Just like her Big Brother
Laila was 5 years old when her big brother, Zack, was injured. I remember his siblings coming to visit us in the rehab hospital, I’d buy them banana pudding from the cafeteria, and we would all sit outside. I stayed with my son for 3 months while his siblings stayed with my husband at home, trying to keep some normalcy as best we could. The amount of attention and energy that comes with caregiving for a quadriplegic is time-consuming. Daily help and duties all day, every day. I tried to spend time with them, it was tough to juggle and navigate, but I can live with the fact that I know I tried my best.
The week Laila was turning 11, I took her annual well-check doctor appointment. I almost rescheduled but thought, let’s get it over with. I was sitting in the office thinking about what I was going to make for dinner and hoping the doctor's visit would be quick. Before we could leave the appointment, a routine urine sample needed to be provided, so when the nurse came back into the room saying that I needed to take Laila immediately to the children’s hospital, I was so confused. I thought my daughter was healthy and fine. The nurse said we think she has diabetes. No one in my family had a history of diabetes. We drove to the hospital and stayed 8 days. The diagnosis was Type 1 juvenile diabetes, and just like that, our world shifted again, this time with our daughter’s life-altering diagnosis. The training was difficult for me; math calculations and I did not get along well. My brain literally was not comprehending what I was being taught. The testing of her blood sugar by finger pokes and multiple shots every time she ate carbs was overwhelming, but all the math calculations that changed per meal were more than my already overloaded brain could handle.
Yet my 11-year-old was catching on quickly. The same girl that took 3 nurses to hold her down for her immunization shots was now teaching herself to give her own injections. She never complained; Laila has navigated living with diabetes for 7 years now. She has done an amazing job; it is not an easy thing to live with. She is fiercely independent, in her last year of high school, works a job and does Ariel competition dance.
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This past week Laila broke her ankle in 3 places, dislocated it and broke a couple of smaller bones in her foot; she had emergency surgery and 3 days in the hospital. 6-8 weeks of no weight bearing, 4 weeks in a boot and then physical therapy.
Her attitude has been incredibly impressive, just like her older brother who, after paralysis! Zack chose the mindset to move forward instead of feeling sorry for himself. No, complaining or wishing it was like before. Both of them remarkably were able to accept their situations for what it is and decide to make the best of it. Honestly, I’m the mother and watching both siblings handle these major life challenges with this emotional strength has me still wondering how, and yet I live with them and see their everyday struggles and attitude; they keep proving to me that we DO have the choice to react to situations negatively or positively. It’s something I must work on daily, but if these 2 can do it, so can I.