It's been a long while since I have posted to this blog. March 5th was our wedding anniversary, but shortly afterward, March 13th to be exact, we were faced with a very difficult new challenge in our lives. Micah was diagnosed with Type 1 Juvenile Diabetes.
Micah had shown some different signs and symptoms of Diabetes for several months, but we hadn't picked up on them. He was drinking a lot at night, but then going the bathroom a lot at night (of course who wouldn't if they were drinking so much at night I thought). His hands had become so extremely dry that we thought they were chemically burned by the school health class that had done some germ experiment. He had gotten extremely skinny, but I thought maybe he was just going through a growth spurt. I kept trying to shove more food in him all the time. He was often not feeling well right after school or after dance class, but then I'd give him something to eat and he'd be fine a half hour later.
All these symptoms I missed.
Honestly I did google the bathroom trips and dry hands a couple of times and all I got was bladder and urinary tract infections. I thought to start him on a cranberry juice regimen and see how that went as his well child check up was only a week away.
But then he got sick. I thought he just had strep. He had a really high fever and his throat hurt. Had to be strep. So I took him to the doctor and had them do a strep test. But, while he was there I mentioned the bathroom thing and showed them his hands. A few tests later the pediatrician was all of the sudden telling me about "ketones" and sugar in his urine and how we needed to go right to the hospital emergency room and how he suspected Juvenile Diabetes in which I knew nothing about.
There they did blood tests and confirmed that he had this thing called Juvenile Diabetes or Type 1 Diabetes and that he would have to be admitted to the hospital for 3 days!
Was it somehow my fault for not catching him eat that whole bowl of tootsie rolls we had brought home from a birthday party? How could this have happened, and what did it all mean?
They admitted our cute Micah boy to the hospital and made him wear a mask or the people who came in all had masks because they didn't know for sure that he didn't have strep or flu (although the pediatrician had already done the test and it was negative, I guess they were waiting for a more extensive test).
This was a hard trip to go through. While many of our friends and family didn't understand and thought that this was no big deal, this was a big deal. This wasn't something that was going to go away or that could be cured by pills. This was the insulin dependent diabetes and Micah was going to have to have insulin injections 4 times a day and monitor his blood sugar for the rest of his life. At the hospital we could see how much weight he had actually lost. While he always hid it wearing this big winter coat all day, Micah only weighed around 60 pounds as a 12 year old boy.
The hospital stay was rough. There was so much to learn and so much to remember. Micah was so brave though. I don't know anyone else who could have handled this better than he. Here he was having to learn how to poke himself and bleed several times a day, but also how to inject himself with needles each day before he ate. So much for a 12 year old to handle, but Micah truly has been so inspiring.
We basically lived at the hospital for 3 days. Macey came and visited most of the daytime,
and Daddy and Caleb and Jewelia came in the afternoons.
Troy would sleep over at nights while I managed the kids at home for bed and got the older ones off to school in the morning, then I would head back up to the hospital with Macey until the evening when we would swap again.
I've been waiting to post this blog for some time now, because I've been working on another blog that shares our experiences with Juvenile Diabetes. When Micah was first diagnosed we were at such a loss of information and so many others didn't understand as well. I felt like it would help us share our experiences if not also help others and educate some about Type 1 Diabetes if we started a separate blog. Well, you know me, the Blog Queen. We have an
Asperger Blog, a
Tourette's Blog, and now a Diabetes Blog. If you would like to know more details about what Micah has to go through or would like to be better educated, you can check it out at
www.ourlifewithdiabetes.blogspot.com.
I can't tell you how proud we our of our Micah and we know although there is not a cure right now for T1 Diabetes, we will help him every step of the way and we know he can still live a happy life as we figure out how to manage his diabetes.
Update!!! We have all decided to join the Walk to Cure Diabetes this summer! If you would like to donate to our cause, please click on the link here.
