Sydney was diagnosed at the age of 6 on Friday, January 4, 2013. We had began to notice that she was drinking constantly for about 2 weeks prior. She began getting up a lot at night to pee, seemed pale and not to have as much energy as she typically did. I googled excessive thirst in children and juvenile diabetes showed up. I looked at the symptoms and thought she fit a couple of them, so I messaged our school nurse (I am a kindergarten teacher, so she was a friend) to ask if she would mind checking Sydney out at school the next day and explained what was going on. She asked if she seemed to be shaky...no, irritable...yes, appetite....normal with excessive thirst, weight loss....had Sydney go weigh herself and sure enough...yes she had lost a few pounds. She said their was no way of knowing until the doctor did a blood test. She suggested to make an appointment in the morning. So that night Sydney got up 5 times between 8:00 and 11:00, I just knew something was not right.
The next morning I called the Dr office and make an appt for 3:00 that afternoon explaining her symptoms and went on with my day teaching. I searched around school and found one of our teachers who was gestational diabetic at the time and asked if I could check Sydney before lunch, so that we would have a baseline to go on when we got there and the Dr checked her sugar. So at her lunch time I take her down and we test. The meter read 569, I had been gestational diabetic when pregnant with her sister two years earlier and knew that was a high number BUT did not realize it was as bad as it was. I sent her on to lunch and went to tell the nurse. I grabbed her arms and said she is 569. The look on her face confirmed my fears. My daughter was now a juvenile diabetic. She told me to call the Dr and tell them, so I did and the receptionist told me I needed to get her to the Emergency Room as quickly as possible. Another teacher went to get Sydney from lunch as I had a meltdown. The principal came in and expressed her concern and then told me to dry it up before Sydney got there because I had to be strong for her. They offered to drive us, but I refused. I needed to go on my own.
Once in the car, I called her daddy who was at work and told him we were headed to the Emergency Room and that he needed to meet me there. We pulled in at the exact same time. When we registered and the lady called back to inform them that she had a 6 year old with a blood sugar of 569. We didn't even get to sit down before they were calling us back to check her out. They asked how we knew and I told them what I had done. We were sent back to the triage room to wait on the Dr. He walked in and stated, "We are dealing with Type 1 Diabetes." I said but you didn't do any tests, he said with a blood sugar that high it is T1D. He said they would draw blood and run more tests, and he would call our regular physician, but told us that we would be headed to our nearest children's hospital with endocrinologists an hour and a half away. Her tests came back and she was dehydrated so they started an IV. Her A1C came back as 10.1. He told us we were lucky to have caught it before she was in DKA or a coma. We made arrangements for my parents to pick up my youngest and care for her. We were discharged to go home grab clothes and head to East Tennessee Children's Hospital in Knoxville, TN where they were aware we were on our way and would be ready for us.
Upon arrival they reconnected her IV and we met our endocrinologist. He explained a little about what Type 1 Diabetes was, that we would have two days of training, and that Sydney would begin getting shots shortly after he left us. He again told us we were lucky to have found it before she was worse. She got her first shot in the Emergency Room while we waited on a room upstairs to be prepared for us. We got settled upstairs and began trying to process everything that had happened in the last few hours. I was vaguely aware because I was a gestational diabetic with her sister and had to check my sugar and count carbs, and I had a T1D student 6 years earlier whom I had to watch for highs and lows, but this still did NOT prepare me for what was coming. It made it easier for me to process. My husband had no previous experience with diabetes, so we still didn't fully understand what was coming the next day. That night I Facebook messaged the parent of the student I had years earlier to share the sad news that my daughter now was a T1D. She responded with prayers and saying that God puts people in our lives for a reason. She had fought to get her child in my classroom in kindergarten because I had the big brother the year before and they knew she would be more comfortable telling me if she felt low or high since she knew me. It was heartbreaking, but I knew I had one person who I could look to in the future.
