Tonight I found myself thinking about how much I have learned since having kids and how much I have always loved to learn new things. I want to clarify before I go any further with this post that I do still have a love of learning, it's just that alot of the things that I have learned in the past 15 years or so were not things that I expected to ever have knowledge of.
Since I have had kids I have learned about life, love, and kindness. Being a parent (and wife) has provided me with all of the love I could ever possibly need and what I have learned and enjoyed learning as I have grown into the parent that I am now isn't exactly what this blog post is about.
I can think back to when I was in high school and think of all of the things that I loved to read about, all of the plans I had for teaching kids and enriching minds about every subject and I can tell you now that never once did I consider teaching kids about life threatening, and debilitating diseases. I can safely say that I certainly did not plan on learning how to teach my own children about things like insulin, lung function, and neurosurgery.. heck, I didn't have a clue about those things myself.
I now find myself learning something new everyday, something to do with the disabilities that my sons have. Just recently some of the hardest things I had to teach my children were how inflammation and bacteria in the lungs afect breathing and longevity. Of course that was not the end of the learning because we are now all in the process of learning about diabetes, type 1, and how blood sugar and insulin relate to the condition.
The things we are learning right now are only a small part of all of the knowledge I have gained while helping my children learn to cope, fight, and survive thier disabilities. I've learned about things like pulmonary function testing, intercranial pressure, spastic diplegia, and spatial awareness, among many other issues and symptoms. Not typical things people plan to learn when they become parents, but the things I have learned have been the difference between life and death and have become really my center focus.
So tonight I found myself contemplating just how much I have learned, have yet to learn, and how nice it would be if I just don't have any new crash courses in health related issues.
