★ 亞馬遜讀者一致五顆星評價
貝茲醫生的話
It was when I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, at 9 years of age, that I decided to become a paediatrician. Twenty-three years later, despite spending six years at medical school and working since as a doctor, it is mostly through living with diabetes that I have come to understand the condition. Even now, however, my diabetes surprises me and catches me out.
本書的特別之處：Many books describe the technicalities of managing diabetes in childhood, but none of them fully embrace the emotional aspects that come hand-in-hand with living with diabetes.
撰寫本書的念頭來自：The idea for this book came from participating in many diabetes children’s camps and family support weekends over the years. One session always involves a panel of adults who had Type 1 diabetes in childhood answering questions from parents. 每次病童會談小孩子總是會有的疑問？The questions are always a variation on similar themes: What does it feel like to have a hypo? Did you blame your parents for your diabetes? Has your diabetes ever stopped you doing anything? Have you ever been discriminated against? When is the right time to talk about complications?
Ultimately, 父母親渴望知道parents yearn to understand how it feels for their child to live with diabetes and worry whether they will grow up to lead a normal life. They struggle to achieve a balance between good diabetes control and allowing their child to grow up normally. Parents may not realise that there are certain questions which, if asked, could explain their child’s feelings and behaviour. Sometimes the path to asking a child those questions is littered with obstacles. The question might be too sensitive or too difficult emotionally for the parent or child to cope with, or perhaps the child is too young to give a verbal response. Parents rarely get the opportunity to ask such questions, since most of their interaction with diabetes comes with things like persuading their child to eat just one more spoonful of mashed potato to avoid a night hypo, or to have their injection, not just today, but for ever; or trying to figure out why their child’s blood sugar is 16.5 mmol/l before supper – did they have enough insulin, or did they eat some sweets on the way home from school?
I only realised when working with families just how much diabetes affects the whole family and the devastation that a diagnosis can bring. It can tip you all upside down. Sometimes parents blame themselves. Parents as well as children worry about the future. Often the family is caught up in a constant battle over blood testing, injection time and food. Alternatively the child may appear accepting and placid and the parent often wonders what their child is feeling inside. Understanding what it feels like to have diabetes, or rather, not under - standing what it feels like, can lead to frustration and isolation. Many children and families do not know anyone else with diabetes and can feel utterly alone.
透過本書，貝茲醫生希望帶給家中有病童的父母親：There is a wealth of books which explain about diabetes and how to manage it. However, there are none explaining to parents what it really feels like to grow up with diabetes. To redress the balance, I hope in this book to share some of my own and others’ experiences from diagnosis in childhood to the emergence into adult life, which will be a unique insight and true Diabetes Through the Looking Glass. I hope that understanding what it feels like to live with diabetes from your child’s perspective will help you to understand why your child behaves in a certain way. I hope, too, that this book gives you, your child, their brothers and sisters, wider family and friends the confidence to talk to each other, and that it will generate discussion between you, and you will find your own answers.