My Brave Little Boy

Sam was diagnosed on September 20, 2009, with Type 1 diabetes.  He had just turned five years old a few weeks before.  No, he did not drink too much Coke or eat too much sugar.  His pancreas was attacked by a virus, and it stopped working.  He was a very sick little boy who had lost six of his 30 pounds in just a few days.  Since we did not know much about diabetes, the signs were not clear.  He was not "thirsty" - he just asked for milk a lot.  He was having some problems making it to the bathroom, but he was doing much better!  How hard that must have been for him to try to make it when he was so sick. 

He spent Sunday to Wednesday in our local hospital.  Most children are shipped to Charlotte or Winston, but we were able to stay here in ICU.  We learned what we needed to learn, very quickly on exhausted brains, so we could take him home.  I will never forget checking his blood sugar for the first time.  We both cried as one of my friends, who had brought him toys and goodies, looked on.  Pete called me when he gave him his first shot.  We left with syringes and vials - no insulin pens yet for us!  It was so hard.  Plus, he had little skinny legs and arms, and it was so hard to give him a shot with a longer needle.  It just plain hurt him.  It was 24 hours a day, and it was draining. 

We went to the hospital on Sunday morning.  Pete dropped us off, so he and the boys could go on to my niece's baptism in Winston.  I had just gotten back from a work trip Thursday night.  Sam had thrown up once on Saturday night, so I knew we may not be able to go.  Then he threw up again early Sunday morning, but Will cleaned it up and put him in bed with him - like any good big brother would do.  So until I put him the bathtub early Sunday morning, we did not have a clue how sick he was.  He was a gray skeleton.  And it scared us.  We thought he was dehydrated from a bug, because Will had done that around Sam's age.  So the plan was to drop Sam and me off at the ER and then get us later in the day after they treated him with fluids.  In the midst of this, one of the cars would not start, so we only had one car anyway.

Will begged to stay with us.  I told him he needed to go.  But Pete said that Will may be a help and distraction for Sam.  Good thing he stayed.  Not thirty minutes later, Will and I started on this journey with Sam while Pete and Andrew and Peter went on to Winston. 

I was going to wait until Pete was out of church before I texted or called him.  Will had my phone and had been quite busy notifying people a little bit later when the doctor said he had diabetes.  At first, Will had big tears in his eyes and asked me if Sam would be okay.  I assured him (out of my little and vague knowledge) that we would take care of him no matter what.  So he got busy texting and asking people to pray - without me knowing.  His texts made it over and around mountains that usually block messages.  They went to our friends and family, and they immediately began praying.

That ER was lonely and discouraging and scary.  But God already  had people in place to start filling those voids and help with the fear.  He was helping us fight already by bringing people to care for Sam and to replace some of our initial fear with some helpful knowledge.

Dr. St. Clair (that I regret having to call on Sundays - seems he was always on call when we needed something on Sunday!) came and explained a great deal to me.  Carla gently told me that Sam would have to stay the night.  I realize now they were giving me what I could handle at the time.  Sam was still so sick and weak.  But he was thirsty most of all.  I remember a tiny little skeleton looking boy shoving ice chips in his mouth as fast as he could as he rode up to ICU in a hospital bed that made him look even smaller.  Just a lesson to see how quickly they can get sick.  Sam did not look like that on Friday.  So it is scary how fast diabetes can work and how sick it can make you.

I will add more to this story...