An Ugly Monstor

No, I dont believe in monstors that have big ugly scary teeth and breathe fire. Or ones that have one eye and are all hairy and furry. But, there is an ugly monstor in my life; it showed itself just a little over ten years ago.

When my son was just 2 years old, he was a typical energetic kid. Loved to play outside and be with friends. I'll admit he was a bit of a couch potato as well--he loved Winnie the Pooh and Blue's Clues.

But then he started to be 'not so happy go lucky' all the time. We didnt think much about it. He would get sick here and there and I'd have to take him to the dr. They'd check him out, give me some meds for whatever ailed him, and he'd take them and get over it.

But he was tired a lot. This is the kid that use to come and wake me up every morning at 7am pretty much on the dot. Slowly as the months went on, he would continue to be crabby and grouchy and whined a lot. I just chalked a lot of it up to the terrible two's..but then at the same time, it wasnt that, because even in the midst of feeling so lousy, he was still a good lil kid.

April of 2000: I started taking him to the dr more frequently. I mean, he was sick all of the time it seemed. One thing after another. People would ask me if he was losing weight and I'd just say, "No, I dont think so. He's just getting taller!"

The months seem to just drag on and on and on. He would get sick and throw up for no apparent reason, and as soon as he would, he would be fine for a few days. Then, it would happen again.

Then, he started drinking a lot. And I mean A LOT. Water--how many kids do you know that ask for water to drink? They want milk, juice or kool-aid. But not water. I could fix him a cup to drink out of and he would suck the bottom out of it in 2 minutes and hand the cup back to me and ask for "more".

I had been trying to potty train him-for months. I was getting very frustrated because I seemed to be getting no where with it. All I could think was, "come on, whats the deal? I was potty trained by 18 months, and so were my brother and sister. This is crazy, and give me a break!" I would take him into the bathroom and no more than we would walk out, there would be pee running down his leg. I would change his diaper and in ten to fifteen minutes, his diaper would be full and leaking everywhere. That in itself drove me crazy!

Fast foward from April to the end of May and into early June. Mr C had been sick and I'd been giving him over the counter tylenol for his fever. He didnt seem to have any other symptoms. He did have ear infections, but a lot of kids do--his daddy had them a lot when he was a kid as well. I was fortunate enough to not have to deal with them when I was a kid.

I took him into the dr one day and as usual, sat in the waiting room at the dr's office forever. When we were finally seen, she started asking me what had been going on and what his symptoms were. I told her that I wasnt sure, that he was cranky and irritable and had been running some fever. I mentioned the huge amounts of liquids that he'd been consuming. She looked him over and said that his throat was very red, and that he more than likely had strep, and that he was drinking a lot because the liquid felt good to his throat. She put him on an antibiotic and that was the end of that appointment.

After 5 days of being on the anit-b, he was still not better. He was still drinking a lot. He was still getting sick and vomiting for no reason that we could see--and to us, all we could think was, "How can he be sick and throwing up when he's not been eating hardly anything?" And we chalked up his not eating to the fact that his throat hurt.

I called and made yet ANOTHER appt with is dr. And it was a last minute thing, so we were one of the last appointments for the day. We sat in the room for what seemed like an eternity and if you have kids, you know how slow the time can pass sitting in a dr office anyways. It just seems to drag on and on and on forever.

Finally, she comes in. Goes over his chart after I tell her that he's still not getting any better and there has to be something going on, because I have been in with him at her office too many times in the last few months.
I tell her again about all of his 'symptoms' and everything that we'd been dealing with--the continuing to drink, eating very little, and still getting sick for no reason that we could find.

She sits there, going over his chart, being very quiet. She looks up at me and says, "Have we done a urine test on him?" Im sitting there thinking to myself..She did NOT just ask me that, did she? She's the DR, shouldnt she have that information in his chart?? I said, "um, no, you have not or I would rememeber it--I dont even have him potty trained yet, so how are you going to do that?"

She proceeds to tell me that I will have to 'bag' him. So, we go through all of this and they are able to get a small urine sample from him. It hadnt been that long since I'd changed his diaper, and I wasnt sure if he'd go anymore that soon or not. Obviousl he did. She tells me she's going to do some testing on the 'sample.'



Now, is where the UGLY MONSTOR appears in my life. She comes back into the room and is again, very quiet. She sits down, and is writing something on his chart. She starts telling me that they've tested his urine and that he's got sugar in it. My response is, "What does that mean?" She proceeds to tell me that he's got sugar in his urine and some protein as well. And that she has set up an appointment for us for the very next morning(which is a SATURDAY) with a specialist. All I can think of is, its got to be serious, because we are meeting with a dr on a Saturday. A SATURDAY--This Dr should have the day off and Im sure he doesnt want to meet with us about something. Can't it wait till Monday?" She proceeds to tell me that she thinks that Mr C may have diabetes. WHAT??? I thought only 'old' people got that, and that meant taking shots of insulin too.

June 9, 2000. We meet with an endocrinologist who asks us a series of questions. States he just needs to do one simple test and all it requires is that we stick his little finger to get a blood sample. They do this, and let us know that they will not know the results for possibly a week. In the meantime, they test his glucose level with a glucose monitor and it shows his bloodsugar to be almost 400.
He doesnt waste any time and just is flat out honest with us and says, "Lesley, your son has something called Juvenille Diabetes, or Type 1 Diabetes and that means that he is going to have to take insulin shots." He proceeds to tell me that we are very fortunate because if we'd have waited until Monday to get him to the Dr, that we'd have been in the hospital, or worse.

So, it began. Life on the rollercoaster of Diabetes. Not fun for anyone, let alone a 2 year old. We had to hold him down to poke his finger. Hold him down again to give him his shots. Hearing your child screem a blood curdeling "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" is not something any mom wants to hear. It hurt me to see him hurt and I would just cry for him.

He is now 12, and is on an insulin pump. He has been on this pump since April 17, 2005--the day after his sister was born. It gives him a little more 'freedom' instead of taking the shots. Now, if he will just remember to do what he's suppose to do and when he's suppose to do it. If he would do this ALL the time, then life would be SMOOTH sailing.