2011 has come and gone, it was not an easy year. Where do I start, where do I end? Does anyone really care? So here is my stream of consciousness about 2011. I started 2011 with 1 child with type 1 and now I end it with 2. I started Tweeting a lot in 2011 and when ended it a couple of thousand vents! April rolled around and it was the Diaversary for my daughter a few days later I was at the children’s hospital with my youngest. Antibodies attacked again. Stupid Antibodies, you blind idiots, you shot the wrong guy, AGAIN! Hey my kids need their beta cells. Can you just stick to your normal jobs, bacteria and viruses. Hey thanks to all the morons that ask “are your kids fat”. No Type 1 is an AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE! See link.

Thank you so much for all the people that Tweeted me while my wife and I were at the children’s hospital. For the next few weeks many of you keept checking in and asking how we were. It was the kindest show of solidarity and I will never forget and will never be able to repay fully. You guys are the best. I had a single guy with Type 1, in his 20″s, call me a rock star of a dad. Wow, that was the complement of the year.

I don’t really remember January, February or March. I’m sorry, it’s like you did not exists. So I’ll group you in with 2010 to spare you my rage. I took my older d-daughter out for Ice Cream and a Movie, yes I said ICE CREAM, loaded with SUGAR. Trust me, I understand their disease. Yes, they can eat it. Anyhow. We watched Cars 2. I enjoyed it more than she did. Her smile is something to behold. It’s a family tradition to take my kids to a movie and dinner or something fun, they remember it more than a big meal served to friends and family. The money is spent on them, understand now.

Oh, wait, lets talk more about ICE CREAM! Some ignorant fool named, wait, I can’t stand to say his name so I won’t, said “diabetics can’t eat ice cream”. What a nincompoop (found that word via thesaurus, we poked fun of the word thesaurus in college, it was immature, but funny). I bet if he wrote a paper about Type1 and Type2 diabetes, it would read like a confession of a crack head, written on paper from a spiral bound note book. Yes my kids can have ICE CREAM. #takethatwendell #wendellisignorant

I started this blog in 2011. I was overwhelmed by the response, and by who read and commented on it. Thank you for the many RT’s on Twitter, the sharing on your Online Daily’s. It started out telling a story of a scared little girl who had watched a second sister get diagnosed with a life long chronic disease. The story was getting her a bear like her sister’s had (Rufus the bear with diabetes), but he was a Doctor and he was healthy like her. He was to be the an Endo to the Rufus’ bear and to keep a watchful eye on her. She hugged and squeezed that bear so much after she opened the bag. I won that day and diabetes lost (screw you diabetes). She named him Dr Bear and he even went on our JDRF walk. That inspired me to write a children’s book about a Dr Bear and a girl who goes on adventures to help other little children, and they will have lots of fun on the way.

Our JDRF walk, it was September, no rain but a little cold. We got side tracked in our fund raising and did not meet our goal. So many friends came and walked, must have been around 60 or more. Our girls carried  their Rufus’ and their blue flamingos. We walked and fought back tears all morning. How could I cry when they smiled and were so happy. We stayed at the park by the river for another hour after our friends and family left. Our day of triumph over Type1, we did not want it to end.

Some where along the way I read a blog post where the guys son told him “diabetes is stupid”. Right on! One of the best blog posts I’ve read. I tweeted and put that as my Facebook status many time. Diabetes is Stupid. Thank you Carey for a great blog post.

My second daughter got her insulin pump about 6 weeks after her diagnoses. It was the Minimed Revel, works well, but I like our other daughters Ping better, and that’s purely my opinion only. It’s purple, her favorite color. After she got it she showed it to me and said, “look daddy, I have a pump like my sister does”. Maybe it was a small victory, maybe we took some high ground in this battle, or “held Little Round Top” figuratively speaking.

2011 was so much about the second diagnoses and trying to get into a routine. I really don’t remember anything that was not permeated with diabetes. It has become so much a part of our life. But in speaking with a D-Mom of 2 kids and a T1 husband, I came away with the idea of a routine. Slowly life as came back, and diabetes is a side story.