How We Knew the Worst Was True

I have told you all about my two little angels that have juvenile diabetes. The oldest angel is 8 and my little one is 6. I thought it would be important to share how we came to know that my daughters had a potentially deadly disease.
My oldest daughter started wetting the bed at the age of 5 and a half , just every once in a while so we didn't think anything of it. Over the course of that year she had severe mood swings, at the end of the day particularly. She was in grade one so I figured that she was just having a hard time going to school every day and she was just tired and hungry. I would give her a snack and she would be right as rain afterwards, so I figured I was right. She just needed something to eat.
Just after her seventh birthday she got a severe sinus infection and was vomiting all night one night. She had black circles under her eyes and looked awful. She lost a pound that week and looked frail. My girlfriend took one look at her and said "She looks awful." I just thought that she looked awful from the sinus infection. I told myself once she put the weight back on she would be fine.
About a week later the bed wetting became so severe that we were having to wake her nightly and she would still wet the bed. I thought she had a sleep/bed wetting disorder as she was also sleepwalking and bed wetting ran in our family so it was no surprise. I started looking into bed wetting treatments and read that I should rule out bladder infections or diabetes. I still had not clued into this possibility. It was too terrible to even consider. As you know the test did come back positive for diabetes. It only takes one little test to discover that your child will need medical care for the rest of their lives. I was numb from shock and kicking myself that I didn't clue in sooner. I have three cousins that have diabetes so I should have known, I felt. There are no other direct genetic links though so I just thought it would be highly unlikely that my daughter would be at risk. No aunts, grandparent, parents or siblings had this disease so why my child? The doctors and nurses assured me I had nothing to feel bad about. Most children fall into a coma before the parents realize something is wrong. My daughter was just at the beginnings of her disease and was not presenting key tones in her urine yet.
We went home feeling shocked and scared to death. We new very little and were sent home after a few hours of training. She wasn't ill and they said that children fair better if they go home where they feel safe and secure. They were right. She had no lows and her sugars were responding well to the insulin.
Three months later in June 2009, my little one was getting up in the night to go to bathroom which was highly unusual for her. She usually slept like a rock. I felt a sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach and as all mothers know, you have to listen to that feeling and do something about it. After a week of me noticing her getting up I took it upon myself to check her blood. The meter read her blood sugars at 11.1. I didn't know if that qualified her as a diabetic or not so I called the hospital crying my head off, barely being able to speak. I asked the nurse what the number was to qualify as diabetic and she wasn't sure. She called the doctor and she said 11.1! There was still hope. She had us come in and do some tests and said it could be a bladder infection and not to worry just yet. We took her home and were told to check her sugars two hours after lunch to see where she was at. Her sugars were 22.1. Then I knew and couldn't believe my eyes. It was too much for anyone to bare. I was angry, sad, shocked and numb all at the same time.
But you know, we are all stronger than we know we are. When you have to do something you never even considered a possibility, some how you gather the strength to go on. It gives you a feeling of hope that you never thought possible. We always have hope no one can ever take that away from us.
A year later my daughters are doing their own pokes and my older daughter occasionally does her own shot. They are the ambassadors for the juvenile walk-a-thon and my daughter got up in front of 200 people and presented a speech to everyone without hesitation. I am proud beaond words and I know they will be just fine.

Sally

Mother's Day, what a disappointment!

You know how when some talk show hosts or radio personalities ask mom's what they like getting most at mother's day and most mom's will say,"I just love the hand made crafts that my children bring home from school. It's just so sweet."
Well, I guess I fall in a major minority because although I do like the things my children make, let's face it, most of them fall apart unless you enshrine them and are of very little use in every day life. What I want is, "The goods", something I can use to make my every day life more enjoyable, to make all the crap that you do every day worth it. I also want to feel what I'm worth more than that. A paper mache vase of flowers just doesn't cut it in the present department. Also doing nice things for Mom is great but it also doesn't cut it. You can't do one nice day of things for mom and then expect that to be enough when she does those things voluntarily every day of her stinkin life.
The day after Mother's day, which by the way , I got no present, or card, and was told that, "I got you a Tim Horton's coffee." Like that should be enough. Are you kidding me! Spare me the Tim's and get me a real gift! Getting back to the day after. My daughter was being bratty after school on Monday and I was telling her to smarten up and she looked at me and said, "It isn't mother's day any more." Well, if it isn't mother's day anymore and I have to put up with you now, I should have gotten a really good gift to make up for all the crap I put up with in between.
For all the mother's out there that got no more than a Tim's and a thanks for coming out, I apologize for your less than thoughtful family. And have a spa day on them. That's my opinion and I'm stickin to it.

Sally

Obsessed with poo?

The question often posed to me is, why are kids so obsessed with poo and the potty? Well, the answer is some what obvious if you really think about it. Toddlers are obsessed with poo because it is one of the few things they can control. No one in the history of man kind has been able to force a human to poo on command. If you think about a child's day to day life from their perspective, it is controlled from the second they get up to the time they go to bed. Unless your a free spirited hippy sort of parent. I try to give as many choices to my kids as possible but they can't control everything, so there in lies to obsession with poo.
My "princess" daughter would hold hers in for days. She would sit on the couch rolled up in a ball in pain from all the toxic waste in her body, because it was unlady like, in her opinion, to poo. We would have to put her on the toilet and she would scream bloody murder until she could no longer hold the glob of toxic waste that smelled like death, in her body any longer. We had her on an adult does of laxatives as directed by our doctor, and she would still manage to hold it in for four days at a time. That's what I call determination! All we could do was watch for the signs and put her on the pot as needed. I thought that Children's Aide would be called at one point. She sounded like she was being tortured, but I assure you the torture was all on us.
My other daughter was three and a half before she would agree to go on the potty. She was fully trained for wetting but didn't think it was necessary to poo on the toilet, so she flat out refused. Finally, I told her that her dance class instructor would not allow her to go to class if she pooped her paints as only big girls that went poo on the toilet could attend. She was trained in two days and never had an accident since.
The moral of the story is, do whatever it takes. If you have to bribe, withhold something, beg for mercy. Whatever will work is whatever will work, and you don't have to feel guilty because some children are stubborn enough they would make Dr. Phil curl up in a ball and cry. He just never met my little "princesses". Have a good day and never take life seriously. It's over before you know it. lol

Sally