I'm back ... finally!
I'm back, Finally ...
I haven't been blogging for over 9 months as I was awfully busy at work, from the tasks of the new role I have taken up in Sriram's PTA, summer break for kids and finally our first overseas vacation in Europe. Basically, lots of things has happened in 2019.
To start with I'm really thankful to the Do-it-yourself Diabetes community that has enabled me to take up extra work with confidence. Sriram was diagnosed barely 3 months after he joined this elementary school. Therefore, I couldn't involve myself in any of the activities at school except for the weekly volunteering on Fridays and being a chaperone in field trips occasionally. I definitely have lot more time in my hands since Sriram started using the new artificial Pancreas system.
I got a call from Sriram's friend's dad in July 2019 asking if Senthil can join the PTA. Senthil changed his phone number that month and his friend's dad didn't have his new number. Senthil is already busy with Sriram's Cub scouts committee work and other activities related to his Pack. Therefore, I decided to volunteer. I think I have already mentioned in one of my previous blogs that I took up the role of communications VP last academic year(2018-19). This reduced the time I had to spend on this blog. Eventually, due to change in personnel in the board, I took up the role of Fundraising chair for this academic year (2019-20). I know that this role would be heavy in work load. But, I took it up because I enjoy working with other parent volunteers in that group.
Interestingly a number of board members are dealing with tons of challenges in their respective lives too. This includes, parents who have traveling spouses, parents who have travel for work, parents who has a child with a dangerous condition and always on the edge(its not only me), someone who is going through a rough medical diagnosis and parents who already have the everyday stress of dealing with work, multiple kids and crazy schedules. Sounds like a fun team? One thing that's common among everyone is the urge to give back to the school and thereby the community.
Volunteering at school is seen as an extra workload by many parents. It is absolutely true that its an extra time commitment and you will be held responsible for the things you do / don't do. But, one thing that's never mentioned and even overlooked upon is the fun part of it. For instance, I spent all day volunteering for an event at school last week. It was so refreshing and joyful to be with the kids the whole day. I live in a neighborhood that is full of kids attending our school. As a result, a sizable number of kids are familiar with me and are excited to see me at school. This feeling is mutual definitely. Thanks to my crazy weekend work schedules, I can take off some days as comp off when I had to be at school.
Also, I got a whole new perspective of people around me. The very first I thing I observed is the variety of reactions you get from various people for the exact piece and information. When I told the school secretary that I have joined the PTA board, she said "Are you going to do this on top of everything you already do?". I also got the response "Are you doing on top of the stuff you already do". When you read this, there isn't much of a difference in the verbage. The school secretary's reaction was extremely thankful, considerate and sincere. She has seen Sriram and the way I handle things since the first day of his diagnosis and of course every day until that point. But, I see the reaction from some of the other parents around me as snobby and ridiculing. The irony is the latter was getting as much benefits from my work as the former.
Now moving on to what we have been up to in the year of 2019 ...
Summer of 2019 was definitely a milestone for us as a family. Sriram attended his first DYF overnight camp at Camp De Los Ninos. This is the first time ever he was away from home alone. I was definitely more nervous than I thought I would be. The drop off was smooth. We saw some familiar faces during drop off. He seems to be fine. But, there was a void at home without Sriram. Pick up time is when Raghav and I felt this the most. Usually kids keep chatting or bickering when they come home. The car was very quite with out Sriram. Thats when Raghav would say, "I really miss Anna. Can we pick him up today?"
When we went to pick up Sriram back from the camp, he pretty much didn't show any emotion. I think Raghav was more emotional than Sriram that day. He didn't have any raving reviews about the camp like how other parents portray the camp. But, he didn't have any complaints either. The general consensus is that they always let kids' blood sugar run high during camp. But, I had the confidence that Loop, his artificial Pancreas system, would help in keeping his blood sugar at a reasonable level. And it did. His average blood sugar was about 140 for the period of those 5 days.
We got a letter and a camp group photo a week or two after he came back. I saw kind of surprised when I saw the photo. Sriram was only Indian kid in that group of 300 odd kids. Sriram never even mentioned this to me until I asked him. He is studying in a school with a majority of Indians right now. But, he was in a very diverse school in the first 2 years of his elementary years. I guess that experience has still stuck with him.
Our next big adventure was the Europe trip in July/August. I'm planning to post a separate blog post on this trip soon. Sriram started fifth grade year. Now, fast forward to November of 2019. Sriram is going to go on his first overnight trip with school in few weeks. We visited the camp site last week. The staff seems to be knowledgeable with Type 1 diabetes. Therefore, we are not going to send a nurse with him. This would be a real test for Sriram in how he handles his blood sugar all by himself. I won't be able to contact him while he is at camp as there is no cell phone reception in the facility. So, he is going to be unsupervised for the most part with respect to his diabetes.
