Life as we know it.....

Now, I know that it could be A LOT worse. I know that there are Millions and Millions of other people and families that have it way worse than ours.....but our life as we knew it had changed.

I was unsure about posting at all, but I am treated this as our family journal and I guess documenting it should be therapeutic and maybe one day it can help our family to remember what happened and how we felt at first. And being a week after, it's amazing how much has changed already!

We have two gorgeous girls. Ryan, the older, 6, and Reagan, the younger, 4. About 3 weeks ago, Reagan developed a yeast infection and I took her to the doctor to get something to help since Desitin wasn't cutting it. Going to this appointment, we noticed she has lost a little weight since her well-check in January. We all noticed she had gotten taller and slimmer.....being the chubby girl she was, we thought she had finally hit her growth spurt, just like Ryan did at that age. Dr. prescribed a cream and sent us on our way. I, mother of the year, was not too diligent with the cream and the infection seemed to stick around and wasn't getting any better. Finally it got so bad that she had blood in her underwear and I took her back to the doctor to make sure I should continue with the cream

I took her in last Friday, September 24th in the morning. She peed in a cup to check for an UTI and then they weighed her again.....She lost 2 more pounds from the appt 3 weeks before! I freaked out a little and then told the nurse how I had noticed her drinking a lot of water and peeing a lot. So, the dr. came in and I proceeded to tell him how the yeast infection was MY fault because I hadn't been applying the cream like I should have. He basically interrupted me and told me they found sugar in her urine. My heart sank. Having 2 sisters with Type 1 diabetes, I knew what that meant. I was sent immediately to get her blood drawn (traumatic!) and waited by the phone for a call from her Doctor. He called about an hour and half later to tell me she was a very healthy girl, that she looked great.....except for her blood sugar. 429.....normal is under 120. Told me to get to the hospital within the next couple hours. Who knows what else he said.....couldn't pay attention anymore.

We headed up to the hospital and we stayed there the rest of the weekend and we were discharged on Monday afternoon. During our stay, the doctors told us several times how pleased they were that they found it so early and that she could've been so much worse, as children often are by the time they find out they have Type 1 Diabetes.

I remember having 2 distinct thoughts.....

1. Why can't we just keep living the way we were yesterday.....ignoring it....not knowing. But I know she would just keep getting sicker and sicker

2. Once they bring down her sugar.....it'll just go away. Also....not so.

Chris and I didn't say much to each other about it that first day. We were sad and I gave myself one good cry and then I decided I was done with that. We could handle this. But it was hard seeing Reagan when it was time for a shot or for having her blood sugar checked. and all I could think was...."this is how it's going to be for the rest of her life." A sad thought indeed. She would never remember NOT having this. The next day Chris told me, "Of course Reagan had to be the one to get sick.....She's So beautiful, the Lord couldn't just let her be that gorgeous AND healthy." I cried one more time.

I remember praying that first afternoon before going to the hospital and getting the feeling that this could be cured in her lifetime. The advances of medicine are just that....advancing! One of the first things the Doctor told us in the hospital that the research being done is promising great results. Of course, it is still a couple decades away, but that would put Reagan at 24 years old. That made me happy to imagine that.

So now.....she gets 6 shots a day and her blood sugar is checked 5 times. She doesn't mind her finger getting pricked to check her blood sugar anymore, but she doesn't look forward to the shots. But the aftermath of the shots is getting shorter and shorter. The first shots in the hospital took several of us to hold her down. Now she stands still, still cries but gets over it quickly. Plus, she gets a coin in her piggy bank after every shot and finger prick and once a month we'll go to toys r us for a new toy. We may be creating a monster, but it's worth it right now.

Ryan has been handling everything well. That's also the hard part, is making sure she still feels loved at all times. A lot of attention is going to Reagan and we also reward her with coins in her piggy bank for good days at school.

So.....this is our new life....still wouldn't change it for the world. :)