What they don't see

One of my favourite (she said, sarcastically) responses from people when they find out Elise has Type 1 Diabetes is, "but she looks so healthy!"

(Followed closely by, "but she'll grow out of it, right?)

Honestly, I really don't know how to answer when people say say that. Yes, she looks healthy, but there is so much that they don't see lurking beneath the surface.

What they don't see is how hard we work as parents to make sure our kids stay that way.

They will never understand the burden that we carry.

They don't see the 3 am BG tests. Followed by the 4 am, the 5 am... etc.

They don't hear our kids say, "I don't like shots!" Or, "You're hurting me Momma!"

They don't understand how the fear of our children's future gnaws at us.

They haven't heard our whispered prayers, night after night, for a cure from this awful disease.

They've never felt the pain of trying to decide which is worse; telling your child they can't have a particular food because their BG is too high at the moment, or letting them have the food anyway and getting a BG in the 400s a few hours later.

They cannot know the exhaustion of doing battle day after day, sometimes on only 2 hours sleep.

They don't know the frustration of dealing with insurance companies, and the sadness that comes along with realizing that you can't afford a device that would help you.

They never see our tears when it all becomes too overwhelming.

They don't know how scary something as common as the flu can be.

And they'll never know exactly how strong, and brave, and wonderful, and amazing you have to be as the parent of a T1 kiddo. To all the D-Moms and Dads out there who are feeling mired down by this disease lately, just remember how incredible you really are. And though people may not "get it", the rest of us do.

As Elise likes to say, "yeah, you're AMAZING!"