Here is Tommy and Katie at Karate about a week and a half ago. He is a super active boy but he hasn't been very interested in food for a long time so he is quite thin. The past couple of weeks he has been extremely thirsty all the time and having to pee all the time. Occasionally he was even really hungry. I searched the
Internet and most things I came up with said that it is common at this age for the child to grow more quickly than their bladder so they have to go a lot more frequently. I called my mom and my sister to confirm that this is just a stage. They both recommended I get him checked out. I made an appointment and did some more digging on the
Internet. Of course Diabetes was in the back of my mind and when I finally got the courage to look at the symptoms, I realized he had almost every one. I was so scared. I prayed so hard that this would not be what was happening.
We took him to the doctor Monday morning, I was happy they could get him in so quickly when I called the Friday before. When we got there, they didn't show an appointment for him. I guess the person who booked it didn't do it right. No one else could see him either. We had to wait one more day. Knowing what I know now, I would have taken him to the emergency room that Friday when I made the appointment.
We were finally seen the next day. They tested his blood and it was 56. Normal range is 70-170. The doctor said if anything it was a little low and we didn't need to worry about Diabetes. What a relief! She talked to us about some other techniques to help with the frequent urination and did a check on his urine just to be sure. It was super high for sugar. They repeated the blood test which had obviously been wrong and saw that it was 500. The doctor was very kind and kept saying she was sorry but he most likely did have diabetes and we would have to go to the hospital right away and admit Tommy for a couple of days.
I didn't want to look scared in front of Tommy. Kind of like the time he had an allergic reaction to a cat and his eyeball was swollen. Not the eyelid, the eyeball. It freaked me out but I calmly told Mike to come look. He freaked out. Not this time though. We were both calm. We went home and got what we needed for a hospital stay. We fed Tommy lunch because we knew we would have to process through the emergency room and everyone knows that takes forever.
When we got to the emergency room, we waited of course but then they took him back and gave him a bag of saline. I couldn't believe he was dehydrated. He drank all the time. He also peed all the time and his cells weren't getting nutrition from anything he took in. His lips have been really chapped lately and after he had his IV for a while, they were soft again.
He was so thirsty but could only have ice chips. Little sister had ice chips too. He was so brave as he was poked so many times. We tried to explain to him what Diabetes meant. The words, "for the rest of your life" couldn't quite find their way out of my mouth just yet, but they would later.
Katie was amazingly good. What healthy child wants to spend 6 hours in the hospital? She was a great sport and was finally rewarded when Dad took her to dinner after we were checked into a room.
Tommy had his pillow pet that aunt Kathy bought him and his baseball blanket that grandma made him on his bed. I spent the night with him. He didn't get scared or anything even though the nurse had to come prick his finger at 2 am. When I asked him if he had slept through it, he said he woke up a little and then pretended to be asleep. All of the nurses were so nice. We were assigned a diabetes nurse and she is awesome. In addition to stabilizing Tommy, the purpose of the hospital stay is to educate Mike and I on his care.
The first time I gave him a shot, I was so nervous. I hovered just next to his arm with the needle for a few seconds. I told the nurse if it was someone
else's child I would be done already. I finally did it and Tommy said I did a really good job. He still says it doesn't hurt when I give him shots.
Our wonderful friend offered to come pick up Katie that first night we were in the hospital. She is so sweet. She watched her on Wednesday so Mike could spend the day at the hospital. Mike has been amazing. He is so supportive of me, so patient and kind to both of the kids and I could never get through this challenge without him.
Tommy asked me what food he could never have again. I told him he could still have just about anything, just not in the amounts we did before. We have to count every
carb we give him and feed him on a regular schedule. We still call the nurse to get the dosage for his two shots per day but will eventually calculate it ourselves.
Tommy is actually healthier now than he has been in a few weeks. He looks forward to eating now. I think because his body was literally starving before. He is really active. It was cute that he missed Katie while he was in the hospital.
Mike and I would trade places with Tommy in a heartbeat if we could. I'm sure all parents would take away any pain from their children. Even though this is a dramatic change and one that will affect the rest of his life, we feel blessed to be together, to have good insurance and are hopeful for advances in medicine that will make this easier and one day cure him.
Wednesday was Katie's last day of preschool. Here she shyly poses by her cubby...
Seriously, how do you get a child out of their shell?
She will miss her friends.
Tommy had his field day too. It was his first day back to school after the hospital. I went and tested his blood sugar at lunch and then ate lunch with him and stayed for field day. These last weeks of school have been difficult because of all the parties and treats. I'm sure he feels left out but he has been a great sport about everything. I made him sugar free cupcakes so he could have a treat too. Luckily he loves the sugar free jello, popsicles and cupcakes. Some sugar free foods actually have the same amount of carbs so it doesn't help a whole lot. We're still learning.
Tommy and his two friends earned the Three Musketeers award for teamwork.
Goodbye friends. See you next year!
Last 1st grade lunch.
And now for a random nap. Katie used to fall asleep pretty much standing up all the time. She hasn't done it for a while though so I had to take a picture of this.
Playing at the park. Hopefully it will get warm sometime this summer.
Our yearly tradition of butterflies. We'll probably set these ones free tomorrow.
