My special friend is my diabetes mentor, Lora. While Facebook says today is our 8th year of friendship, this June we will celebrate 12 years of actual friendship. Back in 2005 when our then 4 year old daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes our family was in a state of shock. I was given a stack of papers from a social worker at our local Children's hospital with instructions to read them and fill out if necessary. In my desire to do and learn as much as I could, I did.
One of those papers was a flier advertising a mentor program. Perfect! Someone who could talk me through this crazy new life of ours. I filled out the paperwork and within a week or two my phone rings. It was another mom, Lora, who also had a daughter the same age as mine who had Type 1 diabetes too.
I know we must have talked for a while (we both are talkers!). But there are a few things that still stick out in my mind as to what she shared.
1. A1C results = do NOT sweat
2. Cheetos
3. Local support group
For those of you in the non-diabetes world an A1C is a test result that measures the average blood sugar over the past three months. AKA: the parent report card. Many parents have great anxiety over this number. Because of Lora, I do not. I didn't even understand what an A1C was 12 years ago when I first talked to her but I remember her telling me not to stress out about it. It is a number. A snapshot. It's information that will help your endocrinologist determine insulin adjustments. It is NOT a report card on how well you take care of your child with diabetes. As a parent you do the best you can in stepping in as a pseudo pancreas! I didn't even know what a pancreas was until diabetes! However, I am so thankful for her words. She set the tone of how I handle this information and in turn how I serve as a mentor to others.
Cheetos. Yes, Cheetos. Let me explain. For those with diabetes we must count carbohydrates in order to determine how much insulin to give for food. You can do this several ways. You can measure with a food scale or measuring cups. You can purchase single serve food or you can hand count your food item. If you decided to hand count your food item imagine counting out 21 Cheetos. Have you seen Cheetos?! They come in all different lengths and sizes. What constitutes 21 Cheetos?! OMG! And if you get to the crumbs at the bottom of a Cheetos bag...what to do!?! I didn't truly understand what Lora was talking about until I bought a bag of Cheetos and decided snack bags were the way to go. Seriously...you'll never look at Cheetos the same way again!
I was lucky enough that Lora happened to organize a monthly support group for kids and their families dealing with diabetes. She came up with the content, speakers and locations each month and it was life changing. Walking into the group the first time was intimidating. They were talking about things that I didn't understand but throughout the months and years of meetings they were a source of knowledge for when our daughter was ready to try something new in her diabetes care.
Over the years Lora and I worked on many committees together and have watched our girls grow up. Then in 2012 when our then almost 18 year old daughter was diagnosed there she was again, calling to check on me. While I don't get to see her or talk to her as much as I would like we are able to pick up where we left off.
Lora, thank you for your encouragement, support and understanding all these years. Your friendship means the world to me and my family. I hope that each of you who read this post have that someone you can remember back to and thank for their support.
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