I can't believe it's been 6 months since the diagnosis.
Friday, November 14: I didn't know he was sick. He didn't look right to me that morning, and he told me his stomach hurt, but he wanted to go to school. He came home from school that afternoon and took a nap. When we were sitting on the couch that evening, he just didn't look right. He had lost weight. Why hadn't I noticed that before? His face was sunken. He vomited, clear liquid, in the evening, and knowing his iron stomach, thought, COOL, we're over it now.
November 15 & 16: He was more like his old self on Saturday. He ate more, including pizza for dinner, and was more active, but then decreased on Sunday again.
November 17: Cameron vomited in the middle of the night Sunday into Monday morning, so I knew I wasn't going to send him to school. I opted for a treatment of the BRAT (Banana, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) diet to help relieve his stomach bug. When he woke up I was scared. His lips were white and so very dry (his lips do this same thing when his blood sugar has gotten too low). His breathing was labored. He looked terrible. How did this happen? It was so fast. The doctor diagnosed him with tonsillitis and did a culture of his throat. Tonsillitis, okay, well, labored breathing because his tonsils are fighting off infection, right? Cameron had been seen in August for his year check up and she noticed an 11 pound weight loss. ELEVEN? In three months (15 total before his diagnosis)! She ordered blood work to be done right then and wrote him out of school for 3 days until the antibiotic for the tonsillitis began working.
November 18: He still had that labored breathing. He was white as ghost. He went to take a shower and I caught a glimpse of him from behind, naked, and looking like something out of a concentration camp. THE healthiest kid I know ... what was wrong with him?
November 19: He was a shell of himself. He laid there, despite Dylan and Peyton's attempts to play with him. When he did get up to play, he tired very rapidly. I tried to keep my mind from the "cancer" word, but it was so hard. I NEVER said it out loud to Mike or anyone. I was watching my son waste away in front of my very eyes. Despite his constant belly ache, he ate lunch, still on the BRAT diet. And five minutes before 1 pm, the doctor called.
I began hyperventilating the second she asked if I was home alone. I left the living room with the kids and went into my bedroom. She was so very kind and patient and allowed me to scream, crying into the phone. After I stopped, she informed me I needed to get him to the hospital ASAP. From there, you know the story, and if you don't ... click on the label diabetes.
Mike said diabetes had come to his mind. When you hear diabetes you think frequent urination and drinking lots of water. This was the norm for Cameron. He's always been a heavy drinker of water. His urination was no different, but then again, the child is 9 and it wasn't like I was changing his diaper or counting how many times he went into the bathroom. When the ER doctor gave us symptoms, a flashing neon sign was pointing at him. He ate EVERYTHING. Literally, we would be done with dinner and he would ask, "You going to eat that?" Did you know that was a symptom? Mike and I chalked it up to growth spurt. And stomach ache. ALSO a symptom. Why aren't these symptoms posted? And leave it to our kid to have the not so common ones.
The doctor's kept asking his history. WHAT history? THE healthiest child I have EVER seen. And you're telling me he has a disease he can't give back? He's insulin dependent? How does this happen? "We don't know." How do you know he has Type I? "He's in ketoacidosis, which only occurs in Type I Diabetes." Does it come out of nowhere like this. "Yes." These questions I asked EVERY person who got in my face during those 3 days. And they all said the EXACT same thing. We don't know what caused Cameron's Type I Diabetes, and it is definitely NOT Type II. Yes it blindsides you, knocking the wind out of you until you are gasping for air, breathing like your child who is in ketoacidosis. And he will require insulin to keep him alive, until a cure is found.
SIX months, yet it feels like just yesterday. I still have crying outbursts, though NEVER in front of him. Grandma still cringes when he gives himself his shot. I look at him supplies and just ... become so overwhelmed. My perfect, intelligent, handsome son is sick. Insulin is keeping my son alive. When we get ready to leave the house, we have a backpack we pack with his diabetic supplies. Thankfully Mike packs it most of the time, because what I have hidden, until now, from everybody, is the pain it causes me to gather up and pack his life saving supplies into that bag.
What I am doing about it? I'm glad you asked. JDRF, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, has a Walk to Cure Diabetes every year. This year it is on October 3rd in Ontario. October 3rd? It's May Tiffany. Well, guess what? Cameron has diabetes EVERY day. It is NEVER too early to get started. I start training this week. Could I walk it now? Sure, but I'd be hurting the next 3-5 days. It's all part of a different plan, which I will unveil shortly. TODAY I ask all of you to walk or sponsor someone walking. I don't care if it's Team Cameron (still unnamed and looking for suggestions) or someone YOU know personally. Walk the 5K (3.2 miles) or sponsor someone walking. If you can't do that, donate to JDRF, whose mission is to find a cure for diabetes!
