Diabetes

I haven't posted here in quite some time. Illnesses, deaths of close friends and family members, and life's speed bumps has kept me distracted and over busy. Now, I sit in the hospital next to my 16 year old son that has Asperger Syndrome and Immune System issues. He was just diagnosed yesterday morning with Juvenile Diabetes. Below is my post from his blog that I posted yesterday. As we navigate this process, I'll be updating this blog with the info we find out as well. I've already ran across a couple of freebies that I'll post later. I'm sure that needing to save money (I am a single mother of 3) means that I'll have to get creative with having a diabetic in the family now. I'll post what I discover here.

Copy of Keeg's blog from yesterday (You can find it at pathsfromkeegssoul.blogspot.com )

Here We Go Again.......

It's been quite some time since I've blogged here. I was almost scared to write about how good Keeg seemed to be doing. How, deep down, I hoped that he was somehow miraculously cured and wouldn't be sick anymore. I didn't want to voice my hopes, as I felt somehow that it would cause the fall to be so much worse if it happened.

Yet, I did secretly hope. Recently I even started talking about the "good run" he'd had.

Then it happened.

Several weeks ago, he started to feel tired. Then weak. It has gradually gotten worse. His tics came back. He started to lose focus. He couldn't participate in any physical activity. He wanted to stay at home when I'd go somewhere.

The beast was back. That awful, unnamed immune system disorder that wrecks havoc on his body and leaves him in bed for weeks, or months. He became pale. He started having trouble swallowing and chewing.

Yet, in the last week I noticed a significant change. Something we had not encountered before. Keeg become severely thirsty. He chugged and chugged and chugged water to the point I was worried he was going to have water toxicity. No matter how much he drank, he still appeared dehydrated and thirsty. His lips were dry, his skin dry, and nothing seemed to help.

I knew that he was looking at an in hospital stay soon with his immune system short circuiting again. However, when our family doctor walked in and told me that he needed to go to the hospital immediately, I was dumbstruck. The she said it, "He has juvenile diabetes". I couldn't say anything at first, then croaked out, "How high?". When she told us 486, I felt the room spin. How could my 16 year old son have a sugar level of 486? How could he have diabetes? It runs in our family, but not juvenile onset!

We are sitting in the ER still now. It's been 7 hours and we've only got his sugar down to 309. We'll be admitted to a room on the pediatric floor later, but for now the focus is getting his sugar to go down.

We are embarking on a long journey. One of learning how to manage diets, count carbs, watch sugar, and take insulin. I know it won't be easy, and I can only imagine the changes that will need to take place.

In the midst of this diagnosis, we still have to deal with the fact that his immune system has flared.

What dynamics are added when an Aspie is diagnosed with Diabetes? Will his Asperger Syndrome result in more issues? Will he be able to manage his Diabetes? 

Please, keep him in your prayers.