The Rest of the Story...

About 3 1/2 years ago Ryan was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes. He was put on a pill that he was told to take twice a day. They also said he needed to lose weight and sent him on his way.

We move to Idaho Falls and he finds a new doctor. Same spiel. Lose weight. Keep taking the pills. So he does.

Fast Forward to 2 weeks ago. He is now 100 lbs lighter and still faithfully taking his medication twice a day. Then he catches some stomach flu/virus that is going around. Pretty normal. He seems to catch almost everything that he is exposed to at school. (the nurse said he works in a Petra dish) Only this seemed to make him lots sicker than normal. He woke up in the middle of the night complaining of stomach pains.

I thought I had given him food poisoning.

What? It could happen.

Sparing the details, he came home from school after his first 2 classes on Tuesday because the "smells" were making him nauseous. By about 4 am Wednesday morning I knew there was something seriously wrong with him. I waited until it was obvious people had to be up getting kids ready for school and called our friend the ER doctor. His assessment was that is sounded like a virus and he was having a blood sugar issue. Better bring him in.

So off to the Emergency Room we go. Stopping by to win a car wash from our favorite local radio station on the way. When we arrived, he answered yes to so many questions that he was asked to wear a mask in the waiting room. Awesome.

When they took his blood sugar level, it would not register on the machine. They max out at 600. Normal is 80-120. They gave him an insulin shot and started him on an IV for his dehydration. So we spent the day in the ER trying to make him better. Well he spent the day. I had to leave several times to take care of the children and their back and forth to school and so forth.

After the majority of the day and 4 liters of saline he was cleared to go home but with strict instructions to stop and see his doctor on the way home, where he was given his very own insulin pen to give himself daily shots.

As I spoke to our friend the ER doctor, he impressed upon me the gravity of the situation. Ry's blood sugar was at 640 and he was lucky to not be in a coma right now. Even a few more hours and he would have gone into a diabetic coma for who knows how long.

So now he is on insulin everyday. Possibly for the rest of his life. He can get healthy though and go off of it over time. For now though he is dependent upon it. He may even get to wear a pump.

I know I joke about him trying to die, but it is true. They figure his blood sugar was in the 400 range for a month or two and when he got the virus it was the straw that broke the camels back, so to speak. He is doing well now. He takes his blood sugar every day and it is down below 200.

I took mine one day when he was not around.

I admit I was nervous.

I am fine.

103.