12 Years

Twelve years ago today we sat in a hospital room with our 4 year old daughter ready- well, "ready" or not- to start our new life with T1.  I remember the little blonde, blue eyed baby who would giggle every time Dr. T would come near her.  She was so ticklish!  She insisted on a band aide after each fingerpoke and her little fingers held every color of fluorescent by the end of the day.  It feels like yesterday and when I think of it, my heart still clenches the same way and I wish I could rewind the clock to take back all the pain this nasty disease would or could cause her. Some days are so much harder than others - there is always kind of a roller coaster - weeks of good and weeks of  anger and weeks of coasting.  In retrospect, I can honestly say I believe, in general,  she has laughed more than she has cried and that is amazing to me!   I am very proud of her and her determination not to let this disease control her life.  In recent weeks, I have noticed even more of a change in her, a maturity.  She recently  met with our nutritionist and came out of the meeting smiling!  I can't remember the last time we left the clinic with a smile.  She was excited about making healthy eating choices and had recently begun to work out with a friend on a regular basis.  The other night, she asked me if I wanted to listen to her speech for English.  It was about Diabetes and focused largely on the lack of education and money available for treatment world wide-  particularly in developing countries. Here is the link to the video she included: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi-QAcZAH7Q.   It is very enlightening and heartbreaking.  It makes us count our blessings.  Twelve years later, our baby is still active, still healthy, still giggling when Dr. T needs to examine her.  Twelve years later, she meets the T1 challenge every day and she is teaching others.  With knowledge is power and progress- I wonder where we will be 12 years from now?