PSA For those with kiddo's, please read.

[spyder]

Please read all the way through this if you have little ones, especially* if anyone in your family's history has type 1 diabetes. 5 other families have had this exact, exact same thing happen to them since this all happened-

So, we've been in Amarillo at Northwestern hospital since Wednesday evening because my son's pancreas quit working... He was flight for life'd there because the shit hole little clinic available to us where we lived couldn't help him (and frankly it was freaking them out). So, he has type 1 diabetes. It is not a nutrition/health related thing, and you don't "cause it". It is genetic. Now let me tell you why I wanted to share our experience with you... His pancreas failed a week before we brought him to the local hospital/clinic. That seems a bit excessive, but that is why I wanted to share with you, why we didn't think there was anything wrong with him to need to be hospitalized till that last day.

He is our 4th child (5 yrs old), and by now, we have a good bit of experience with kids, and how they grow, how they handle sickness, and so on. So, for the first 4 days of the build up, it seemed as if he was having a growth spurt, exactly like a growth spurt. He was noticeably drinking, eating, and sleeping more. There were literally no other symptoms, he was still very alert and normal while awake. There was no tummy or abdominal pain, nothing. So, absolutely nothing out of the ordinary if you know what a child going through a growth spurt is like. Now, the next part... On the fourth night, he didn't finish his food, ok, whatever..... Day 5, when he woke up, he was tired (he wakes up to see me off to work and then goes back to bed), and seemed like he didn't get enough sleep. The day went on, his appetite was a little less than normal, but he was more tired than usual. Day 6 seemed like day 5 in the morning, but through the day he ate less, slept more, and towards the evening seemed like he was.... what's the word... groggy? Not completely alert? Very tired. Anybody's kids ever have a bad cold? The flu? See what I'm getting at? Alright, day 7... He didn't want to get up to see me off (he still did on day 6 and spent the normal hour with me). Mom said he spent the morning in bed, but was completely out of it when he did get up (still went potty and such). When I came home at lunch, I saw what she was talking about, he was like a walking zombie, just able enough to do the basic functions (and not well). So at this point, we wanted someone's opinion... She got an appointment at 3, and I came home early, and off we went. When we arrived, we told them everything that had been going on, and they of course looked at him, did vitals, and everything else. All of his tests came back negative (influenza, mono, strep ect), they said he was healthy, from what they could see, but also knew something was wrong... 4 doctors and 40 minutes later, a blood test was ordered because they couldn't think of anything else, and I told them I wanted a blood test (I thought it was iron deficiency anemia caused by what we thought was a growth spurt - yes that's a normal thing, and is the exact same symptoms that we were seeing other than day 7). When we got the news that the test results came back, we also got the news that the flight for life helicopter was on it's way. His blood sugar was in the 4's, and his blood's PH was 6.94, from what I heard, life for humans stops at 6.8...

Ok, here is what was actually going on: His pancreas took a dive probably the day before what we thought was a growth spurt happened. He was drinking a lot more water because with no insuline, the excess sugars were soaking up all the water in his body and making him thirsty. His body was also trying to pee out the keytones (what's left of burnt up fat) that were being produced from the burning of his fat storage for energy (without insuline, your muscle can't use the sugar). Of course the fat being converted to energy wasn't doing him much good without the insulin which was also why he was getting tired. So, he was drinking more because his body didn't want to get dehydrated from the sugar absorbing the water, and he was also peeing because the body was trying to get rid of the keytones (that's what makes the blood acidic). Together though, it just looked like he was drinking more, and peeing more. The body is now starting to starve for energy without the insulin making it possible for the sugar to be used as energy, and it calls for more energy (food). All of this is of course in vein since it can't use any of the energy it is getting (and still producing from the liver) because the needed insulin isn't there. This is now what caused the crash at the end of day 4, and through day 7. His muscle wasn't getting any energy, and so he was tired, even more so than before. His brain was getting overloaded with sugar which came across in him on day 7 as being out of it. The acidosis (keytone build up) usually causes vomiting, and stomach aches by this point, but didn't in our son. This did one major important thing, once really bad acidosis sets in, you normally can't drink anything making you dangerously dehydrate, our son could still drink just fine which more than likely helped save his life at that point.

More than 80% of the kids that come in as type 1 for the first time, or rather find out they are type 1, do so in this manner (scary number to think about). So, not knowing what thell is going on and thinking it is something else is normal (and why I'm sharing this). The other 20% is mainly made up of the first 80%'s siblings (as in if one of our other kids starts to get it, we now know what the symptoms look like). Who in either of our families has type 1? My wife's great grandma. No one else that we know of.

Our boy is great now. We're gearing up to leave in about an hour. He even gives himself his own finger pricks to chech his blood sugar which he calls "checking my sugars". Today we even got to take him to the helicopter hanger to get up close and personal with the bird that brought him in. So, a two hour drive is now ahead of us till we get home, and start our new lifestyle with our son's type 1 diabetes. This means dad is going to be eating a lot healthier. ;-)

[Robb]

Glad all is well with the boy and that he's okay. You had me scared for a bit there...

[merl]

Is this one of the genetic markers that the various tests out there look for? (Is this something you can look for before the situation blows up)

[StagLefty]

Good to hear he's okay and he's been diagnosed for treatment.

[wctriumph]

Take care of the kids.

[Teufelhund]

As a new parent with a 1 month old at home, this scares the hell out of me. Thank you for sharing your experience. Really glad to hear your boy is doing well now.


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[spyder]

Is this one of the genetic markers that the various tests out there look for? (Is this something you can look for before the situation blows up)

We asked that question, the basic end answer is no. That is why I posted this. Now, we know what to look for with our other kids, and I wanted to share what to look for with those who have kids at risk also. You have a child at risk if one, just one other known relative (as we had only one that anyone can remember) has type 1. You cannot protect them from it with special diets, or special care. My wife is heavy into nutrition and very knowledgeable, as am I (but not as much as her). My son was an amazingly balanced and healthy eater (one of the things that baffled my wife at the start of this because we honestly didn't know much about diabetes but the basics till this happened). So, there is no test, you only find out when the organ begins to fail which is again why I posted this. Also, since we have been here, 5 other families have been admitted for the exact same thing, all happened in the exact same way.

[theGinsue]

Very scary situation brother. Elated to hear that he's been able to bounce back from this and, with an adjusted lifestyle, have a normal healthy life. Give that lil fella an extra hug from us!

[Lex_Luthor]

Thanks for that. As a new parent, reading this kind of stuff freaks me out. But it helps to be educated.

[ChuckNorris]

Knowledge is power and God knows we are all different in how we react to things.
Glad to hear your son is well!