Diagnosis Day

November 5, 2015...diagnosis day, D Day. A day that will forever be emblazoned on my soul. This is the day we found out our little boy E, 5 years old, had Type 1 Diabetes.

To be frank, neither myself or my husband had even heard of T1D before this day. It doesn't run in our family (which many people ask) and it is incurable. Since this day we've learned more than we've ever wanted to learn, but are still learning more every day.

Some quick facts:

• T1D is an autoimmune disease 
• Doesn't occur due to diet and exercise
• Can't be cured or treated with diet and exercise
• Is completely different than type 2 diabetes
• Destroys the pancreatic cells that create insulin
• Cannot be prevented
• Requires constant monitoring with a CGM or finger blood tests (pokes or pricks) 6+ times a day
• Without insulin, you die, usually 4+ shots a day or a pump
• People with T1D are always at risk of life-threatening high and low blood glucose levels
• Usually have to count the carbs of every food they eat in order to determine the amount of insulin
• Treating it is more of an art than a science
• Used to be called juvenile onset but people can get it at any age
• It is not contagious
• You do not outgrow it
• It is difficult to manage
• It can cause serious complications
• Every year 13,000 children are diagnosed with T1D
• Less than 5-10% of the people with diabetes have type 1