Be KNOWN

This Wednesday’s Tip is one we Chisholms really need to work on.

Fourteen-year-old Will spends all day every day with friends, teachers, coaches and family members who all know he has type 1.  His mother makes sure they do!

Still, during the occasional idle moment, it sometimes occurs to me that Will should really wear his T1D ID bracelet more than he does.  Which is just about never.

No parent likes to think about her child being rushed anywhere in an ambulance without her, but type 1 means my kid would need special care in that circumstance.  I like to think that a paramedic would see his insulin pump and know what it was and how to handle my son.  I like to think Will would be with a friend or coach who could tell any given medical worker that he required special care.  Actually, I don’t like to think about any of this.

And it’s certainly not that Will doesn’t have plenty of ID options. We corralled several different ID bracelets when Will was diagnosed.  (We skipped the whole MedicAlert registration process, given that all we needed a potential EMT to know that he is TYPE 1 DIABETIC, INSULIN DEPENDENT, and my cell phone number, all of which we had printed on the bracelets.)

A little find-the-ID-bracelet activity for this Wednesday morning. I count nine perfectly excellent options.

You know what?  I can photograph them all easily for you because they’re all here at home in his drawer, not on his wrist.

I do, though, understand the many reasons why he resists:

The “dog-tags” he will tolerate when I push him have a tricky clasp and cannot be worn during sports, which means they last about a day floating in the bottom of the backpack after the first soccer practice before they get lost.

The silicone livestrong-like ones apparently get caught while putting on sweatshirts etc. and can be “annoying.”

The nylon one he used to wear in sixth grade now has a broken clasp.

The idea of getting a tattoo on his wrist didn’t appeal to Will.

Nor did the idea of me writing “type 1 diabetic–insulin dependent” on his arm like my friend Sarah once did to her daughter Mary during a car ride when they’d forgotten her ID bracelet.

The fact is, yet one more reminder that you have a chronic disease that really sucks isn’t what any person wants dangling from his or her wrist.

In order to see if your T1D kid can’t have better luck with his or her ID than mine, here are a few TIPS:

• Go for cool: no one is limited to the old flat metal engraved model anymore…explore the sites below to find something appealing.
• If they’re not expensive, buy a BUNCH.  The silicone ones are so cheap, you can buy a dozen and stash them away so no one has to worry too much if they get “lost.”
• Go for novelty.  Order a few different kinds in different colors in case you or your kid wants to change it up.
• If you are a teenage girl, or a woman with T1D, leverage the upcoming holiday to get yourself a really pretty charm-bracelet-like version in your favorite metal from your parents or your boyfriend or your husband.  Nothing says “I love you” quite like beautiful, life-saving jewelry.
• If your kid resists, at least insist that he or she wears something while off on his or her own.  With Will, this is mostly while biking.  We like to put three or four of the silicone ones on Will’s handlebars (pushed to the center near the brakes) so he can at least promise he’ll slip one onto his wrist for the ride to and from school (with his helmet properly fitted and securely fastened!) even if he chooses to take it off once the bell rings and he’s with his teachers and his buddies where everyone know about his situation.
• Go for a temporary tattoo!  There are some that look like, this . . . 

Medical ID Marketplace
N-Style ID
Fiddledee ID