I embarrassed myself with our new babysitter yesterday. But it was for a good reason. Tell you more about that in a minute. First, a little background.
Finding childcare these days is tough enough, but when you've got a kid with a chronic condition like type 1 diabetes, it gets a little more complicated. When we find babysitters willing to help, we treasure them!
Our providers have to know how to check blood sugar, count carbs, use the insulin pump and watch for highs and lows. That's along with all the regular babysitter stuff, like engaging the kids, enforcing bedtime and knowing how to work our TV (actually, that's more complicated than Benny's pump!). Until now, we've taught them all the diabetes stuff they need to know and we've been incredibly lucky to have one sitter who has type 1 herself and another with a medical background.
You can imagine how thrilled I was to find out about the upcoming Caregiver Retreat in Charlotte. Animas, the company that makes Benny's pump, is offering it later this month. It's free. It's geared toward grandparent, babysitters, coaches, teachers, anyone who helps care for a kid with type 1. This is the very first time it's being offered, anywhere in the country. Did I mention it's free?
It's the evening of Friday September 18th and all day Saturday September 19th at the Renaissance Hotel in Charlotte. Click here for all the information. Again, it's free, but they do ask that you register.
Apparently, this came about after Dr. Mark Parker with Pediatric Endocrinology pushed for it because of all the questions from patient families. What a mensch. He's the keynote speaker at the conference.
So here's where it got embarassing for me. I asked a potential sitter to check it out. When she told me she was excited to go, I burst into tears. We were in front of a whole bunch of people and I just started tearing up. Everyone wanted to know what was wrong. Turns out everything was very right.
It's hard to describe how much it means that people are willing to learn about diabetes to help care for my kids. I'm sure it will get easier as Benny gets older and can use his own pump, check his own blood sugar. But right now, he needs more than a sitter. He needs a helper. And how lucky are we that Animas, Dr. Parker and so many others want to help.
My brother made a point of walking my son through his blood-sugar check and learning how to work his insulin pump while I was chasing our youngest at a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party last week. It really means a lot when the people we love reach out in this way.
Wish I could be there tonight. But the whole family (including my folks) will be out tomorrow. Now I'm going to call Renaissance Suites and see if they have wi-fi. *crossing fingers*
Posted by: Tom Parks | September 18, 2009 at 10:03 AM