My son is finishing his sophomore year in college, he is a five hour drive away. He plays on a D1 golf team. I was very nervous but he has done well. He shared a dorm room freshman year with no issues, he lives in a 2 bedroom apartment now with a roommate.
When he goes on golf trips they often fly and go directly to the course for practice, he now carries his insulin in a special Coleman thermos that keeps ice for 24 hours, this has prevented his insulin from being heat exhausted. He carries a special “going away” kit that has enough supplies for 10 days, he repacks this after each trip so all he has to do on the day they travel is pack the insulin.
He carries paperwork that allows him to clear security at the airport, his local airport knows him now and he passes through easily.
He is registered at the office of disabilities but has not had to use any of the accommodations. He tells his teachers at the end of the first class that sometimes he “beeps” and he doesn’t want them to think it is a phone. Teachers have been great about allowing him whatever he needs.
He had the stomach flu in February, his endo was great! We did a conference call every 2 hours through the night to help him trouble shoot. Endo had registered him with the emergency room and left instructions should he arrive. This was comforting. His roommate also went out to get him stomach friendly food on his third day and texted me often to tell me “he was looking bad” or today he “looked better”.
Supplies can be a bit of a dilemma in the dorms as they are often misplaced by the front desk, we have learned to not run too low. His A1C has risen a bit since he left home (from the low 6’s to sometimes 6.8). He carries fruit snacks with him in his backpack and in his golf bag.
I worry about him all the time, he used to tell me his numbers if I asked but he now gives me a smart ass answer, which is his way of saying he has it under control. He always tells me his A1C so that is what I use as the barometer of how he is doing. He spends a little more on food than my daughter did because he buys pre-cut vegetables (otherwise he eats less of them). He is learning to cook and his roommate cooks often (my son is more in charge of cleaning duties).
I worried a lot the first year, but this year has gotten easier - that is until he is sick then all the old fears come back and I want to rush to his side.
He too is thin and uses a minimed pump - no CGM (although I wish he would). All the members of the golf team know he is diabetic, his coach is a type 2 but was recently diagnosed and not very well educated yet (often uses my son as his carb counting book).
I did pack a special sick day kit for him this year which was in a little plastic bin in the bottom of the pantry, he was glad he had that when the flu hit.
I created a little booklet called diabetes 101 for the athletic trainers and coaches, he keeps glucose in the athletic training office and a Gatorade in their fridge. He runs 5 miles every morning as part of his training, it had to learn how to eat breakfast to accommodate this as it was more running than he had been doing at home. Several of the trainers have been interested in learning more (including one that joined us for the every 2 hour conference calls when he was sick).
He does go out with others and does drink from time to time. Many may not agree with this, but we practiced him drinking beer at home before he went to college. We monitored him and determined the effect of two beer on his BG, he has a strategy for what to eat if he is planning to have a couple beers. Since he hangs out with a pretty conservative group there isn’t binge drinking or even regular drinking, but they do occasionally have a BBQ and a couple of beer.
Hope this helps.
Growing up I thought all dads had Hershey bars in their jacket pocket.