My sweet 5 1/2 year old son Carter was just diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on Monday, February 7, 2011. This weekend I noticed he was getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom 2-3x. I found this odd and for some reason, knew something was wrong. I took his blood sugar on Sunday morning and it was 482!!
No child should have to face a life of diabetes. My husband was diagnosed at age 10 and is now 37. He has been told since then that a cure was coming "soon" - yet here we are 27 years later... and now my innocent and once carefree child is faced with days, months, and years of a carb counting, finger poking, and shot giving lifestyle. He is scared, sad, mad... as am I.
My prayer is that this disease is CURED not years from now - but in days or months. Many dollars have been given for research - these kids need the hope of a complication free future. They have enough on their plate just trying to be kids.
I am still waiting for the honeymoon phase... Carter has only had diabetes for about 2 weeks the doctor says. I will always wonder if I had caught it sooner would things be different??
Hello Belinda, So sorry to hear about your son Carter. Thank goodness your son had an early diagnosis and that you were able to notice the changes in him. Our daughter Sophia was diagnosed November of 2010 as well. She is 4 1/2. We pray for a cure too. Although I wouldn't wish this disease on anyone, I bet it helps Carter adjust to his new routine knowing that Dad understands. We too were scared and sad. Too tired to be mad! This site is filled with helpful information and wonderful contributors. There is much to learn and I am suspecting your level of competency in handling the injections etc. is much better than my first teary eyed attempts. We pray with Sophia for a cure, and before her injections we thank God for the life saving insulin that keeps her playing and running around like her friends. You will all go through so much this next while-re learning about how to keep Carter running and feeling strong. He WILL amaze you. God Bless you and your family. Stephanie (Sophia's mom)
Hi Belinda, Welcome to Juvenation though I'm sorry it is because of your son's diagnosis.
The next few weeks will probably be your hardest. It is normal to feel sad and mad. It is normal to grieve over your son's loss of perfect health. Yes, we all hope and pray for a cure, but we also know that our kids can live long healthy lives even with T1D. THere are several people on this site that have had D for over 50 years and have few if any complications. (Richard is in year 65, and Tom is also over 50 years living with D).
A lot will change in the way your son's body uses insulin in the next few weeks - there will likely be LOTS of changes to his insulin doses. You may end up with different Insulin to Carb (I:C) ratios for every meal. It is a lot of observing and learning. I would NOT beat yourself up over catching it sooner - it sounds like you caught it plenty soon! We suspect our son had been dealing with diabetes for 3 mos if not longer before he became acutely sick. The weird tantrums he threw where NOTHING seemed to settle him down just went away after we got his BGs under better control. It is a process of the body attacking the pancreas and unfortunately there isn't anything that stops it yet. (And your son is too young for any of the trials on treatments that slow it down.)
Hang in there, we are all here for support and comfort!
My little girl was diagnosed 2 1/2 years ago and it's still heartbreaking. The best thing I can tell you now is to own your emotions. It took me about 3 weeks into her diagnosis to truly have a breakdown. I was angry, sad, resentful, among other things. It's okay to feel those things. We project positive things towards our daughter, but we have hard days even now. I'll say a prayer for Carter and your sweet family. <3
As Melissa wrote - it is very emotional and you have to let yourself feel what you feel. I also think it is OK to let your child see that you get upset by diabetes sometimes too. Mostly, I do this if my son is feeling bad from highs or lows and is crying because he feels bad. Then I will let myself cry with him so he know it is OK to feel sad and angry at a disease. But most of the time we try to keep number checking and treatment as neutral as possible - just in range or out of range and here's what we need to do. I don't even like to say "hey, that is a good number" because it infers that some numbers are bad - and I never want my son to feel like HE is bad just because his numbers are. (That is a hard thing to do.)
Sorry you have to join this group but I can totally relate. I have been T1 for 30 years and remember them telling me there would be a cure by the time I was a teenager. My daughter was diagnosed almost 3 years ago at the age of 3. I too caught it very early due to my experience and knowledge. It is overwhelming and heart breaking but I have learned that I am my daughters example. Your husband can be the same for your son. I make blood checking a game. We see who is going to be "closer to perfect" several times throughout the day. My daughter does everything herself and I try to time it so that we change our pump sites on the same day. We also make a competition out of that. Who can fill the new reservoir faster and who can give themself the shot faster. I think being an example has helped her deal with it.
Maintain a positive attitude, even if you're sad on the inside, and know a cure is close. i am sure your husband can atest to how far things have come in the last decade. I know I can!