Being diabetic

My life changed on December 18th, 2004. After a week or more of trips to the doctor, we still had no idea why my son, Ethan was ill. We suspected strep and were awaiting the results of tests which could confirm it. Ethan, an otherwise healthy 18 month old was having lots of trouble sleeping. He would sweat and was leaking through his nighttime diapers. We were having to wash his sheets on a daily basis. On Friday, Dec 16th, Ethan, who had been walking for a few months at that point, refused to walk and instead crawled and fussed, wanting to be held constantly. Saturday, we were celebrating Christmas early with Nana and Papa who had come up from Abilene, TX to Enid to celebrate with us. Ethan seemed to be doing much better and was able to enjoy opening presents and having some fun. Sunday dawned with Ethan almost catatonic. He could only ask for water and was drenched in sweat and urine. Nana stayed home with him and the rest of us went to church. At church, we asked Dr. Jeff L'hommedieu, a local ER doctor if he could come by the house and look at Ethan. We were extremely concerned. Dr. Jeff showed up after church and listened to our explanation and looked over Ethan. "We need to go to the hospital right now." He and I drove Ethan to the ER, where Dr. Jeff waved us through all the admitting stuff and checked his blood glucose. It measured 600 mg/dl, which was as high as that meter would read. Dr. Jeff said to me, "Jeff, I'm very sorry, but we need to admit Ethan right now. I'm pretty sure that he has diabetes and is in Keto-acidosis." I was later told that he was about a day or so away from being in a coma and then death. A healthy blood sugar level for his age is between 80-120 mg/dl.


(Above: Ethan is caged, Ethan eats his first meal in days, Ethan and I take a nap)

Two years and thousands of fingersticks and units of insulin later, we've got a pretty good handle on Ethan's Diabetes. It changed our lives. It still does. Today, Ethan is blessed to have an insulin pump that delivers insulin to his body just like a pancreas would. Unfortunately, it does not have the self-regulatory mechanisms the human body enjoys. We have to constantly monitor his blood sugar levels.

Two nights ago, before going to bed around midnight, I suddenly had an urge that I needed to check Ethan's sugar level. I usually check him before I go to bed, but not always. That night, I felt compelled to do it. I got the lancet ready and loaded up a test strip and went in to his bed. He was sleeping peacefully and I pricked his finger without waking him. I watched the countdown on the monitor as the machine calculated his blood glucose in mg/dl. *beep* 52. Quickly, I went to the kitchen and poured a glass of apple juice into a sippy cup and found two peanut butter crackers and went back to his room. I couldn't rouse him, so I forced the sippy cup in between his lips and told him to drink. He sucked at the cup and managed to drink some of it. His eyes opened and I asked him what my name was. He kept drinking. I offered him one of the crackers. The juice was acting as a "fast sugar". Natural fruit sugars in liquid form quickly hit his system and started to raise his blood sugar. The crackers and peanut butter have some good carbohydrates which take a while to digest before the body turns them into sugar. They would maintain a higher blood sugar level after the inital rush of juice. I asked him, "Ethan, what is my name?" He tried to speak, but only managed to make the sign for "cup". I gave him the juice back and he sucked down a few more ounces of juice. After about five minutes, he'd drunk all the juice and eaten the crackers. "Ethan, what is my name?" I asked again. "Daddy." "Thank you, son. Go back to sleep, buddy." I checked his sugar again about 20 minutes later and it had risen to 112. Now I was able to sleep.