At our one-month pump follow-up today, Eric’s a1c had fallen from 8.4 to 8.2; if we continue at this rate, we’ll be below 8.0 for the first time since his diagnosis by the end of the year. We’ve come to the conclusion that his pancreas is finally giving up completely, as his basals have been creeping upward. It was very encouraging – Eric has gained another pound and grown a half inch, and he’s happy and healthy and doing great. I feel like things are finally looking up. Maybe it was just that we passed the one-year mark, or maybe it’s just the relief of getting his pump and working out the problems, but I haven’t felt this grounded in a long time.
What’s really weird, though, is that during my session with the diabetes educator, I found myself and Eric cast in the role of mentors to another family. A six-year-old boy in my (very small) town has just been diagnosed, and his family is eager to learn all they can and is considering getting him on a pump, so the DE asked whether I’d be willing to get together with them and “show them the ropes.” Of course, part of that was that she wanted to make the boy himself feel more secure about becoming a pumper, and seeing a much younger Eric tootling around with his pump on his back and nary a care in the world will likely be reassuring. Not to mention the fact that visiting a farm WITH HORSES!!! is a fun experience for almost any child, so she was sort of hoping that making the connection between horses and fun and seeing a pump in use for the first time would give the boy a positive association about pump use.
It was a bizarre feeling–I still feel like this is so new, yet when I think about the days immediately following Eric’s diagnosis, I realize how far we’ve all come. So of course I said yes, and also told the DE that I STRONGLY recommended she point this family toward tudiabetes.com, emphasizing just how much it has helped me to learn and become comfortable with raising a child with diabetes. I think I’ve made a convert because she quickly agreed – she mentioned that she’s been passing on the info about the bubbles and the degassing technique that I got from this site to most of her clients at MMC, so pats on the backs of everyone who commented on my bubbles question, you’ve impressed an expert! And since the DE is herself a T1D pumper with 15 years under her belt, not easily done!