I've been quiet lately, not for lack of something to say, but for lack of time to get words down.
Matthew and I spent 3 days at Scottsdale Healthcare hospital this week. He has been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Up until last week or so, he was asymptomatic, so we had no idea. Then, everything started to more or less fall apart for him.
It's funny, though, how you respond to what, looking back, are glaring changes in your child. Matthew has always been our bright, cheerful boy who has a twinkle in his eye and won't sit still unless he is building something. For the last week or 10 days, the twinkle was gone. But we didn't really see it.
He had also been drinking water like a fish. This was more noticeable to Steve than it was to me, because Matthew would hijack Steve's water in the middle of the night, after he'd gotten up to use the bathroom. I never keep water by my bedside, so I didn't notice that it was mysteriously gone by morning.
We had noticed that Matthew was losing weight, but again, it didn't alarm us. He had gotten to be a little chunky last year, topping his brother on the scale by about 11 pounds. But then he started slimming down. His shoulders got broader. We thought he was growing and shifting in his shape from a little boy to a young man. Then he got on the scale. 9 pounds in 3 weeks. That scared me.
When he didn't want to go play in the park, that got our attention. Matthew is always looking for an excuse to play in the park... always!! He wanted to go to Parker's baseball game, but just sat with us, his head on either my shoulder or on Steve's. He was no longer talkative.
The thought crossed Steve's mind.. do we take him to the ER? "And tell them what... he's tired??" But clearly something was wrong. Emergency-room wrong?? No.. but maybe MinuteClinic wrong.
We went to CVS on Sunday after Parker's baseball game. We didn't bring him home until Tuesday afternoon. His blood glucose level was 474. The nurse practitioner looked at me and said "I think you are going to go to the ER now.." and we went. He was a trooper with the IV, and the emergency room, and the poking of his finger 1000 times a day, and the shots and the knowledge that this is for life.
In fact, Matthew has handled this whole transition better than I could have imagined. I expect he may have a fit sometime down the road, but for now, as we learn about carb counting and how to successfully draw insulin into a needle withOUT bending the poor needle.. Matthew is almost looking at this as a science project. He enjoys seeing his glucose numbers, and figuring out how many units of insulin he gets depending on what he eats. "So, I have to make some changes, but this is so much better than some of the other things that could have been wrong with me."
Amen, Matthew... Amen!
2 comments:
Oh goodness. What a time you've been through. Don't be surprised if you have a fit down the road mom, these things are even harder on us when the boys take it so well. What a trooper you've got there! Love his attitude, that comes from good parenting.
Look into getting the insulin pens. The insulin is in a disposable pen and you "dial up" the number of units. The needles are one time use and screw onto the top of the pen. Easier to carry around than the insulin vials.
Remember all carbs are not created equal - you will notice that some carbs are fine as far as the number of carbs - but the actual food hits harder than it should. Pretzels, popcorn - bad carbs... Flake cereals - bad, All-bran - good. Figuring out the diet is a PAIN!
Hang in there.
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