Not sure how you can help?

A few days ago I wrote a post for the mommy of a newly diagnosed child (You can read it here.).  If you are reading this, but are not managing type 1 for yourself or someone you love… If you want to help, but you’re not quite sure how…this post is for you.  I’ve asked around and come up with two ways you can help.

Whether the family you’d like to help has been living with type 1 diabetes for a while, or has recently been blindsided by the diagnosis, the number one thing you can do to help and support them is to educate yourself.  Learn about the disease.  Learn what’s true, and what’s not.  Learn what it means to be low, what it means to be high, and the dangers associated with each.  Learn how to treat a low, and how to correct a high.  Learn how to count carbs.  Learn the meaning of words like bolus, hypoglycemia, ketones, glucagon.  Learn about the technology they use: insulin pumps, continuous glucose monitors, blood glucose meters.  Learn what to do in an emergency.

Educate yourself.  Take the initiative to ask questions.  It will be appreciated.  And remember that every person is different, and every person with type 1 diabetes is different.  There are lots of ways to manage type 1.  There are lots of ways to cope with it.  Support the choices that your loved ones are making for their family.  They are on the front lines.

I think the other thing you can do that would be a major help, is to take something off their plate.  Something really practical.  Mow their lawn or shovel their driveway.  Offer to clean for them.  Bring a meal, or send a giftcard for a meal out.  Come and play with kids so parents can nap!  (Do you know that parents of kids with type 1 rarely get more than a few consecutive hours of sleep at night?  It’s like having a newborn for LOTS of years!) Offer to help with childcare for siblings.  Bring over a stack of bandaids and alcohol wipes.  Find out where they’ll fill their prescriptions and send a giftcard for that pharmacy.  I remember our first trip to the pharmacy after a 3 day hospital-stay.  I understood that we’d have a hefty hospital bill, but it didn’t even cross my mind that we’d drop hundreds of dollars at the pharmacy each month!  (Diabetes is expensive, an added layer of stress for families.)

We were surrounded by love and support after Mackenna’s diagnosis.  My sister-in-law took care of Caleb for us so we could just stay with Mackenna.  My mom made sure we returned home from the hospital to a clean house.  Friends brought meals over.  They took things off of our plate!  Which was so enormously helpful because the plate was FULL with just keeping Mackenna alive!  Before all the carb counting, finger pokes and dose adjustments became second-nature, they were all we could think about.  There was no brain space or energy left for cleaning or cooking!  It was amazing to not have to think about some of those other have-to-do things.

If you’ve read all the way through this post, thank you.  Thank you for wanting to help.  Thank you for wanting to learn.  Thank you for offering to take something off the plate.  You can be such a blessing to a family with type 1 diabetes!

“Carry each others’ burdens.” –Galations 6:2