Yes it's tough at first - I thought I knew all about type 1 because my mum has it too, but when my daughter was diagnosed I discovered that I didn't know very much at all! It's a very steep learning curve and you can't possibly remember everything at once, so take all the help you can get in the first few months. If you have a good medical team they shouldn't mind you phoning them up regularly with all sorts of questions. We don't mind here either, we've all been there!
It's a massive shock and you do have to go through a sort of grieving process, for your old life which is now gone. I think my hubby got that out of the way fairly quickly, it took me at least a year before I could really let it out - but after that I felt a lot stronger and actually began to feel like I knew what I was doing without having to check everything with the nurse! You'll get through it at your own pace, but yes it does get easier in the end. We rarely need to see our nurse at all now, although it is useful to still touch base with her at the 3-month check ups just to make sure we are still on track.
You'll also always get days when you just hate it all and want to scream and shout about why us, can't we just have one day where we can sit down and eat without all the faff of blood testing, injecting/bolusing, carb counting etc etc - and of course that isn't an option any more so you get on with it because you have to, we all get fed up with it from time to time though, it's just so relentless. You've got to be strong for your child too and try and hide your stresses and fears from them because they have their own - yes it's tough sometimes, it doesn't last forever though.
I've been asked by a counsellor whether I've accepted my daughter's condition. "Acceptance" to me means that you are happy with something, or at least not unhappy with it. Ummm, how am I ever supposed to accept the fact that my daughter's life depends entirely on those little bottles in my fridge? However, 100 years ago her diagnosis would have meant certain death, so I'm eternally grateful that we live in a time and place where her condition can be managed and we can get everything we need to do so, and unless we do something extremely stupid there's no reason why she shouldn't live a long life and be able to do almost anything that anyone else can do, albeit with a little extra planning. I am finally reaching a place now where my daughter's diabetes is not the first thing I think about all the time, and testing, bolusing, collecting up everything she needs every time we leave the house and remembering to order in new supplies in plenty of time is all starting to become automatic and just blend in with everything else we have to do every day. The days when I get upset or angry about it are getting further and further apart. So I guess I'm sort of accepting it now. My daughter has just turned 12 and is slowly learning to do more for herself too, I was dreading the transfer to secondary school, but she seems to be getting on great, and diabetes-wise the school so far seem to be handling it better than primary school did, so that's a great relief!
Oh dear I seem to have rambled on a bit, and I hope it doesn't sound too depressing, it's just my experience being a mum in the same situation but a bit further down the line than you are. You are in a tough place at the moment but please just keep asking questions and don't be afraid to ask for help and you and your young one will get there, don't let it stop you from doing anything 🙂
