September 17, 2009

One year ago today, I was entertaining a business partner out at Prestonwood Country Club. I had an afternoon appointment to take Chance to see his pediatrician because I had noticed he was peeing and drinking a lot. I knew it was something that he should be checked out, but figured that it was not anything life threatening and that it should be OK to proceed with my business meeting.

Around 3:30 pm, I picked up Tas and Chance from their daycare class. Kathy, their teacher, was very concerned and said that Chance blew through his diapers all day, had even wet the sheets on his cot during his nap and was very lethargic. She had written down all the water he consumed and all the diapers she had changed. She said to me "in my 25 years of being a teacher that I have never seen anything like this" and she was right, she hadn't.

Heath thought I was nuts for taking Chance to the doctor. Chance had just gotten over hand, foot and mouth disease so he thought the excessive thrist was related to this. Carita and Marshall had just arrived in town for a 3 week visit.

I arrived at the pediatrician who is our friend Dr. Sherri and explained Chance's symptoms. She ordered a variety of tests including blood work and several other tests like for strep to try to find the culrpit of the thirst. She said it was very improbable it was diabetes that she had never seen a case at this age. She left the room and the nurse came in to run the tests. She did a finger prick. The meter registered HIGH, but she did not explain to me what this meant. Then, she left.

Dr. Sherri came back in and said all the tests were negative. I asked her what about the "HIGH" blood test and she said she would be right back. She came back in a few minutes later and told me Chance had to go to the hospital and that she had already called him into Big Wake. She told me to go directly there and not make any stops that this was a serious situation. I left in dispair and asked her to please locate Heath at work to let him know. I did make one stop to drop Tas home and leave him with Carita and Marshall since he was with us.

When I arrived at Big Wake, there was a nurse at the door waiting for me. She radioed to the staff in the ER that the "hyperglycemic toddler has arrived". I later learned that HIGH means over 500, but we never did get the actual reading of where he was at upon diagnosis. I believe it was in the high 500 range.

We went back into the emergency room and they immediately started taking more blood tests and hooked Chance up to an IV where they would begin insulin therapy to carefully and slowly bring down his blood sugar levels without crashing him. He was also dehydrated since his kidneys were on overdrive to flush out all the sugar in his system. Heath arrived and we were given the devastating news that Chance had type 1 diabetes. He would be insuin dependent for the rest of his life until a cure was found. Heath was completey distraught. I was in shock, but determined to keep it together for Chance and our family's sake. After a few hours, I suggested that Heath go home to get some sleep and he did.

All night long, every hour, nurses came in to do a blood test to check Chance's blood sugar and vitals. It was really awful becasue they kept trying to unsuccessfully insert a second IV in his other arm for a blood tap since they needed to take so much blood. They would pin him down and he would scream. I never left his side. I wanted him to know that we were in this together even though the nurses suggested I leave the room during the IV attempts. Doctors and nurses came in all night too to offer comforting words to me as a parent and offer advice.

Finally, around 4 am, I asked the nurses to stop trying for the second IV and they agreed. A young male nurse came in and suggested that we try having Chance sit on my lap for the blood test instead of pinning him down. Remarkably, this worked and he didn't cry. From then on, we did the test this way with no crying.

The next morning, Chance was downgraded from critical and was moved to a private room in the pediatric wing of Big Wake. A really nice room with great toys and staff for kids. They even brought a dog around to play with him. I was amazed by the care he received. Aunt Lala and Heath came up. Aunt Lala brought Froggie whom to this day is still a favorite snuggly for Chance.

Chance spent a few days in the hospital while we learned Chance's diabetes care. Heath and I rotated nights of staying there. We had the opportunity to meet Dr. Lagarde whom is Chance's current endocrinologist and plays a major role in his care. We were told that I had caught this very early before Chance's blood got too acidic and he became DKA, which is a very dangerous and life threatening situtation.

Then, just like when you bring a newborn home, we were told we could go home and were released to figure this out by ourselves with a 24 hour hotline to trained diabetes educators. It was really scary. I think scarier than when we first brought the boys home.

Only one year later, Chance is doing remarkably well and we have some serious hope for revolutionary new treatments and a cure in Chance's lifetime. Much more hope than even a year ago. Heath and I are extremely proud of how well Chance and Tas have adjusted to our new routine. We are also proud of ourselves for the superior care we have given Chance.

Tonight, we all (Tas and Chance too) went out with close friends and their kids to celebrate that Chance (and us) survivied our first year of diabetes. That we made it though and are thriving with this new normal.