Diabetes & Triathlons

I've posted before about diabetes and noticing that familiar tubing and realizing that it's connected to a pump, and the person wearing it is a diabetic, and then there's that connection that you just kind of have, not spoken, of course. Unless you're like me and decide to strike up a conversation about it.

Must be like moms of twins - they see another mom who is either pregnant expecting two, or has two little ones in tow....and they have a connection. Because let's face it, no matter how many children you've had and birthed, nothing can compare to have multiples in your tummy at one time. That's a whole 'nother league as far as I'm concerned. Our biggest baby was 10 pounds, 9 ounces and that was alooootta baby let me tell you!! I can't imagine have two babies, at birth, weighing in nicely, early none the less, at 6 pounds and change each!

This is life... you take what you are given, you work with it, complain here and there if you have to.... you smile, be thankful for what you have and are given and go on.

Pregnancies. Children. Diabetes.

At the Niantic Triathlon this past Sunday, Louse, the perceptive fella he is, pointed out a young man near us getting ready to head down for the start of the race, testing his sugar! In Providence Louse noticed a girl doing the same thing - before a half ironman! I always have that hesitation -- do I step in and acknowledge it, do I back off, do I just admire their courage, do I pretend not to notice....?

I was so nervous that morning, and I kind of felt a little mother voice inside me saying, Just go...make sure he is OK and his number is good before he starts his swim. It's not my business, I know, and I'm not his mother. I think he was younger than me, and he looked very physically fit, lean....completely relaxed, doing his finger prick. I couldn't stand it. I wanted to know his plan.

I went over, bent down and told him I noticed him testing. I said, My daughter is type 1. He perked right up, stood up, and we briefly touched on all the basics ... he wears a minimed too, I saw him disconnect and carefully roll the tubing around the pump before he packed it away, just like I do with Betsey's.

He's lived 17 years with diabetes....

His number was 115 before the race; he was going to have juice and a snack, a little lower than he'd like to start but he was ok with it...

He doesn't wear the sensor, his insurance doesn't cover it, and he gave me that familiar "frustrated insurance shrug" but he was fine about it...

Adrenaline makes him spike high typically...

He had done triathlons before...

And by the way, he was Peter.

Deep breath. I was nervous for him. Part of me wanted to stay with him for the event. Make sure he was OK for the swim, to make sure he was OK after the swim, find him on the bike, make sure he was going to have a nibble.... I know I'm not his mother. But part of me felt like mothering him. Strange and hard to explain. Because he was completely and totally 110% confident and capable. He was in control. I couldn't wait to tell Betsey!

After the race, I passed by him in the crowd -- I stopped him to congratulate him and asked him how he felt. Couldn't help it. I stopped short of saying, Let's get your meter, sit down, let's get the insulin and sugars just in case...

I pointed Betsey out to him across the beach and he was eager to go and introduce himself. He was happy to chat about it with me prior, not offended at my intrusion into his "diabetes space" and he was very gracious and sweet.

Something like this on a "diabetes level" makes me so relieved to know that as Betsey grows, and as we've encountered people with diabetes doing such events, that one day, she can do all this too. Just because from time to time there are restrictions on things she does, and how she does them, when she can do them, overall, she can do whatever she wants with proper control and healthy living. What a remarkable young man Peter is, and a great positive role model for all children and adults, type 1 or not.

As I packed up my bike in the transition area, Betsey pointed out one of nurses from Clinic! She, too, had done the race! Betsey has a competitive streak in her and I think this got her wheels turning... One day, I betcha she does a kids tri! I have a feeling.....