Diabetes has now Hit Home!! Praying for a Cure!!!

My focus in life has gotten a little tweaked the last couple of weeks. I will start at the beginning for the future’s sake:

Over the last month or so I had noticed Jack seeming more thirsty than normal. When your “sugar lovin’” 7 year old wants water instead of Gatorade you know something is wrong!! His thirst wasn’t excessive just different, but knowing all the true symptoms of diabetes and having it running through mine and Steve’s families I pay close attention. Well, I had been meaning to take him to my mom’s to check his blood sugar and just hadn’t done it, till Halloween. Not the best day to check a kids blood sugar, but if everything with him is normal his blood sugar should be normal. Well, we checked it and it was so high it didn’t register on the meter, it just read HI. Which means over 500mg? I didn’t think a whole lot about it sense he had lots of sweets that day. The next morning Steve took him to his parents and checked it again and it was 72mg, which is low, but the high scared me more. I thought all was fine. So my mom called that afternoon and had talked to her endocrinologist’s office and they thought that we needed to see our pediatrician. So I called them that afternoon and they had me checking his blood sugar the rest of that day. When I checked it after his “dinner” 8 pieces of bread with cinnamon butter, it was 473mg they doctor told us to go to the ER if it got that high again. So off Jack and I go to the Children’s Hospital Emergency Room. Steve and my Mom meet us there. They take us right back check his blood sugar and it was 179 (which was about 2 hours after he had eaten). They ran other test, not sure what, but long story short the doctor came in and said “Good News, everything looks fine! Get a fasting glucose done and follow up with the Endocrinology Clinic.” I had lots of questions, but didn’t feel like the doctor had time for any. We already had the fasting glucose scheduled for the next morning with the pediatrician so we went home (10:30 pm) and went to bed. The next day we went to the pediatrician’s office and did the blood sugar check it was 92mg. But Dr. Rash was really concerned about the high numbers and wanted him seen by the Pediatric Endocrinologist that day. Her office called they told them they were 4 months out on appointments!! What are you kidding me??? The doctor then looked at Jack’s numbers and had the pediatrician write orders for a Glucose tolerance test and anti-body blood tests. When I asked Dr. Rash her opinion of what is going on she said she felt like it was VERY EARLY STAGES OF DIABETES!

Symptoms

Type 1 Diabetes

•Frequent urination

•Unusual thirst

•Extreme hunger

•Unusual weight loss

•Extreme fatigue and Irritability

Type 2 Diabetes*

•Any of the type 1 symptoms

•Frequent infections

•Blurred vision

•Cuts/bruises that are slow to heal

•Tingling/numbness in the hands/feet

•Recurring skin, gum, or bladder infections

Diabetes Symptoms

The next day we went to St. Mary’s (big mistake, they just don’t treat children) early to get the blood test run. When arriving they drew blood and we waited for his glucose level so he could drive the “cola.”

It took so long that he started to have a low blood sugar; lethargic, shakes, cold-sweats, nausea and vomiting. I checked his blood sugar and it was 62mg, very low. When we shared our concerns they thought he was sick and didn’t want to give him the drink. Long story short, they got a hold of Dr. Rash, I got to talk to her and told her he was having a low blood sugar and if he could drink the stuff he would feel better, so they FINALLY gave him the drink. He threw up a little but we didn’t think that would affect anything. Then about 40 minutes after drinking it he threw it all up, he continued to be lethargic, sleepy, nauseated. I then checked his blood sugar and it was 212mg. So we called Dr. Rash’s office and told them our concerns and she told us to take him over to the ER (Kosair) and they would call in Dr. Foster (Pediatric Endocrinologist) and he would be seen. DIDN’T HAPPEN!!!



We go to the ER and they checked his blood sugar once, I don’t remember what it was, I’m thinking it was 132mg. By the time we got to the ER hadn’t eaten in about 15 hours. When we asked if he could eat and I was told they would find out, well an hour later Steve finally asked and was told yes. He scarfed down a hamburger and fries (he doesn’t really even like fries). We really didn’t get any information the whole time we were there. We arrived around 11:45am and left around 4:15pm. They drew blood again, third time that day, for an A1C which measures your high blood sugars over a 30 to 60 day time frame. His was normal 5.4 and the ER doctor came in and said, “It isn’t diabetes, but follow up with the endocrinologist. REALLY!!!! So the next day I called the University Pediatric Endocrinologist of Louisville and spoke with their Nutritionist/ Diabetic Educator. We were to continue to check his blood sugars throughout the day, checking it twice, and cut out all the sugars and watch his diet. Well, we did that (Thursday- Monday). On Monday I called back to give her the numbers and see what we should do next. She said the levels looked great, the diet is working and she would show the doctor the levels and he or she would call me back if we needed to do anything else. Well they never called back, as far as I’m concerned the completely dropped the ball!!! He obviously wasn’t sick enough for them to see. I was still very concerned and call Dr. Rash to express my concern and she said let’s call the other Pediatric Endocrinologist, Dr. Raghavan (there are only two in the city) and see what she says. So the office called and faxed her all of Jack’s paperwork. They told me it would take two weeks once I got Jack’s forms in before they would see him. Just 15 minutes after they faxed his paperwork to them they called me back and wanted to see him right away.

