WifeMomPancreas

As is commonly the case when dealing with diabetics, especially newly diagnosed children with diabetes, today got totally derailed.  First of all I forgot that my husband had to leave early today and he usually does the morning routine at our house (yes, I know, he is a saint, blah, blah, blah).  You know, that brings up another thing that irritates me (referring back to my Ground Rules and Disclaimers post).  My husband wakes up early.  Always has, always will.  He tries to sleep in, but he just can’t.  It’s his natural circadian  rhythm.  I am a night owl and loathe, LOATHE, getting out of bed in the morning.  So this works for our family.  But I get so tired of people thinking that he is a saint, and I am some kind of slacker, loser who is so LUCKY to be married to him.  I mean, I am lucky to be married to him, for lots of reasons, and although we have been through some rough times, I love him.  But why should he get some kind of award because he gets up in the morning and takes care of HIS kids? What, is this 1952?  Oh, and you know what else?  He does laundry, and dishes, too.  And, most of the cooking falls in his department (although microwaving hot dogs and making Bosco sticks in the toaster oven isn’t EXACTLY cooking, but I will take it).  (Neither of us is very good at cleaning.  I “pick up” a lot and clean toilets daily, but the rest of the house…..well, just don’t come over unannounced please).  But do you know why he does all of this?  BECAUSE THIS IS HIS HOUSE AND HIS FAMILY, TOO, AND WE BOTH WORK FULL-TIME AND I DO A MILLION OTHER THINGS THAT HE CAN’T BEGIN TO ACCOMPLISH BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT HIS STRENGTHS!!!!!  Housework is not my strength and he complains about the way I do laundry.  So, I pay all the bills, go through all the mail and kids backpacks, schedule everyone’s appointments, make sure everyone has their permission slips for field trips and are signed up for soccer and have their order forms for school picture day, make sure to refill everyone’s prescriptions, keep in contact with all 3 kids’ teachers about their grades, homework and projects, check-in with the diabetes educators and talk to the school nurse several times a day, etc., etc., etc.,  and he does the household chores.  That is what works for us. GET OVER IT EVERYONE!  Now, all that being said, I AM very thankful that he realizes that he should take some of the responsibility in keeping this household running, as I know that some husbands still think it is 1952 and that their wives should do it all.  But this is the bain of my existence, of most women I’m sure.  No matter how hard I try to “do it all”  I just can’t.  And all I want is for someone to acknowledge what I do get done and appreciate me for it.

WOW!  I really needed to get that off my chest.  Whew, now where was I?  Oh yes, my day got derailed (much like this post just did)!  So my husband left early and I had already let my exhausted self sleep a little more this morning so now I was going to be late to work since I had to take care of Medium and all of his medical issues this morning.  I needed to jump in the shower, but instead I had to go downstairs and count carbs and stab my child with a needle.  Then stalk him to make sure he ate all of his breakfast and then have him wash it down with his ADHD medicine (oh yeah, did I mention that along with having T1D, Medium also has ADHD.  He was diagnosed the summer before first grade and we tried everything we could to keep him off medication but nothing worked and we started him on meds three years ago.  I HATE, HATE, HATE him on his ADHD meds and we have tried different meds and doses over the years, but the fact is, that he needs them.  With them he is a self-controlled, respectful, straight A student (albeit without any personality-the part I HATE), without the meds he is an out-of-control, flight of ideas, jibber jabberer who makes impulsive decisions and disrupts his classroom.  The idea is that he will learn what self-contol feels like on the meds so that one day, we will be able to take away the meds and he will still be able to control himself.  Yeah, that’s the idea. I don’t buy it.)  Anyway, back to the derailment of my day.  Of course he misses the bus so I have to take him to school and of course he is late so I have to park and walk him inside.  But that’s okay, it gives me a chance to say hello to my new best friend, the school nurse.  Now I am late to work. Ugh.  I manage a couple of hours of work before I get an email from my new BFF, the school nurse.  “Medium’s blood sugar is 310”.  Whoa! We haven’t been in the 300’s since right after diagnosis.  This information along with the fact that he told me he was super thirsty when I checked him at 3 a.m. had me a little worried and I thought it best that we check his ketones.  But of course we don’t have ketostix (the strips you use to test for ketones) at school.  So I left work, drove home to get the ketostix and went back up to see my new BFF, the school nurse.  Medium peed in a cup, I dipped the stick in, and 30 seconds later, ta-da, no ketones.  Big sigh of relief.  My boss let me work from home for the rest of the day instead of driving the 30 minutes back to the office.  I was able to work in peace and quiet all afternoon and get my day back on track…..until the next curve ball anyway.