Ok, truth: I don’t really remember my first injection. For the first year after I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, my parents (mostly my father) gave me my shots (injections).
I was sent to diabetes camp for two weeks (over the Fourth of July, even) for the sole purpose of learning how to give my own shots. Well, maybe they wanted me to have fun and meet other kids with diabetes too, but that wasn’t the message I got.
Anyway, I was about as homesick as a kid can possibly be (I was 8 years old). I wet the bed, threw up in my sleeping bag, and sucked my thumb. It was pretty horrendous. I remember crying myself to sleep – embarrassed that someone might find out I sucked my thumb, and scared to death of injecting myself.
We woke up every morning and went to the “lab” for “first void.” The “second void” (pee) was checked for sugar. Then we marched up to the infirmary for our shots. The syringes were lined up on trays on the porch table.
As I mentioned, I don’t remember the actual first injection, so it must not have been as big a deal as I had anticipated. I do remember meeting friends (some of whom I’m still in touch with), learning a lot of songs, and having fun (during the day, anyway). So that “first” had its pros and cons. One of the best was being independent in my diabetes care from then on.
Disclaimer: That was a different time – insulin was given once a day in a fixed dose. Now kids need supervision longer because diabetes management is much more complicated. Kids may be able to self-inject at 8 years old, but they still need help with figuring out doses and much more.