I Hear a Pump!

It's funny the things your ears are tuned to once you are a D-mom. Our lives are full of distinct buzzes and beeps...ones that only a diabetic would recognize.

Tonight we hit IHOP for dinner (Woot for Kids Eat Free!) and were seated in a booth across from a dad and his two boys having dinner. We went about our business - I was checking Adam's blood sugar while Jason asked the waitress for their nutritional information pamphlet. I dosed Adam upfront for about half of the carbs I figured he'd eat and there was some beeping from his pump as the bolus got canceled and I had to pull it out of his pump pack. I noticed the dad in the booth across from us looking, but I'm used to it, so I didn't think anything of it.

While we were waiting for our food, I hear a pump beeping again. I was thinking, "Dang it, really? WTF is wrong with his pump now?" As I was digging for Adam's pump again, Jason looked around and then kicks me under the table and says, "He's got a PUMP!"

I said, "The dad or the kid?" And he said, "The dad!"

We both sat there for a minute and thought how cool it was. :) I wanted to strike up a conversation, but our food came at that point and we started eating. I pulled out Adam's remote and dosed him for some more of his dinner, and the dad caught my eye and asked me which pump we had!

So we all showed our pumps! I nudged Adam and said, "Hey, that dad over there has a pump just like you!" And he got ALL excited and pulled his out and says, "Mine's green! What color is yours?" (It was a purple Medtronic!)

Then Adam stands up and pulls out Dex and says, "Look at my Dexcom! Where's yours?" I didn't think he'd have one, but the dad said, "I left mine at home!" Adam thought it was so cool, that he's pulling up his shirt, saying, "Dude...hey, wanna look at my pump site?? And here's my Dexcom site!" He was totally thrilled to share the "pump stuff" with someone. And yeah, I need to work on my 5 year old calling grown-ups "Dude." Totally not cool. :)

Anyway, it was a very neat moment. The dad was diagnosed when he was 15 and has had T1 for 27 years. He said he was a camp counselor at Camp AZDA here in Arizona  for years, and encouraged us to send Adam when he was old enough.

It was just neat to see a grown up, having lived with T1D for 27 years, just having a normal dinner with his kids...and made us realize that Adam will do the same thing when he is older.  And it was neat to see Adam so animated about it - often other adults will want to see his pump site and pump and he's reluctant to show it off...he had NO problem sharing with a fellow T1D!

It's little moments like this that make you feel not so alone in all of this.  There are others out there...and you never know where you'll meet them!