Halloween & Type 1 Diabetes

Yesterday, I read a question posted online by a mother of a newly diagnosed child.  This was their family’s first Halloween with type 1 diabetes and she was looking for suggestions on how to manage the holiday.  I remember our first Halloween, and our first Thanksgiving and Christmas and Valentines Day and birthday party…all those firsts, after diagnosis.  I remember them all.  I remember wondering, just like this mother, how do we even do this?  Food is such a big part of our holidays and celebrations.  And we are now required to count, measure, assess every morsel our kiddos want to eat….and then consider how much activity they’re doing, because while food and sugar bring blood sugar up, activity and excitement bring it down.

How do we manage Halloween, as parents of children with type 1 diabetes?  Simply put, we manage Halloween like we manage every other day of the year.  We check blood sugar often.  We read labels and count carbs. We dose insulin as accurately as we can.  We monitor activity and make adjustments.  No different on October 31st than on November 1st.

But I think I understand what might be behind that sweet mother’s question.  For me, Halloween is a reminder of the hand that’s been dealt to my little girl.  A reminder that her life is more complicated than most of her friends’.  A reminder that while most of my friends casually headed out to trick-or-treat in their neighborhoods last night, I cannot casually head out anywhere.  I have to think ahead, prepare for any type of blood sugar scenario and bring what we need to take care of whatever situation may come up.  And while other moms strolled the streets with their little characters last night, glancing at their phones to check the time, I had my eyes on my phone watching my little character’s glucose levels.  Is the walking making her blood sugar drop?  Should I have given her one more tootsie roll?  Maybe I should have covered that last piece of candy with insulin.  You see, we can do Halloween just like we used to, it’s just more complicated.  On these special kinds of days, I seem to be just a little more aware of the impact T1D has on our family.  If you saw us trick-or-treating last night, you weren’t aware of all the things that were going on in our minds concerning our little warrior.  And my hope is that our little warrior was able to enjoy her Halloween with not much thought about her blood sugar; that she was able to escape into the fun and allow me to monitor things for her.  But I’m always aware.  Always.  So while that mother asked the question, “How do we do Halloween?” I think maybe underneath her question, she might have been really aware (again) of how the type 1 diabetes diagnosis has complicated life for her kiddo.

So to all the moms and dads who took type 1 diabetes trick-or-treating for the first time last night, you did it! It might have been smooth sailing and it might have been a bit rocky.  But you did it.  You said “yes” to normal life and a fun experience, despite T1D.  You helped your child enjoy a fun tradition, and maybe even let them forget about the complicated T1D life for a while.  Yes, it’s a reminder of how T1D has complicated your life, but let it also be a reminder of your perseverance and strength.  OH, and you probably have a sweet stash of candy to treat low blood sugars for a while!  You can do this.  You are doing it.  Well done.