About a month ago our 5 year old son Ryan was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes. Needless to say this has been quite the adjustment for us all but especially for Ryan. It was really kind of crazy how we discovered the disease. A couple months ago I started noticing "sticky pee" around the toilet and at first we kept blaming the dog. At one point I remembered my pediatrician telling me that if you ever need an SOS pad to clean around the toilet because the pee is so sticky, someone has diabetes. At the time I remember thinking, "Why in the world is he telling me this? We are healthy eaters and are active (all misconceptions about type I diabetes). I told Jeff my discovery and he told me to watch Ryan and see how often he was drinking and peeing. In an hours time he had used the restroom over 7 times and kept getting drinks. I called a friend who has a glucometer and that night we took his blood sugar. He was at 517. Normal is between 80-120. We let him sleep that night and then took him to the ER the next morning. He was immediatly admitted to the hospital and sure enough the diagnosis was correct, Type I Diabetes. For whatever reason his body began attacking his beta cells in his pancreas killing most of them off. Because of this his body will never produce insulin again.
The picture above is such a great representation of his attitude. He has to check his blood sugar between 8-10 times a day (by "finger pokes," thus the bandaids) and get 4 shots of insulin, one with each meal and one at night. This is becoming our new normal. I love this kid. He's always been such a sweet and sensitive child and now I am learning a very brave child as well.
