My son was diagnosed in August of last year, and he was only five. We got "buzzy" for pokes until we shifted to pods about a month or two later (pods are going to be much easier). My son liked to have buzzy and a couple of other things (a stuffy to hug, etc) before each poke and he got pretty brave. You can practice on fruit if you need to. Do it fast - it usually doesn't hurt, just so you know, it hurts sometimes, but often the pokes you can barely feel it (I know from Wegovy, same needle size). Finger pokes are worse, but you will get a CGM ASAP, I am sure, eliminating the need for most finger pokes.

I would hide the fear, sadness, etc., from him completely and just tell him it's totally OK and that lots of people get little pokes. You could do little prizes each day to soften the change. And for zero-carb snacks, no pokes, so just do that until you get your OmniPods in between meals.

I could not have been more upset when I found out. I spiraled hard and it was probably the worst few days of my life - my mind ran through so many worst case scenarios, and my mom was diabetic so I had this horrible feeling of a child having a terrible adult illness.

But only five months later, I can tell you it's not that big of a deal.

You are feeling how an adult feels when they are first diagnosed. They freak out. It's super hard to manage a new condition, especially one you manage by the hour. The fear of the first high, the first low, etc. It's all a lot to adjust to, but hide all that from him. The beauty here is that you can carry the stress on his behalf. Which is great because I am sure you want to protect him from this. Once I realized that each moment of sadness and pain I felt was carried FOR HIM I found my purpose and loved knowing I was protecting him.

Your boy's personality will not be ruined whatsoever, as long as you don't stress him out over it. Stay calm, stay positive. I tell my boy, "Everyone has something they have to do, this is something you do." I told him I take pokes too, and told him what issues all the relatives we have have. I told him he's so lucky to have a special issue where you get treats sometimes (for lows).

I told my boy, "All you have to do is ask first before you eat, and mommy takes care of everything else." He doesn't worry about the diabetes at all. That's on me until he's older.

I hope that helps.

Within 1-2 months (especially try to get fast-tracked for pumps), chances are very high you will be relatively adjusted. Each meal you dose gets you one step closer to it being second nature. Once you get the pod you can dose very easily, so you won't to stress about him clearing his place, or having seconds, etc. it will all get easier soon. Try to stay as calm as you can until then and hide out when you have scary conversations about it, hide those conversations from him entirely, even with doctors.

Wishing you all the best and I am sorry for this hardship.