Do I do too much?

A comment on another blog recently made me wonder if I do too much for my guys.  After all, they are both capable of doing all of their own care.  I know little kids need much more hands-on care, but do my guys need the things I do for them?

Here are the things that I CHOOSE to do to help them out, and hopefully avoid diabetes burnout:

1) Ordering and organizing supplies. I am almost obsessive about this.  I order as soon as I can and have quite a stockpile of most things.  Just in case.  And I have everything in labeled drawers.

2) Calculating carbs. I weigh, measure, look up, SWAG, etc.  Seth has dubbed me the SWAG master overlord.  I take it as a compliment. I also have the carb info for every restaurant we visit on my phone. I make a post-it note for endless tacos/enchiladas. My mom calculates all the holiday meals.

3) Inserting Dexcom sensors. I do this for 2 reasons.....because they don't want to, and because they prefer them on the backs of their arms. Pretty difficult to get both hands behind your arm.

4) Night checks as needed.  I'll set an alarm if a problem is suspected, but mostly we just rely on Dex to alert us.

5) Looking for patterns and helping with dosing decisions. Seth needs more help with this.  Instead of doing it FOR him, we do it together.

6) Checking their d bags and making sure they are ready to go on the next venture outside the house. I empty trash, check insulin pens, pen needles, test strips, low supplies.

7) Research, research, research.  I try to learn everything I can to help them.

My conclusion?  Absolutely I should be doing these things for them!  Type 1 diabetes is a 24-7-365 disease.  They are the ones that poke themselves multiple times a day, wear Dexcoms on their bodies to help stay safe, feel the effects of their blood sugar going up or down. It can't consume our lives, but it does have to be considered at all times. Life with diabetes is NOT normal, but D-parents do everything we can to help it be as normal as possible.  So our kids can be kids.

And to the person who commented on the other blog:  Yes, type 1 diabetes is a big deal.  Yes, it can and does kill.  And no, we don't need to relax.  As soon as you drop your guard, that's when d attacks.  Not that I will let it consume us, but we must always be mindful, always be on guard.