Here we are.
ONE. YEAR. LATER.
The 3rd of December.
Beau’s First ‘Diaversary.’
One year since Beau’s diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes and our hospital stay.
I actually can’t believe how fast this has happened. I feel like we should have this sorted now. We should know more than we do. We should have Beau’s Blood Glucose Levels (BGLs) in range all of the time. Newsflash – we don’t.
My baby Beau has survived one year. And we have too. His Mum and Dad. His brother. His nana. His preschool teachers. Us. You. (Thanks for reading. And thank you for your comments of encouragement and support as we have navigated this road this past year. They mean a lot. A lot, a lot.)
Thank you to all of the people who have helped and supported us along this crazy wild ride. Special shout out to my Mum for having Beau each fortnight (and other times) – I know this scares you beyond belief so we really appreciate it. And also Amber, you continually go above and beyond for Beau, and for me. I think without you 2 I would have not been able to manage.
Today, we are off work/school/preschool to celebrate Beau. As a family. Beau will get to decide how we celebrate his first ‘Diaversary’ and this is a tradition we will continue to uphold each year (hopefully on the day, or the closest weekend.) The fact that he is growing, he is fighting this disease, his brother has been also coping with some huge changes and that we have managed to keep him alive by being his pancreas!
I will forever be in awe of him and what he deals with – barely blinking an eye on the daily.
Cooper has also blown us out of the water! Growing up so much quicker, dealing with more tired parents, more attention on his little brother, understanding things that we used to take for granted have now changed. What a year for him. We couldn’t be prouder of how helpful and knowledgable he is and how patient. How amazing.
In the past year we have learnt so much. We have become experts in our son’s care. Even more so than the GP – make no mistake of that!
We have learnt how to read packets of food, and that packaged food is SO much easier to calculate than weighing food and multiplying the weight by the carbohydrate factor.
(Which we have also learnt how to do.)
We have learnt how to insert needles into our son every 3 days.
We have learnt how to bolus.
We have learnt how to change the basal rate temporarily.
We have learnt the smell of insulin.
We have learnt how and when to finger prick him.
We have learnt how to calibrate his MiaoMiao device from his finger prick reading.
We have learnt how to treat highs. And how to treat lows.
We have learnt to live on hardly any sleep.
We have learnt how to try to include Cooper.
We have learnt how this has impacted our family and Beau’s big brother.
We have learnt how to tag team.
We have learnt how to manage with next to no time together.
We have learnt that our marriage can weather a storm like this. And will continue to weather this storm.
We have learnt we are a strong team.
We have learnt so much more than all of this…
We have learnt that Beau is the most amazing, strongest, bravest 3 year old in the world.