So Thursday we went to see her and she was very concerned with his numbers and scheduled him for the Glucose tolerance test the next morning in her office. She is an awesome doctor who seems to be very pro-active!!!

DIAGNONSIS:
We went in on Friday and they gave Jack an IV which he handled like a trooper, drew blood through the IV, gave him some medicine through the IV so he wouldn’t get sick again and then gave him the “cola” to drink. He only had to drink 45g instead of the 75g St. Mary’s had given him. Then they checked his blood (through the IV) just about every half hour. After about an hour, the whole test took three hours, she knew he was diabetic. His blood sugar went up to over 200mg and stayed there. Something no one else would or could diagnose in a reasonable amount of time she did in an hour.


I cannot even explain how relieved I was that someone would finally look and see what I was seeing. I truly believe that God’s plan was for us to see Dr. Raghavan. This is going to be a long relationship and she seems very interested in helping Jack overcome the cards he has been dealt.

Jack is handling things pretty good. He loves his sugar and it will take awhile for him to get use to eating better. He doesn’t mind getting his blood sugars checked, but he isn’t too sure about getting the shots. Hopefully we won’t have to start doing them for some time. We are in the “honeymoon” stage right now; this is when the pancreas is still producing the insulin he needs as long as he is eating right.

Please just continue to pray that we all learn to live with this life long disease and always try to make things easier for Jack and not harder. We also ask that you pray for a cure…they are closer now then they very have been.

Juvenile Diabetes Association

 

 

American Diabetes Association

 

The Britt's last year of Preschool ever~!

Evan is in the Four Year old preschool class this year and it will be our last year at Kenwood Heights Christian Preschool.  We have been there on and off since 2002 or so.  The other day his teacher told me we either need to have another baby or send a puppy to them.  They can't imagine not having a Britt there.  So sweet, but I think we can put this behind us like we have sleepless nights, diapers, highchairs, etc. 

This was there first field trip....

Slow Poke Farms

Evan, Jack and Steve got to go to this one!!!

Big brother trying to help Evan with his tractor ride.

Love me some Pumpkin!!!

Our Family Closet

We started a couple of weeks ago the transformation of our "junk room" into our family closet.  I am so excited and thankful my husband wanted to do this.  He has drywalled the room (well still in the process) and will later lay carpet, hang shelves and clothing bars. 

Here is our plan:

1. put "all" the hanging clothes in the closet.  You can imagine the amount of clothes we have with seven people. 

This is the wall that will have the hanging bars.  Two, one at top and then one at bottom.  LOTS OF HANGING SPACE!!!

    2.  We will put shelves on the other walls for baskets and totes of clothes.  Will use tote for shoes.

 This wall will have shelves on the left and under the window. On the right will be the hanging clothes.  At the bottom will be totes under the shelves.

   This wall will be shelves too and totes at the bottom.  We will be putting dressers or a table in the middle of the room for more storage and /or an area to fold clothes.

   3.  We will be laying cheap carpet.

   4.  Because of the emptying of my closet we are going to make it a linen closet.  We will be putting shelves      in.  My closet is huge, but not built really well.

    5.  Then the linen closet will then be turned into a new and improved food pantry!!  I am so excited!!

With taking the clothes out of the kids closets they can use them for their toys, crafts and junk.  Their dressers are out of their room too, giving them more room for whatever. 

I will post more once we get more done.  Steve can only work on it when he is off work, so it will take a little longer then we want.  It will be awesome when done.

The 30 Day Mark

We have had 30days of school and it has gone pretty well.  Everyone is getting through their stuff and learning something too!  Honestly, by this time in the school year, yes just 30 days in, I have usually lost my joy.  Things just seem to get hard, I can't seem to keep up with grading papers and doing lesson plans, or we just aren't motivated.  Whatever the reason has been I am really working hard and changing that cycle. 

I have stopped doing lesson plans for a long period of time.  If you don't get everything accomplished you usually feel like a failure.  So, I only do lesson plans for about a week at a time maybe two. It has worked really well.  As for grading, the kids are grading most of their own work which they seem to like to do and their math is graded on the computer. We are staying very motivated and I can contribute that to God.  Batheing our school and family in prayer every night, morning and through out the day has helped us all stay on the right track! 

With things going pretty good right now I need to be armed with the things that will help me stay motivated once we get to day 40, 60, 80.....mark.  So last Thursday I went to the HFHG LIVE meeting and listened to Todd Wilson, The Familyman speak about homeschooling, marriage, family, and life.  It was inspiring.  I left with such a renewed sense of excitement and three new books.  Two for me and one for Steve.   

