What’s Up With Jack?
Chapter Three: Learning How to Deal
Author: Julia Ransohoff, high school student writer
When he got home from swim practice, Jack told his mom he didn’t want to go to practice the next day. When she asked why, he said she wouldn’t understand; the other kids didn’t understand either. His mom wouldn’t take that as an answer and said she had talked to Dr. Brody earlier in the day. The doctor said that Jack needed to get plenty of physical activity every day to keep his glucose levels steady. In addition, the diabetes was something he would have his whole life -- it was not going away, and Jack had to figure out how to deal with his peers. Exercise she reminded him, also keeps us from feeling depressed. That was that: She was going to make him go to practice the next day.
Thursday came, and Jack was back in the pool. He wanted to prove to the other kids that he was fine and could swim the full time. When there were 15 minutes left in practice, Jack started to feel tired. He decided to get some juice to see if that would help. In a few minutes, he felt fine, so he got back in the pool and finished the workout. He was proud of himself and smiled the whole way home. As he walked up to the front door of his house, he looked in the mailbox. Bills, magazines, more bills, advertisements and a letter addressed to Jack Garcia. He opened it. It was an invitation to his friend Josh’s birthday party. The plan was to play sports and have pizza and cake. It sounded like fun, so Jack went online to see if Josh was online too. He was, and Jack told him he could come and that the party sounded like fun.
On the day of the party, Jack biked over to Josh’s with all of his testing supplies just in case he needed them. In the middle of playing football, Jack got tired, so he went over to the snack table where a few other kids were standing. He reached into his bag and realized he had forgotten his bag of snacks, but fortunately there were bowls of chips on the table. Just to be safe, he called his mom to tell her not to worry that he had left his snacks at home, since there was plenty of food at the party.
When the food was served, Jack had to be careful what he ate, because too much pizza and cake could give him hyperglycemia, meaning his blood sugar would be too high. He didn’t tell anyone this, because he still didn’t want to make a deal of it with his friends. He just didn’t devour the meal like the rest of the boys. After the meal, Jack went to check his blood sugar. He was at a healthy level, so his conscious eating had paid off.
The party favor bag had tons of candy in it, which the doctor said was good to have if he felt his blood sugar was low. Jack climbed into bed that night, confident that he could take care of himself and stay healthy, even at a birthday party.
The next week, Jack had a check-up with Dr. Brody. The doctor said Jack was doing just fine and to keep up the good work. Pleased to hear this, Jack decided he would try to swim through the entire practice the next day.