Dennis Burton is walking with Drew's Crew on October 4, 2009 in Ann Arbor/Dexter, MI.
On Nov 26, 2007 the lives of our family were changed significantly. On that date, our oldest son (4 years old at the time) was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. The result of this is that blood sugar levels are checked around 8 times a day. Every carbohydrate consumed is counted. There is a set of ever changing ratios to determine how much insulin is required to try to ensure that the carbs just eaten do not make the blood sugar levels too high and that the insulin levels do not make the blood sugar levels go to low. It is a very delicate balance given the ever changing metabolism, hormones, and activity levels of a boy that age.
Prior to August of last year, every day included 2 shots of long term insulin as well as 3 shots of short term insulin that went with meals and usually 1 shot for correcting things that did not go according to plan. So our brave little boy had 6 shots a day for nearly a year. Last year we started insulin pump therapy. So rather than 6 shots a day, he now has an infusion set every 3 days that stays attached 24/7. Hard to believe that a 6 year old would be excited about having something stuck under his skin perpetually, but one injection vs 18 shots works out to be a good deal. As it turns out, the pump also has much finer grained dosages that enable much better control.
As of today, my son is a first grader and has an A1c of 7.1%. Every percentage drop in A1c reduces risk of complications by 40%, and they only hope to get to 8% in a child of that age. So in spite of all of the challenges facing this little guy, he is doing very well. I am very excited to see where life takes him. Through events like this, diabetes management technology has come a very long way in a short period of time. I hope that in my lifetime I can see a day where constant 24/7 management of this disease is a thing of the past.
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