My Life As a T1D

Chapter 9: Moving

So...most people don't know this but I have a big announcement. I moved. I lived in Ecuador for my entire life even though I was born in the U.S. I now live in the Cayman Islands, I've lived here for 10 months when writing this. It is the first time I've ever moved. There are a lot of different aspects to moving but for this story I am going to try to focus on the diabetes aspect to it.

Anybody who has moved to another country before knows that it is very difficult. I will first explain why I moved. Both my parents are teachers and they haven't taught in different countries and schools before they had me. They taught in several places in the U.S and in Costa Rica. My parents felt that it was time to move to a new location because we were too comfortable where we were living, Ecuador. So my parents started job searching and doing interviews and all those things. They interviewed in Shanghai (China), Dubai (United Arab Emirates) and Cayman Islands. In the end, they got accepted in the Cayman Islands, where I currently live. My parents also thought that it was time for a change for me. That I should experience moving before going to college.

After the decision was definite. We got started with moving. Moving in itself as we all know is honestly a huge hassle. Getting all the documents, telling people, packing boxes, saying goodbye. It is really hard. So in regards to diabetes I had to get all my documents of doctors visits and blood tests in order. The last month before I left I did a ton of crying while saying goodbye (I am very emotional). This obviously drove my blood sugars high a lot but I was able to get through it. With all of our suitcases we went to Orlando, Florida as a summer trip to go shopping for a week of shopping before going to the island. We also had our annual doctors visit with Dr. Pauley of course. We went to visit my doctor and we talked about us moving and she gave me some suggestions and we chatted, like normal. The week that we were there went by at the speed of lightning.

Before we knew it we landed on the island at 3 pm on Saturday August 3rd. I have a video of the day we landed. We had some friends that were assigned to my family from the school to help us get settled which was really nice. We had a lot of fun on the island trying to get settled in and all that jazz. And then, two weeks later: school starts.

Now any diabetic knows that school and diabetes are always a roller coaster with each other. And this was my first time at a new school. But, school hadn't started for me yet. My parents are both teachers and as new teachers they had to go to inservice two weeks before actual school started. We didn't know anyone on the island and I didn't want to stay at home alone. So I went with them to school every single day. I babysat all the younger children that were also, as I call, teacher's kids. They were adorable and I loved every moment that I hung out with them. I had known earlier that my father's boss, who is also known as my high school principal, had a daughter with T1D and she was a few grades younger. I was so excited to meet her. I had never had another T1D at my school with the exception of Elise's brother (you would know this if you read my other chapters). But he and I weren't really close of course, probably because of our giant age gap. Kylah however was closer in age with me. We connected almost immediately, it is one of the fast connections that I've ever had with a friend. It was so relieving to find someone who understood all the ups and downs of T1D. When Kylah and I met it took all my energy not to start jumping like one of the kids we were babysitting or start crying out of joy. We met the second week of teacher inservice and together we played, ate, watched movies and did crafts with the children. I will share a few minor experiences that I had with them related to T1D.

We babysat around 10 children. Two adopted Chinese siblings, the girl was 6 and the boy was 8. Both the kids and the parents were new to the school but not to the island. The girl and I had clicked pretty fast and she clinged to me a lot more than the other kids. In most of the activities that we did she would cling to me the most. Then there were two sisters who were adorable, ages 4 and 6. Once the four year old got a bee sting when we were playing outside and she cried a lot but later she was fine. There were also two other brothers (7th and 8th grade) who were in middle school who were also new but we didn't babysit them of course, they were old enough to take care of themselves. Then there was a little boy age 4 who was usually pretty shy and didn't say much but he participated in the activities. Now we come to my favorites. Another 4 year old who was incredibly outgoing and would never stop talking! And he was full of energy 24/7. He has a minor stutter which I find adorable would sometimes complain but Kylah and I and the adult helping would always be quick to scold him gently. The last child was our youngest, only 2 and a half around this time. He was very close to mom and when she dropped him off sometimes he would cry because he was so young. Just like the other boy he was also extremely talkative and he had the cutest voice ever. I just wanted to squeeze him all the time. Ok, I will stop.