"He's A Bad Boy"

About 3 weeks ago I spent the day skiing and at the end of the day as my oldest son and I were getting ready to leave we overheard a commotion next to us.
"Where is it?"
"I don't know..."
"Where could it be??"
"I had it on, and it must have just fallen off..it has to be on the mountain somewhere"
"We HAVE to find it.."

I interrupted and asked, "Did you misplace something?"

The family looked over (panicked) and replied, "an insulin pump."

I pointed to my waist and revealed my minimed and said, "like this?"

A look of understanding set in, "yes, exactly like that."

We struck up a conversation and I inquired about how long my younger comrade had been diabetic, his readings, and his overall health. Shortly thereafter, they asked if they could use my meter, as his meter was also gone. 5 seconds later we saw a '304,' and I told him I had a spare needle and Novolog if needed. I pressed on about his diabetes management when out of the blue a relative spoke up and said,

"He's a bad boy."

Frankly, my heart sunk and I was mutually embarrassed (he's 16), and devastated for this young man. I turned to his relative and emphatically said,

"No, He's Not."

It's hard enough being a teenager. But when you add in the challenge of trying to control and effectively manage a disease that reacts negatively to stress, hormones, and every other developmental stage of growing up, it compounds the difficulty of becoming an adult.

Maybe it was the years of being scolded by doctors and nurses who could not understand how hard it was to try your best and still 'fail' at attaining normal blood sugars. Or maybe it was the absurdity of defining a young mans character, his essence, his fragile identity by something as fickle as blood sugars. (I wonder how many of us would be 'good' if all of our life struggles were measured and displayed for others to see?) Maybe it was all of that, and more.

Regardless of why I felt so strongly, I feel equally as compelled to say (and keep saying), your blood sugars do not define you! Sure we could all do better (not just at diabetes management, but everything in life), but lets not be too quick to judge one another when we simply have no idea what their struggle may be.

No, he's not a bad boy. He's a young man coping with a devastatingly deceptive disease that will turn him in to a strong man that is more in tune with his health than most others.

I challenge each person reading this blog to be an encourager to your diabetic friends, family members, or even yourselves! The world is full of enough discouragement, let's agree to help build one another up, even when we stumble and fall!

Until next time, keep pumpin'....

(P.S. His pump was later located on the mountain!)