A Door has Shut, Where's the Window?

This week has been interesting in many ways for me. More specifically, Tuesday of this week was bittersweet. My newest e-book, Educating Macey, was released from Ellora's Cave and my youngest daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. The rest of the week is kind of a blur now, but I know I spent a little bit of time at work, a whole lot of time at the Texas Children's Hospital in downtown Houston, and not enough time with my other three daughters. I spent basically no time writing or reading for pleasure. I did read quite a bit, but it was the same thing over and over as I tried to understand what is and isn't happening in my child's pancreas.

My mother has diabetes as well as a co-worker and other people I know. I didn't panic when our pediatrician said we needed to head to the ER because my daughter's sugar level was way too high. I though, "Okay. Diabetes, I can handle. I know some basics and it's something we can deal with."
Hah! I was seriously fooling myself and didn't even know it. It wasn't until Thursday afternoon that I realized just how naive I was being. Type 1, also called Juvenile, diabetes is nothing like my mother's diabetes. It's a completely different ailment and I didn't even know it. Once I started reading and panic began to build, I realized we were in for the long haul. This is something we will monitor for the rest of her life. She's currently seven years old.

I think I've always done well about seeing the glass as half full in every obstacle that comes our way. On Tuesday one of the first things I said to my husband was, "All right, the whole family is now going on a diet." I was ready. I was willing to change the menus, throw out the junk and be stricter on the eating habits of all four children. That's not going to be enough. There has to be a schedule for meals and insulin injections. I had to learn to stick a needle in my child's body...multiple times a day! Thank god she's such a brave little thing because she's handling this better than I am. As I was ready to completely lose it on Thursday evening, I happened to talk to an acquaintance who's child has Lupus. That conversation reminded me that I'm not the only mother going through this. I'm not the first, nor will I be the last. I am one of many and it IS doable. A door has shut on one chapter of our lives, but the family is now ready to crash through a window and let the fresh air back in.