I was wondering if any of you have experienced this? My daughter Katelyn who is 14 had to be rushed to the hospital due to critical anemia. I took her to the dr on Monday for check up and they took blood because she was real pale, we found out her red blood count was down to 4 (the lowest they want it is 11), so we got home yesterday. But I keep wondering if I have been putting too much worry and watching my 11 (Casie) year old who is diabetic. I just spend so much time trying to keep that under control that I missed this. How are we supposed to do it all? I feel like I let Katelyn down. I am just so thankful the dr caught this before it got any worse.
I had a guilt trip a few months ago. My (then) 12 month old son had to have routine bloodwork done, but the lab was closed when we left the doctor's office. We couldn't take him the next couple of days either, for one reason or another. Long story short; about 3 weeks later I reached in the back of the diaper bag and found his lab order. I FORGOT! I felt so horrible and guilty. I would never have forgotten Brandan's lab orders! (He's the one with diabetes.) Thankfully, all was normal with his bloodwork, but the guilt didn't go away.
Please don't blame yourself for what happened to your daughter. Brandan was sick for almost 2 weeks before I took him to the doctor and by then he was already DKA. It would be easy for a change in skin color to slip under the radar when you have no known reason to be concerned, especially if it was a gradual change. If Cassie and Brandan didn't have diabetes we wouldn't be analyzing every change in them as a possible symptom either.
How is Cassie now? Is there a known cause for her being anemic?
There is enough to feel guilty being a parent of a child with diabetes. As parents we miss thngs. My son who has diabetes was tired all the time, I called the doctor and checked with the endo etc and they said it was probably just adjustment to insulin, fatigue from school work, he was a teenager and hormones, stress from diabetes etc. Afte awhile we brought to the doctor again and got his partner who ordered tests. He had a thyroid problem. He went so long being tired. I had to forgive myself. We are not perfect. We make mistakes. Think of how many signs you missed or might have missed before you found out about diabetes. Now if see a child drinking alot etc you will be turned immediately into diabetes.
Children need to see their parents strong so they can be strong.
Trust me, I have been there. My youngest daugter (now 6) is the one with diabetes and I worry and dote on her so much that I didn't realize there was something going on with my oldest daughter (now 17). She began having seizures and of course she would basically black out and not remember things but it was actualy seizures. When it finaly happened in front of me I about had a heart attack and I felt really guilty when she said it had been going on for a while.
Katelyn is doing better, they had to give her 3 pints of blood. They think she has a bleeding ulcer, they are going to do the tests on Thursday. She is a worry wart (just like her mom!). They are loading her up with Iron to try to keep her stable until the tests. Thank you for your reply and support!