Sriram is first kid with Type 1 from his school attending this camp. There was a fifth grader with Type 1 in our school last year and he skipped the camp. I can see why his family choose to do so. There is definitely a level of risk in sending him to this camp. But, I'm sure the benefits outweigh the risks. I'm really hoping that these experiences would give him the confidence that Diabetes will not be a show stopper for any of his goals.
To start with I'm really thankful to the Do-it-yourself Diabetes community that has enabled me to take up extra work with confidence. Sriram was diagnosed barely 3 months after he joined this elementary school. Therefore, I couldn't involve myself in any of the activities at school except for the weekly volunteering on Fridays and being a chaperone in field trips occasionally. I definitely have lot more time in my hands since Sriram started using the new artificial Pancreas system.
I got a call from Sriram's friend's dad in July 2019 asking if Senthil can join the PTA. Senthil changed his phone number that month and his friend's dad didn't have his new number. Senthil is already busy with Sriram's Cub scouts committee work and other activities related to his Pack. Therefore, I decided to volunteer. I think I have already mentioned in one of my previous blogs that I took up the role of communications VP last academic year(2018-19). This reduced the time I had to spend on this blog. Eventually, due to change in personnel in the board, I took up the role of Fundraising chair for this academic year (2019-20). I know that this role would be heavy in work load. But, I took it up because I enjoy working with other parent volunteers in that group.
Interestingly a number of board members are dealing with tons of challenges in their respective lives too. This includes, parents who have traveling spouses, parents who have travel for work, parents who has a child with a dangerous condition and always on the edge(its not only me), someone who is going through a rough medical diagnosis and parents who already have the everyday stress of dealing with work, multiple kids and crazy schedules. Sounds like a fun team? One thing that's common among everyone is the urge to give back to the school and thereby the community.
Volunteering at school is seen as an extra workload by many parents. It is absolutely true that its an extra time commitment and you will be held responsible for the things you do / don't do. But, one thing that's never mentioned and even overlooked upon is the fun part of it. For instance, I spent all day volunteering for an event at school last week. It was so refreshing and joyful to be with the kids the whole day. I live in a neighborhood that is full of kids attending our school. As a result, a sizable number of kids are familiar with me and are excited to see me at school. This feeling is mutual definitely. Thanks to my crazy weekend work schedules, I can take off some days as comp off when I had to be at school.
Also, I got a whole new perspective of people around me. The very first I thing I observed is the variety of reactions you get from various people for the exact piece and information. When I told the school secretary that I have joined the PTA board, she said "Are you going to do this on top of everything you already do?". I also got the response "Are you doing on top of the stuff you already do". When you read this, there isn't much of a difference in the verbage. The school secretary's reaction was extremely thankful, considerate and sincere. She has seen Sriram and the way I handle things since the first day of his diagnosis and of course every day until that point. But, I see the reaction from some of the other parents around me as snobby and ridiculing. The irony is the latter was getting as much benefits from my work as the former.
Now moving on to what we have been up to in the year of 2019 ...
Summer of 2019 was definitely a milestone for us as a family. Sriram attended his first DYF overnight camp at Camp De Los Ninos. This is the first time ever he was away from home alone. I was definitely more nervous than I thought I would be. The drop off was smooth. We saw some familiar faces during drop off. He seems to be fine. But, there was a void at home without Sriram. Pick up time is when Raghav and I felt this the most. Usually kids keep chatting or bickering when they come home. The car was very quite with out Sriram. Thats when Raghav would say, "I really miss Anna. Can we pick him up today?"
When we went to pick up Sriram back from the camp, he pretty much didn't show any emotion. I think Raghav was more emotional than Sriram that day. He didn't have any raving reviews about the camp like how other parents portray the camp. But, he didn't have any complaints either. The general consensus is that they always let kids' blood sugar run high during camp. But, I had the confidence that Loop, his artificial Pancreas system, would help in keeping his blood sugar at a reasonable level. And it did. His average blood sugar was about 140 for the period of those 5 days.
Our next big adventure was the Europe trip in July/August. I'm planning to post a separate blog post on this trip soon. Sriram started fifth grade year. Now, fast forward to November of 2019. Sriram is going to go on his first overnight trip with school in few weeks. We visited the camp site last week. The staff seems to be knowledgeable with Type 1 diabetes. Therefore, we are not going to send a nurse with him. This would be a real test for Sriram in how he handles his blood sugar all by himself. I won't be able to contact him while he is at camp as there is no cell phone reception in the facility. So, he is going to be unsupervised for the most part with respect to his diabetes.
Sriram is first kid with Type 1 from his school attending this camp. There was a fifth grader with Type 1 in our school last year and he skipped the camp. I can see why his family choose to do so. There is definitely a level of risk in sending him to this camp. But, I'm sure the benefits outweigh the risks. I'm really hoping that these experiences would give him the confidence that Diabetes will not be a show stopper for any of his goals.
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