Let's see... quick synopsis of May - Mom celebrated 71 years and I turned 46... Moo finished school and bridged from Daisy Scout to Brownie... May 26, 2011
but then, things started getting weird... it got hot, really hot outside for a few days and Moo napped a bit more than normal. We didn't think any thing about it because of the oppressive heat. The next week Moo was ravenous. I mean she ate everything and anything she could get a hold of. I started thinking that she was getting ready for a growth spurt. Then as quickly as it came along, the hunger was gone. We started noticing a decline in her weight... she started looking so tall and elegantly thin - truly beautiful and truly scary.
Ken and I stayed Friday June 10 down town and Moo stayed with my mom. We shared a romantic evening and a wonderful day at the arts festival on Saturday. Saturday afternoon we even bought new bedroom furniture! It was FABULOUS!
When we went to pick up Moo, mom said she had slept all day. At first, we just thought that grandma was exaggerating a bit, but Moo fell asleep in the car on the way home and when we got home she just lay on the couch. By six pm she was out for the night...
I actually had to wake her up at 8:45 the next morning to get ready for church. Grandma Jane came and picked her up by 9:20. When they returned Jane had said that she slept through the entire service and didn't want to eat anything, she just wanted to drink... milk, lots of milk. When she came in the house, she sat on the stairs and fell asleep. It was at that point we decided that I should take her into an Urgent Care. He doctor's office has an after hours clinic in it, so I put her in the car and we went to the doctor. She was so lethargic she just lay down in a chair while I filled out paperwork. When we were called back, the nurse checked her vitals and said that the doctor may be awhile because there was 4 children ahead of us. So we settled in with a book, to wait. In just about a minute, there was knock on the door and the doctor walked in - much to my surprise. I voiced my surprise and she said that the nurse was very concerned about Moo's appearance and thought she should be seen first. After a basic examination a battery of tests were run. Moo was tested for Strep, Mono, and a slew of viral infections... the doctor had told me that she even ran tests for "the bad stuff" like leukemia and other forms of cancer. I was shown her results and told the numbers all looked good. The doctor said that she was "baffled" by Moo's symptoms and I should plan on taking her into her regular doctor if she showed no signs of improvement.
Monday morning came and she was still lethargic, not wanting to lift her head much... I went to work but as soon as her doctor's office opened, I called to get her in. Of course, her doctor was out for the day. I let the nurse know the situation, and asked if Moo could see the doctor on staff that day. We scheduled an appointment for the following afternoon and she said she'd confer with the doctor on duty that day. After looking at the notes from the Urgent Care the doctor said she'd rather Moo see her normal physician since Dr. Neilsen knows her history... so we had an appointment for the next day... that evening I tried to get her to eat some noodles... I took this photo on that day... mind you this is only 18 days after the scout picture...
Tuesday morning was horrible... she started vomiting. I started getting really scared. After the UC doctor's diagnosis we started wondering if this was all just in her head, but when the vomiting started we knew that wasn't the case. Ken had made arrangements to go to Dr. Neilsens' with us.
I called the Doctor's office early in the day, trying to get in earlier... I was a complete basket case... I had a nurse tell me that they had seen the tests, and "mom just needs to calm down" . I was getting a bit hysterical.
Our appointment was at 3pm but at 2pm I left work to get her. By the time we had gotten to the doctors she had vomited several times throughout the day. When we got to the doctors parking lot, I helped her out of the car. We started walking into the building and I watched as her muscles started giving way. I helped her in and laid her on a chair and went up to the nurses station. The nurse looked up and said "and you are here to see?" I lost it. I just started crying. All I could say is "she can't even walk..." I learned if you are early for a doctors appointment and want to get seen promptly start bawling... the nurses brought her a wheel chair and brought us to an examination room. We waited for a bit and Ken showed up. I was never happier to see him! When Doctor Neilsen knocked on the door to announce arrival, she greeted us, turned and looked at Moo went to the sink to wash her hands and said "I think she has diabetes.... this child has diabetes." She called someone from Pathology to run a simple blood sugar test and when the Pathologist came in Dr. Neilsen stepped out. When she came back she looked at the test result and said "Yes, she has diabetes. Her blood sugar is 388... you will not stop, you will not get gas... you will get her right over to Children's Hospital emergency room. The diabetes team will be waiting." she hugged me and said "she will be ok, just get going."
Ken wheeled Moo out to my car and while he returned the wheel chair, Moo and I took off. I flew down Dodge Street... hitting 80 -85 WELL over the posted limit! Pulled into emergency parking and carried her in... she was immediately admitted and the team of doctors went to work on her. She was sooo dehydrated that it was a struggle for them to find a vein to put a line in. Once they found an open one they left "ports" in it so that they wouldn't have to fight another vein. Her first night was in the PICU - there they worked to get her stabilized. The following 3 days were spent on the "diabetic floor" learning how to handle this ourselves.
Diabetes is bad, very bad.... but ya know what? I prayed that God would spare my little girl and give us something we could handle... he came through for us. Diabetes is bad, very bad... but it's treatable and maybe one day there will be a cure!
We are taking part in the JDRF walk for a cure August 6th.... information on joining us or donating can be found here!
Bless her sweet little heart and bless your heart too Andrea. Hugs to all of you!
Posted by: Suzanne | 07/17/2011 at 06:22 PM