November 1st JDRF T1D Day

November is Diabetes Awareness month. Today makes 4 months since Elyssa's Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis. She has a cold with congestion & a runny nose. For children without diabetes a slight cold isn't really a big deal but for us it's scary. I have to prick Elyssa's finger more often to make sure her Blood Glucose levels aren't going crazy. We are pushing & watching everything she eats more closely so we make sure she has the right amount of insulin & drinks tons of water to flush life threatening Ketones from her body. These Ketones are what caused Elyssa to be in Diabetic Ketoacidosis when she was diagnosed. If they're not watched she can go into a diabetic coma or they can cause death.
I really don't know if her body/brain could handle being in Diabetic Ketoacidosis again in such a short time. After Diagnosis she wouldn't talk she would just point and make grunting noises or baby talk. That was really scary I totally thought she had brain damage but doctors said we had to wait 3 months to do testing to see if she did have brain damage. I was glad that after a month she started saying some more words and 2 months later she was able to say sentences. So one little cold has brought back all these emotions and feelings of when she was in Diabetic Ketoacidosis.
I hope that diabetes awareness month does help get the word out there that Diabetes can happen to anyone at any age. I hope that media can catch wind of it and talk about it on every channel. Children with Type 1 diabetes are dying from its complications. I see all these campaigns right now about bullying. Well I would love to see commercials about Diabetes Awareness too and how important finding a cure is. I was trying to think of what I could do or say today to try and spread awareness and the thoughts just brought tears to my eyes. I wish we didn't have to spread awareness about this chronic disease. Why can't people see how important the need for a cure is? I wish Elyssa was never diagnosed with Diabetes, I wish nobody had Type 1 Diabetes, I wish we didn't have to live with the fear of all it's complications everyday, I wish it would just go away, I wish there was a cure for it!