Big Boy - The Diabetic

A few weeks back Daddy and I suspected that Big Boy was a diabetic. Some tests during the half term at the hospital showed that as his sugars had returned to normal after a high keytones reading in his first wee of the morning, a diagnosis couldn't be made. The paediatrician on call was concerned enough that he thought that it warranted further tests and so the hospital arranged for us to be seen towards the end of August. Daddy and I weren't worried, we figured that the vague symptoms we had seen must have been attributed to some other yet unknown cause.

Then on Thursday I smelt a wee that Big Boy had done, there was the unmistakable whiff of sweetness with it and I knew that there were keytones in his Urine. Daddy took a urine sample down to the Surgery who did a quick test and told us we needed to call the hospital and get seen as soon as we could. We remembered what happened last time and so I explained to the Nurse who answered the phone on the DAU and she told us to come down straight away, just so we could check it all out.

So we spent most of the day at the hospital with Big Boy crying as he had blood taken, crying as he had his temperature taken, crying as he had his heart rate measured, crying because he didn't like the magic cream on the back of his hands and the inside of his elbows, crying because his Mummy and Daddy were letting the Doctors and Nurses do all these things to him.

And then we were with the paediatrician on call that day in an office just off the day assessment unit. He confirmed that BB does have diabetes and that it's Type One which means he will require several injections of insulin everyday for the rest of his life. The paediatrician just happened to be the Diabetic Specialist and so we'll be seeing a lot more of him over the coming weeks, months and years. And I think he delivers the news to parents enough to know that whilst we were shocked, we were at the same time pleased to have a diagnosis so that we could start being proactive about it.

We had a quick induction into the world of diabetes so that we could go home instead of staying in the hospital all weekend. So much of the things that I had been told about as a child by my Mum (who is a diabetic) were mentioned and it was overwhelming to know that now BB has to face the same future. We knew that we had to get back into our own normal routine as quickly as possible as it is the only way for us to learn and for BB to understand that now we have to test his blood before every meal and before bed and that we have to give him four injections of insulin a day.

My Diabetes Diary and FlexPen Insulin

And now we're here slightly shell shocked, grieving, angry and a little frightened but we are ready for the challenges ahead and we know that as a family we will get through this.

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