Although he had noticed that lately his daughter Mercedes (7) was very thirsty and he was a long time, Ana Perazzo learned that she suffered diabetes in a brutal way.

Upon returning from a family trip, the girl had her glycemia values ​​so high that she fell into a coma and spent a week hospitalized before doctors allowed her to return home.

That scare was with all the beginning of a harder stage, that of learning to live with the disease, a challenge for which almost no father is prepared and that requires rethinking from one day to another all the domestic routine: in fact there is noOption: That will depend from now on that son can live well.

“When you have a son with diabetes, he doesn't return to sleep more than one pull;You can't get up and lunch at any time;You cannot cook anything or leave your home so no more.There are many things that fall on top of you: the controls, the applications, the meals, the schedules ... to us took us a year to adapt to the new family routine, ”says Ana, who today dedicates part of his time to helpTo other families in that situation.

More and more frequent among boys, type 1 diabetes (a chronic disease that is characterized by insulin deficit, the hormone that keeps blood sugar levels stable) is becoming for many families a before and after.And although it can be controlled with a treatment, that treatment is complex and requires a high level of commitment and personal involvement.

In addition to having to adjust the diet and family schedules many times, a diabetes diagnosis involves monitoring glycemia levels at least four times a day and insulin is applied according to what one is going to eat.

Thus, when those affected are the boys, all that task falls to their parents, who are often disoriented in front of the information flow, without knowing how to manage or who to resort.

Aware of this reality is that doctors, nutritionists and physical education teachers are increasingly committed to offering them family training and containment.

Due to the high level of commitment imposed by treatment, doctors, nutritionists and patients help families with workshops, camps and containment spaces.

From parents to parents

“When the pediatrician told me that Cata had four hundred and peak of glycemia I didn't know what he was talking about.Thus we started, ”says Marcela Grubissa by recalling her confusion when her daughter Catalina (15) was diagnosed with diabetes.“Without knowing who to resort to support us with the most practical issues, we end up attending an association of relatives of San Isidro that began to guide us.That way we were getting little by little on this path that is very difficult at first, ”confesses the mother.

“It happens that the disease forces you to suddenly incorporate a lot of care that, although doctors explain to you, in practice they all fall into moms and parents: being aware of their blood glucose levels throughout the day,Make them applications, do not forget to wear insulin or candies on top, make sure that on birthdays do not take or eat things that can do it wrong ... if it is already diabetes, it is difficult to handle in an adult, in a boyIt is much more. ”

After having crossed that experience in their own flesh, Graciela and other parents founded this year "support", a non -profit NGO that aims precisely to provide containment to the parents of boys and adolescents with diabetes in the region."Our goal is to educate for self -care bringing families the necessary tools so that they can self -manage the disease," explains Ana Perazzo, who, in addition to being Mercedes, presides over the association.Without your own headquarters at the moment, "support" works with a site on Facebook (association.apayar) and an email box (association.apoyar@gmail.com), through which it is possible both to obtain information and get upof the educational activities organized by the entity.

An educational camp

The truth is that even when their children's diabetes makes them their main caregivers, not the only ones who must learn to handle the disease.With this criterion, the Applied Experimental Endocrinology Center (CENEXA) organizes educational camps for children with diabetes every year.For many of them, who live under constant paternal care, it is an experience as valuable from the didactic as from the social.

“The idea of ​​the camp is to transmit them through games the pillars of diabetological education: automonitoring, insulin therapy, healthy eating and physical education.The dads do not attend the camp because their goal is that the boys begin to develop an active role in their peer disease treatment.In this way they gain autonomy and a practice that will serve them during the rest of their lives, ”explains Professor Viviana Arrechea, coordinator of this experience in which both doctors, nutritionists and physical education teachers participate as former older campists ofage.

"The disease forces you to suddenly incorporate a lot of care that falls into moms and parents"

“The camp lasts three days and every day starts with glycemia automation before breakfast, a practice that will be repeated with lunch, snack and dinner.What is done is to put the boys and girls separately around a table, where the leaders of each group teach them to use the puncture digit and interpret the glycemia value.Based on that, doctors and nutritionists then determine the dose of insulin that each boy will apply later.The rest of the time is used with educational workshops, expressive activities and night games such as any camp, ”says the coordinator.

"The intention is that from young people, children can practice these care with the help and control of their parents, being able to achieve some independence," explains Andrea Reinoso, a doctor of the endocrinology service of the Children's Hospital, many of whose patients whose patientsThey are selected every year to attend the camp based on their need.

Hospital workshops

“The incidence of type 1 diabetes has been growing sharply worldwide, but it is also being seen that the age of debut is getting smaller.This increase is not entirely clarified but could be due to environmental factors.What is certain is that it can develop at any stage of life and now arises more and more in childhood, ”says Reinoso.

“The alert signs that a boy could be having a diabetic debut are that he urinates a lot, he is thirsty and has gone down.Faced with this picture, it is important to consult a doctor immediately because the sooner the diabetes is being treated, the greater the quality of life that person will have, ”says the doctor.

With this criterion, in the Children's Hospital, educational workshops are regularly dictated where doctors, nutritionists and physical education teachers teach children and their parents different practices to take care of their health.

“We teach them to measure the blood glucose levels and keep a record of them, to count the carbohydrates that the different meals have, and to apply insulin according to what they are going to eat.But also to read food labels, carry a healthy diet and do physical activity, among other issues that makeLive with this disease, ”says Andrea Reinoso.