Most visiting here will have already at least heard the short version of Shealyn’s diagnosis. I’m going to type out the long version here just to get it off my mind. *chuckle* I know some were interested in details so this will be the central place to send you to so I don’t have to keep reliving it in the meantime.
We (including Papa) noticed that Shealyn’s thirst had recently increased. However, she had gone on jags before where she varied the amount of food and drink she consumed so we didn’t think much of it. Excessive urination soon followed and things got interesting. She is currently potty training and would get upset because she would have an accident just ten minutes after going potty. That’s just not right! However, it still just really fit in with the fact that she WAS consuming more liquids than normal and we let it go. On Thursday, 2/8, she got more and more upset if you tried to distract her away from having more to drink. She didn’t care if it was juice, milk, or water. She just HAD to have something to drink. She isn’t usually that sensitive with something like that. She then woke up at least four times in the night with bad foot and leg cramps. I pulled back her comforter when she screamed there was something on her foot and found her foot literally bent in half. That’s when my stomach dropped. I knew muscle cramping could be from dehydration, but how could she have that when she going more, not less, than often??
I called the Pediatrician as soon as the office opened the next morning and got an appt. for 10:00. I left Louie a message to let him know I got in and headed off to pick up Papa so he could watch Vee for me while at the Ped. office. I could tell the nurse and Dr. took my concern seriously, but of course they assumed there was a simple explanation like some type of infection. I can still picture Dr. Bell’s face when he got the results back from the urine test. He just slowly shook his head and said he had to immediately send us downstairs to the lab for a blood panel because her Ketones and Glucose were much more elevated than normal. I totally knew at that point… it was going to be confirmed Diabetes. I just felt it in my gut.
I left Louie another message saying it wasn’t looking good and impatiently waited our turn for the blood draw. I started planning ahead and decided to call Ginger (my MIL) to let her know this was a possibility and we may need her help soon. After holding Shealyn in a full body-lock with the help of another nurse, we finally got the blood drawn that they needed. Shealyn actually had one of the nurses in tears because she was _pleading_ “Please stop” and “Please don’t” the entire time. We then headed back upstairs to wait for the results. It seemed like an eternity, but was probably only about 20 minutes.
I suddenly understood that she could be in current danger when I overheard Dr. Bell in the hall telling the nurse, “I don’t care if they are backed up! I may need to get this girl to the hospital immediately. I need the results NOW!” I looked at Shealyn, happily reading a book and talking away, and my heart just broke. She had no idea that her life was about to change dramatically. Life was now going to be different for everyone in the family and those differences were going to last a lifetime. Dr. Bell soon returned and said that her glucose was too high to even measure accurately at their lab. That meant it was over 600 (and normal is about 150 apparently). I calmly said, “Is there another possible cause for this or are you telling me that I’m now the parent of a diabetic?” His reply was simply a comforting hand on my shoulder and “You are the parent of a diabetic”. He then said she was not in immediate danger of Ketoacidosis (body burning fat for energy and can easily land one in ICU) though, but she would have to be admitted for monitoring and glucose regulation for a while.
I called Louie, fighting back tears for Shealyn’s sake, and barely managed to squeak out the words to say he needed to come home. I called Ginger again and got her on her way. I wanted someone to take Vee in the meantime and be home in a few hours to meet Kaitrinn when she returned from school. I didn’t know if Papa (my father, Jack, who has been an insulin-dependent diabetic for 50 yrs) would want to join us at the hospital or not, so I needed a backup plan. I brought him back from the waiting room and we waited while Dr. Bell struggled to find us a hospital bed. By the time we we got a Dr.’s name and hospital location, the entire family was waiting at home for us. I called my mom in WI on the way home and dropped the total bombshell on her as well to let her know what was going on. I walked in our house to find Stan, Amy, James, and Ginger there while Louie was packing our suitcase.
We were to let her eat some lunch and then get on our way to Duke Children’s hospital in Durham. We all just stood in the kitchen and I felt like it was a dream. A short 24 hours earlier, none of this had been imaginable and now it was our new reality.
-Kaycee
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