Adjusting to a Diabetic Life
I'm steaming mad after reading a story in the Philadelphia Inquirer.. Here it is.
Basically, this 15-year-old kid is trying to take care of his diabetes and have the best results possible. Great. Good for him. Apparently, he has some issue with higher morning spikes in the morning post-breakfast and uses his gym class days (which fall on 2 of the 6 school days) to help keep them down. Great. Good job on that. However, on those NON-gym days, rather than ADJUSTING his own routine or schedules to accomodate reading class, he would rather skip those basic skills' courses and have his own gym class, since he's diabetic.
His parents are battling the school district, which has bent over backwards to accomodate this kid but doesn't see the merit in singling him out and offering him his own gym class, while everyone else is in reading class.
UPDATE FROM NOVEMBER 2009: School district caves and allows this nonsense.
These whiners need to be schooled. It's called adjusting the kid's breakfast intake, or even his basal or bolus rate based on the life routine. How in the hell is this kid ever going to go on to a real life - college, real job, etc. - when he can't adjust to this simple little thing??
When I was diagnosed at age 5, my mom fought the world to make sure I was adequately cared for. This was back in the mid-80s, when diabetes care wasn't what it is today. She fought to make sure I was cared for, but also that I wasn't unnecessarily singled out from the other kids - even though there was an obvious difference like a huge elephant in the room. But I could eat some crackers or do what was needed to adjust, ACCORDING TO THE SCHOOL ROUTINE I HAD. Not once did she make the school change its routine to accomodate me, if there was another way to do it.
Just what we need this family to do: single out diabetics who need even more special treatment than we already have. Kids who already feel different and outcast don't need another reason to feel different, and this family is too damn stupid and caught with their heads up their own behinds to realize the significance of their arrogance.
I'm hoping that this blog ranting will calm me down to the point where I'm not itching to find their address and telephone number and scream at them, by voice or in writing. These people are morons, and I hope other diabetic kids and families don't take their ass-backwards lead.
Basically, this 15-year-old kid is trying to take care of his diabetes and have the best results possible. Great. Good for him. Apparently, he has some issue with higher morning spikes in the morning post-breakfast and uses his gym class days (which fall on 2 of the 6 school days) to help keep them down. Great. Good job on that. However, on those NON-gym days, rather than ADJUSTING his own routine or schedules to accomodate reading class, he would rather skip those basic skills' courses and have his own gym class, since he's diabetic.
His parents are battling the school district, which has bent over backwards to accomodate this kid but doesn't see the merit in singling him out and offering him his own gym class, while everyone else is in reading class.
UPDATE FROM NOVEMBER 2009: School district caves and allows this nonsense.
These whiners need to be schooled. It's called adjusting the kid's breakfast intake, or even his basal or bolus rate based on the life routine. How in the hell is this kid ever going to go on to a real life - college, real job, etc. - when he can't adjust to this simple little thing??
When I was diagnosed at age 5, my mom fought the world to make sure I was adequately cared for. This was back in the mid-80s, when diabetes care wasn't what it is today. She fought to make sure I was cared for, but also that I wasn't unnecessarily singled out from the other kids - even though there was an obvious difference like a huge elephant in the room. But I could eat some crackers or do what was needed to adjust, ACCORDING TO THE SCHOOL ROUTINE I HAD. Not once did she make the school change its routine to accomodate me, if there was another way to do it.
Just what we need this family to do: single out diabetics who need even more special treatment than we already have. Kids who already feel different and outcast don't need another reason to feel different, and this family is too damn stupid and caught with their heads up their own behinds to realize the significance of their arrogance.
I'm hoping that this blog ranting will calm me down to the point where I'm not itching to find their address and telephone number and scream at them, by voice or in writing. These people are morons, and I hope other diabetic kids and families don't take their ass-backwards lead.
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