Friday, November 14: I didn't know he was sick. He didn't look right to me that morning, and he told me his stomach hurt, but he wanted to go to school. He came home from school that afternoon and took a nap. When we were sitting on the couch that evening, he just didn't look right. He had lost weight. Why hadn't I noticed that before? His face was sunken. He vomited, clear liquid, in the evening, and knowing his iron stomach, thought, COOL, we're over it now.
November 15 & 16: He was more like his old self on Saturday. He ate more, including pizza for dinner, and was more active, but then decreased on Sunday again.
November 17: Cameron vomited in the middle of the night Sunday into Monday morning, so I knew I wasn't going to send him to school. I opted for a treatment of the BRAT (Banana, Rice, Applesauce, Toast) diet to help relieve his stomach bug. When he woke up I was scared. His lips were white and so very dry (his lips do this same thing when his blood sugar has gotten too low). His breathing was labored. He looked terrible. How did this happen? It was so fast. The doctor diagnosed him with tonsillitis and did a culture of his throat. Tonsillitis, okay, well, labored breathing because his tonsils are fighting off infection, right? Cameron had been seen in August for his year check up and she noticed an 11 pound weight loss. ELEVEN? In three months (15 total before his diagnosis)! She ordered blood work to be done right then and wrote him out of school for 3 days until the antibiotic for the tonsillitis began working.
November 18: He still had that labored breathing. He was white as ghost. He went to take a shower and I caught a glimpse of him from behind, naked, and looking like something out of a concentration camp. THE healthiest kid I know ... what was wrong with him?
November 19: He was a shell of himself. He laid there, despite Dylan and Peyton's attempts to play with him. When he did get up to play, he tired very rapidly. I tried to keep my mind from the "cancer" word, but it was so hard. I NEVER said it out loud to Mike or anyone. I was watching my son waste away in front of my very eyes. Despite his constant belly ache, he ate lunch, still on the BRAT diet. And five minutes before 1 pm, the doctor called.
I began hyperventilating the second she asked if I was home alone. I left the living room with the kids and went into my bedroom. She was so very kind and patient and allowed me to scream, crying into the phone. After I stopped, she informed me I needed to get him to the hospital ASAP. From there, you know the story, and if you don't ... click on the label diabetes.
Mike said diabetes had come to his mind. When you hear diabetes you think frequent urination and drinking lots of water. This was the norm for Cameron. He's always been a heavy drinker of water. His urination was no different, but then again, the child is 9 and it wasn't like I was changing his diaper or counting how many times he went into the bathroom. When the ER doctor gave us symptoms, a flashing neon sign was pointing at him. He ate EVERYTHING. Literally, we would be done with dinner and he would ask, "You going to eat that?" Did you know that was a symptom? Mike and I chalked it up to growth spurt. And stomach ache. ALSO a symptom. Why aren't these symptoms posted? And leave it to our kid to have the not so common ones.
The doctor's kept asking his history. WHAT history? THE healthiest child I have EVER seen. And you're telling me he has a disease he can't give back? He's insulin dependent? How does this happen? "We don't know." How do you know he has Type I? "He's in ketoacidosis, which only occurs in Type I Diabetes." Does it come out of nowhere like this. "Yes." These questions I asked EVERY person who got in my face during those 3 days. And they all said the EXACT same thing. We don't know what caused Cameron's Type I Diabetes, and it is definitely NOT Type II. Yes it blindsides you, knocking the wind out of you until you are gasping for air, breathing like your child who is in ketoacidosis. And he will require insulin to keep him alive, until a cure is found.
SIX months, yet it feels like just yesterday. I still have crying outbursts, though NEVER in front of him. Grandma still cringes when he gives himself his shot. I look at him supplies and just ... become so overwhelmed. My perfect, intelligent, handsome son is sick. Insulin is keeping my son alive. When we get ready to leave the house, we have a backpack we pack with his diabetic supplies. Thankfully Mike packs it most of the time, because what I have hidden, until now, from everybody, is the pain it causes me to gather up and pack his life saving supplies into that bag.
What I am doing about it? I'm glad you asked. JDRF, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, has a Walk to Cure Diabetes every year. This year it is on October 3rd in Ontario. October 3rd? It's May Tiffany. Well, guess what? Cameron has diabetes EVERY day. It is NEVER too early to get started. I start training this week. Could I walk it now? Sure, but I'd be hurting the next 3-5 days. It's all part of a different plan, which I will unveil shortly. TODAY I ask all of you to walk or sponsor someone walking. I don't care if it's Team Cameron (still unnamed and looking for suggestions) or someone YOU know personally. Walk the 5K (3.2 miles) or sponsor someone walking. If you can't do that, donate to JDRF, whose mission is to find a cure for diabetes!
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