Wyatt was a healthy baby. He had occasional illnesses, but usually got better quickly. In the spring before he was diagnosed, he got pneumonia. I seem to also remember him getting a red rash that would move around his body when he was sick, and then go away after about two weeks. Over that same summer, he started not wanting to eat very much. He had always been a great eater, so this was odd for him. His stomach also seemed distended and he was constipated. Looking back at pictures, he appears kind of puffy in his face.
My mother's instincts knew something wasn't right with my son and we had repeated visits to our doctor who sent us for all sorts of tests to try to diagnose the problem. He suspected some type of tumor or even cancer, but nothing showed up on any scans. This was so frustrating but NOTHING ever showed up.
Wyatt was four and had been potty trained since he was two. That fall, he started wetting the bed and couldn't hold it when we were out, crying that he had to go to the bathroom, and we'd have to pull over on the side of the road commuting to photo shoots and run into restrooms for him. It didn't make any sense. He was drinking constantly so we thought maybe he was just drinking too much. We also kept asking our doctor about bladder infections, but those never showed up either.
I remember noticing sometimes that his urine would be frothy and have bubbles in it and I questioned him about drinking bath soap. I thought that was odd, but it wasn't consistent. Our doctor even tested Wyatt's blood sugar levels and nothing appeared out of the ordinary.
The week before Thanksgiving, Wyatt went into ketoacidosis. He had been attending pre-school and started not feeling well the day before. My cousin picked him up from pre-school since we were at work, and when I went to get him, he was just resting on the sofa. He seemed like he might have been coming down with some respiratory illness and didn't seem like himself. I remember sleeping on the floor in his room that night, so I could listen to him breath, because he was breathing pretty hard but he didn't have a fever.
The next morning, I was doing conference calls for my online class and noticed my son started to slouch over in the chair. He was watching a show and just didn't seem right. I called my principal and told her I had to take my son to the doctor because he was sick and we took Wyatt immediately in. Our doctor was awesome and got our son right in because he had been suspecting something, but nothing had showed up on any test results. When he saw Wyatt he diagnosed him immediately with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and called the hospital to admit him. Ketoacidosis Explaination and Signs To Look For
Nobody at the hospital could believe our son had Type 1 Diabetes and they were shocked when his blood test came back over 900. We were taken by ambulance to a larger hospital that was able to treat him and began the process of slowly having our son come back from a diabetic induced coma. It was the worst 5 days of our lives trying to learn how to take care of him before we were allowed to take him home. We had to overcome our fear of blood, needles, and learn how to calculate carbs and insulin doses for a child afraid of shots and needles that now had to have them combined with finger pokes and doses, about 12 times per day. It is now 7 years later and we have come a long way since that day, but we still live with high and low blood sugars that are just a part of this disease until there is a cure. We do the best we can helping our son and want him to know how much he is loved and supported.
The every day management of Type 1 Diabetes is intense and constant. People living with it need your support, love, and understanding. They try not to let it stop them from doing anything, but there is extra care needed, especially for extreme exercise, eating, sleeping, doses, well...pretty much everything. It is a life changing and life threatening condition that, if not diagnosed and treated properly, is a silent killer. People can look fine and appear "healthy" while their organs are being damaged on the inside.
My heart and prayers go out to all the families who have lost someone to Type 1 Diabetes. I hope sharing our story will increase awareness and add to the understanding of this silent autoimmune disease. To all those who live and love someone with it every day, my prayers are with you for strength and courage, you are not alone.
With love,
Trina Licavoli Gunzel
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