Return to Articles Index

Rusty's Ramblings - August

Published:
1-August-2005

To Grandma's House

This past month my girls went on vacation to visit their grandparents in South Carolina. They go by themselves. They're driven about half way, and Oma and Grandy meet them and drive them back down to the Charleston area. They've been doing this for years. My girls love it. They get a vacation from me as well as the opportunity to see cousins, aunts and uncles. I have mixed emotions about this yearly trek.

For about three days I think this is a great idea. Then the dog (a big boxer puppy named Buster) and I get tired of the silence and each other. That leaves us with the balance of the two weeks to miss them terribly. When they first go away, I think about all of the things I can get accomplished, the fact I won't have to listen to them argue and fight, less dishes, laundry, trash, and responsibility. I forget that along with all of that also comes no laughter, silliness, cuddling, singing, and everything else that makes my life so full.

Since Kari's diagnosis of diabetes this trip has taken on a whole new range emotions for me and the family down south. My girl's grandmother who we'll call Karen (mostly because that's her name) is a true southern lady, complete with the sweet honeydew accent and unflappable demeanor that we yankees associate with women from that part of the country. However, she only gets a one-day crash course in diabetes management during the transfer of the children. This is the third trip since diagnosis and the third different insulin regime she has had to learn. Because of this I think she likes me a lot less than she used to. I know this because three days into the trip she called me and said in that soft silky voice " Russ dahlin, Ah like yew a lot less than Ah used to". Karen, like so many people new to diabetes management, doesn't quite understand that you can do everything right, all of the time, and still get goofy blood sugar numbers. Unfortunately, this lovely woman takes this as a personal insult and it causes her to use some language seldom heard coming from her. Things like "Oh poo"! And that vile epithet "phooey"!

Of course it's also her responsibility to teach all of the aunts and uncles the new regime as well. Kari is pretty well versed in her own diabetes management and really only needs help with carbohydrate counting and site changes. I figured between the two of them this would be a fairly problem free operation. Not quite.

One of my girls's aunts, we'll call her Kecia (for obvious reasons), spends a lot of time with them including many overnights. She has two kids about the same age as well as a pet boxer so it's just like home for Kari and Kristin. Well, not quite just like home. My house would fit very nicely in Kecia and Bert's garage. Over the course of the trip Kecia called me a number of times with some basic questions about diabetes care. Questions like " now, when Kari's low I should give her more insulin right"? Okay deep breath. Kecia probably loves my girls more than I do, she's just slightly misdirected. "No" I tell her, "that's just a little backwards". The nice thing about dealing with Kecia is that if you tell her something once she's got it forever. After a couple of calls everything is straight and I can quit worrying.

I speak with both girls each night before bed to hear about their day and give them their blessings. When I talk to Kristin she sounds like she's twenty for some reason. It always throws me for a loop that she sounds so grown up when she's away. I always ask Kari about her numbers. As it turns out, they're better than when she's at home. This gets me thinking, maybe I should pepper my speech with some "poos" and phooeys". Maybe it's just the fact that I pronounce my "r's" and "g's" and don't speak in "Southernese".

Well, when my girls finally get home I find that Kristin is still my little 9 year old sweetheart and Kari's blood sugar numbers are back to being all over the place. They also want queen size beds and skylights in their bedrooms and an intercom system so they can make me step and fetch it without having to get up. Thanks a lot Kecia.

Buster and me are glad their back!

Rusty