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.


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.



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.


His first meal as a diabetic

meeting Hope for the first time

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