Our journey with our son – 8 years old
I am a mum of an 8yr old who has been recently diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. Oour son was unwell so I took him to the doctor he told me I was over concerned and there was nothing wrong!!!
I went to see him again the next day our son had been vomiting over night. We went back to see same doctor -he said he had a virus. I was not happy so I got a second opinion from a paeds specialist, who also said virus! I then went from his private rooms at Monash Hospital over to emergency and told the nurse the same as telling the 2 previous doctors and she took a finger prick test, his blood was level 41!!!
Monash emergency were fantastic- our son was in a very serious state and thankfully I didn’t take the advise of purchasing Panadol suppositories from the specialist!!!! I didn’t fully understand the implications of a DKA on arrival to Emergency but in the following days in hospital with our son at Monash I quickly learned about what could have happened. We are truly grateful to the wonderful team of people that are now taking care of our son and our family, as we take the new journey of living with Type 1 in our family.
We have no family history at all of Type 1 on either side of our family. As a mum I find it still very confronting, and I feel sad that our youngest son has to live with having this. We hadn’t been a family that had run to a timetable before, but needless to say we now are and our son is so happy that he has been the one to rid me of my fears, needles and blood!!!! (not such good fears in this situation!!)
I do hope that this feeling of sadness passes, and do wonder if it’s normal??? Our son was diagnosed 5th August 2009. We have signed up to go on the walk to find a cure in October I pray for a cure to improve the lives of so many with Type 1. I have been told information is power but I just thought probably like many before us something like this would never happen to us. I would always feel compassion for others but was just grateful it wasn’t happening to any of my family. I have had family members unwell, but recovery has always followed, but with this there is no recovery just management, and with all its variations there is no real other word other than it sucks!!! Do the same things and different reading!!!! Our son thinks its ok – jellybeans as medication and mini mars bars prior to sport, but a cure would be wonderful!!!!
I feel that it is very important for not only us, but the general population to learn more about this. We also need to EDUCATE THE DOCTORS who do not seem to recognise the symptoms ( certainly in our experience). We put our trust in some medical professionals that seem just happy to take our money and don’t really know what they are doing. I think local GPs should be educated in the recognition of Type 1 so no other family have to go through what we have – seeing our son so unwell…. If it had been picked up even a day sooner we were told that would have made a great difference to our son…….. Our son according to the “Diabetes Bible” had all the classic symptoms of a DKA..
Thats our story………………………. Monash Diabetes Center are fantastic, wonderful people!!!!!!