New York Times Best Selling Romantic Suspense Author Brenda Novak visits with Margaret Turley, author of Save the Child, about Juvenile Diabetes.
Margaret: Thank you for sharing your time with us today Brenda. When your son was diagnosed at age 5 with diabetes how did it affect your life and that of your family? i.e. – did you have to stop working? Did you need to hire a more medically astute caregiver?
Brenda: By the time my son was diagnosed with diabetes I was already published and working from home full-time. He’s never had any caregiver but me–a fact that’s brought us very close. One of the biggest changes in our lives was my sleep pattern. After having five kids and getting up in the night with all of them, I was finally able to sleep for a solid eight hours without interruption. Once Thad was diagnosed, it was like having an infant again. I’ve been getting up in the middle of the night for eight years to test his blood, so I only sleep in four-hour increments.
Margaret: How many are in the immediate family? How does your son’s diabetes affect them?
Brenda: There are seven of us–five children. The older girls have especially helped with Thad’s diabetes. They’re the ones who stay with him when I’m out of town and take up the night vigil of testing his blood. They’re careful not to ask for treats when he’s around. And every family prayer includes a plea that he will be able to take good care of himself and remain healthy.
Margaret: Eight years later your son is a teenager. With growth spurts and hormones blood sugar control can be even more challenging. Are there any particular routines or habits that you and your son have developed to help to control the blood sugars that work best for you?
Brenda: Frequent testing is about the only way to combat these rough patches. Suddenly, Thad’s numbers will be out of control, even though, just days before, his insulin-to-carb ratios were perfect. As an example, just recently, those ratios doubled! It was such a dramatic change that it took nearly a week for us to realize that he really did require that much more insulin. But it’s frightening to make such a big change because you fear bringing him too low, which can result in seizures, coma, even death.
Margaret: Does your son use an insulin pump? Does he feel it gives him more freedom or that it limits him? Why?
Brenda: Yes, he uses a pump. It gives him a lot more freedom. Without the pump he’d have to carry syringes everywhere he goes, and needles make other people extremely nervous. When he was little and didn’t have the pump, the parents of his friends never allowed him to stay for any length of time. They didn’t want to be responsible for those needles and what went on with them. The pump has taken that away. Although it means having something the size of a pager attached to his body at all times (feeding him insulin through a canula), Thad prefers the pump to carrying needles and insulin. Besides the convenience, the pump allows him so much more control over his glucose levels (because he can adjust more often). We love it (but I think it can be a harder transition for those who come to it when they are older).
