Type 1 Diabetes - The Kids Were Old Enough to Know Something Was Wrong

Today I am sharing the stories from two T1 Moms, about how their children were diagnosed with diabetes. I opted to run them together because there were so many similarities in the stories.

The lessons to take away here are these: know the symptoms and understand that most of them are totally non-specific, when in doubt always always always just go to the doctor just in case it is something to worry about and never underestimate the ability of a child to tell you that something is wrong.

I love both of these ladies, and they have both been tremendously supportive to me and my son in the past year. With love and respect, their stories.
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During the Christmas break of 2011, my son started to have issues with his stomach. Food started to not settle. Anything touching it, would come back up or hurt staying down. Should have been the first red flag. I didn't know. The month or so following that break, he spent either in his room sleeping or at school. He was 12, I thought he was either having a growth spurt or puberty was showing its ugly head. So, when he started losing weight because of the lack of desire for food and sleeping all the time, I blamed puberty. Second red flag. I didn't notice more thirst. I didn't notice more bathroom breaks.


February 6th, 2012. I got a phone call from the school nurse. She told me that she had a talk with my son. He had come to see her by way of the school psychologist. I found out he had gone to see the psychologist because he didn't feel well and he didn't think we (his parents) were listening to him. So he did something about it. And the psychologist took him to the nurse. Who in turn, called me at work. We talked about what was going on. I told her what I thought was going on. Puberty, and maybe a cold? I didn't know, so I agreed that he should be seen by his doctor. I got off the phone with the nurse from school and promptly called the doctor. That was a Monday. He got an appointment for Friday, February 10th.


I took him to the doctor. Told him all the things going on, and he ordered blood work and urinalysis. Now, my son is terrified of needles. Especially shots and draws from the arm. This was agonizing for him, damn near panic attack. We went back to the exam room. We waited. We joked. We laughed. Then the doctor came back in. He looked at my son. He looked at me. Then he said that my son was in something called Diabetic Ketoacidosis. And we needed to go directly to the Children's Hospital. Essentially his body was eating itself to keep going. My heart stopped. My brain exploded. My perfect baby. My 12 year old son HAS DIABETES.


He was in the hospital for a week. It took that long to bring his numbers down. And to educate him, as well as us. He learned what to do and when. He learned from endocrinologists. He learned from dietitians. He talked to pediatric psychologists. The Children's Hospital was AMAZING.


HE SAVED HIS OWN LIFE. HE did it. He talked to people until someone heard him. And for that I will forever be grateful.


Things don't always present with clear cut symptoms. Excessive drinking and peeing are classic indicators. But I didn't see them. I missed the other flags. I missed it all. I failed my son. My guilt over my part will never lessen. But my pride in my son? Never will diminish. He is amazing. He can calculate his ratios in his head, without a calculator. He still panics with a shot, or IV, or blood draw. BUT he does his testing on his fingers for his daily testing with no issue. Yes, he hits bottom from time to time. Yes, his numbers go all wonky when he's sick. BUT this is not the sum of him. He is NOT defined by his pancreas's inability to produce insulin.

- Anonymous

My daughter, Laura, turned 11 on February 11 2010. She played softball on 2 teams. The little league and a travel ball team. One Saturday in March she came to me carrying a laptop and crying. When I asked her what was wrong she showed me the web page on the laptop. It was web MD's symptoms of type 1 diabetes.