Story of Us
From laughter to tears and back to laughter - or....
Destiny.......Diagnosis......Hope......
Destiny or.....
Long, long time ago, I was in my early twenties, working, having fun, not a care in the world. That summer I was going out with a young man who was not my ideal mach on many levels, so I knew the relationship was not to last. I was just having fun.
When one of my older colleague at work asked me, in a very motherly way, how serious that relationship was, I was quick to voice: “Neah, not serious at all. His father died of diabetes. I do not want my children to have diabetes!”
How ignorant I was then, how little i knew....
Look, I probably had my grandmas’ advice in the back of my mind: “When you are choosing who to marry, always find out about their family and their health. Healthy grandparents, healthy grandchildren”.
As I predicted, that relationship did not last into the Autumn.
Many, many years later I met my match and I didn’t even think to check his family’s health bill. My grandmas voice must have faded away by then. Even if I have checked, I would have not made a different decision – he was my match!
Few years later we had Mr T.
Three years later, Mr T was diagnosed with diabetes mellitus 1, with no previous history on either side.
Destiny?
Diagnosis
We have just moved from Botswana to Cape Town, Mr T has just started at the new preschool, and we have just started the renovations on the house we moved into. Two weeks later, Mr T’s teacher mentioned that he was not his usual himself that day.
In a week that followed, we visited GP twice, spent a significant time on the phone with various doctors, we gave Mr T the antibiotics that was prescribed for the suspected bronchitis, and we wondered why isn’t he getting any better. We were wondering at what point one needs to take the child to the hospital, while waiting for our appointment with the pediatrician which we were able to secure for the following Monday.
We didn’t notice the typical signs of developing diabetes, they just weren’t prominent enough. Mr T drank diluted fruit juice, still on the bottle, but not more then usual and we lived in a hot and dry Botswana. He had just turned 3, and he did have an odd accident at night. The occasional wet bed we put to his age. It was not every night. He was very active and he din not loose weight, except for the last week, but then he ate very little.
That week, Thursday, Mr T complained, for the first time, about his tummy. That morning, for the first time in his life, he refused the offered juice and asked for water. GP told us that day, that tummy ache can be from various reasons in kids and that we need to be patient and give the antibiotic enough time to start working. I get the goose bumps again when I think of it now.
I am convinced, that pediatrician knew the diagnosis the minute we walked into his office that Monday morning. X-ray of the abdomen, full blood works without waiting for the results and off to the hospital. By that time, Mr T did not have energy to walk. That’s’ what a very high, uncontrolled blood glucose can do to the body, but we didn’t know it then. Not yet.
The system is such [in South Africa, but I see the similar pattern here in Australia too], that although we were sent directly to the children’s ward and were admitted immediately, the next doctors visit was only after 4 pm, at the end of his working day. Without the doctor, nobody was allowed to attach the drip. We were waiting in anticipation and Mr T was getting weaker. At least we were in the hospital.
Another long 8 hours passed before the infusion liquid started running through Mr T veins and two more before the doctor received all the results of previous analysis and told us the diagnosis: Diabetes Mellitus type 1 – insulin for life. Mr T was so week by then. He was not able to talk.
Diabetes ! ….. My heart froze, my world collapsed…… the drip was changed from glucose containing one to the saline one. Insulin started running too, via a huge toaster like, desk top insulin pump. The long sleepless night in the intensive care, blood samples from the vein every two hours and the uncertainty of what tomorrow will bring. Uncertainty of what life ahead will bring, but now in a new, different way….
Still, we were very lucky. Lucky, to have arrived to the hospital in time.....
We spent three days in hospital, in a haze between frequent blood glucose testing, high BG’s, trying to absorb the information we were given by the nurses, nutritionist and doctors. We were learning how to give him insulin, what he can and what he cannot eat, asking ourselves: why? Why did it happened to him?
They let us go when there were no more ketones in the blood, although his blood glucose was still all over the place [up-down] and when Mr T was able to walk again around the room and beyond.
In a week that followed, we visited GP twice, spent a significant time on the phone with various doctors, we gave Mr T the antibiotics that was prescribed for the suspected bronchitis, and we wondered why isn’t he getting any better. We were wondering at what point one needs to take the child to the hospital, while waiting for our appointment with the pediatrician which we were able to secure for the following Monday.
We didn’t notice the typical signs of developing diabetes, they just weren’t prominent enough. Mr T drank diluted fruit juice, still on the bottle, but not more then usual and we lived in a hot and dry Botswana. He had just turned 3, and he did have an odd accident at night. The occasional wet bed we put to his age. It was not every night. He was very active and he din not loose weight, except for the last week, but then he ate very little.
