Ethan was a healthy 7 year old child, or so we thought, in August of 2012. He just started 2nd grade and was coming home and drinking a lot of water. The summer had been very hot and he was still playing outside, so we figured him consuming large amounts of water, was due to the heat. Then in September, he started wetting the bed during the night, which was odd as he stopped that at 2 years old. It was a little at first and the nights were sporadic. I decided to cut him off of fluids after 6pm to help with the bed wetting. This did not help. October came and the bed wetting continued and Halloween night, we went out trick or treating The next morning of November 1st, Ethan had wet the bed in a very large amount. I touched the spot(I don’t know why, but my gut told me too) and it was very, very sticky. Ethan felt bad and asked me to take him to the Dr as he didn’t know why he was wetting the bed either.
Friday November 9th, 2012, was the Dr’s visit. It was an establishment visit. I took some of Ethan’s urine in that morning; just to be on the safe side as I didn’t know what exactly was going to happen at the visit. When Ethan got on the scale, I noticed he had lost almost 10 pounds, but figured it was due to his physical activity. They tested his urine. Then they came to take blood. His fasting blood work sugar was 240 at 08:30 that morning. I was asked to sit down and then the pre-diagnosis came. The Dr. was pretty sure Ethan had Type 1 Diabetes due to all of the events leading up to this visit. They called Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri and the Emergency room was on standby for us. I was told to have Ethan there in 3 hours as he was stable enough for us to drive. I was devastated; I did not know how much our lives were going to change in the next 2 days. Ethan’s paternal grandmother was gracious enough to drive us the 3 hours to the hospital in KC. We stopped and ate along the way, we didn’t figure a 30 minute stop was going to hurt. We arrived at KC and they immediately admitted him. They took more blood and the meter just read “high”. We were told the meters go to 600 and then it just says high. He had large Ketones and was in DKA when we arrived at the hospital. Then came the IV’s and all the hustle and bustle of getting him stable. Our world forever changed that weekend. We were not going to be able to stay for a week, so we had classes in the room, by the staff to help us to understand what we were going to face, ahead of us.
Ethan is now in the 4th grade and is coping with his Diabetes, “one day at a time”. He is considered a “brittle” diabetic as his BG can be 100 and then suddenly drop to 58, within minutes. He is such a good boy in regards to this disease; he is in-tune with his body and knows when he is low. He has come such a long way, from that dark, rainy day in November. He has overcome being teased and ostracized at school. The nurse, at his school, is amazing and Ethan and she have bonded. We take this disease, day by day. Some days are good and some days are bad. To be so young and have his life changed forever, he is adapting well. He is active in Basketball, Baseball and Karate. He loves Transformers and Star Wars. Ethan is an overcomer and my courageous hero!!
-Written by Ethan’s Mom
