Newly Diagnosed...

When Lily was newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, our world was flopped upside down and sideways. Seriously. I knew nothing about the disease. I knew nothing about how to care for her. I was, and still do, have a pretty horrible fear of needles so it took an intervention from God to get me to stab one into first, her little fingers, and second, her skin. I remember going up to the patient library at the hospital and using their Internet. The first site I found was www.childrenwithdiabetes.com

I got on this site and found a ton of resourceful information on type 1 diabetes...what it is, how to cope, how to manage it, other organizations to look into, research updates, etc. So, I scanned through the site. It was there that I discovered the JDRF. I then went to their Houston site and I called Molly, the director. I told her our story and that I had been trying any other family in Houston to talk to. I was scared. I was in a new territory where I had no clue as how to educate myself on it.

Since then, I have used the Children with Diabetes website as a great resource in finding useful information. I found a lot of the blogs that I now read daily on the site. I have been to two of their conferences and both were truly amazing experiences. I got to meet some other bloggers that had been a source of comfort for me to read their writing...like Kerri at Six Until Me, Lee Ann at the Butter Compartment and Scott at Scott's Diabetes. These folks led me to the friends I have now that are parents of a PWD. I was able to meet the folks behind the CWD and wow...they sure know how to make us feel welcome into their family.

I now refer almost all of the newly diagnosed families I come in contact with to the CWD. You can find any bit of knowledge you need on one site. I would also encourage anyone who has not gone to one of their conferences to GO! It is an experience for the whole family that is like no other!

Living with diabetes daily is hard...and it's no joke...and it can be exhausting...but I have always said, the alternative of living without Lily is not option. I want to state for the record though that although diabetes is always present (especially when I work in the field I do), it is not our everything. It is our necessity. And that's okay...but it doesn't make it any easier!