A recent post to a well know column has me thinking......"what is wrong with our society"
You have a person sitting in a cubicle across from a diabetic, watching them check their blood sugar and watching them give injections of insulin. I would assume a normal person would look out of curiosity, wondering why they have to do those things, perhaps you would even ask so that you could gain some knowledge about your co-worker and their struggles. (at least that is what I would do)
I guess those are the days of the past. Since Joseph's diagnosis 2 years ago I have learned that in today's times people are more inclined to complain about the co-worker making THEM feel uncomfortable because they can see the person conducting medically necessary actions and they don't want to see it. As if the person sitting across from you stabbing themselves with needles to draw blood and inject life saving insulin enjoys the task and is purposely doing it out of spite.
What kind of people are we becoming? What happened to compassion and understanding? What happened to getting to know our co-workers and neighbors?
I feel like as a society we are becoming cold, judgmental, awful people. A person watching another person fighting for their life and putting their health as a priority only feels the selfish desire to make it go away because they don't want to see those things.
Disease exists and it isn't pretty! Rather than writing to a popular columnist with your selfish, outrageous complaint....why don't you try getting to know that co-worker and their story. Why don't you DONATE to a cure for your co-worker so that they no longer have to use needles to stay alive.
People with medical needs don't owe you anything. They are doing what they have to do to stay alive and they certainly shouldn't have to put your comfort as a priority above their own health. If you don't like what you are seeing and you can't find it in your heart to be grateful and thankful that you nor your child have to use those methods to stay alive, then I suggest you don't look and just worry about doing your job and being an awful person.
If you would like to view the Dear Abby post you can use this link Nosey Neighbor I have graciously renamed it to a more appropriate title ;)
-until next time
Monday, January 26, 2015
Sunday, January 11, 2015
2 Years
2 years ago I was sitting at my house with a kid that had been misdiagnosed multiple times with the FLU. A deadly lurking disease that should have been diagnosed days earlier if a doctor at the ER wouldn't have cancelled the panel of tests that another concerned doctor ordered. A doctor that gave our son a Popsicle and sent us home with anti nausea medication. After the ER visit he was acting completely normal with the exception of a few new key symptoms that we had no idea the diagnosis that they were pointing towards.
Extreme Thirst and Frequent Urination. Symptoms that led me to call our pediatrician, on a Friday morning worried that there might be something else wrong that we were missing. Our pediatrician was out of town, so I had to call an on call office and speak with their nurse. She told me that he was just re hydrating from having the flu and not to worry unless it hadn't gotten better by Monday.
That evening a 7pm phone call changed our worry to fear! The on call physician was reviewing notes from the day while working his shift at the hospital and came across my phone call. He told Anthony that he was concerned that it could be DIABETES. That was the first time that we ever heard those awful words. He told us that after his shift was over at the hospital that he would open his office and just needed a quick urine sample to test. This wasn't difficult to get since he was urinating constantly.
We loaded up and headed to a doctor's office that we have never been to, to meet with a pediatrician that we have never seen. We walked into the office and handed him the urine sample. We had an unused cup from the ER visit. The doctor walked back into the room with a look on his face that I will never forget and he uttered the words " it was VERY positive". After those words came out of his mouth our world shattered into a million pieces.
He tried to explain that this wasn't a death sentence, that we would need to make arrangements for Ethan because we were going to have to spend a few days in the hospital learning to care for Joseph's new medical needs. He called ahead to the hospital so that we wouldn't have to wait in the ER.
I cried as soon as we got to the car and Joseph couldn't see me. We placed calls to our family to let them know of the diagnosis and that we would be headed to the hospital. We still had NO CLUE exactly what diabetes meant for Joseph.
We arrived at the hospital and got assigned to our room. They came in to do his first blood sugar check. The nurses were in shock, his blood sugar was only in the mid 400's. They said that was an unheard of number for a newly diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic. Joseph didn't need an IV, he didn't have to go to the ICU, all he needed was his first shot of insulin. That on call pediatrician could have saved Joseph's life and we will never forget what he did for him and his diligence to his work. We are also very lucky that we didn't give Joseph juice or high carb foods. His blood sugar would have been so much higher and his life could have been in serious danger.
