Approximately 5 years ago my Son came down with an URI that landed us in the doctors' office. He has always been my super well child so it was odd for him to become so overtaken by this cold. The doctor said he had an upper respiratory infection and sent us on our way with prednisone, albuterol, and amoxicillin. Little did I know that this was the death kiss to his pancreas. He started wetting the bed and being lethargic in general. To make a long story very short we went back and forth with the docs for 6+ months before they finally figured out that our precious little guy had type 1 diabetes. I was relieved to have a diagnosis and began to learn how to care for him. He wa so tired all the time and I knew something was wrong. I suspected diabetes, but the medical team was very slow to figure it out.
We learned how to care for him and we were trained to call in his numbers daily for the first bit. We approached the beginning of our second week with diabetes and as usual we called in his numbers. The doctor returned our phone cal and very snippetly said you need to start making your own decisions. You have been doing this long enough and you should know how to adjust?!? I had no clue! We just learned how to give the kid a shot and get all of the air bubbles out (which by the way could be an hour long task in the early days). I hated that feeling and never wanted to feel that out of control again. I started to learn everything I could from any and every resource available. The end result - we got our child on the pump within 12 months of diagnosis - his A1C's have never been higher than 6.7 and typically run in the low 6's.
We embrace care for this disease and feel empowered to make Patrick a better him than he would have been without diabetes. He is such an active fellow and he has learned so much about good nutrition and proper care of his body. I went back to school to get a Bachelors of Science in Nursing and I sit for my boards in a month. My prior field is in Forensic Biochem. I am so excited about what the future holds for us and would love to share any experiences and be support to anyone in need.
cheerios!