Type 1 Diabetes - How Did We Know? Part 2 of 4

"You are STILL hungry?" 

My eyes would pop out of my head as I  turned to look at my husband, 

who's eyes would then pop out of HIS head!

"Have a drink of water honey, you are probably thirsty ." Then,

"Honey, did you know it takes your body 20 minutes to know that it's full?"

Of course,  NOW I know why she was so hungry. But during the middle of March all I could think was "How on EARTH are we going to be able to afford to FEED these kids (we have four total) at the rate they are eating?" Laughing Out Loud now, but the Sunday before Lily's Dr's appt and subsequent diagnosis I had drawn some (deeply profound ;)  analogy during the Sunday School lesson about how God knows how much or how little we need and how he'll take care of us. Lol! I commented on how many times Kurt and I had exclaimed to each other during the previous weeks about how MUCH FOOD our little munchkins are eating.

"Eat Slower kids!" 

     "Make sure you start with a nice glass of water!"

    "No grazing guys!" (that one's been around for a long time) 

   "Remember, if you get DoWn from the table, that means you are finished eating, so make sure you're full! Because you can't get down to play and then come back later for more."

Unusual hunger is another one of the symptoms of Type 1 diabetes. The trick is in figuring, or realizing that a child's hunger may be something MORE than a looming growth spurt. In fact, while Lily HAD been eating quite a bit a mealtimes, AND grazing so much that it had become an issue, the thought that her hunger was linked to Type 1 diabetes never even crossed my mind! Lily has an older sister who is 9 and an older brother who is 7 and as all parents know, kids eating patterns ebb and flow.....like the moon (soooo poetic huh? ;) But seriously, they do! Sometimes they'll eat next to nothing for several days - and that may be due to a growth spurt or perhaps due to a mild cold....any number of things.

The day that Lily was diagnosed was Thursday, March 31, 2011. Her doctors appointment was at 5:30 pm and we were looking forward to going to my Grandma's 80th birthday party which was at 6 pm. (A very COOL 80 year old btw - she texts her grand kids :) When I tucked Lily into bed for her nap, she told me she was going to sleep for a l-o-n-g time so she would have fun at Grandma Rini's birthday party. When the PA came in and told us to head straight for Primary Children's MC  ER Lily burst into tears! Not because she was going to the hospital, but because she'd just heard that we wouldn't be going to the party!!

Of course, we had to drop her 3 siblings off to my parents, who were at the Birthday party. So we took that chance to give Grandma her gift, have my Dad and Kurt give her a blessing, and get her something to eat. At this point in our story, the knowledge that I had about Lily's disease was quite limited, and some of what I knew was just plain wrong. When it came to eating, I  was thinking that whatever Lily ate on the way to the hospital would be her "Last Meal".

"She had diabetes, that means no more sugar!" But boy was she hungry! She ate a huge hamburger, and a mini cheesecake, then since she asked for Mom's cheesecake, I gave that one to her too. "Poor girl, she'll never have another cheesecake..."

In the end, I was wrong about all of it. Her hunger wasn't just a growth spurt - And - those little cheesecakes were not the last treats she would eat. I would come to realize over the next 10 days that most of what I knew about diabetes centered around the most recent research concerning Type 2 Diabetes. Type 2 Diabetes has been around for decades. 

Click Here to see a timeline of the history of Diabetes.

However, the differences in Type 1 and Type 2 - and did you know there is a Type 1.5 ? - are huge. The reason we are hearing so much about Type 2 is because the number of adults and children who suffer from this variation of Diabetes has reached epidemic proportions. Also, there is a lot that can be done to prevent Type 2 onset. "Prevention is the best medicine", or so they say. And why not! 

When it comes to Type 1 Diabetes though, for now, we don't have the *causes, *preventions, and *cure. The greatest hope for a cure lies in the research that has been done on Stem Cells, and more specifically, Embryonic Stem Cells. The obvious debate on both political and moral platforms has stalled progress on finding THE CURE. No worries though, stalled progress does not equal stalled HOPE. What we DO know about Type 1 is that there seems to be a strong genetic factor. And the best news is simply that we know WHAT is going on, and we know HOW to both Monitor and Manage a child's blood glucose levels.

So, to wrap up.... Lily was hungry. Really, really hungry. She would eat, and be SO full, but then come back for more. Her body was lacking the insulin needed to grab the sugar out of her blood & feed the rest of her body. So her body sent signals to her brain, and to her tummy, that it needed MORE. 

I found this video a couple of days ago. With all of the learning, concentrating, organizing, watching, monitoring and nursing that I've participated in during the past two weeks, I haven't found, or taken the time to cry. There were a few moments in the hospital that the tears tried to edge their way out, but I was afraid that if I started, I wouldn't be able to stop! It's been much better for me to be able to put my efforts into everything that is required from day to day - but when I found this video, I lost it. I'm grateful that I found it during nap time so Lily or Luke didn't have to see me cry. The hesitation before each shot, and poke - the pale face and limp little body, the brave little girl who told me yesterday during EVERY single needle jab that she "doesn't WANT to have diabetes!" Not with a whine. Just a tender, child-like statement that carried with it all of the humility, meekness and willingness to submit to the trials of this life that our Savior exemplified during His life. She's my hero. And I'm one lucky Mom.