My son was diagnosed (dx’d) with Type 1 diabetes on July 25, 2007. He was a baby. He was just 4 years and 1 month old.
A baby.
He is now in the 3rd grade, turning 9 in June. July 25, 2012 will be 5 years for us. This is a pivotal year for us. As of July 25, 2012 he will have diabetes longer then he has been on this Earth…(I see another post coming out of this)…
School just called and asked if my son has another diagnosis date for his Type 1 diabetes because the one they have for his 504 plan has expired. I politely explained to the ‘power that be’ that with Type 1 diabetes there is only one diagnosis date and unfortunately there is no cure so there is no way our diagnosis can expire. The one date remains the only date of diagnosis.
‘Power that be’ proceeds to tell me that in order for the 504 plan to be carried through to next year, we have to provide a new diagnosis date every two years.
I will not provide a second diagnosis date.
It has taken me five years to come to terms with the fact that my son’s life drastically and forever changed on July 25, 2007. My son has endured over 18,000 finger pokes over the course of those five years. Each one of them a tiny badge of honor that he is a true hero in fighting this disease day in and day out. Not to mention the thousands upon thousands of carbs we have counted, the thousands of units of insulin we have used, the thousands of shots to give that insulin and the hundreds of site changes to change his pump site, no I will not change our diagnosis date to fill in paperwork.
Perhaps the paperwork should be changed for my son. Perhaps instead of a diagnosis date there should be a ‘living with’ date. This child -insert name- has been kicking the crap out of Type 1 diabetes since he was diagnosed -insert date- and will continue to do so until there is a cure…this seems like a perfect sentence to put in a 504.
Agree?
So I told the ‘power that be’ just that. No, I will not change my son’s diagnosis date for the benefit of some bureaucratic paperwork. I told her maybe the paper work should be changed to acknowledge that there is indeed only one diagnosis date with Type 1 diabetes, it never goes away, no matter how many stars we wish upon. She was stumped. I’m sure it wasn’t the first time.
I agreed to send a letter stating that my son does indeed still have Type 1 diabetes but by no means will I change his diagnosis date.
You can’t change the date of Pearl Harbor. The day that shook the US Military.
You can’t change the date of Sept. 11, 2001. The day that crushed America.
You can’t change the date of my son’s diagnosis. The day that broke my heart.