Following up on last week's post, I spoke with the pediatrician today.  Boo's a1C was 5.2%, which is normal.  She did have glucose in her urine, though, and after looking over other test results, she wants Boo to be seen by an endocrinologist. 

I called Joslin immediately, of course.  They want to see her tomorrow since it's easy for things to go downhill quickly if Boo does have diabetes.  I'm supposed to bring her in for 8:30 a.m. (and how fun will that trip be - 2 hours in to Boston during rush hour?), fasting, and they'll draw blood and then have her go carb load and check her again in 2 hours.  They should have all the test results by 2 p.m..  If those results are positive, Boo will be admitted to Children's Hospital and started on an insulin regimen. 

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"Come on, baby, hop up here. I need to check your sugar."

"No, mama, no check sugar." She cries and tries to hide her fingers in her clenched hands.

"Yes, honey, we have to. I know you don't like it, but we have to do it."

"I don't yike it," she replies.

"I know, but the doctor says we have to do it." She loves the doctor, so she complies, gingerly holding out a finger.

I cock the lancing device and push the button. She flinches as the spring thwongs the lancet into her tiny, little finger. Crimson blood pearls out on to the test strip, the meter beeps and does its quick backwards count from five.

She sticks her finger in her mouth, sucking the blood off, as she's seen her big sister do countless times. Then she holds the finger up to me.

"You tiss it, mama."

I kiss her finger and tousle her hair.

"Put a yid on it, mama."
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About this time last year I had a scare with Boo, Olivia's little sister.  She had been peeing and drinking a lot and had a blood sugar of 140 at one point. I took her to the pediatrician, but he didn't seem concerned.  I logged her numbers for a week and there was never another high reading, so I left it alone.

Well, this week, Boo has been asking to go to the bathroom a lot.  She's also thirsty a lot.  Her preschool teacher mentioned the constant peeing to me and said "Maybe she's getting sick.  Her breath smells a little funny."  

Uh oh. 

So I did a blood sugar reading this morning (after much crying and hiding on Boo's part) and she was 160.  I called the pediatrician and she's going in at 4:30 today.  I'm going to ask if there's another test - I don't want this dismissed.  

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Olivia has two half-sisters, whom I refer to online as Boo and The Bug. Boo is 3-1/2 years old and The Bug is 20 months. Both are healthy, although The Bug concerns me sometimes. There's nothing concrete there, it's just this vague, nebulous cloud of worry. Well, maybe not too vague; she does drink an inordinate amount of water. No ketones, no peeing thru the diaper on a regular basis, but the drinking incessantly thing niggles at the back of my brain.

Anyway.

When Boo was born, we participated in the TRIGR study. That study is finished, but the TrialNet study is ongoing. Every year, at camp, there is someone there from TrialNet, trying to get people to have their children tested. I haven't done it.
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Well, the last two days, Boo has been running in the 90s. One reading of 114. I have no clue what's going on, but I really hope the highs were an aberration. I'm going to continue to check her three or four times a day for the next couple of weeks, just to make sure. Even once I get the all clear, I'll probably still do checks a couple of times a day.

It's weird, though. Now I'm left to worry if this is pre-diabetes or if she had some sort of low-grade virus that was spiking her sugar or what. I'll be calling the doctor tomorrow, unless, of course, she spikes a couple of highs in the mean time. I'm going to tell him what I'm doing and hopefully he'll agree that it's a good idea.
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Boo was 208 this afternoon, four hours after having eaten anything. This really, really sucks. It's really starting to worry me. I brushed it off as maybe a urinary tract infection, but now, I'm starting to doubt it. Everything is pointing towards diabetes, and if her pediatrician won't see that, I will find another pediatrician.

I feel overwhelmed at times by this. Part of me knows that I can handle it but the other part of me wants to just cry at the thought of another child with diabetes. I get upset when I hear about any kid getting diagnosed, but now that the likelihood is that it will be my kid. My little Boo, who cries when I poke her, whose little hands I have to pry open in order to stick them with the lancet. Jesus, do you know what that does to me? I want to cry right next to her, but I don't. I can't. I'm afraid that if I start, I'll never stop.
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