Monday, August 9, 2010

Creepy or just observant?

Okay, don't let it get out but I am missing my son.  He has only been gone for a week and will be back with me again in six days (not like I'm counting) but he has spent most of his summer away from me so far.  This is a first. We have never been apart this much.

Now I am sure that he is doing his own happy dance and loving the freedom.  As my fiance suggested, he is most likely not missing "did you bolus? Did you test? How many carbs are in that? Did you change your site?" I don't miss nagging him or getting up to test in the middle of the night.  Last night I was up enough times on my own that I figured I could have done some great basal testing but I digress.

Over the past few days I have been making up fruit salad almost every morning. Everyone in the house likes fruit but few actually go in the fridge and grab it as a snack...except my missing child.  Just before he went to stay with his father, I had to limit his fruit intake. I was seriously getting worried about some of the fruit running straight through his system. He was easily eating 6 plums a day and then moving on to bananas and other items he found in the fridge. Don't get me wrong, I much prefer this to chasing him out of the cookie jar.  This is why I noticed his absence so much more this weekend. I had all of this fruit...and I still had all of this fruit!

I reminded myself that he would be back next week and we would all be heading off for a great family vacation before school starts. He would get to eat lots of fresh fruit (right off of the vine!) and catch up with great friends and family.

Remembering that I still had another child left at home, we decided to do something special for him on Sunday.  He had just bought himself a "new to him", quad and was dying to try it out.  Because we are now living in an urban setting, he can't just hop on and head out through the backyard.  My fiance loaded up the new beast and headed off to a park where my son could open the vehicle up, Mom could try to avoid a stroke, and enjoy a walk and relax while the older child could try, with glee, to kill himself.

The afternoon went well. Son was happy.  Mom survived and got some much needed exercise. Since it was a sunny Sunday, we went for a small drive on our way home.  Where did that drive take us but of course to a lovely ice-cream parlour.  We had definitely earned such a tasty treat!

As we stood at the counter making our choice, I happened to notice something blue around the waist of one of the workers.  When she leaned down into the cooler near me, I saw tubing! She was wearing a pump! Was it an ice blue Cozmo or did she have a Medtronic pump on? I looked a little closer.  Medtronic! I quietly whispered to my family that this girl was wearing a Medtronic pump!

The first look was "sure".  The next remark came from my oldest son.  He simply stated that I was creepy! I didn't say anything to this girl.  I didn't ask about the bulge at the front of her shirt and ask if she was using the CGMS. I just noticed that she had a pump.  In my own head I wondered if she knew the carb count to every flavour in the store but I never asked her.

When I mentioned my son's reaction to a few friends, they kindly reassured me that I was not "creepy". I was normal...well in the world of diabetes.  One friend told me that her young daughter flashed a large biker with her pump when she noticed his.  Mom was happy that it resulted in a pleasant conversation.  Another friend mentioned that she feels like she has met another member of a cool club when shirts rise and pumps are revealed.

I know my youngest son would not have thought it was creepy.  He would have dissed her choice of pumps but he would not have thought it creepy.  We search for pumps all of the time! Its just part of living with diabetes I think.

1 comment:

  1. Not creepy at all! I've done that same time of observation, from parking lots to restaurants and even in church! We in the Diabetes Community are on the same ride and we must stick together. So, there you go. My verdict: Observant. Though, I do sometimes watch the line just to make sure I'm touching on a topic they really don't want to talk about and then I'm that annoying other diabetic trying to pull them out the door against their will. Everyone has a right to privacy as they want it, as far as D goes.

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