FYI: Saliva has nothing to do with Type 1 Diabetes

It’s been a relatively uneventful couple of weeks. Alex has had fairly stable numbers with her blood sugar readings, we got her A1C report which went up .1 this quarter to 7.4 (not too terrible, but we’re still tweaking with split Lantus and stuff), and we went for her quarterly appointment with the doctor. Kind of boring stuff. Don’t get me wrong – I like boring, especially when it comes to diabetes! I’ll take boring any day of the week over any kind of blood sugar-induced excitement.

The other day, we had something non-boring occur. Sly, the kids and I met with a very nice young woman from Vancouver, B.C. who is doing a research paper for her Master’s degree. Jillian’s a student at the London School of Economics which, if memory serves me correctly, is a pretty “decent” school. Her report is to be on the psycho-social aspects of youth with Type 1 diabetes in developing countries – kind of a comparison of the support network. She read this blog and contacted me and wondered if we’d be available for an interview. Boy, would we?! You know me; I’ve always got a lot to say, especially about diabetes care in Ghana.

So, after a late start getting to the restaurant (you know “us” Ghanaians, late for everything!), we finally arrived at 11:15 at Chicken Lickin’ in Osu. Jillian arrived a few minutes later (her driver got lost) and after the formalities we sat down to order drinks and food.

First things first; Alex had to check her sugar. Alex displayed all of her diabetes prowess with flawless execution of a sugar check and an insulin injection. A single unit was enough to keep her in range since this restaurant serves Coca Cola Light. A few minutes after the drinks arrived and the food placed before us Jillian whipped out something that brought Alex to a halt: An insulin pen. Yup, Jillian also has Type 1 Diabetes, and has had it for about 5 years. And Alex very rarely gets to see someone with D up close and personal like that. Jillian gave herself her shot in the thigh, and that had Alex propelling herself to my side of the table. “Mom,” she whispered, “she didn’t do an air squirt!” “Why didn’t she?” I suggested Alex ask her, but Alex was still a little too shy into the meeting to do it. But that question niggled Alex for quite a while, apparently, because she eventually did get up the courage to ask. Jillian didn’t realize she was “supposed” to air squirt.

So we all chit-chatted for a little while, feeling each other out, so to speak, and that Jillian got down to the nitty gritty: the interview (which, of course, was the reason she was here after all). Sly signed her release form, Jillian clicked on her recorder and we started. Oh, we had a lot to say and I won’t go into it in detail here (I know, you’re thinking, “thank God!”). I’ve really said it all before.

But after a while it was time to interview Alex, who was very excited with the prospect of signing her (own) release form, and talking (directly) into the recorder. There were lots of standard questions, and some standard responses. Alex was right when she answered that Type 1 Diabetes is a disease that you get and you didn’t do anything to get it, and that it’s different from Type 2 diabetes where you get it because you eat too much or don’t exercise. I have to admit, I was really proud of all of her responses. Except for this response, which is pretty close to verbatim: “Some people might get Type 1 Diabetes because someone who already has Type 1 Diabetes spit in their mouth.” I have no idea where she got that from – maybe some misperceived HIV/AIDS information from school?!

Then Jillian allowed Alex to interview her and offered her the questionnaire that she worked from. Alex kept to the format, but informed Jillian she was going to mix the questions around. Then Alex added a few of her own questions, apparently. The one that pops out in my mind is “How many boyfriends did you have?” Alex, I imagine, will be working as a gossip columnist when she gets older.

The interview ended and Jillian went on her way, but not before a quick hug and a gift to Alex of a heart-shaped key chain from London. Michael was very disappointed that he didn’t get one, and is still young enough to be blunt about asking why he didn’t get one. Jillian’s response was “you have to have diabetes to get one.” Knowing Michael as I do, he was probably wondering just how disgusting Alex’s saliva would taste.