Natalie's Endo Vet Clinic

Natalie & her newly diagnosed dolphin, Echo

Our house is turning into an Endo Clinic for animals....stuffed animals that is.  Natalie received her frog, Toby, from the hospital when she was diagnosed.  She decided right away that he has Type 1 diabetes as well.  She checks his blood sugar, gives him shots, and counts his carbs.  At the time of her diagnosis, she loved frogs.  Now she loves dolphins and whales and all sea life.  She now has a whale, named Wilma, who also has Type 1 diabetes.  For Christmas she received another dolphin which she named Echo (as in Echolocation).  Yes, I know way more than I ever thought I would about dolphins, whales, and sharks.  Just yesterday as she was playing with Echo, I heard her say that Echo also has Type 1 Diabetes.  I said, "What?  When did that happen?  She didn't have it on Christmas when you got her??"  She matter of factly said, "Just yesterday, on Sunday, she got it."  She then went to work creating a meter for Echo made out of paper.  The meter is shaped like a peanut just like our Accu-Check Aviva meter.  The strip is quite large and she even colored it red for the dolphin's blood.  Lovely.

A while ago I heard Natalie and Jacob playing together and she had her gazillion stuffed animals with her.  It sounded like she was arguing with Jacob about one of them needing a shot.  I walked closer to hear the conversation better and she was insisting to Jacob that Fredbird (her stuffed Cardinals mascot) needed his insulin shot.  She said that if Fredbird did not get his insulin shot he was going to get very sick! For the next couple days, it seems this is all she did when she played with her animals.  She was always giving them shots of some sort, both insulin and flu shots.  She once told me, "Buzz Lightyear does not have diabetes because he is a powerful space ranger!"

Would you like to know more about Wilma and how she manages her diabetes?  Well, Natalie would love to tell you that Wilma has a pump.  Natalie describes it as "the kind that she does not have to change (wouldn't that be nice?), but it still keeps working, and its color is blue camouflage." 

Just today Natalie told me that Echo was on target all day.  She said that Echo also wears a pump because she is 7 and she is too old for shots.  Natalie used to say when she was 6 she might want a pump.  Since she has turned 6 she is not so sure (fine by me).  Very interesting the things I learn about possibly how she feels when she talks to me about her animals with diabetes!

When Natalie started school this year, she gave me instructions each day on how to take care of her animals.  I think she sensed I wasn't doing a very good job, because she began making their pretend sandwiches and putting them in her play kitchen refrigerator.  She told me that all I had to do was get it out of the refrigerator and give it to them at lunch time.  Eventually, I was fired from that job and she said they could get their lunch themselves.  One night she said, "You don't have to do anything for Wilma while I'm at school because I already wrote all her carbs down for her and she can do her pump herself."  Sometimes when I'm figuring out her carbs, she also writes down the carbs for her animals.  She told me that Toby the frog also takes care of Wilma at "Book Club" which takes place when she comes home from school.  She said that if Wilma ever feels low she can ask Toby what to eat because he is 12 and knows everything about diabetes.  So I guess age 12 is the magical age in her eyes that someone with diabetes can take care of themselves.

Natalie & Mr. Fluffy Pants

Over the summer she received a blue Flamingo thanks to a friend of ours who apparently thought we didn't have enough stuffed animals in the house.  She named him Mr. Fluffy Pants.  At first I was excited since learning of the Diabetes Dude and how he uses blue flamingos to raise awareness about Type 1, until I saw the BIG size of this flamingo.  We have since returned it to our friend, although I'm sure we haven't seen the last of it.  I'm sure Natalie would be traumatized to see him hanging from our friend's basketball hoop in their driveway as Eddie and I left it late one night.  One day I found her holding the flamingos beak shut because she said he was crying too loud!  She was giving him a flu shot.  Real nice.  No, I do not hold her mouth shut when she cries!  Apparently she thinks it is okay if her animals with diabetes cry about their shots, but the ones without diabetes are not allowed to cry.  Interesting.  She doesn't even use the normal shot from her play Dr.'s kit.  She uses a wooden screw from her tool box and a hammer to tap the shot in!

A friend of mine who practices counseling thinks this type of play for her is normal and healthy.  She even said she thinks it is beautiful that she is just imitating how she sees me care for her.  This way of life is normal to her.  Well, that makes me feel a little better, but it still is sad for me to hear and watch her playing like this.  There is no escape from diabetes.  It worms its way into every aspect of her life even when she plays.  Here's to hoping no more of her stuffed animals are diagnosed with diabetes this year!

D-Mommas, do your kids with diabetes play like this too?