 

I have started reading both of my and they are great...I am getting so much out of them.  Steve is reading his and really seems to like it too.  It is really nice working to get us both on the same page and not running over him when he tries to help out with school.

Then last Monday night I went to my monthly homschool mom's "meeting" and we enjoyed the teachings of Voddie Baucham  He is awesome I suggest that if you have never heard him you get his DVD on educationing your children.  Children of Caesar  You can watch some of it on Youtube.  He is so passionate about home educating our children and taking them out of the hands of the government.  I ordered two books today that he has written or recommends.  I will update you on those once I have read them. 

I am just thankful that we are able to have a great school year so far.  Praying for continued productivity.





Innocents of a Four Year Old!!!

It is amazing how some people take things so literally!! I know someone who does that ALL THE TIME!! Maybe we are to blame, when I say we I mean my family. We always act like everything he says is exactly what he means.


Who is this literal person? None other than my four year old son, Evan Samuel Britt, aka The Coolest Kid Ever!!!! Have you ever looked up the word literally?? Literally--used to show that a statement is actually true and not exaggerated.

Everything we say to him he believes to be TRUE, nothing exaggerated. I wonder how long that will last. Should I take advantage of this? I’m sure I could find a way.

He loves to brush his teeth and will do it twenty times a day if we will tell him his teeth are really shiny. Not just shiny but “blinding”. You know, “Oh Evan close your mouth your teeth are blinding me.” We all have to do this. Each time he brushes his teeth he will go around to everyone in the house and smile at us. If we don’t flinch when he grins his teeth at us he will chase you around the house. So that one time I said “Oh your teeth are so shiny” and shaded my eyes. He took that literally, that his teeth are blinding me!!! This will help with those dental bills we just paid for the last three fillings he had done!!!

At co-op this week the teacher was teaching about Fairy Tales and this week it was “Jack and The Beanstalk.” Once the story was over she procedded to have each of the preschooler plant two seeds in a jar in order to grow “beanstalks.” Well Evan didn’t want any of that!!! He wanted no part of having a beanstalk in his jar that will result in a giant!!! He was very afraid of the giant. I wonder when she read the story if his eyes were as big as quarters. She had to remind him that Jack killed the giant so he will not come back. Fear isn’t far from a literal kid like Evan!!!

We jokingly call him, “The Coolest Kid Ever” and he believes that he is. Now I believe that he is pretty cool, but he, for some reason believes that when he turns 5 next January his name will change to “The Coolest Kid Ever.”



Boy, gotta love the innocents of a four year old!!! I hope this last a long time!!!!

The Adventure Begins.....

Our school year has gotten underway and is going pretty well. I think everyone is in the groove and working really hard!! I will admit I am STILL a little stressed out about Tyler being a freshman.

Tyler is working pretty hard, but he is only doing three classes right now: English PACE's School of Tomorrow,  Saxon Algebra 1 with, DIVE CD  and Biology, Apologia Biology  at CEC . He begins Notgrass World History and Literature , ABEKA Spanish 1 and Apologetics Who Is God and Can I Really Know Him? Biblical Worldview of God and Truth in a week at co-op. He seems to be doing really well, just not always following my directions. Unfortunately he has some of my qualities and the worst one is; laziness. He only wants to do the minimum amount of work. This year will show him how hard he needs to work.

Samantha is in 7th grade and is a hard worker. I just have to give her a list of what she needs to do and she will sit down and gets it done! She is doing English PACE'S School of Tomorrow , 7th Grade Math and Science PACES School of Tomorrow right now. We start Literature reading: Island of the Blue Dolphins next week and she will start Mystery of History Volume 1 , Intro to Spanish and Apologetics at co-op.

Caroline is in 4th grade and is struggling a little bit with her self-esteem. She usually doubts her abilities so she struggles more then she really needs to. She is working on English PACES School of Tomorrow, Creative Writing and Literature PACES School of Tomorrow,  4th grade math , Sequential Spelling, and  Critical Thinking Activities . She will start History, Apologia Swimming Creatures Science and Art Appreciation at Co-op. We will be doing Galloping the Globe Geography with friends in the next couple of weeks too. We will have to work really hard this year building up her self-esteem.

Jack is 2nd grade and doing really well. We have only done a couple weeks of school so far and he isn’t whining too much!! I do take silly bands for whining, I do have a few of his in my jar!! He is working on Phonics Explode the Code , Sequential Spelling ,  Rod and Staff reading , Rod and Staff English ,  3rd Grade Math  and his reading and math boxes. He will be doing some science, history, geography and BASIC SEWING (yep, sewing) at co-op. He will be following along with Caroline in her science book and working with Geography.

Looking forward to getting going even more then we already have.....

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