My pancreas is always there for me
Secreting those enzymes
Secreting those hormones too
Metabolizing carbohydrates just for me
OK, so what if it doesn't? Metabolize carbohydrates, I mean. Well, then you are Dane and you have Type 1 Diabetes. This news may come as a shock to some of you... we've told some as it has come up, but haven't reached out en mass, and we know that others are learning here for the first time. Hope the Weird Al reference softens the blow for you.
It was just a few days after my last blog post (which of course was intended to kick off some more frequent blogging) that we had our "incident." Here's how it went down:
Dane had been a little sick for a while. A cold. Some sniffles. Nothing too crazy. Maybe a virus we thought after a few days, because there was a bit of vomiting. But really, this family has seen kid sickness before.
The weekend got a little more intense, he was pretty lethargic and a little more of the "fun stuff."
By the time I got home from work Monday night (rather late, because I had an event with some customers that evening) Dane was in bad shape. While the vomiting had subsided, he was breathing very heavily. This is normal for D when he has a fever, but he didn't have a fever, so we were getting really concerned. After another trip to the bathroom where Dane was just too tired to walk out, so he just lay down on the floor. Well, he lay down if you call falling over and saying, "I'm just too tired to stand up" laying down. OK, now we knew something was up.
All along we hadn't seen evidence of Swine Flu (H1N1) or any other pandemic or such... we were at a loss.
Cyndie just looked at me and said, "You have to take him to the ER." So I did.
They did a History a quick once over and started in on their stuff. I didn't know what was going on.
Every once in a while they asked me a question.
Eventually, about 2 am they said "Diabetic Ketoacidosis." And I was totally confused. Dane doesn't have diabetes, I told myself. And good thing, because if there are 2 things this kid hates, it is shots and food. At that point the Doctor in charge told me that Dane needed to be transported to Primary Children's hospital because that is where they treat juveniles. And transport would be by ambulence. At this point I am pretty sure we have reached our insurance deductible for Dane. Turns out that Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) is pretty serious stuff. You can read more about it here.
I followed the ambulance up to PCH. At this point I am really confused. Partially because I am bleary-eyed, and partly because I am still relatively sure that Dane does not have diabetes (this is what psychologists call "denial".)
About 2 more hours in the ER at PCH, then maybe 8 or so in Pediatric Intensive Care (PICU). After which Dane was transferred to the "floor" or the regular hospital with a confirmed diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes where he stayed for the next 3 days. This kind of stay is totally normal with a new diagnosis of Diabetes.
This is already long, but I'll shorten the rest up a bit...
You spend 3 days at the hospital so the endocrinologist can monitor how you respond to insulin (and in Dane's case so we could get his blood sugar levels down from 500 to closer to 100 in a slow and controlled manner). Also, there is a substantial (read: overwhelming) amount of information you need and about every 90 minutes someone is coming in to teach you something: diet, exercise, pharmaceuticals, injections, insurance, support groups, clinics, supplies, etc. We didn't know quite how to respond to it all... compare this to when Tate was diagnosed with Autism and we were essentially told "Your son exhibits behaviors consistent with the Autistic spectrum. Good luck with that."
I'm sparing the emotional detail. Frankly, it's almost too exhausting to relive, even in pixels.
So where are we now?
- Dane is testing blood glucose himself (sparingly) and doing his own injections (always) after Cyndie or I calculate the dosage and draw the insulin.
- We generate much more garbage that we did before (mostly little plastic caps from the syringes, alcohol wipes, alcohol wipe packaging, blood glucose strips and packaged food (which lists the exact number of carbs included).
- We live a more regimented life (Dane needs to eat regularly, and he's still in the honeymoon phase, where his pancreas regains some-though inconsistent-functionality before finally giving up for good).
- We are extremely grateful to Heavenly Father who sustains us in all things, and for those locally who have helped us through to this point.
Cyndie and I don't go out as much... still need to get him comfortable with dosing himself before we inflict him on a babysitter...
