Lows..

Faith tends to run very low at night, I have to give her a protein snack each night to ensure her glucose stays over 100.  She needs to be at least 100 at bedtime.  She has been waking up in the 60's and it scares the crap out of me. Initially, we were told to check her every night at 1am, to set an alarm and check her.  Her doctor is a type 1 diabetic, at her last appointment he said we no longer need to do the 1am checks.  I just cannot do this!! I have to check her. I do not know when I will ever be able to sleep well again.  I am so scared of her bottoming out in the middle of the night. 

She was low again tonight before bed. I hate this for her.  I hate having to poke her little fingers so many times throughout the day. The protein seems to help with fighting low glucose levels.  Currently, her pancreas is functioning at about 3%. They say we are in the honeymoon phase. Within 6 months, her pancreas will stop functioning altogether. So, just when we think we have her leveled out, her numbers will begin to jump again after the honeymoon phase.  It sucks, just as I am learning and getting comfortable things will be constantly changing. 

I just pray each night that she will be fine once I finally lay my head down to sleep.

Crazy couple of months...

In my earlier post, I tried to recall the events of Faith's initial diagnoses. It is very hard to recall everything in detail as so many events happened so fast. Literally, it was a jump from a diagnoses in the hospital, then tons of doctors coming in the speak to us.  We had so much literature thrown at us that Jason and I were overwhelmed. Next was to learn how to administer her insulin, how to count carbs based on her set amount of carb points. This was to know how many units of insulin per meal.  On the last day we were enrolling in the diabetes education classes and setting up her appointments.
I cried more the first two weeks than I have cried in my life.  My first reaction was "what did I do wrong?" Although I know that sounds irrational, I as a mom felt helpless, scared, and simply did not know what to think of feel.  I later found that neither Jason or I have any family history of Type 1.  In addition, we were told that they believe that children get exposed to a virus that attacks the pancreas, thus causing the pancreas to stop functioning. 
The last couple of months have been crazy.  Her diagnoses came during the end of my semester of school.  While trying to finish my semester, we began to attend the diabetes educational classes.  I learned more in one class then we learned in our 5 day stay at the hospital.  Sadly, everything the nurses taught us turned out to wrong!  We still have one more class to attend and we are done.
Now our days consist of constant glucose monitoring, at least 4-5 times daily.  We then have to count carbs for each meal and she receives at least 4 insulin shots daily.  Packing to go anywhere has been a huge adjustment for us.  We carry everything, everywhere we go! It is a backpack full of lancets, accu-check monitor, insulin pens, emergency pen, glucose tablets for lows, test strips, needles ect... I am sure there is more, I just cannot think of it all.
Faith amazes me each day with her strength.  She has a good grasp on what her life will be like living with diabetes.  We are all slowly adapting to this life-change and we are making it a family change.  We have adopted a diabetes diet, which will be healthy for all of us. 

Faith's Diagnoses and update

 Faith was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in mid October.  I will never forget the day as it was the scariest moment in my life. Faith started exhibiting symptoms of what I thought was a UTI. So,I immediately got her in for an appointment with her doctor. When the doctor walked in the room he checked her, then he decided to do a urinalysis. As the nurse was dipping the stick she got an alarmed look on her face. She then whispered to the doctor and all I heard was high glucose. Between the looks on their faces and hearing those two words I immediately became alarmed. I asked the doctor if everything was ok. He said her glucose was dangerously high and he wanted to run a blood test to confirm type 1 diabetes. I was devastated but also praying that this was not really happening.
  We quickly ran her over to the lab area. When she saw they were about to draw her blood she started screaming and crying. I was upset for her. This was on a Friday and they said they would be calling us Monday with results to confirm the diagnoses.
  So, we go to the car, tears are streaming down my face and called Jason. He was supposed to go straight from work to his weekend drill in Missouri. I asked him to come home as this was urgent and unexpected.
  Not even an hour after we arrived home, the phone rang. I could see it was the doctor's office and since it was after 5pm I knew it was not good news. I picked up the phone to have the doctor tell me that Faith did have Type 1 Diabetes and her glucose was dangerously high and she needed to get admitted to the hospital within the hour. This threw me into a panic attack and I passed the phone to Jason.
 Once Jason got off the phone we quickly got the kids in the car and headed to the hospital.
  They immediately got her in a room and started her on an IV for fluids. We had at least 7 different doctors come in and out to speak to us. It was so overwhelming and scary. Once things settled down, I went home to grab a few things for the stay at the hospital. While I was gone they figured out how much insulin to start her on.
   The next few days after is a blur for me but I do remember when it was my turn to administer her insulin for the first time. As I was getting the shot ready, she looked at me and cried, "mommy please don't, please don't give me a shot." It was all I could do to hold myself together. How do you explain to your 5 year old that she is going to get shots everyday the rest of her life?
  Fast Forward to our first night home: This night was one of the most stressful nights I have ever experienced. We were overwhelmed with literature, needles, insulin pens, everything, it was so much. Jason and I both had to work as a team to figure out how to do everything and get a routine down. We called the nurse line several times the first night home.
    Within the first week it was amazing how much better we got. It was getting easier and we just had to learn to re-arrange our life with diabetes. Faith has taken it amazingly well. She has been a trooper. She does not even cry when we give her the shots or check her glucose. We let her pick where she wants the shots and which fingers are going to get poked. The funny thing, her favorite finger to use is her middle. Maybe that is not funny but I have to have some sense of humor during this time and it was funny that she kept choosing that finger.
   I am tired and I will post more about how she has been doing. I just feel blessed that this is a disease that we can control.