Four Years Ago Today

Four years ago today our lives dramatically turned upside down. Our family faced one of the hardest things in our lives. It all started late on Sunday Jan. 30th, 2006. Our oldest son Logan who was 5 at the time developed an extreme thrist and was constantly going to the bathroom. He had no appetite and no desire to sleep. At first we thought it was because he had been sick for the past few days with croupe and had been taking a steroid to get rid of it. Brandon and I took shifts all night of staying up with him. The next morning I called the doctors office and they said it was a side affect from the steroid and to just watch him. I couldn't help letting my mother instinct kick in and starting looking in one of those childrens medical books. Logan had the symptoms for dehydration of a child with Diabetes. I told my husband and he said we should listen to the doctor and just watch him and that he would be fine. So we sat and watched and waited throughout the day. We tried to brib him to eat by taking him to AB's drive inn to get lunch. Well needless to say it failed, 10 mins after getting our food Logan had downed 2 kid size sodas and was then in the bathroom throwing up. We quickly packed things up and went home. He looked so tried and sickly looking. I was so worried about him by this point and called the doctor again. Our usual doctor was out of town so the other doctor told us once again to just watch him, that he may be getting the flu. I was not happy with this, but then decided to try and get him to take a nap with me. Brandon took Riley, who was then 18 months, and left to run some errands. I was able to get Logan to fall asleep for only 30 mins. when he woke up because he had wet my bed. He started to cry and was so upset because he had had an accident. I quickly put him in the bath and got him cleaned up. By this time it was after 5pm and there was no sign of improvement. At around 7pm my neighbor came over to see me and when she saw Logan she instantly told me to call the doctor again and to take Logan to the ER. So as soon as she left I called the doctors office and left a message for the on-call doctor. When he called me back and I preceeded to tell him about Logan he asked me if my childs breath smelled fruity!!!! I was in shock, I was wondering what kind of quack doctor I was talking to now. He then told me to trust him and just smell his breath. So I had Logan come over to me and open his mouth so I could smell it. To my surprise his breath smelled liked APPLES of all things. I relayed this to the doctor, where he then told me " I am going to hung up now, please get your son to the ER ASAP". I was even more worried and upset and asked him what he thought was going on and he said to just get to the ER. I ran and got Brandon and relayed all this to him. We then frantically called to find a sitter for our sleeping baby. Brandon's brother Jeremy and his date Tricia (she is now his wife) came and sat with Ry. We left and went to the nearest ER which was Jordan Valley Hospital. When we got there they girl at the desk didn't have a clipboard for us and said she would bring us one out in a bit. The ER was packed and 3 more people came in shortly after us and were all given clipboards and paper work before us. I went to the desk and told the girl that we had been waiting and she said she was sorry that she had forgot about us. I filled out our paperwork and turned it back in just as I sat down they called us up. They told us they had to get Logan admitted right away. I asked if they thought they knew what was going on and she then told us "I can't tell you my opinion." They took all his vitals and put us literally in a storage room because they had no real rooms available. They sent a nurse in to put in an IV and take some blood. Just as she finished Logan threw up all over the floor and it was straight liquid. We then got him and the floor cleaned up and another nurse came in to poke his finger and take his blood sugar. It was then that I knew my mother's instict that morning had been correct. The meter only read HI, the meters can only read a blood sugar up to 600. The doctor then came in and told us that Logan in fact was being diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It took everything in me to not lose it in front of my sick little boy. The doctor told us they were going to test the blood they drew to get an accurate blood sugar and in the mean time they were going to get us a real room and start him on a slow dose of insulin. We called our families and broke the news to them. Brandon then left the hospital to get Ry taken care of with his parents. I sat with Logan in the ER and watched as they ran tests and kept a constant watch over him. My dad ended up showing up at the hospital to be with us. While we were sittingthere I over heard some nurses talking about Logan outside his room. When I asked them what they were talking about they told me to ask the doctor. So I found the doctor and asked him what was going on. It was then that he informed me that Logan was a very luck little boy. His blood sugar reading had come back and his blood sugar was 1,260 !!! He told me how luck we were he didn't ever go to sleep because he would have gone into a coma and probably never come out of it. He told me that a normal person's blood sugar is between 80-120. Logan was in what they call Ketoacisdosis. His fat cells were breaking down to try and make insulin and causing sugar to enter his blood stream. He also told me that they had to be very careful to bring his blood sugar down so it wouldn't cause his brain to swell. I finally lost it, I couldn't take in anymore of what he was saying. They were going to have to transport Logan to Primary Childrens by ambulance. By this time it was 1:00am and we were all very tired and out of it. Logan asked my dad to ride with him in the ambulance, Brandon was going to meet us at Primary's so I drove my dad's truck. We were admitted at 1:30 am and were told that we would be there for the next week. They came in every hour and woke Logan up to check his blood sugar. Over the next 5 days we learned what was needed in order to take care of Logan from now on. I know that our amazing little boy was watched over by a very special guardian angel the days his pancreas was failing and during our ER trip. Our family is so blessed to have had Logan's life spared somehow. He was meant for more here on earth and I truly believe that. He has taken on so much in his short life and he handles it all with such strength that it amazes me beyond belief. We love Logan so much and are extremely grateful for everyday we have with him. I can truly say the scariest thing in life for me so far is the fact I almost lost my son 4 years ago. My heart truly goes out to anyone who has ever lost a child. I am sorry for the long post but this is something that has affected our lives that I can't explain.