Diabetes 1, Day 3

"People who don't have diabetes are so lucky," my camper, Gemma, told me today. I didn't know how to respond. It really made me think about the things that we all take for granted, from feeling safe in our own town or workplace to having good health.

Before each meal, which is served family style, the campers need to check their blood sugar, then fill out a sheet of paper that says what they are going to eat. They have to use measuring cups to dole out their food, and count carbs as they go. To offset what they have eaten, each camper takes a shot of insulin; some have pumps that they wear, some use the good old syringe method.

Every two hours we have snack, which means another blood sugar check. And if they feel "low" or "high" we take them to the lounge where the ADA staff hang out to get checked yet again. A normal blood sugar level is anywhere between 70 and 120. This week I've had a camper go as low as 38 and as high as 331. And for them, this is completely normal.

I'm having a lot of fun with these kiddos; they are just your typical 9 and 10 year old girls. It breaks my heart a little bit to know that I see just these five days out of their whole year--and it's not even the half of what they go through. One of my girls was in the hospital just last week for ketoneacidosis. When their blood sugar goes too high they may develop ketones in their. Ketoneacidosis is like the danger zone where your body is really not happy about that.

I'm learning so much, yet again, from these kids. But in the meantime, we're having some fun. The weather was rainy this morning so we played indoor dodge ball then had some relay races. Once the weather cleared up this afternoon we were able to head outside for some water balloon launching and a water fight. We had a great time!

~SJ