Ruby is 6 years old and will be part of our Got Insulin calendar series. This is her story submitted by her mum Ashlee.
How long you have been T1D Diagnosed November 13 2010, nearly four years.
How you treat your T1D (pump, injections) three shots a day on two different insulins, pen shot and syringes.
Your story/thoughts on living with T1D
As Ruby's mother I can tell her story, it was the most devastating and overwhelming thing to see a 2 year old being held down by five different people so they could get the lines in. She was so dehydrated they had to put them in both arms and legs as they couldn't find veins for ages. She was in the ICU overnight and was hallucinating, she didn't even know who I was, at that point I felt like the worst parent in the world, that it had gotten to that stage. We were told if she had come in a few hours later it would have been too late. She was in the hospital for a week, three other kids had been diagnosed around the same time as her and she was the eldest.
Its been nearly four years and she is coping well, a happy and healthy primary school student.
In fact, since she started school her routine has become much easier and the school is so good with her, they record her readings for me to take to her checkups. She knows she is different to the other kids, I have to go in at lunch time and give her her shot, all the kids know me and see me, its normal for them now. But I'm afraid of the first time she asks to have a sleep over or go to a birthday party where all the kids will have sugar filled cake and lollies. She is coping well, she doesn't know anything else, she understands that she can get sick if she eats too much sugar or not enough but being a picky six year old its still a battle.
I wish I could take it on myself, its been a battle and I know I will always worry about her, even when she is an adult. I still wake up in the middle of the night scared that she won't ever wake up, but I guess that will be something that will happen until a cure is found.
How long you have been T1D Diagnosed November 13 2010, nearly four years.
How you treat your T1D (pump, injections) three shots a day on two different insulins, pen shot and syringes.
Your story/thoughts on living with T1D
As Ruby's mother I can tell her story, it was the most devastating and overwhelming thing to see a 2 year old being held down by five different people so they could get the lines in. She was so dehydrated they had to put them in both arms and legs as they couldn't find veins for ages. She was in the ICU overnight and was hallucinating, she didn't even know who I was, at that point I felt like the worst parent in the world, that it had gotten to that stage. We were told if she had come in a few hours later it would have been too late. She was in the hospital for a week, three other kids had been diagnosed around the same time as her and she was the eldest.
Its been nearly four years and she is coping well, a happy and healthy primary school student.
In fact, since she started school her routine has become much easier and the school is so good with her, they record her readings for me to take to her checkups. She knows she is different to the other kids, I have to go in at lunch time and give her her shot, all the kids know me and see me, its normal for them now. But I'm afraid of the first time she asks to have a sleep over or go to a birthday party where all the kids will have sugar filled cake and lollies. She is coping well, she doesn't know anything else, she understands that she can get sick if she eats too much sugar or not enough but being a picky six year old its still a battle.
I wish I could take it on myself, its been a battle and I know I will always worry about her, even when she is an adult. I still wake up in the middle of the night scared that she won't ever wake up, but I guess that will be something that will happen until a cure is found.