Unknown
Hands down, easiest question ever...
These two little munchkins right here.
As most of you know, J was diagnosed when he was 8 months old. J is my second son...B and L wern't even on the radar yet.
It was scary, and deliriously confusing when we were told J had Type 1 Diabetes. We spent a week in the hospital…mostly for J to recover from his ketoacidosis…and a little bit because I needed to learn how to take care of my little boy. (The hospital obviously didn’t think this was too big of a deal, they sent me home with a book and my pediatricians home phone number. “Call him when you need to give insulin.” Yeah, that got old fast, for all of us involved.)
Anyway…back to the hospital….My husband or someone would try to come by once a day to give me a break. I would usually go down to the cafeteria and spend my time feeling guilty I wasn’t with J. I would silently sob in the corner and pick at my food.
One particular day I was in line for the food and already felt tears falling on my cheek. A friendly faced older lady put her hand on my shoulder. “What’s your story, honey?”
I told her how my second son had just been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and the new world we were being thrown in. I told her he was so sick and so skinny, it was hard to see him in such a state.
“Well at least you have two boys…since you won’t be having any more, you are very lucky to have them.”
Say what the huh?
That hit me like a ton of bricks.
Really? I’m not having any more? Was she right? I mean that was the last thing on my mind…but did this mean it was the end of the line? Two and no more?
She wasn’t the only one to make this comment. Many others made comments to the effect that I better not have more, as I didn’t want to pass this on to another child.
Pass it on? Was I really passing it on? For awhile the answer in my mind was yes. I felt like this had to be my fault. I felt like J was being punished just so that I could learn to be a better person. (Diagnosis and lack of sleep do a number on your swelly brain!)
But the passage of time is a funny thing…
Time changes perspectives.
Time heals wounds, even mental ones.
And one day, I knew…we needed to have another.
And one day, exactly two years later, God sent us another.
And then yeah, THEN we were done.
Two years after our last son came into our family…diabetes made another appearance.
And one year later…another appearance.
Do I regret having these two boys? Hell no.
Do I feel responsible for their diabetes. No, no I don’t.
We are like lottery winners; no one could have predicted our lot. NO ONE.
We were told we had a 3% chance of having a second child with diabetes.
That is a 97% chance that we wouldn’t. But who cares about percentages. You never know where you will fall, so they are useless. All that is important is I have two of the most precious souls in the universe here in my home. Yes, they have diabetes. Yes, I wish they didn’t have to endure diabetes…
But they are thriving.
And they are happy.
And they are part of a bigger picture.
I can’t imagine life without B and L. Would I have had them if I KNEW they were going to have Type 1?
I think they would have hoped…that regardless of their circumstances, I would have said yes.
This post is my February entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2011/introducing-the-dsma-blog-carnival
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