Hi, I’m JoAnne Robb.
I took my experience as a therapist and applied it to working with adults, families and teens with type 1. I worked on clinical trials to learn as much as I could. Ultimately, I was more in control and less anxious about diabetes. The bottom line is that I don’t want you to go through that same struggle! I want to be your guide back to diabetes sanity.
WHEN MY FIRST CHILD WAS DIAGNOSED, I STRUGGLED.
I struggled with the food he ate — I watched every bite. I struggled with the nights — I set an alarm for at least once each night. (This was pre-CGM). I struggled with leaving him at school — I would haul in every day to give him a lunch time shot. (Yup — pre-pump, too — at least for us). I felt anxious and unsure of how to truly keep him safe.
BUT I GOT TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT.
— in part because of the help and support of others and in part because having a second diagnosis really helped me take stock and figure out how to make diabetes work in my life.
Here’s what I believe about being a good-enough T1D parent:
You can’t do it alone.
Just like diabetes is a family disease — which means the whole family is involved and everyone’s needs have to be taken into consideration — it’s also not something that any of us should do without help and support. This takes communal lift.
When you’re doing better with diabetes, your T1D kid does better too.
You have to put your own oxygen mask on to be able to adequately address the ongoing needs of your T1D kid. And when you do that, you’ll find that other relationships have room to flourish too.
Diabetes isn’t just about the numbers.
Sure, it’s important to be thinking about good glycemic control, but what you learn at the endo’s office is only part of the diabetes picture. Numbers might be perfect all day long (though they rarely are:) but that’s not the only thing it takes to get to diabetes calm. Getting support for the emotional stuff of diabetes helps you get to sturdier faster.
Taking action leads to change.
When you take steps to help yourself manage the emotional challenges of diabetes, you’ll see a shift in your relationship to diabetes and how you feel about it.
Stats About Me:
• I live in the Bay Area with my husband and three children.
• One of my Type 1 kids is already launched and has graduated from college.
• My T1D daughter is crazy about baking. We call that insulin the “baking bolus.”
• One of my Type 1s was diagnosed at nine, the other at four.
• My dad has T1D so I grew up with it. Those were the olden days: He gave himself shots of NPH.
• One of my Type 1 kids was diagnosed through TrialNet.
• My non-T1D kid didn’t get a cell phone till she was 16 because she couldn’t stand the idea of anything else beeping around her.