MDIs... or multiple daughters on insulin

Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's multiple daily injections, I know. But around my house growing up, it referred both to the shots and to the girls. Three out of the four of us were diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes as kids.

N: age 5, 1992
B: age 2, 1991
J: age 2, 1994
B2: not diagnosed

We were the example family for other families in our area, for parents that insisted they couldn't handle a kid with diabetes, for the parents who felt bad when they learned someone had a second kid diagnosed. We were proof that not only could mom/dad do it, but all three kids were living it, and living it to the fullest. So, in two minutes, a snapshot at life with multiple T1s might look something like this:

The butter drawer in the fridge has not one, not three, but something like 9-10 vials of Humalog. With 3 kids on pumps, and a 90-day supply, that space fills up fast.

The blame game. Test strip on the floor can NEVER be traced to you.

A1c competitions. Sometimes motivation, other times the worst scenario of your life, especially if you're mid-puberty and hormone swings and the others aren't. Nope, even worse if all three are mid-hormone swings.

Pool time. It only took one experience for us to be on the phone with Disetronic (am I that old already?) and then MiniMed to insist that they needed different-colored pumps, and that no, black and gray won't suffice when you have three diabetics disconnect, throw the pump in the bag, and come back later and try to figure out whose is whose. Maybe it's our fault there are several color options available.

Orchestra at the dinner table. Guess who's family can play "Jingle Bells" on their insulin pumps? And now that some offer download options for alternative sounds, we're a pump-wielding von Trapp family waiting to happen.

Backup. Ran out of test strips at school? Low blood sugar supplies not looking particularly appetizing? Dropped a vial of insulin? Run 300+ all day with no observable reason? Finally hit that target A1c? Guess who's there to celebrate? Two other someones that get it.