D Blog Week, Day 7: My boys' thoughts

The final prompt this week: Back by popular demand, let's revisit this prompt from last year! Tell us what your fantasy diabetes device would be? Think of your dream blood glucose checker, delivery system for insulin or other meds, magic carb counter, etc etc etc. The sky is the limit – what would you love to see?

My brain is shot.  It’s late Sunday night and my creativity is in the toilet…but I didn’t want to leave my last day of D Blog Week hanging.  So I grabbed the D Blog Week wild card and asked the boys what was the best “diabetes invention” they could think of.  They didn’t even need time to think about it.  Below are their immediate responses. 

L, age 9:  “The best diabetes invention would be a cure.  Diabetes is a lot of work.  Work.  Work. Work.  Day and night.  I never get time to stop working.  It never ends.  I mean, you’ll never know what it’s like.  (Me:  Don’t you think I have a little idea of what you go through?)  Maybe a little, but until you have shots, and constant pricks, you won’t ever really know.  Just people who have diabetes know what it’s like.  Until you have black dots all over your fingertips, you won’t know.  Until you have shots in your belly and your butt, all the time?  You won’t know for real.  Sure you have a little idea.  But sometimes I just want a break.  Like.  One day off, not to have to think about diabetes.  It’s just so much WORK!”

Whoa.  I wasn’t expecting the lecture.  But A-flippen-men, little dude.

B, age 11:  “I would invent a pump that would be a mixture of a monitor and a pump.  It would check my sugar and give me insulin without me doing anything.  I would be okay with set changes every three days if it did all that for me.  And it wouldn’t take years to change it.  They would improve the new pump/monitor every week.  Every week it would work better…awesomer.” 

I’ve never spoke to him about the artificial pancreas.  I think he’s spot on.  Although I doubt the updates will be so forthcoming, I do appreciate the idea of constant improvement.

J, age 15:  “Other than a real cure…A pump that tests your sugar for you, and gives you insulin for you.  Corrects you automatically.  It’s implanted, so there are no pump changes.  It does it all.”

After these responses I felt obligated to show them some YouTube videos about the artificial pancreas.  I said I know someone’s daughter who will be trying it out at the end of summer, and then I told them it definitely won’t be soon…but someday this may be their reality. 

Their response?  J: “How much?”  B: “Can we bribe someone to let us try it?”  L: “Mom, you’re famous on Facebook or something…someone’s gotta let us try it.” 

And now their wait begins.  Which makes the wait for me, all the more harder.