Being Trusted Is An Honor

Since our first diagnosis, I have checked blood sugars on many, many finger tips.  For a while, it was almost like a party game of 'where do you think your blood sugar is at' - that is until we stumbled across one situation where a child had elevated blood sugars.  The new rule is that parents must be present to participate!

There have also been times where I have been asked to assist with injections, both for diabetes (new patients and patients that wanted to try an injection in a hard-to-reach area) and non-diabetes related medical procedures (I had a friend that needed fertility injections and asked that I help until she felt more comfortable).

For the second time, I was asked to do a CGM start-up insertion on a child that wasn't mine.

It's truly an honor.

Someone trusts you enough that they are willing to let you care for their child in the most of delicate ways.  It's not exactly like a finger poke or even a syringe or pen injection.  There is a layer of emotion wrapped around the idea of getting a CGM site.  Partly because it is new and unfamiliar and also because it looks as scary as can be - no one wants a two inch needle to be injected into their delicate tissue.  That just seems WRONG.

Since raising my girls through many years of T1d pokes, prods and pinches - because this is the way T1d is treated - my level of sensitivity to those feelings is continuously set to high.  I know without being told that it's a huge honor to be asked to help and that my job is to create a learning atmosphere that is surrounded with compassion and empathy.

Because when you examine the situation, it's a full-blown testament of a parent's trust in your ability to perform T1d care in a way that will potentially help a child achieve healthy and safe blood sugar numbers, while simultaneously, fostering a postive attitude towards long term T1D self-management.

After we were done and as my little friend left, his arms full of new fun items like a bottle of silly string and T1d storage bag, he smiled and waved at me - a sure sign that it went well and a wonderful look ahead to his future.  He's got this!