Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Well...damn.

So I came here, and posted that I would start posting. Heh.

My life has changed drastically since Feb 20, 2010. I guess you can say I'm a stronger person, but honestly I just feel a little beat down.

Sometime around Thanksgiving last year we found out DH was deploying again. Since I was in nursing school I knew it would be a challenge but not impossible. The boys were in school the same time I was and as long as no one got sick I was good right? Things were good, until February 22nd. When I wrote my last post, Jaylen was really down. He told me he missed his daddy and that was understandable, but then he started acting really weird. He was always thirsty and started wetting the bed. This is a kid that never had accidents, so I made him an appointment for Tuesday the 23rd.

Monday morning he threw up all over the floor (again, not like him to not make it to the bathroom) and just looked...bad. I made an appointment for that morning and took him in. The doctor we saw told me it was probably psychological, and wrote the vomiting off as a stomach bug (the other kids were sick the week before). We went to the lab to leave some urine and she sent us home. I remember looking at how skinny he was and thinking "something isn't right"

It wasn't. There was glucose in his urine. We got the call to come back in for a blood test and his blood glucose reading was 458. He was in DKA. That's how we found out that my 9yo was a type 1 diabetic. His pancreas had probably been on the decline for a while, but people usually don't show symptoms until it can no longer compensate. He went straight to the pediatric ICU where he stayed for 3 days. He was so dehydrated they had to put an IV in his neck.

I had one kid in one school, one kid in another, one kid in the hospital, and a deployed husband. I had no time to 'think', I had to 'do'.

The boys stayed with a neighbor for the first few days. The hospital was across town, so I spent a lot of time driving back and forth. Jaylen would cry every time I left. DH was able to come home for 10 days emergency leave and my sister flew from NY to help because I hadn't slept a full night in 4 days. Thank goodness.

Well DH went back overseas, my sis went back to NY, and the dust settled. We tried our best to settle into our new lifestyle. Jaylen had (has) to account for everything that went into his mouth. We counted carbs, and weighed portions. He was taking at least 7 shots a day. My kid is a trooper, he never complained.

Very soon we talked with his endocrinologist and diabetes educator about an insulin pump. We got him started on an Omnipod and never looked back!

Just when I think 2010 gave it to me good, we get orders. With DH still deployed that leaves me to get the house market ready. Remember I'm still in school? Ugh!

So now it's April, and we're MD bound so I have a lot of work to do. I've rambled enough though so I'll tell y'all about that next time.