Comments on: Day 7 - Tenth Camp Blog Post (Final Post - Session 1)

By: Stacey

Stacey — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 01:11:54 +0000

I am the younger of the two kids in my family. I was 6 and my brother was 9 when he was diagnosed. Growing up with a brother who is diabetic leveled the playing field in our house. Everyone always says that the “baby” in the family gets spoiled and gets all the attention. The needs of my brother’s illness offset a lot of the attention. There were special diets and only certain things that he could or would eat. There were boiling glass syringes and needles (yes, this was back in the stone ages of the mid 60’s). in our family it was a team effort and we all did what we needed to do to keep my brother healthy. I think that made us stronger as a family. Even though we are all grown up we get along very well, and I still think he a pretty great big brother. His compassion and understanding of this disease has made him also made him a really great doctor.

By: Jody

Jody — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 17:38:00 +0000

I am a parent and didn’t grow up with a diabetic sibling either, but I often notice that our son’s disease unintentionally dictates the house. Meaning if he is having problems my attention is on him even if something is scheduled for his sisters. His sisters are young and very sweet, but I feel that sometimes they may feel “pushed aside” I think it would be wonderful to have some sort of program for them. Please post if you know of one.

By: MJ Kiefer

MJ Kiefer — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 16:03:27 +0000

how did…growing up with a diabetic sibling affect you as a child? Did it permanently affect your relationship with your diabetic brother or sister?

I did not have a diabetic sibling, so my teen-aged daughter included her reply instead:

I haven’t found it that hard…he’s always been a brat! And blood sugars don’t change much there. It hasn’t really affected my relationship with my brother (type 1) we’ve always been good friends. He’s the same person. Diabetes didn’t change him, even though he does get low, and grumpy, but I can’t tell between his lows and him just being a pre-teen.

As for the attention, I don’t count having to put his site back on or the extra concern he receives, like in the middle of the night when mom has to check on him, as positive attention. None of this is extra attention taken away from me.

I give credit to my brother, because he really doesn’t expect special attention due to his diabetes. He doesn’t expect me to take care of him, or baby him, even when his numbers are high or low.

The only time his diabetes affects our relationship, is when we’re playing some game (Wii or other) and he gets really mad about losing or how the game turns out. But that could be the case even without diabetes.

So, I don’t see growing up with my brother’s diabetes anything but normal.