"And Everest is a perfect example why. The weather can change at any moment, and even though you did everything right, and trained the correct amount, you can still fall short. And if you’re thinking of nothing but the final goal—all those years, all that effort, and all the personal growth that you achieved, becomes worthless if you don’t reach the top.”
This is Type 1 Diabetes in a nutshell. Everyone wants the perfect blood glucose numbers, the sparkling A1C, an athletic body to show off. We hack medical devices because #wearenotwaiting, parents waken to test their children in the middle of the night, we fight insurance companies, count carbs, inject our children over and over and over. And sometimes, it comes down sometimes to a number: What's your A1C?
Despite the fact that your child and/or you might have done everything right and tried to find the solution to every question, the questions change on a daily, sometimes hourly basis like the weather on Mount Everest. The human body is an amazing creation, able to handle complex changes with seemingly little effort - until it doesn't. Then, we are left to guess, to calculate, to take notes and read books to try to achieve it with imperfect tools.
Our A1C came back today - our "report card". The A1C is a blood test that indicates the average blood glucose levels over the past three months. Normal is below 5.7 and for a teen in puberty, they are happy if it is below 7.5. So you want to know, don't you? How did we do? Did it go down or up? Did Nightscout or pumping make a difference?
And I read again the paragraph above again. We've grown. Grown to not be afraid all the time, grown to trust each other and give in decision making that could have dire consequences if wrong. Grown to see what is really important in a life. Learned to not be daunted by less than perfect results but to move past it to solutions. Learned to let go and realize some days, there is no answer and diabetes sucks. Learned to function while dead tired from night testing or exercise induced lows. Learned to live in the moment and enjoy the view from where we are. Reaching the top isn't nearly as important as the climb.
One day, I'm hoping that there will be no arduous climb, and there will be no reason to be on the mountain. I'll be walking to try to reach that day.