That week, Thursday, Mr T complained, for the first time, about his tummy. That morning, for the first time in his life, he refused the offered juice and asked for water. GP told us that day, that tummy ache can be from various reasons in kids and that we need to be patient and give the antibiotic enough time to start working. I get the goose bumps again when I think of it now.
I am convinced, that pediatrician knew the diagnosis the minute we walked into his office that Monday morning. X-ray of the abdomen, full blood works without waiting for the results and off to the hospital. By that time, Mr T did not have energy to walk. That’s’ what a very high, uncontrolled blood glucose can do to the body, but we didn’t know it then. Not yet.
The system is such [in South Africa, but I see the similar pattern here in Australia too], that although we were sent directly to the children’s ward and were admitted immediately, the next doctors visit was only after 4 pm, at the end of his working day. Without the doctor, nobody was allowed to attach the drip. We were waiting in anticipation and Mr T was getting weaker. At least we were in the hospital.
Another long 8 hours passed before the infusion liquid started running through Mr T veins and two more before the doctor received all the results of previous analysis and told us the diagnosis: Diabetes Mellitus type 1 – insulin for life. Mr T was so week by then. He was not able to talk.
Diabetes ! ….. My heart froze, my world collapsed…… the drip was changed from glucose containing one to the saline one. Insulin started running too, via a huge toaster like, desk top insulin pump. The long sleepless night in the intensive care, blood samples from the vein every two hours and the uncertainty of what tomorrow will bring. Uncertainty of what life ahead will bring, but now in a new, different way….
Still, we were very lucky. Lucky, to have arrived to the hospital in time.....
We spent three days in hospital, in a haze between frequent blood glucose testing, high BG’s, trying to absorb the information we were given by the nurses, nutritionist and doctors. We were learning how to give him insulin, what he can and what he cannot eat, asking ourselves: why? Why did it happened to him?
They let us go when there were no more ketones in the blood, although his blood glucose was still all over the place [up-down] and when Mr T was able to walk again around the room and beyond.
Hope
The first smile and a hope that all is going to be OK appeared on my face, one morning in July and it was caused by something so ordinary: Mr T ran that morning for about 20 meters to the slide he wanted to go down on – he ran and he DID NOT FALL!!!! He was running as before the diagnosis! The muscles have regained their strength, the body has absorbed enough of the so much needed insulin, the cells were fed and happy again! He was “healthy” again, he was his old himself, insulin is just something he needs all the time.
Second smile and a BIG hope arrived when I heard doctors words: “ Your son WILL be able to have a normal childhood and normal life, with insulin in tow, of course.
It is necessary that YOU find out as much as possible about the self management of diabetes and to apply the knowledge in your daily lives. The professional team of us doctors, nurses, diabetic educators and nutritionist, is there to help you on your journey towards the independent self management and normal living”. It is possible!
The third smile (which came after the long, good cry] appeared while I was sharing a cup of coffee with Nicole, a mom of another diabetic child, the first one I met. She understood me, she gave me strength and hope, through her own example, hope that it is possible to lead normal life with diabetes.
Six years have passed since……
I smile and laugh more often now. Daily, while I watch Mr T grow. My heart is full: nine years old, good at school, has lots of friends, he is “healthy” and he is enjoying life. Diabetes did not stop him in anything he has set his heart on. We never had to tell him: no, you can not do it because you have diabetes. We worked around it.
And I? I have realized that the world is full of people, who like me before the diagnosis, do not know much about diabetes. People who think of diabetes as something “tragic” and a reason to discriminate, or exclude. Wishing a better tomorrow for my son, I realized that even this modest knowledge of diabetes that I have so far acquired, if passed on, can help to form a better tomorrow for all people with diabetes, my son included.
With that, my hopes started to get bigger and deeper. They grow as Mr T grows:
I hope the cure will be found soon. We keep a close eye on research development
supported by JDRF and help out whenever we can.
I hope that Mr T will grow to be a good person.
I hope he will be happy.
I hope that he will look at his diabetes in a same manner as on the fact that he needs to wear glasses.
Simply, as a part of him.
I hope he will find a person he would like to share the rest of his life with.
I hope that person will be one of those who had some access to the right information about diabetes.
I hope that person sees Mr T for who he is , not for diabetic he is.
I am working on it……. Only few more million girls and boys need to hear that diabetes is not contagious, and that you do not get the diabetes if you eat too many lollies, and….and…and….
But I am hopeful. Step by step…..changing the world, one person at the time...…for better tomorrow.
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Copyright (c) 2014. All rights reserved. This page was last updated on 13 February 2014; for more recent updates see the BLOG page
Copyright (c) 2014. All rights reserved. This page was last updated on 13 February 2014; for more recent updates see the BLOG page