The next few days were a nightmare. Sadness, fear, and an overwhelming amount of information was given to us. Essentially we had 2 days to learn how to keep our son alive before we were sent home with a bag of supplies and a completely new life for all of us.
2 years ago my son's innocence and freedom were stolen away from him. While we have made great strides in re-gaining our life as we once knew it, some thing's will never be the same. We have watched our son cry, scream, fight and be scared. We have seen him struggle and be different. We strive to give him a normal life and we strive to teach him to never let diabetes hold him back but there are aspects of this life that we can't control.
Today is a bittersweet day. While I am very sad, I am also very proud. We are not letting diabetes win this war. We will keep fighting for Joseph's life until we have a cure.
So today we celebrate how far we have come and another year of success!
-until next time
 |
| At the ER waiting for answers |
Extreme Thirst and Frequent Urination. Symptoms that led me to call our pediatrician, on a Friday morning worried that there might be something else wrong that we were missing. Our pediatrician was out of town, so I had to call an on call office and speak with their nurse. She told me that he was just re hydrating from having the flu and not to worry unless it hadn't gotten better by Monday.
That evening a 7pm phone call changed our worry to fear! The on call physician was reviewing notes from the day while working his shift at the hospital and came across my phone call. He told Anthony that he was concerned that it could be DIABETES. That was the first time that we ever heard those awful words. He told us that after his shift was over at the hospital that he would open his office and just needed a quick urine sample to test. This wasn't difficult to get since he was urinating constantly.
We loaded up and headed to a doctor's office that we have never been to, to meet with a pediatrician that we have never seen. We walked into the office and handed him the urine sample. We had an unused cup from the ER visit. The doctor walked back into the room with a look on his face that I will never forget and he uttered the words " it was VERY positive". After those words came out of his mouth our world shattered into a million pieces.
He tried to explain that this wasn't a death sentence, that we would need to make arrangements for Ethan because we were going to have to spend a few days in the hospital learning to care for Joseph's new medical needs. He called ahead to the hospital so that we wouldn't have to wait in the ER.
I cried as soon as we got to the car and Joseph couldn't see me. We placed calls to our family to let them know of the diagnosis and that we would be headed to the hospital. We still had NO CLUE exactly what diabetes meant for Joseph.
We arrived at the hospital and got assigned to our room. They came in to do his first blood sugar check. The nurses were in shock, his blood sugar was only in the mid 400's. They said that was an unheard of number for a newly diagnosed Type 1 Diabetic. Joseph didn't need an IV, he didn't have to go to the ICU, all he needed was his first shot of insulin. That on call pediatrician could have saved Joseph's life and we will never forget what he did for him and his diligence to his work. We are also very lucky that we didn't give Joseph juice or high carb foods. His blood sugar would have been so much higher and his life could have been in serious danger.
 | ||
His first meal as a diabetic
 |
Today is a bittersweet day. While I am very sad, I am also very proud. We are not letting diabetes win this war. We will keep fighting for Joseph's life until we have a cure.
So today we celebrate how far we have come and another year of success!
Friday, January 9, 2015
Cold and Flu Season
Man, this has been a rough month for our household!
The first week of December we took a family vacation to Disneyland and as usual the kids got sick....I mean, Disneyland has to be the germiest (yup it's a word LOL) place in the world. We use bottle after bottle of hand sanitizer, in line, after ride, just because and it is just never good enough to fight off the germs in kids their age! They are touching everything and putting their hands in their mouths constantly......so they in turn caught a stomach bug.
We get through the stomach bug and they catch a cold.....right before Christmas! Every. Single. Year. my kids are sick at Christmas, it's almost a right of passage! So, we get them on antibiotics and get them over the cold.
Days after they are better guess what, it's time for Joseph to go back to school......cue ANOTHER cold and an ear infection for Joseph. Last night of course Ethan started symptoms!
December-sick
January- sick
This is wrecking havoc on Joseph's blood sugar and has me wishing that it was just summer already!
A cold or illness is bad enough for a "normal" child, but when you throw T1D in the mix it becomes a totally different ball game. We have to worry about blood sugar levels, ketones, forcing him to eat, being up ALL night, staying hydrated and the list goes on.
I am hoping that we have now paid our Cold and Flu Season dues and the rest of the year will be smooth sailing.......there's always hope, right????
-until next time
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