Early Saturday morning (9-26-19) around 3:00 AM I rushed my eight-year-old boy to the emergency room because he was having trouble breathing. We were concerned he wasn’t getting enough oxygen. His color was off, his hands and feet felt like ice and he was not in his right mind. This was a scary time.
Within minutes of being at the ER, the scary time got even worse. The one thing I feared would get passed on to any of my children came true. My boy was in diabetic ketoacidosis. His blood sugar was 901. We live in a small community and the local hospital was not set up for this type of treatment. However, the doctor working in the ER was amazing. He knew exactly what was wrong and what to do. And he knew we needed moved to a bigger facility. Inside of an hour there were plans to airlift him to the children’s hospital at Hershey, Pa.
Just the week before he had the flu. He got better after a few days but then started acting sick again. We thought his immune system was down and maybe got pneumonia. Plus, he barely ate anything for several days. His body was weak. We had him at the doctor Friday morning and that made sense.
I think we arrived at Hershey around 7:30 AM. We were met in his room by 7 doctors and nurses. The next few hours were kind of a blur. I was still processing the diagnosis. My wife arrived about a half hour later. We were both in shock. There is our eight-year-old in a hospital bed with wires and tubes attached to him and he’s completely out of it. His eyes were sunk in his head. He had no color. He lost probably 10 pounds. He looked like a skeleton with skin. I wanted to cry. And I did. I have type 1 diabetes and I know what the rest of his life will be like. He will be able to live a “normal” life but controlling his blood sugar is a lot of work. It’s a lot of heavy lifting that he will have to do himself.
Saturday was a busy day. Testing was being done hourly. People were in and out of the room. All I really remember is hearing his test results each time. I was still in shock. My wife and I were texting family and friends with updates. We’re asking nurses questions. We’re trying to figure out what’s next. There’s really nothing you can do but wait.
This is where faith comes in. I’m a born-again Christian. My faith rests entirely on my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I can’t always understand why things happen the way they do. Especially bad things. We live in an amazing world. This creation we see every day is miraculous and points to the handywork of the Creator. Unfortunately, it’s a world stained by sin. Sin causes brokenness, disease and death. The good news is my God is a God restoration and healing. He cares about His people. I can’t even begin to count the amount of people who reached out to us and were praying for us. I was a total mess, but it was those prayers that kept me lifted up. God showed up in the hospital and gave me rest and a peace of mind.
We were originally told to expect to be in the hospital for a minimum of four days. But something happened. All day on Saturday the test results were showing a very slow progress to getting his numbers where they needed to be. But by late evening, his results were starting to move fast in the right direction and by midnight he was where he needed to be. He was also coming out of his stupor. But, unfortunately, he was also very agitated. He had no idea where he was. He kept asking me to take him downstairs, asked for his brothers, asked for something to drink, asked for mama, etc. Each time I told him he was in the hospital he didn’t believe me. He even got to the point that he called me a liar and said I was being mean to him. I argued with him for hours. I was exhausted. Thursday night was when I last slept. Thankfully I was able to calm him down and get some sleep myself.
It’s now Sunday morning. He’s more alert and aware of his surroundings but still not sure what’s going on. He can have some food and drink now which makes him really happy. My wife isn’t at the hospital yet. We have an eleven-month-old girl who still nurses. We both thought it would be best if she was at home each night to help her sleep. I’m waiting for her to arrive before I break the news to him of why he is in the hospital. Late morning, she finally arrives. I sit down next to Bodie and ask if knows what’s going on. I tell him he has diabetes just like I do. Right away he started crying. It felt like somebody ripped my heart out. But we did get him calmed down and was able to talk a little bit. He’s still not fully aware at this point. It took till the end of the week for him to realize what happened.
The doctor came in the room early afternoon and was very pleased with how well he responded to the treatment and how well he recovered rom being in DKA. The doctor is making plans for us to attend a few diabetic education classes for Monday and then be able to go home.
Monday was a long day and we’ll skip over that. And I’ll briefly go over the next few weeks. The first week was such a blur. It’s basically a major life adjustment for our entire family. My wife and I were in survival mode. Thankfully we had our church family bring meals for us all week (and the following week). Bodies sugar was running high the whole week and we adjusted his insulin doses a few times. The next week was a little bit better. His sugar was still high but overall was lower.
This past week was really good. We had several checks where his sugar was right on target. I think his insulin doses are right where they need to be. He has his energy back. He gained 11 pounds. He looks and acts like his normal self. And I think he understands what’s going on. Overall his sugar is still a bit high. But it’s getting closer to his target range. I think once he can get outside and get some exercise that will really start to help.
Life is tough right now. This is the last thing I ever wanted to pass on to any of my kids. We’re exhausted. All I want to do is pass out and sleep for the next several days. But life goes on with its many responsibilities. But I do want to end on a positive because no matter how bad life can get, there is always something to be thankful for.
I’m thankful I can have a better relationship with him. We can go through this together. We both have diabetes and require insulin. I think it helps him knowing that he’s not alone. I can encourage him. I take my insulin shots with him. And he is getting better with it. Each day is does get easier. Controlling diabetes is a lot of hard work. But it’s rewarding when you can live a normal life. It’s just something extra you must do. It’s just a little bit of extra planning. We count his carbs for each meal. Check his blood sugar at each meal and in between. We figure out insulin doses required at meals. After a while it begins to be second nature.
I do want to share some needs. I started a Go Fund Me page to help with some added expenses. We have a lot of trips to Hershey. We live in a remote area and there aren’t any specialists close by. The doctor’s office is a two-hour drive. I’d like to raise some money to help pay for the added traveling expenses. (gas, food and tolls) We have pretty good insurance but there are still some out-of-pocket expenses that will arise. We only got one bill so far and thankfully the insurance company covered all of it but I’m not sure what we might be responsible for paying. I don’t think it will be much, but one never knows.
I know I probably skipped over a lot of details. I could probably write a book about everything that happened. Ask any questions. Hopefully this story will encourage somebody.
Here is the link for my GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/help-bodie-with-type-1-diabetes
That is all!