Monday, February 13, 2012

The middle diagnosis.

Yesterday was February 12th. It came and went like any other day. We went to church. We went to my in laws. I helped B finish is big report. We had a beautiful dinner. We came home and watched Once Upon a Time as a family. We went to sleep.


But yesterday was much bigger than that.

Yesterday was actually the very day L was diagnosed. At the tender age of 8 years old, he would have been celebrating 6 years with Type 1 Diabetes.

We will find a way to celebrate this week, but it occurred to me, I've never told L's story in its entirety. I don't even know if I remember it in its entirety. But I'll try.

I know it was a Sunday, and it was two days before Valentine's Day. The night before my husband and I went out and bought each boy a box of heart chocolates. We had never given the boys so much candy on Valentine's day, due to the fact that J's insulin wouldn't tolerate it. But he had been on his pump a couple years, and he could eat what he wanted now...so we thought, "what the heck! They so deserve it!"

As it turns out, no one got the chocolates.  They sat in my  closet for months before I ended up just throwing them away.

Early on that Sunday morning L woke me up for some water. Three times.

When he came back for the fourth I said, "You better hope you have diabetes buster, because it isn't ok to keep waking up your mama for water." It was a joke, and at 2 he had no idea what I was talking about, but no sooner had the words left my lips when Ryan grabbed my arm. We both knew in that moment that we needed to check his sugar.

It came up 220 something. We looked at each other in shock. I scrambled for the phone to call my endo. I was hysterical. Our regular endo was on Maternity leave, and this one was very blunt.

"Yes, he definitely is Type 1 now. I don't know why you are so upset. It is what it is."

"HOW can you know that from one reading? You don't know that! Stop saying that!"

"Go in this morning for blood tests, we'll see how far down the road he is."

We went in and tests only slightly confirmed what we feared. But here is the kicker...his blood sugars went right back to normal the next week. And the next.

And we went into denial...big time.

As long as we didn't feed him any carb bombs, his sugars were perfectly fine. Once in a while we would get a wonky one. Once in a while a 300...but then it would disappear and all would be well. The scariest part of this time was the lows. More than highs, we would see lows. He would get shaky, sweaty and scared and we would give him some juice. His pancreas was confused...it would help out a little too much when there was a high looming. It made me wonder if he wasn't type 1...maybe he was just hypoglycemic.

You can imagine the roller coaster ride I was on. One day I was sure he was Type 1. The next I was sure he was not. Until a few months later when he got strep throat. His throat closed and he wasn't getting enough oxygen...they rushed him to the hospital and he was put on what I assume were steroids.

Diabetes and steroids don't mix. He needed insulin immediately. His blood sugar went through the roof and there in the hospital it was realized...we have two boys with Type 1 Diabetes.

But here is the thing. We were all so relieved that we didn't have to live on that particular is he/or isn't he roller coaster that we took off running and ready to battle. There wasn't so much depression as there was determination. J admitted that it was nice not to be alone. He felt so guilty about it, but he felt closer to L despite it all. He would even check his sugar for us, and get his site changes done first to show L it was, "No big deal."

Also, L was a couple years older than J when he was diagnosed. He could communicate when he was hungry and he could communicate that he was thirsty. It was much easier altogether this time around. We knew we could do it.

And we did.

Now B's diagnoses...number 3. I didn't handle that one as gracefully. In fact I pretty much lost it.

But that is a story for another day.

I am so thankful that we have L in our lives. He is so much fun, and is the biggest sweetheart. He is unique, and innocent and everything you would want in a friend.

He is adored.

and

He is my hero.


11 comments:

  1. Meri- today 2/13 is 2 years for us. I have read your blog as long as I can remember but as my boys (Jackson non Type 1 6 year) and Joshua Type 1 (3yrs old) are getting bigger your blog speaks to me more and more each time. It is special to be a mom of mulitple boys and even bigger to be a mom of type 1 boys! thank you for you blog you are appriciated

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  2. Thanks for sharing your middle dx story. For sure the "is he/isn't he" ride wouldn't be fun.

    I would also think that an endo would be more...I don't know...caring. Especially with the second dx in one family. When you get your first dx you don't know really know how life changing it is right at first.

    We are coming up on Brooke's first diaversary. I blogged about it yesterday. I can't decide how I feel about marking the day.

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  3. awww...this post brought tears to my eyes. He sounds like an awesome little boy, give him a hug from us.

    Do you celebrate the Diaversary even though he may not remember the diagnosis? We struggle with this since our little one was 15 months...hmmm.

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  4. He is a lucky young man to be part of your family!
    And such a cute guy! His smile in the photo on the left, just makes me grin.

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  5. I was HORRIFIED to hear that that endo was so callous to the mother of a second diagnosed child. How DARE he! I hope to never be that mean to one of my patient's mothers (I also hope that diabetes is cured by then).

    That whole "is he/isn't he" roller coaster actually sounds like me. I was diagnosed with reactive hypoglycemia three years ago, and at first I thought nothing of it. After all, my father has it, too. But after a while, especially when I ate too many carbs, I started to see big spikes--as high as the 190's. My endo says it's nothing, but he's never given me a real explanation for the highs when I'm only supposed to see lows. I made him test me for T1 this summer, and the tests came back negative, but I'm not so sure. Especially if it's LADA, wouldn't it wait for a looong time to show up? I'm going to make him give me an explanation the next time I see him, but I think the "am I/aren't I" argument will continue until the lows go away or until I'm dianosed with either T1 or T2.

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  6. Thanks for sharing this story, Meri. Sounds like you have a great guy in your L, along with all the rest of your guys there! Oh, and for the record: I'm watching our DVR-recorded episode of Once Upon a Time right now as I write this... :))

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  7. Geez. No dx would be fun. Or even ok. What a crappy doctor....

    I can only imagine how hard that was - knowing what you already knew about T1. It makes a little bit glad that Sweets was so sick there was no doubt. Well... You know what I mean.

    Here's to an amazing kid and an amazing Mama and an amazing family! Celebrate this day- because you have so very much to celebrate!!

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  8. awww, Meri, that sounds like Isaac's dx...I knew at about 16 months - I got one random BG reading that was in the 200's, one. Then he'd be low, then high, then low, then really low...finally I felt like enough was enough one Halloween, several cups of juice and a banana later his BG read HI at that point I threw in the towel knowing I could no longer live with my head in the sand hoping for it to not be true. Our boys were diagnosed young, but they are incredible strong through it all. Whether a first dx, second, third...whatever I can't imagine the news ever being taken lightly. I am glad to know that you have such an incredible husband there by your side through it all you guys are a very inspiring team. Happy V-day early :)

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  9. I celebrated 9 years with diabetes this past weekend but I am not sure if that was actually my diaversary. I had a messy diagnosis story kind like L. My blood sugar was 208 at an urgent care visit (for a kidney infection), I took glucophage for a week, and it went back to "normal" for a few months. But in February 2003 I ended up in the hospital with DKA, accurately diagnosed, and put on insulin.

    And I'm not a fan of that endo of yours either. :(

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  10. big hugs from me and my L to you and your L. and everyone else. :)

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