Comment by Briley on October 28, 2010 at 10:02am

That is amazing. I've had diabetes for 21 years now (also not remembering life before), I've worked four sessions of family camp during the summers of 2008 & 2009, and one set of parents stood out to me. This mother & father said "What can we do so that she is like you?" Uh, wow. Talk about on the spot pressure and I had to go back to all those years ago and what my parents did for me. It was tough though, because my life didn't revolve around diabetes. It was there, every single day, we all know that it was, but the things I remember about my childhood weren't the things of diabetes. And there was definitely the Halloween hints (sell your candy) and the support groups, and the teaching the friends and cousins about it, and of course camp. I know that I've certainly felt frustrations when my mother has said "I know what you're going through" because she doesn't technically, but then I think about my best friend whose mother was just diagnosed with T1 diabetes, and would I ever wish that on my own mother? No way (when I was little I certainly did). Until there is a cure, our biggest support group will be the parents of people with diabetes, and we must never forget it. Thank you for opening our eyes to the views of other parents.

Comment by Doris D on October 28, 2010 at 10:25am

Very well stated Michael. I'm not only a Type 1 diabetic but also is my daughter. She's 21 now but she took Type 1 at 11. My mom learned me well (BLESS HER SOUL) and when my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 she came back in to help her learn things too. It was a heartache to me to think I had caused her to have it too. Oneday here resently she looked at me and said I quote, "It WASN'T Your fault I took diabetes" No sweeter words to a Type1 mom's ears!

Comment by Donna H on October 28, 2010 at 1:09pm

Michael, I am not a parent (unless you count my dogs) but I remember a close co-worker's reaction when she found out her 2 year old had diabetes. I look at her now -- only 3 years later -- this woman is now a super Mom. Truly incredible. And like you -- her son will not remember these years, but boy is he one lucky little guy. (p.s., still waiting for Part 2 of the Denny's saga)

Comment by melindalaw on October 31, 2010 at 4:38am

Camp was the best for me. I got diagnosed in 1960. At age 5. In 1962 my parents shipped me off to Camp NYDA(New York Diabetes Association). In hindsight was one of the best things that ever happened. Remember sitting in a circle of campers, all giving injections at the same time. Being taught how to give my own injection. The only way of testing blood sugar back then was urinalysis., which meant 5 drops of urine in an eyedropper, 10 drops of water, and a pill called Clinitest that would bubble in a brew in a test tube, and end up a color. Which would determine your fate for that moment like we have now in blood sugar glucose monitoring. The reads we had were always 3 hours old because that is how long the urine is in its accuracy. So if we had a gold color, or 4 plus as it was called, they would run us around the baseball diamond, give us NoCal soda to drink, and hope for the best. and then test again after awhile. The only way we knew we were getting a low , was how we felt. My mouth would turn white, my hands would shake. Back then it was called "getting shocky". We have come a long way.

Comment by Anna Banana on January 24, 2011 at 2:10pm

Every summer i attend camp twin lakes. I luv that place so much! It's an amazing place. luv ya camp!!!! :D

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