Our son was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on the first day of school (Aug. 15) in 2006. Brian was only 8 years old and starting 4th grade at the time.
It all started when Brian threw up his breakfast on that fateful day. Since he was obviously sick, I had to keep him home from school. And since I worked nights at the time, we both just went back to bed for about 4 hours to catch up on sleep. When we got up I noticed that he was breathing very heavily and his eyes looked sunk in. I immediately called his pediatrician's office and asked if it sounded like he might be having an asthma attack even though he had not had one in more than two years. (He had been diagnosed with childhood asthma which the doctor said usually goes away by the age of 6, and it did.) They said that it was a possibility, and to get him in to their office right away.
We we arrived at the doctor's office, they took one look at Brian and rushed him into the one of the rooms. It was very scary seeing how worried the doctor and nurses looked. They ran many tests, but nothing came up as being wrong. Finally, the doctor said that they were just going to run a diabetes test to eliminate the possibility of it being diabetes-related. The doctor came back in with a shocked look on her face, and announced that Brian did indeed have diabetes...and that she had called an ambulance and that we would be taken to Texas Children's Hospital immediately. His urine ketone levels were up over 1000! Since no one in our families had diabetes (with the exception of my husband's mother who has Type 2 diabetes), I had no idea how bad the situation really was until we were transported via ambulance to the hospital and the situation was explained by a very kind paramedic. He tried explaining the difference between Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, but most of what he said just didn't compute...yet.
At the hospital, Brian was immediately taken to the PICU where my husband and I were told that he was in near-DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis), and where Brian would spend the next two and a half days. It was also where we learned that Brian had Type 1 diabetes (the worst of the two types, and as of now there is no cure). (Type 1 diabetes is also known as Juvenile Diabetes, because most people who are diagnosed are children. We have since found out that adults up to the age of 45 can also be diagnosed with it. My cousin was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes a few years ago at the age of 46....)
After spending another night in a regular room, going to classes on how to treat Type 1 diabetes, learning how take blood sugar readings, learning how to give shots, learning nutrition facts, etc., and getting our 8-year-old son to actually allow us to test his blood sugar by pricking his little fingers with a blood sugar lancet, and allowing us to give him shots without screaming, they finally let us go home.
And then the fun began....
I'm proud to say that Brian is taking it all in stride, and that we live life as normally as possible. We have our ups and downs, including Brian being in the hospital at least 9 days last year with LOW blood sugar, but things have been much better within the past year. The doctors never could figure out why Brian was dropping so low in the middle of the night (and having seizures that were as scary as scary can get), which is why he was admitted to the hospital for so long. They actually thought that Brian was giving himself extra insulin and causing his own hypoglycemia (they say that teens do crazy things), but finally realized that he wasn't. He's back on the slightly high (blood sugar) side now, but slightly high is much better than way too low.
Brian plays sports, so on those days that he works out really hard we really have to watch his insulin intake. I still check Brian's blood sugar at least 1-2 times in the middle of the night, and will continue to do so because I can't take the chance that he will go too low. I don't get much sleep anymore, but my sleep deprevation is another story...Brian's much more important than sleep...and this statement is from someone who used to sleep 8-10 hours a night!
All-in-all, life is different now, but life is also still the same. The Lord gives us each day, and we will continue to live life to the fullest.
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