Our Newest Superhero -Part One

Last Tuesday, 11-29-11, was a day that changed what 'normal' means for our family.

Most families call it D-Day.


Our Aidan was diagnosed with diabetes.



About a week prior, I had started noticing our spunky 5 1/2 year old having to pee more often, and being more thirsty than usual. I cringe now when I think of how I got frustrated I was with him when he had to pee 3 times during the town's Christmas parade. (Picture me on my own with all 5 kids, everyone bundled up because it was very cold, and no convenient restrooms...Plus,I had remembered to make them go beforehand!) It didn't really register until a few days later that something must really be going on with him. I mentioned it to Weston, and he assured me at first that I was being paranoid. Then Aidan starting wetting his bed at night, or waking up super disorientated because he had to pee and then couldn't quite make it to the bathroom. By Thursday, Thanksgiving, we both started to really worry that there must be a problem. We'd always heard about these as significant symptoms of diabetes... But now it was a long holiday weekend, and the doctor's office was closed until Monday. He was acting mostly normal and healthy otherwise, so we didn't think it warranted a visit to the ER.

We called first thing Monday morning and left a message with a nurse. The office called back in the afternoon and said to bring him to the lab for a urine test,which we then did. They called around 11:00 on Tuesday morning and said that there was definitely glucose in his urine, and that they wanted to us to bring him in for a blood test. Weston went and picked him up from school and thankfully handled that one. Aidan did not like getting blood drawn. He came home aftewards and had lunch, and then we decided to send him back to school. It was about 1:15. Weston headed back to work, and shortly after, about 1:30PM, I receieved another call, this time from Dr. Larson herself. She informed that his blood sugar levels were very high which meant he did have diabetes. She was going to call an Endrocynologist at the Pediatric Diabetes Resource Center (PDRC) at the Children's Hospital in Peoria to report the levels and see how they wanted to proceed. She told me it would be very likely they want to admit him to get things regulated. After I hung up with her, my emotions starting spinning a bit, especially as I called Weston, but then the adreninlin kicked in and I flew around the house trying to get ready. Packing a bag with clothes and activities was easy... figuring out childcare for our other 4 boys was not.

It was the hardest time of the day... my mom friends had to worry about picking their own kids up from school soon (and heading into the HW/dinner prep frenzy), and their vehicles couldn't accomodate 3 extra children... our reliable student sitters were still in class... and our young adult friends were either at work or at school.

Through amazingly supportive friends, and with God's help I'm sure, we eventually got it all worked out by phone as we were already on the road with Aidan to the hospital, which is 45 minutes away. We left K, E, and Q with some mom friends at church, who transported them home a little later when one of our students was able to come over after school got out. Caleb was able to get a ride home (and some playtime) with a neighbor. In the late afternoon, a young adult friend came to take a shift. She helped with HW, gave them baths, and put them to bed. Then one more helper relieved her for the latest shift, until Weston got home from the hospital around midnight. Talk about coordination!

When the doctor's office called back, they said that the PDRC wanted us to get Aidan to the Emergency Room at the Children's Hospital ASAP, and that they would most likely admit him from there.

So once we dropped the younger boys off, we rushed to Silas to pick up Aidan. We also called Caleb out of class and explained to him what was going on. Aidan's teacher came to the office with Aidan, and we were able to explain things to her. She responded right away by telling us that he's in good company because she has diabetes too!!! How immediately comforting that was!

The van ride to the hospital with Aidan was tough... trying to explain to him on 5 year old terms what was going on without scaring him too much... He was a trooper though, and feeling pretty yucky by now, and kind of just took everything in.