moms story

Late in the year of 2004, Abi (who is NEVER sick) began to have bouts of nausea and
intense vomiting. Initially, I dismissed her sporadic sicknesses as a stomach virus
that one of her friends might have 'shared' with her or I dismissed it as evidence that
we had been up late or not slept right or had eaten too much holiday food.

BUT, the instances of vomiting became more and more intense and more and
more frequent. She lost sooo much weight (over 20 lbs!!). She was so thirsty all the
time. Hunger plagued her, but she always threw up after eating. . . so, she was
embarrassed to be with friends or in public when it was time for a meal - Some
people cruelly 'joked' that she might be bulimic.

I was certain that there was something serious going on, but the doctors kept telling
me that it was a virus. I can't count how many times I was told 'clear liquids and a
bland diet" I finally demanded that someone take me serious. But, by this time, she
was so desperately sick. She couldn't even sit in the waiting room at the doctor's
office– she waited in the bathroom, throwing up the whole time. She was so ashen
and her eyes were sunken and she had lost so much weight. The doctor barely
looked at her and said 'oh, she is dehydrated; she needs fluids. Go straight on over to
the hospital – go straight to the ward and I have called ahead to order IV fluids."

Less than 10 minutes later, at the hospital, she was non-responsive. I wheeled her
onto the pediatric ward in a wheelchair, having to hold her up as I pushed her in
because she couldn't even sit up by herself. I headed for the assigned room (where
there was an IV of SUGAR based fluids waiting to be pumped into her!! What an
unspeakable blessing that there was a discerning doctor on call, sitting behind the
nurses' desk as I wheeled by with Abi. He jumped up, grabbed the handles of that
wheel chair, spun her around and ordered me to follow him to ICU. As I ran along
beside him, he informed me that she was in a state called Diabetic KetoAcidosis and
would need insulin FAST – she was non-responsive; she was slipping into a coma! I
argued that she was just dehydrated, that we were just being sent over for fluids – I
had never seen this doctor before and he had never seen mydaughter. His discerning
intervention saved my daughter's life!!

In the ICU, her blood sugar (which should have been 90-110) was over 1,300. We
were in ICU for a few days. I can't describe my emotions: my husband was serving in
Mosul, Iraq – I felt so overwhelmed, confused . . . much to learn - our lives would
never be the same. After a week in the hospital, we were sent home with syringes,
insulin, a blood sugar meter, lancets, test strips, ketone strips etc.

We are constantly challenged by the changing needs of her body. Just when we
think that we have her diabetes figured out and under control, we are left dizzy from
re-calculation. We are thankful for the many advances made in recent history, but
Juvenile Diabetes remains an intimidating disease in the lives of too many children!!
Dogs that can scent and alert us to dangerous blood sugar levels are an invaluable
tool to those of us who wake throughout the night to stick our children and test their
blood.