My Little Man

Doesn't time fly?! Eight years ago, my little man was born. Today, we will have a party for him to celebrate. Where has the time gone?

He started out like most any other baby - tiny, sweet, cried, slept, ate. But very soon, we realized this baby was different. When my little man was 3 weeks old, he got very sick with an upper respiratory infection. He just could not breathe from his nose or his lungs. From there, he went on to have one ear infection after another, strep phenomena, digestive problems, tonsillitis about 7 times in about 7 months - the list goes on and on and on. It was not uncommon at all for my little man to have 105 fever. I finally quit taking him to be checked when they kept telling me,"Besides the fever,we can't find a thing wrong with him." So I would sit up, night after night, and hold this sweet baby, who was burning up with fever, and try my best to comfort him.

Finally, when he was 5, we made the decision to have his tonsils taken out. That was a hard one for us, since we really didn't want to take out body parts on this kid. But they were so infected that antibiotics just would not get them well. As soon as his medicine would run out, the tonsils would swell up again. So we did it. They came out. And we hoped this would be the end of the sicknesses. After all, everyone told us that once they did it for their kids, they weren't sick anymore. So we breathed a sigh of relief, because maybe we were done.

But things didn't get better. We still fought with constant high fevers and lots of digestive problems! We didn't know what to do, but finally just decided that this was a normal thing for this child. We just dealt with each issue as it came, and tried to go on with life as usual - stayed home when he was sick, did as much as possible when he was well.

Then Christmas of 2007 came. Like most families at this time of the year, we spent a lot of time with grandparents and other people we don't often get to see at other times of the year. Everyone, of course, commented on how the kids have grown. It had been such a time since they had seen them. But two people that Christmas made note of something that, being with him day in and day out, I had not noticed. They both told me how they were worried about the amount of liquids he was drinking. My thought - "Who cares! Water is good for you!" But both of these people told me this was a sign of diabetes. "That's ridiculous," I thought to myself. However, I am a known hypochondriac, so I told my husband that I thought I might take him in after the first of the year just to be checked. Our doctor was not open on January 1 or 2, so I did not plan to go until the 3rd. It just so happened that, on the 2nd, my little man was very sick with a very high fever - again. So I thought to myself, "Well, I guess it's a good thing I am going tomorrow anyway."

We went the next morning. They checked his blood. We went in the room to wait. Our doctor came in and asked me what was going on, not being his normal chipper doctor self. I explained to him my concern. When I finished, he looked at me seriously and said, "Yeah, he does have diabetes." I just sat there for a moment letting that sink in, because that wasn't exactly what had played out in my mind that he would say.

And so we began yet another journey with this sweet little man - first to the hospital, then to a nutritionist, then to a new doctor in Shreveport, and finally, we settled into a routine of day in and day out Type 1 diabetes management. That includes pricking your finger multiple times throughout the day, and also 5-7 shots of insulin each day. It hasn't been fun, but he has been so great about the whole situation.

About 2 months ago, we made a decision to purchase an insulin pump, hoping that we could even better manage his diabetes. It has proven to be a good choice. He now gets 1 shot every 3 days, and his blood sugars are much closer to normal.

And guess what else! When we finally got to the root of the problem, this child has hardly been sick again. We have lived with Type 1 diabetes for a year and a half now, and he has had a head cold once in that time. It amazes me how many things were all linked to diabetes, and once we got that part right, everything else worked itself out. No more high fevers, no more digestive complaints, energy levels through the roof! He's a new kid!

My little man has come such a long way in these 8 years of life. We have been through great times and bad times, fun times and "scare the life out of you" times. As I sit back and reflect, I am amazed at this child and God's mighty hand on his life. Where has the time gone? Though he is growing up and I know the time will continue to fly, he is still and always will be "my little man".