Guardian Angels

Words cannot express the gratitude I feel towards our guardian angels.  Year after year, I feel their never ending love, support and concern for our well being.  This year, with Juvenile Type 1 Diabetes consuming our lives, they came through in a big way.

With a diagnosis of  Type 1 Diabetes, Aloysius could not return to day care. There was no one there trained to care for him.  Not only was his world rocked with finger sticks, insulin shots, ketone testing, being woken up at 9:30pm, 12:30am, 3:30am by a finger stick; but now he would not be able to see his friends at school on top of it all.   We were heartbroken about all little A was enduring and fearing things would actually get worse. 

But long behold, our guardian angels came to the rescue!  They learned how to care for Aloysius quickly.   They gave each other finger sticks and mock insulin shots to practice.   They stayed up all hours of the night researching Type 1 Diabetes in toddlers.  And then, on  Monday, March 13th, they began to attend day care/pre-school with Aloysius so that we could keep his life as normal as normal could be at this point.  Everyday, they sat in the library from 9AM to 12PM waiting patiently to check his blood sugar at 9:50AM.  They could not leave the premises because someone had to be there at all times in case Aloysius' blood sugar dropped or became too high.  At 12PM they would bring him home for lunch and nap time.  Not only did they take care of Aloysius, but they took care of our entire family. They left the comfort of their own own home to sleep on our pull out couch every other night and would drive back and forth to the city multiple times per week.   

This lasted until April 19th, 2012 when we were finally approved to train the staff on blood sugar monitoring.  Because of them little Aloysius experienced some sense of normalcy in the midst of all the changes in his life.

So THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts ABUELOS!!!

F.Y.I
We are blessed to have the best day care in NYC.  Aloysius has blossomed in every way possible over the last 9 months since he started there.  And when Diabetes came crashing through the door, they did not shut the door in our face like most of the other day cares in NYC do to children who have Type 1 Diabetes.  Instead, they opened their door as wide as possible.  From the very first day Aloysius was diagnosed, our director Jane was completely devoted to finding a way for Aloysius to continue in their program.  When the medical administration training that certifies day care providers to administer medication in a day care setting was finally set to take place on May 14th, 2 teachers (Nieasha and Lee), 1 teacher's assistant (Nigel) and Jane became certified.  During the training, the trainor noted that this day care program was an exception to the norm.  In general, day cares will not get this certification because they do not want to assume the responsibility and be liable.  To that, Aloysius' teacher Nieasha responsed that she could not understand how a teacher would not want to do whatever they could to help their student.  And this is precisely why we LOVE our day care program.  This is the kind of people who I  want Aloysius around!  So another heartfelt THANK YOU to the staff at our day care. Not only to those four who became certified, but to all the rest of the teachers and teachers' assistants who pick up the slack when the certified providers are taking care of Aloysius or attending trainings.



Ms. Jane pointing out the doggies!

Hanging out with Ms. Nigel.

Ms. Nieasha helping the boys use soft hands with the ducklings.

Ms. Lee laughing at the monkeys.

In addition, both Hairpin and I are extremely thankful to our bosses who were supportive and understanding during this challenging couple of months.  We missed a lot of days at work trying to get all of Aloysius' new needs met and never felt that we were frowned upon.  So a big thank you to David and Ms. Phillips!

And of course, last but not least, a BIG THANK YOU to our wonderful family and friends who offer their never ending concern, caring, love and support.