First Flight

Jim had to travel to Florida for a few days this week for work so Emerson and I decided to join him…our first experience flying post-diagnosis.  We have heard many different stories – some good, some bad - about traveling with a T1D and getting through security with a pump, insulin and other supplies so we didn’t know what to expect.  Getting through the Indianapolis airport was a breeze…Emerson had to have her hands swabbed and that was it!  We assumed that departing Florida wouldn’t be so smooth but it was even easier.  Emerson went through security like all other passengers – no swabbing, no pulling out insulin, nothing!  We are taking a family vacation next month, and we hope it goes just as smooth!

Blood Tests Taking Forever?

While we have been very fortunate to have a young T1D that is generally very accepting of her disease and almost always takes everything that comes along with it in stride, there are still times when something happens or is said that just breaks our hearts.  There have been a handful of times in the past when Emerson has said “I don’t want diabetes anymore.”  Usually this has occurred after having us tell her it would be best if she didn’t eat some unhealthy treat or after we have asked her to settle down for awhile after being low.  But we always reply by telling her that we don’t want her to have it either and that she was chosen to have it because she is so strong and deals with it so well and that she has a great opportunity to spread the awareness and understanding to other people.  We can get away with this now because she is only 4 ½ and doesn’t fully grasp what we are telling her…but can you imagine how she will react to that reasoning when she is 10 and none of that matters to her!

Anyway, we heard a new line from her this past weekend.  Out of the blue she said “I don’t want to have diabetes anymore because getting my blood tested takes forever.”  We couldn’t help but laugh given that glucose checks are obviously not time intensive events!  But when you step back and think about how this was just another attempt at coming up with a good reason why she shouldn’t be impacted by this disease, it does create one of those moments where you feel so bad about what she is going through but you can’t let her know that.  We can’t imagine how hard it would be to deal so well with such a difficult disease….with only the rare attempt at convincing mom and dad to make it go away.