A1C Check up

Today was Nathanael's 3 month check up.  Or should I say his 28 month check up since diagnosis?  I knew this A1C wouldn't be as good as his last one.  Summer has been tough.  There is no routine.  He stays up late, sleeps late, eats whenever he thinks he is hungry.  He also had a week where he was completely on his own while he was at music camp.  Amazingly, he did pretty well at camp.  Being at home is the problem.  He has days where his number just continues to rise.  I know he is eating without taking insulin.  He was running in the 300's, 400's, and even hit 500's.  So the big number today was 7.2.  What??  7.2?  At last check, he was 6.9.  That's not too bad considering the month he has had.  The doctor was even surprised it was that low.  Also, my little boy is now 5.8 and 174 pounds.  He sure isn't little anymore.  He is going to be in high school in just a little over a month.

This past weekend has been a tough weekend in the T1D world. Two young children died after being misdiagnosed.  Both young children were thought to have the flu.  Turns out they had diabetes and when it was discovered, it was too late.  A very precious little girl Kycie Terry fought a very tough battle after having seizures that left her with brain damage.  She was a fighter!  I have followed her story since January.  Her parents have shown such incredible strength and courage the whole time.  Then on Saturday, word came of a 4 year old boy in Michigan was in ICU after having a serious of strokes.  He was just diagnosed on July 8.  His little body couldn't recover.  On Sunday, he was taken off life support and died a short time later.

My heart just breaks for these two families.  I too wonder, like many other parents of children who have diabetes, why testing for diabetes cannot be standard protocol when showing flu like systems.  We were very lucky.  Nathanael had all the classic signs.  Diabetes was the last thing from my mind.  His systems from the beginning were a stomach ache and headache.  Then he started getting dizzy.  It wasn't until we put him on medication for possible acid reflux that he started drinking a lot of water.  Then he started having accidents at night.  I saw a post today where a dad posted on the Pull-ups Facebook page to put a warning on the big kid packages that when your child is potty trained and all of a sudden cannot make it through the night without having an accident, that they should be tested for diabetes.  What a great idea to spread awareness!  

We need a cure but most importantly we need awareness.  We also need understanding.  There is so much misunderstanding with diabetes.  Today, Nathanael was told he can eat whatever he wants.  He can eat as much as he wants.  However, whatever goes in his mouth, he needs to take insulin.  Of course, this isn't what this mom wants to hear.  But he needed to hear from his doctor that he needs to take insulin for EVERYTHING he eats.  Yes he can have a regular pop.  He can have candy.  He can have ice cream.  Are these things good for a person with diabetes?  The question is are these things good for people without diabetes??  YES diet and exercise will help him lower his blood sugar.  Diet and exercise will help EVERYONE without diabetes.  He didn't get diabetes from having too much sugar was he was an infant.