Doctor Visit

Kaden went into the doctor today for his 3 month check-up. Everything went well. His A1c was in the normal range for his age. Yeah! At the last visit his A1c was high, not a good thing. We had dealt with insulin that was bad. His body had not been reacting to his shots so two vials later we had insulin that was working but it had already done its damage to his A1c and had to make some changes. The changes the doctor made paid off because he was good again. It is a relief as a mother to see that you have got him in the range his A1c is suppose to be in. Now if I can get him over his cold so we don't have those sick day high glucose numbers.
 
It is amazing what the stress of a sickness can do to glucose numbers but it can be expected. The doctor wasn't too worried and wants me to try to up his lantus a to a 1/2u more. We will give that a try tomorrow and hope it doesn't crash him. It is no fun to get up in the middle of the night with a 2yr old that has dangerously low numbers and have to stay up until his glucose numbers are back in the safe range. We both are grumpy and tired when we get up in the morning.

Kaden's Diagnosis

Kaden was diagnosed on December 7, 2007. He was 19 months old. Kaden had been sick for awhile but we were oblivious to the signs of diabetes. There wasn't a history of it so we didn't look for signs of diabetes. At first I thought it was a reaction to his immunizations and his flu shot that he recieved at his 18 month well child check up. He continued to get sicker as the month progressed and had lost a considerable amount of weight. He looked like he was being starved, which in a way you might say he was. He had got to the point that he wasn't eating and all he did was drink fluids. Due to the increased amount of fluids he was wetting through diapers. We started trying different brands of diapers that would absorb all of this fluid. After several phone calls to his doctor and being told it would pass and he just had a bug, due to the time of year, the clinic finally had me come in for an appointment on December 7th. My son was dehydrated and lethargic. The P.A. sent us to have blood tests done after he examined my son and expressed his fear of it being Juvinile Diabetes. I thought that there could be no possibility of it because there was no family history. We waited at the clinic for the devastating results. His glucose levels were over 800. Normal is 100-200 for his age. We were then told to go immediately to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, UT.
 
The drive to Primary Children's seemed to take forever. Family members and friends were called as we drove the 25 minutes to Salt Lake City. I know as a mother we are suppose to be strong for our children but with each phone call the tears poured. It was not the best driving conditions either. We were recieving our first big snow storm of the season.
 
Once we got to Primary Children's we spent hours in the ER as they worked to bring his glucose levels to a safe level. Once this was achieved we were moved to his room on the fourth floor. They had him taken care of that night but Mom and Dad weren't educated in taking care of him. We spent the next three days getting a crash course in caring for a diabetic and how to use his new life equipment.
I wish I could say that since his diagnosis we haven't had any problems and everything has been fine but I would be lying. Every day is a challenge. We have days where his numbers are perfect and days when they aren't so perfect. We ask ourselves what we did wrong on those days that he has not so perfect numbers but know we did exactly what we were suppose to. We now can almost always tell when his numbers are off by his attitude. Pretty much when he is having a temper tantrum we know to check him, 9 times out of 10 it is his glucose levels. He is becoming more aware of how he feels when his numbers are off and asks to get his blood checked.
 
I am going to put in my disclaimer now. In no way is this blog going to be giving medical advise. This is all my personal experience as being the mother and care giver of a diabetic child. I hope that I can help any parents of children that have been diagnosed in feeling that they aren't the only one with ups and downs.