Otto went to school this morning
It’s something that I didn't think would be a major achievement a month ago, or what seems like somewhere between 5 and 10,000 years ago. That’s back when The Diabeetus wrought havoc on his immune system and invited into him every single disease in the Rocky Mountain Region.
I mean, we’ve all seen pink eye, but have you ever seen lesser known Marvel hero Crimson Gaze?
ojos rojas
This morning, as he left the house, I shouted at him to pay attention to his phone, which is something I never thought I’d need to request from a teenager. Nothing like a routine of jabbing yourself to really appreciate technology. The first phase of Type 1 is all of human history in a month: you go from the medieval pastime of whittling away your finger for blood, to a sensor sending digital updates of your metabolic makeup.
Of course, as soon as he gets to school, his sensor goes haywire, which means he's going to have to go old school. I have hopes about improving his grades.
He desperately needs it. Last night, we stayed up emailing each teacher to figure out a plan to salvage his freshman year. He's a smart dude. He just needs to be motivated. As a father, I’m wondering if his nearly dying will help. Threat of death was always my dad’s go-to.
Most days are pretty smooth. But some days have been rough. Like this day where I took the boys to the School of Mines football game. A high-sugar breakfast tumbled quickly. Like a stock crash on steroids. You know things are bad when you pull over for an emergency McDonald's stop and a guy who makes Nick Nolte’s DUI mugshot look like Jon Hamm tries to sit with you and explain that his aunt Jeanette has a cure for diabetes.
The same.
So I asked him how we could get a hold of this miracle worker and he shouted “Call Jeanette!” at my son who’s blood sugar probably made the whole thing a dream. Anyway, if you know Jeanette.
I have noted that diabetes is really just a microcosm of life. Instead of tending to big long swoops that go month to month. You are now living in the moment. I'll show you. Here is Otto over a two-hour period on this roller coaster day.
But it could also be me and my senior year of high school.
We’re cramming the highs and lows of life into every single moment. If this doesn’t help our perspective, then call a doctor because we might all have bum thyroids.
For now, we pay more attention to the minutia. The metabolism. Mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell. That's pretty much the limit of my knowledge of internal operations. At least until this crash course on bloodtopia.
And now Monday will be Otto’s first full school week in over a month. It’'s time to crawl out of the foxhole and charge at life. Yes, there will be ups and downs but now we get a daily exercise of keeping things steady. Highly recommend. Type 1 or not.