Will she wake up?

I was asked today if my daughter had the “serious kind” of diabetes.

It is a question we have been asked before, and I always struggle to answer.

Am sure all Type 2 diabetics take their diabetes seriously, and to be honest, I don’t know a huge amount about the life of a Type 2 Diabetic.

Because my daughter has Type 1  – the one that is seen as, the serious kind.

Image courtsey of Shutterstock

Yet, I responded, and neither confirmed nor denied her question.  I merely stated she was Type 1, therefore dependent on insulin to survive.

The lady was lovely, she patted my arm, and wished me well for the day, and as she left, she gave me a smile, with a parting comment of…

At least it’s not life threatening, it could be worse.

She doesn’t know….

She doesn’t know that since the day Molly was diagnosed there has not been a single morning that I haven’t woken up and listened for the sound of my Type 1 warrior in the room next door.

Any sound.

Her feet swinging out of bed, a yell at her brother entering her room, a gentle snore, an unattractive snort, music pumping from her stereo.

Any sound.

Do you know why?

Because it means she is alive.

It feels horrendous even typing the words.

For four years, I have avoiding typing the words.

But it is a truth that needs to be told.

For many Type 1 parents, the first waking thought is to their Type 1 child, and are they still breathing?

It still feels horrendous to type the words.

But it is true.

Because hypoglycemia can, in rare cases kill.

The secret truth of Type 1 diabetes.

The bit we rarely talk about.

Then for a real bite on the arse….

High blood sugars can do the same.

In rare cases.

When it is your child, you pay attention to the rare cases.  You live the days waging a war against blood sugars and it doesn’t stop when they sleep.

But you need sleep too, and when you allow that to happen, I can only share how I feel upon waking.

Is she ok, is she fine, what are her blood sugars?

And I consider myself to a relaxed Type 1 mum.

It could be worse, most things could always be worse.  But I am tired of waking up scared, I don’t want Type 1 to be a hereditary condition in my daughters life, where she wakes one day, thinking the same.

It is time for a cure.