The Diagnosis; Part 1

Alec, age 9

I never thought I'd be one of those Christians who wondered if their faith was being tested....and they failed. But it did happen. More than once. God kept holding me up and bringing me back into His Peace-what a great and Awesome God we have!

It was October of 2002. Ethan was 4, Alec was coming up on 3 and Annlise was 9 months old. It had been a rough year trying to juggle the new responsibilities of three children in the home, and we had just had Arnaud's parents over for a 2 week visit.

They are great in-laws, full of energy and love....but having 3 children and 4 adults in a small space can send even the nicest person into a tailspin. Comments about my parenting skills, lack of potty training success, and breastfeeding for far too long were grinding on my last nerve. The worst part was that I was beginning to believe some of those criticisms myself.

I could not figure out why Alec was refusing to go near the toilet. I did my best to remain patient and calm, but we all know that when you have to 'try', you really aren't patient or calm in your approach. I got frustrated, and Alec reflected that frustration in his behaviours. I was convinced that I was failing as a Mother and my second child was going to emerge from toddlerhood with more problems than he entered it with!

Halloween was coming up, and for the whole week prior, Alec had been having success with the toilet. He was indicating when he had to go, and had dry underwear during the day....I was gaining confidence and was convinced that we had come through the roughest phase. Life was good!

The day after Halloween (and after much sugar was ingested), Alec began having accidents at night. He was overflowing the pull-ups. I switched him to a bigger size, but the accidents kept happening. He also began to drink incessantly, and my heart sank. I knew what these symptoms pointed at, but I was terrified to even consider Diabetes as a possibility. I made him a doctor's appointment for that day.

When we arrived at the clinic, a urine sample was taken. They found that he was spilling sugars, but he did not have the protein in the urine that would indicate Diabetes. I was told that his drinking was 'behavioural', and to stop giving him so many drinks. Somehow this would stop him from having accidents (which were happening during the day by this point), as well as stop him from spilling sugars into his urine.

That week he became very irritable and had trouble sleeping at night. He was losing weight and becoming very lethargic. I phoned the doctor back, and we were told to come in for a fasting blood sugar test. The results came back in the 'normal' range, slightly elevated but not high enough for a diagnosis of Diabetes.

I was beginning to panic. If it wasn't diabetes, what could be causing all of this??? Again I was told that it was my poor feeding habits....that I should reduce the amounts of sugars in his diet (right, because we all know I feed him candy for breakfast, lunch and dinner) and stop letting him drink so much water and milk.

I looked up his symptoms on google (dangerous, I know!) and became more and more agitated. If he did not have Diabetes, the only other possible conditions involved the words "tumor" and "cancer". I cried myself to sleep for the next 3 days....convinced that I was watching my little boy slowly wither away.

I called the doctor again, letting him know that if it's not Diabetes, he'd better find out what was going on because Alec was getting sicker and sicker by the day. Another blood test was ordered. It was Wednesday, November 25, 2002. Alec's birthday was in 2 days' time. I prayed like I had never prayed before that something would show up in that test that would let doctors know how to help my son.

I didn't hear back from the doctor until Friday, late afternoon. Alec's 3rd Birthday. I was told to give Alec a huge ice cream treat, then come down for another blood draw. He did indeed have Diabetes, but our doctor had been ordering the wrong tests all along. Apparently, frustrated that I was being so pushy, he decided to phone the diabetic clinic and speak to the Endocrinologist there. He was looking for back-up for when he told me my son was 'just fine'....but what he got was confirmation that indeed my son was sick, and one simple test would prove it.

Alec and I headed down to the clinic with my Mom. We stayed after hours so that we could hear the results right away. Blood sugars need to exceed 11.0 (Canadian readings) in order to confirm Diabetes, and Alec's blood sugars came back a whopping 45.5!

Diabetes entered our world on November 27, 2002. The events and emotions that followed would test our faith and family bonds to their limits....like they've never been tested before.

Stayed tuned for part 2...