pat yourself on the back to mom, it has been an emotional rollercoaster for you as well i'm sure it gets easier in some respects but there is still sadness but also confidence in knowing you can handle this, esp. since there is no alternative, embrace life it is full of joy and suffering, learning how to deal with the suffering brings more peace! enjoy the holiday season!
I'm always surprised when people say they celebrate the anniversary of a diagnosis...
I would have never wanted this, and we never did. If you want so, we celebrated it with a trip to the kids hospital for my annual examinations. But that's it. I actually never thought of it in a special way. I don't know if my parents did, but I did not and didn't want to.
But if you want to celebrate, I'd suggest something you can do with your whole family.
I don't know your daughter but I never liked it if too much attention was drawn to my condition.
By doing something as a family the attention is more on the support side and not on her not being healthy.
My son, a senior in high school, celebrated his two year anniversary by writing an amazing college essay about his life with diabetes.
It began "Eighty people per day are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in the United States. Two years ago this was just a statistic to me, but now it is my reality. On September 28, 2009 at the age of 15, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. On this day of my life my world changed forever." (Photo was two weeks after diagnosis - he was too weak to skate but we got dr. permission for him to go to photo shoot).
He goes on to explain how it affects not only his eating but every aspect of his life - exercise routine, sleep, driving, studying and always being prepared for an emergency. In the final paragraph he explains that he has risen to the challenge and can do anything his peers can do and he does - he is on 2 hockey teams and in the sports medicine and engineering programs at school. We are so proud of him and will miss him so much when he goes to college!
Wow! This brings up a lot of mixed emotions in me. Sophia's 1 yr anniversary (dx at 4 1/2 yrs old) was this past September and I never mentioned it to her at all. We went about our day doing our normal things like basketball practice, etc.... Of course, that day is forever imprinted on my mind and I will never forget. I'm not sure at this point in her life it is something she would want or I would want her to focus on. It's not so much the day she remembers as where she was diagnosed. Every time we go to her pediatrician's office she says "this is where they told us I had diabetes and you cried". Maybe once she gets older she can decide if she wants to "celebrate" in some way and that would be fine with me. The way we teach her is that everyone has something whether they know it now or not or we can see it or not. I try to impress on her that it isn't always an illness. Maybe it is not having a mommy who loves them, maybe it's having a mommy/daddy who hurts them, maybe it's going to bed hungry every night, etc....Some people have things that maybe aren't as bad as hers and some people have things that maybe are much worse so I think she just feels normal because everyone has something so what is there to celebrate? This has given me some food for thought though and I will keep it in mind on anniversaries to come.
Thank you to all who took the time to give me some suggestions. I guess that my term "celebrate" was not a good choice of words. We just want her to know that we are proud of her and want to encourage her to continue to be such a strong and couragous girl. You all know how hard it is, living with this day in and day out. I wanted to use it as a time of reflection. I really like all the ideas of spending time together as a family, as this is felt by everyone on a daily basis. So nice to have people out there who understand!
My 13 yo daughter's "D-Day", as she calls it, is later this month, too, Nov. 23, 2009. She was hospitalized for 3 days, 2 in intensive care. We thought we might be having Thanksgiving at the hospital...but we made it home, took and an "educated guess" at the carbs in the meal dear friends prepared and delivered and life went on from there. We do indeed celebrate this day. Not the diabetes itself mind you- that part we would like to give back! We do celebrate our lives together, the otherwise good health she has, and the family and friends who have been so supportive throughout all of this. We also acknowledge the difficulty of dealing with diabetes every day and the effort she makes in caring for herself. We try to do something fun as a family, perhaps including some friends, too. Last year it was dinner out - her choice- and she could invite a few friends, too.
We make some kind of contribution to the hospital to acknowledge our gratitude for her care, as well as thinking of the patients receiving care there currently. Last year, my daughter held a DVD drive at her school to donate to the hospital. This year, we will be purchasing art supplies for use by children staying at the hospital. Not sure yet what the "fun" activity will be yet, but we are all looking forward to it. This is also a time of reflection and some sadness for me. Some of her childhood was stolen by this disease, and the trauma of illness and hospitalization lives somewhere deep within me... Nevertheless, time marches on, and she is becoming a lovely young woman who I am very proud of : )
I hope you find a wonderful way to honor your daughter"s D-day!