dads story

One morning, I awoke to a strange noise. As I searched for the source of the noise, I
found my daughter on the floor, moaning, her eyes rolled back into her head, her body
jerking and convulsing. I was scared; I grabbed her, shook her and yelled. We knew to
get sugar to Abi quickly - Slowly, she began to respond to us and we were able to help
stabilize her.

I had been in Iraq when she was diagnosed. I learned of her diagnosis while I was serving
in Mosul. From the time I returned and knew her as diabetic, my perspective was that Abi
had a disease, but that it was under control. That night was my first experience with the
gravity of the disease. I didn't understand it until those fretful minutes in the early dawn. I
knew she had it, I knew it was serious - but until that time, it was just something I watched
her manage. And, she manages it well. She checks with her meter; she doses herself
with her pump; she changes her pump. Until that time, I was just the one that paid for and
picked up the supplies. But, in those minutes, it became very personal to me. 'The Post
Traumatic Stress' that I experienced from that event is greater than anything I
experienced in all my years of service - 2 wars and recovery efforts
at the World Trade Center and Katrina. At that point, I began to fear what would happen
during the night while she slept; I knew that Abi needed some mechanism to alert her to
overnight hypoglycemia.