Living with Child Diabetes

In January 2006, my world change forever. 

I had one little girl, Robin, who had recently turned 2.  She had been a bit under the weather for a week or so.  I was a bit concerned, so I booked her an appointment at the doctors.  She had recently lost a bit of weight, but I put this down to a growth spurt.  She was eating loads, but this could also be explained by the growth spurt.  She was drinking alot and weeing alot.  She had a cold, and you can be thirsty when you have a cold!  All of these things could be explained.  But there was Something that I could not put my finger on.  Looking back, I think I was being a bit dense!!

So, off I went to the doctors.  The next thing we know, we are in the High Dependancy Unit and I am the mother of a diabetic.   But surely only overweight children get diabetes?  What had I done wrong?  The guilt I felt was amazing.  Next came panic.  What will we do?  How will we cope?  Will she live a normal life?

The Answers to my questions came, some quickly, others over time.  Nearly 2 years on and I have realised that even though my life changed forever, it could have been worse!!

My little girl is amazing and every day I take my hat off to her.  She has had a bumpy start in life and the road ahead is far from smooth.  We lead our lives as normally as we can.  I was fairly adamant on this.  And I try not to draw attention to Robin's diabetes.  Yet, it is always with us.

I have found that, while there is plenty of medical help for families dealing with diabetes, there is not much in the way of everyday support.  Sometimes I have felt quite isolated and unable to talk plainly about diabetes and the way it effects us, as many people are scared of it, or do not understand.

I have made a decision to build a website to help bridge the gap.  I am not here to give advice, or tell anybody the best way of doing things.  I would like this website to be used as a form of communication and support for families out there dealing with diabetes.  I have set up a forum (Lets talk!), where questions can be asked and suggestions offered, support can be asked for and given. If there is anything else that you think would be useful or a good idea, let me know and I will see what I can do....... stick with me as my technical knowledge is not that brilliant and I am a very busy mum!  Please help me to build a website for us, The parents behind the diabetic children!