Learning to be Heartless When Your Little One Injects His Own Insulin

Jakarta, CNNIndonesia —

Why does it have to be my child, anyway?

That question crossed Michella Virta’s mind the first time she heard it his sonMiguel (4), was diagnosed with a disease diabetes type 1.

Miguel was diagnosed with diabetes in November 2022. He showed a number of symptoms such as rapid thirst, frequent urination in large quantities, a sudden increase in appetite, frequent hunger, weakness, and weight loss even though he eats a lot.

“In that one hour, [Miguel] can go back and forth to the bathroom two to three times in large quantities of urine,” Michella said when contacted CNNIndonesia.comMonday (6/2).

It never occurred to Michella and her husband that what Miguel was experiencing was a symptom of diabetes. At first, they thought it was a normal condition experienced by the baby, which emerged as it grew and developed.

However, Miguel’s weight continues to decrease. His body also always looks limp. This condition made Michella decide to take Miguel to the hospital.

The results of laboratory checks showed that Miguel’s hemoglobin A1c value was above average. Miguel’s pancreatic function was also found to be null.

It was on that occasion that Michella’s heart was torn to hear the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes that the doctor had given to her baby.

“At first, my husband and I thought that type 1 and 2 diabetes were the same. That shocked us because we immediately blamed ourselves. [sebagai orang tua]. In fact, I always take care of him eating it,” said the 30-year-old mother.

Unlike type 2, type 1 diabetes is not caused by lifestyle factors, but is congenital. This disease is triggered by an autoimmune condition that makes the body’s immune system attack healthy cells in the pancreas. As a result, the pancreas is unable to produce insulin.

Learn to bear

[Gambas:Instagram]

Having a child with diabetes made Michella learn to have the heart for her baby. Imagine, children with diabetes must get insulin injections every day. Just a little missed, blood sugar can increase.

As a result, Michella initially had to learn how to inject insulin into Miguel’s body.

“So, while we are still learning to accept the situation, we also have to learn to inject [anak],” said Michelle.

In Miguel, for example, there are two kinds of insulin that must be injected into him every day. There is basal insulin to cover his daily sugar for 24 hours to keep it from rising. There is also rapid insulin which is injected before eating.

Miguel broke into tears when he found out that Michella was going to inject something into his body. It feels natural, syringes are often a scary picture for children.

Michella and her husband tried their best so that the injection after injection did not make Miguel sad and miserable.

“We learned to keep Miguel happy even though he was injected,” he said.

In that most difficult moment, Michella found a glimmer of hope through the various types 1 diabetes communities she met. From here, Michella began to be driven to teach Miguel how to check blood sugar and even inject insulin himself.

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