Type 1 Diabetes - How Did We Know? Part 3 of 4

Since Kurt and I had already "figured out" the bed wetting incidents and "solved" that problem (haha, NOT really), and since Lily's hunger seemed to be just another childhood growth spurt, I would have to say that this next symptom was - for me - the BIGGEST red flag. Of course, it was over several days of observation before I saw the red.....does that make any sense? Oh well, let me explain.

Skin and Bones....post 3 hrs of IV fluids + insulin

Around the time that Lily was eating so much I started to notice that she was looking thinner. Unfortunately, this observation just solidified my 'growth spurt' theory. You know how it goes....most babies have cute little chubby cheeks, and thighs, and fingers.....and then all of the sudden they start to grow. Out and UP, out and UP. And really, in this case, my Mom was the first to notice. The Sunday before Lily's diagnosis we were at my Mom and Dad's house for dinner. At some point in the evening my Mom commented, "Wow! Lily sure has thinned out quickly!" I gave her observation about 10 nano-seconds of thought, adding it to my library of observations of the Kids' behavior from the evening, and moving right along.....! It must have been that night that the hunger and her "thinning out" first started looking like more than just a growth spurt. With each day that came and went, Kurt would come home from work and at some point in the evening I would ask him "Does something seem off with Lily?" or "Look at Lily, does she look thinner to you?" It's not his fault that he didn't notice anything wrong, and that his answer to my questions was "no". The thing about Type 1 Diabetes is that the onset is sudden, and when Dad is only home for a couple of hours during the kids awake time, it would be easy to miss.

There were 2 or 3 times during these last few days before her diagnosis that Lily was unusually cranky, quiet, and lazy. At first I didn't think anything of it, but by Sunday night, and then with each day after that, I stopped asking her to do extra work. Sigh!  In FACT, that Monday (March 28, 2011) during the day, just after lunch, I asked her to run down to the basement and grab Luke's blanket for nap time. "Ugh! M-O,O-M! Why do I have to be your servant?" (lol!) I gave her my, now common reply, "because you grew up! I've told you since you were a baby to stop growing up and since none of you have listened, you are now going to be my servants! :) " Well, she went downstairs to get his blanket, and right when she got up to our main floor I said, "okay! Let's go upstairs for stories!" She said, "Noooo! Up MORE stairs? I'm too tired, it's too far.!!"

It was at this point that I KNEW something was wrong. I just didn't know what it was. Anytime I asked Lily if she was feeling okay, she was just annoyed and responded with a quick, "MOM! I'm FINE!! Nothing's wrong, O-Kay?"

Moving from the ER to the 3rd floor....

Looking back now I understand what was going on during these question and answer sessions. First and most importantly, she's FOUR.  Developmentally speaking, she's at the age where she's just learning to recognize her physical symptoms and then be able to put it into words. Secondly, Lily has had a pretty good case of 'third child syndrome' for a while now, and one part of that syndrome is an adamant refusal to be left - out - of - ANYTHING. Period. Most kids have to be really, really sick to  willingly stay inside during playtime. Tack on the blessing of being the 3rd of 4 children and you might as well have an ox in the mire (mud-pit), an ant stuck in honey, or better yet - super-glue stuck on your fingers. You get the point, right? So, for several days she would push herself in order to participate in what was going on around the house and/or neighborhood. By Sunday she had stopped participating in the fun, but still wouldn't admit that there was anything wrong. By Tuesday morning she wasn't saying what was wrong, though I'm pretty sure that if she put her head up long enough and took her thumb out of her mouth far enough, she still may not have been able to tell me.

Our brave Lily w/ Nurse Natalie 

 Every day that went past made me realize more and more  that there was something really wrong. She was getting thinner by the hour, she had circles under her eyes, she was sucking her thumb more all of the sudden, and carrying her blankie everywhere....and then I could count her ribs and just a few clicks forward I was counting the bumps that made her spine.  On Wednesday, the 30th of March she had already spent 2 days officially 'sick' though with what I had no idea. That day she had gotten thin to the point that she weighed noticeably less when I carried her - everywhere, btw - and she didn't want to straddle, or wrap her legs around our waists when we carried her. She felt like she was going to break!

For almost 2 weeks I had watched our precious girl with a 

nagging feeling that something was wrong. 

Part four of our story is the best part  of the story, 

the part of our story where a very bad dream

 is magically turned into the most beautiful miracle of our lives.

Stay tuned... :)