The next day we began training, the nurses training us on how to prick her finger and check her blood and give the insulin shots, the nutritionist who taught us how to count carbs, and the diabetes educator helped put it all together and show us how to calculate insulin to carbs. We quickly began checking her blood and giving her insulin shots. Sydney was a trooper. That day she began having a finger picked out when they came to check sugar, would show the nurses where she wanted to get her shot, and was shocking everyone with the maturity she showed being a newly diagnosed 6 year old. That day of training was rough. So much important information to learn to be able to keep our child alive. My husband kept questioning could we have prevented it....no, could she ever get better and live without insulin.....why did it happen to our little girl.....good question. The Dr. basically told us that Sydney's body went through some type of trama and caused her pancreas to shutdown. There was no way to know how long she had it or what made it happen. He said it could have been an illness, or in other patients a car wreck or anything that jolted the body. It was still hard to process. My husbands parents came to visit that afternoon. And we began teaching them what we had to do to help Sydney.
After training that night, we decided to share with family and friends via Facebook that Sydney was in the hospital and we were learning how to take care of her as a Type 1 diabetic. We were flooded with prayers, and gained a valuable friend. A coworker of mine had commented on my post and it showed up in her friend's newsfeed. That friend knew exactly what we were going through. She private messaged me to say that her son was diagnosed a year earlier in kindergarten and that she was there for me when I was ready to reach out for help, cry to, vent to, whatever I needed. She knew we were overwhelmed and said when we were ready I could contact her. I didn't know at that time that she would be a huge influence in my life.
The next day was Sunday and they do not do training on Sunday. We were given the option of going home and driving back the next morning. We chose to stay not feeling ready to care for her on our own and not wanting to drive an hour and a half home just to sleep and turn around and drive an hour and a half back the next morning. My parents came down that day and brought little sister to visit. They played in the playroom having fun being a 6 and 2 year old. Then it cam time for supper and shots. My dad said it best she turned into a little teenager when she knew it was time to get serious decide what she was going to eat, check her blood and get her shot. She was all business and no play. We were lucky to have an extra day to count carbs, blood sugar, and figure doses for her shots with nurse supervision. While she was eating I asked if mom and dad would be able to give her shots. Mom said no, dad thought a minute and said yes. Mom looked at him funny. He said we either learn to give her a shot or she won't be with us. After hearing that mom seen his point. Of course there were more tears as we all began to see what life was to become for all of us. Life as we knew it was over.
On Monday we finished training learning about Glucagon and when and how to give it in the event we ever need to, figuring out a some lunch ideas that would be easy the first few days back to school, and calculating how much a McDonald's happy meal was. Because by the time we were discharged and were to get home it would be time for supper and thinking about finding something she would eat and that she could eat would be very difficult, so we opted for McDonald's chicken nuggets, french fries and apple slices with diet coke for a total of 45 carbs. So with two days of training under our belt, a bag of supplies to get us started, multiple prescriptions to drop off at the pharmacy, a diabetic notebook to help us when we needed refreshed or she was sick with sick day plans, and a pink camouflage bag with her supplies to carry at all times we were discharged.
As we loaded the truck and started home I felt all kinds of emotions. I was scared that I didn't know enough, that it was too much information in way too short of time. I was happy to be going home, but nervous to change our lifestyle to help Sydney. I was mad that this was now our way of life. When we pulled in, there was balloons on the porch. I had no idea who had sent them. We brought them in the house and found out they were from Sydney's friend from her class at school. She had went home and told her mom that Sydney had to go to the hospital. The mom emailed Sydney's teacher to ask what was going on. The student's dad also worked with Sydney's dad, so we talked when she was at school volunteering. The teacher told her that Sydney was diagnosed Type 1 and the parent got our address and sent her balloons. I cried because it was the sweetest thing I had seen and just what we needed to welcome us home. We checked her blood sugar, dosed her with insulin for supper and began our new life with a child having Type 1 Diabetes.
~Heather
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