May 10, 2010, I finally stopped long enough to listen to the whisperings of truth floating through my mind and heart. Inside I knew that they were true, but I was busy. So busy. Too busy and weary and deep in "I DON'T WANT TO DEAL WITH THAT!", to stop and invest the time to know.
But at about 10:10pm when all the kids were in bed and the house was darkening, I finally did.
I'd been worried about my child, who looked sick. She was always tired. And she'd begun an absolute love affair with water bottles and icecubes.
I went to the internet and looked up the symtoms of diabetes because I knew deep inside
that was what going on with my one and only beautiful daughter.
- Increased thirst and frequent urination
- Extreme hunger
- Weight loss
- Fatigue
- Blurred vision
She had them. She had them all.
*sigh*
I remember standing on the stairs crying and telling my sweet husband that I was pretty sure she was sick. In retrospect I realize he didn't really get it. He didn't KNOW like I did, but he worried.
So the next morning, Monday, I made an appointment for her at the pediatrician after school. (In retrospect I also should have probably gone to the emergency room that night, but it turned out okay in the end.)
I drove her and her four younger brothers off to school, the school I happened to be working at that day. Around 11am, I ran into a friend in the hall, the friend who I'd spent hours sitting next to during basketball practice for our sons earlier that spring. Hours during which she taught me all about autoimmune diseases, specifically the ones her children had: rheumatoid arthritis, celiacs disease, and Type 1 diabetes.
I told Kim I suspected that Miss M had Type 1. She said, "Well let's use my daughter's kit and find out." So we did. I got M and we all went to the nurse's office. Kim told me later as soon as she saw M's hands and tried to get that drop of blood to come out, she knew. The meter registered HI, which meant that M's Blood Glucose Level (BGL) was over 599.
Kim and the nurse said to call the doctor's office. I did. Then I played phone tag for about 45 minutes, until finally being directed to take M to the emergency room.
Off we went. On the way I called my husband. I told him where we were going and that I would call when I knew something.
It took less than five minutes to be taken back into triage. We immediately went from there into an exam room. (If you want speedy service in the ER coming in with an unknown high BGL is a great way to accomplish it.)
Then we sat for about four hours waiting for the test results and the IVs they had hooked up to stabilizer her..
At some point I contacted my poor worried spouse and he left work downtown and came out to the hospital near our house. The doctor came in to tell us that they were working to get her prepared enough to transport by ambulance to the downtown hospital where there was a PICU. My husband was completely lost. He asked, "Wait! What is wrong? Does she have diabeties? Are you sure?"
The doctor kindly backed up and went through everything. M had come in with a BGL of around 625. (Normal is 80-120) She had ketones present in her blood (acidic byproducts of breaking down fat because you can't use the carbohydrates for fuel), but there was no evidence of ketoacidois (likely thanks to the daily system flushing M had been driven to do with all of the icy water she drank.) Still they wanted to take her downtown where there was a pediatric internsive care unit, just in case she needed it.
Life moved right into surreal at that point. I'd brought an ambulatory child who was completely coherent in and suddenly you are about ready to send her into ICU? Well then. We have entered the Twilight Zone.
At close to 5pm they prepared us for transport. I rode with her in the ambulance. It was pouring rain. They didn't use the siren. She was rather perturbed by that thinking this is her first and possibly only (let's hope) chance to ride in an ambulance and she gets NO fanfare.
The next twenty hours sped by. They settled us into a room on the pediatric floor. Doctors came and went. Nurses came and went. Poking and prodding occurred at all hours. I "tried" to sleep in the fold out chair next to the bed where she tried to sleep.
Around 10am the next morning, Don, the diabetic educator came. He taught us all about her care. He explained counting carbohydrates, insulin, and exercise. He let each of us give him a shot of saline to practice our new reality. After about an hour he wrote prescriptions, gave us a million phone numbers for himself, her endocrinologist (Isn't it lucky that my endocrinologist is her endocrinologist? Hypothyroidism is an autoimmune disease. There seems to be a link among autoimmune disease. Lucky us.)
Then Don said, "As soon as she eats lunch, figures out the carb count for it, and gives herself a shot of the correct insulin, you can all go home."
Seriously? We each have drawn up and given one shot. She has tested herself once or twice. They just put us in an ambulance because she was took sick to do anything but head for PICU less than 24 hours ago and now you are sending us home?
So at 2 pm, 25 hours after we'd arrived at the ER, we were discharged. I felt completely unready. But off we went. Thank goodness for all those phone numbers. Thank goodness for two friend with diabetic kids. Thank goodness that dying from diabetes takes hours rather than minutes.
We made it. We made it through the next few days. We made it through her first half day back at school two days later on Thursday, when she went and explained her disease to all her concerned classmates. We made it through the all day field trip downtown on Friday, and through the school carnival that night. The carnival in which fried carbohydrates covered in sugar are the norm and in which she won two cakes and purchased with her leftover tickets enough icecream on a stick to feed our whole seven person family a few days later.
We have since made it through her first of many doctor appointments. Her first cold. (Bad numbers those days.) Her first day of middle school with a new nurse. Her first day of after school sports. ("By the way coach, she has diabeties. You will have to listen to her and let her stop if she needs to and make sure you know where her supplies are j
ust in case.") Her first and second bout of stomach flu ("Be careful," says the endocrinologist. "If she gets dehydrated she will have to be hospitalized." Great thanks. Love this disease - as I force fluids that will be coming back up within 15 minutes.)
We have made it through a lot of firsts. And most of them are okay, but still I sometimes cry as I write the email to the new person who has entered her life, like I did this morning for the track coaches.
I cry as I let them know that she is really amazing. She can do pretty much everything on her own, including managing the disease during volleyball and basketball this year. And maintaining A's in all of her classes, most of which are gifted and honors classes despite the fact that her A1c tells us that she is likely running around at a BGL of over 300 more often than not. A BGL that would have most of us laying on the couch in a carb coma.
I write the email to get them onboard so that they realize and remember that she needs them to listen and watch and be ready to help if she can't do it herself. And that she really can't stand around and explain (or argue - oops the nurse and I forgot to send the memo to the librarian this year) about her condition and get a hall pass before heading for the nurse WITH A FRIEND WHO ALSO SHOULDN'T HAVE TO WAIT FOR A HALL PASS when she is low or high. (Honestly the school and the teachers have all been great, but really 42 BGL after spending forever waiting for the librarian to get through the process to create a PROPER hall pass was concerning.)
Most days are great. Most people are so helpful and willing to do anything to help. But you still have to remind them. Every time.
So sometimes I just write and think and feel the tears slip down.
Some things never go away. No matter how much you wish they would. No matter how much you wish you could take a break. And regardless of how capable, skilled, and knowledgeable you become.--Regardless of the thickness of the skin that develops to protect your heart, you still feel sad. And you cry.