The question I am asked the most is, “How did you know Jimmy had diabetes?”
The short version is that he was peeing excessively and he was so thirsty – to the point he described his mouth hurting and couldn’t satisfy his thirst.
Here’s the long version...
Sunday, March 28, 2010
We were on our way home from grandma & grandpa’s after a visit. It’s a little over an hour away, so I made sure the kids went to the bathroom before we left. They did, so I thought we were good to go. About half way home, Jimmy had to “go” so badly that we had to stop. I simply attributed it to the fact that at grandma & grandpa’s the kids are allowed to have soda. So, that was the reason – I was annoyed, but when you gotta go, you gotta go, right?
That night, he had to get out of bed to go to the bathroom – but we just thought it was a tactic to try to stay up later… a usual occurrence with Jimmy.
Monday, March 29, 2010
The day was uneventful – His had a regular day at Pre-K.
Bedtime was the same thing as the night before. He wanted to get up to go again, and the only thought that entered our minds was that he was procrastinating again…
In the middle of the night, we thought it was strange that he had to get up to pee… He woke himself up out of a sound sleep to go. Since he was 3 ½, he was trained through the night – no pull-ups. So, why was he up now? Groggy, my husband put him back to bed and that was that.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Another uneventful day.
That night, he woke up 2 times to go to the bathroom. A touch of panic set in since we know the symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes. We have a nephew (on my husband’s side) who was diagnosed at 10 years old about 12 years ago. I have an uncle who was diagnosed at 13.
It couldn’t be, could it? I think it entered both our minds that night, but neither of us told the other. I think if we said it out loud, then it would have been more real than if we had kept it to ourselves. Neither my husband or me slept much the rest of the night.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
I brought him to Pre-K as usual and I asked them to please keep an eye out for excessive peeing. He didn’t. But that night, he woke up 3 or 4 times to go to the bathroom and my husband and I were in a state of panic. We knew our little boy had diabetes. We would bring him to the doctor the next day.
April Fool’s Day, 2010
On the way to the pediatrician’s office, Jimmy downed an entire Snapple Iced Tea. I knew it in my soul that he had it.
Dr. M. somehow managed to put my fears at ease when he told me that he’d be a rich man if he had a nickel for every peeing and thirsty kid whose parents brought to the office to find out that they didn’t have diabetes. Good. Tell me I’m wrong. I honestly breathed a sigh of relief.
When he came back into the room, my worst fears were confirmed. His head was down, and I knew instantly that he had to deliver the news. He couldn’t even speak – he just looked at me, tilted his head to the side and nodded, and I could see in his eyes how sorry he was. There weren’t any words. Not from him, and not from me for a good long pause. I’ll never forget the look on his face.
Jimmy wanted to know why I was crying. I told him that I was sad about Grandma (at the time, she was in the end stages of Parkinson’s.) He patted me on the back, hopped off my lap and asked if we could go get his stickers.
Eventually, Dr. M. told me that they were expecting me at the Pediatric ER, and to go immediately there. I was hoping that once there, they were going to come into the room and announce that it was all an April Fool’s Day prank and that he was fine. They didn’t. He wasn’t. We remained for 3 days and came home the day before Easter.
That’s the long version.
Thanks for visiting my blog.
Peace,
June
