I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read this. Allie was diagnosed 6 months ago with Type 1 Diabetes while in full-blown diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). She was very, very sick! Thankfully, modern medicine has allowed us to get this monster under control and get her A1C to 7.1 (the doctors had a goal of 7.0-7.5, so she is within range)! Unfortunately, she's also hit puberty which wreaks havoc on her blood glucose, and still has swings with her blood sugar, so we are wanting to start her on a Continuous Glucose Monintor and insulin pump to help control this better. Sadly, pumps cost $7,000-8,000 plus supplies. My out of pocket brings that down to about $2,800. While I'm extraordinarily embarrassed to ask for a hand-out, my sweet girl is definitely worth it. I hate that we can't afford things that make her life healthier and easier, but hopefully we can work something out. We do qualify for a grant at Vanderbilt, but they do not cover the insulin pumps or supplies. Another benefit of this is that Medtronic was just approved by the FDA to sell their "artificial pancreas" system. They have a special that if we get their MiniMed 630G system by the end of the year (this is our goal), we can then be first in line to get the "artifical pancreas" when it rolls out in Spring 2017, at no cost, for trading in our current system (basically, buying one system and upgrading for free in spring). I'm confident this will do absolute wonders on her health! I assure you, all proceeds will go directly to the pump and/or her pump supplies. That is all! We greatly appreciate any and all help we can get.
Incase you're wondering, a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) will monitor her blood sugar levels every 5 minutes, allowing us to see trends and make adjustments as necessary. The pump is put in at a "site" (it's a small, catheter-like insertion under the skin) and she wears it for three days. This will cut out 4+ injections a day and she would only have 1 every 3 days. The pump will deliver insulin and help her levels out some with proper monitoring. The CGM sends her levels to the pump, so at night, if she were to fall low, it would set off an alarm and/or turn off the pump, if she doesn't wake up, so she would stop receiving insulin, allowing her BS to come up to safe levels. This would give us all peace of mind while she's asleep.
Read on to hear our story of diagnosis.
April 6, 2016, I decided to take my daughter, Allie, to the doctor because she was napping (something she NEVER did), had stomach pain, and had lost 10 pounds in 5 days (she lost much more than this between December and April, but from our last appointment in April, this is what we had). He diagnosed her with reflux and we started Prilosec and he ordered rest. He did check her ketones, but chalked it up to her not eating much because she wasn't feeling well.
April 7, 2016, he called me before the office officially opened, panicked. He asked if she had eaten yet, and if we could come in ASAP. I went up there, and they took us back immediately. That had never happened. He weighed her and she lost 2 more pounds, for a total of 12 in 6 days. He then told me he had done labs overnight; she had lots of sugars in her urine and her A1C was 11. He proceeded to speak in some other language about how diabetics want their A1C under 7 at the very highest. I did the math between 7 and 11 and still didn't understand why this was a big deal. I didn't know what A1C was. He told me to go home and pack our bags for at least 3 days and he would tell us when to head to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, 2 hours away. He had to call them to let them know to expect us. Still in denial, I asked what this all meant. He told me she was in DKA and had diabetes. I just knew he was wrong. Our wonderful doctor who has NEVER steered us wrong, was in fact wrong, in my mind.
Before we even got home, the nurse called and said the hospital was waiting for us and to get there as soon as possible. I arranged childcare for my younger daughter, and we set off.
From there, they took us back immediately...there was never a wait for doctors or nurses, etc. STILL in denial, I asked what this meant. They told me she had Type 1 Diabetes. Of course, I asked if they were sure. How could they be sure? How did they know by one incident? My world crashed around me.
Before April 7, 2016, Type 1 & 2 were the same, and only old, unhealthy people got it diabetes. Shots were only given at doctor's offices. Little did I know, my sweet, extremely healthy 10 year-old would develop this horrible disease and teach us all a lot about it. I was floored when they started teaching us how to do shots. It shocked me that they were sending us home with needles and medicine to inject into my daughter. I thought, "Don't only nurses and doctors do this?" I knew someone with Type 1 before, but never really talked about it. I heard about his pump he got, but just thought he went to his doctor to have it "installed."
As horrible as this disease is, I'm so thankful my doctor caught this. He felt horrible for misdiagnosing her. He still feels guilty, although we don't blame him. I did realize he knows hardly nothing about diabetes, which is why we have our endocrinology team. I'm also thankful for modern medicine that was able to get my healthy girl back. She went from looking like a sick skeleton, and now is my very fit, healthy girl! She's gained 25 pounds (almost back to where she was at her yearly checkup last November), and looks wonderful!
October 2, 2016 was a date I wasn't sure we would see while sitting in the hospital with my very sick daughter. I didn't know if she would get to celebrate her next birthday. And thankfully, that day has come and gone and we had an absolutely wonderful day! She celebrated by going horseback riding and out to eat at her favorite restaurant!
Thank you all for reading and helping me spread awareness to this monster of a disease.
Incase you're wondering, a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) will monitor her blood sugar levels every 5 minutes, allowing us to see trends and make adjustments as necessary. The pump is put in at a "site" (it's a small, catheter-like insertion under the skin) and she wears it for three days. This will cut out 4+ injections a day and she would only have 1 every 3 days. The pump will deliver insulin and help her levels out some with proper monitoring. The CGM sends her levels to the pump, so at night, if she were to fall low, it would set off an alarm and/or turn off the pump, if she doesn't wake up, so she would stop receiving insulin, allowing her BS to come up to safe levels. This would give us all peace of mind while she's asleep.
Read on to hear our story of diagnosis.
April 6, 2016, I decided to take my daughter, Allie, to the doctor because she was napping (something she NEVER did), had stomach pain, and had lost 10 pounds in 5 days (she lost much more than this between December and April, but from our last appointment in April, this is what we had). He diagnosed her with reflux and we started Prilosec and he ordered rest. He did check her ketones, but chalked it up to her not eating much because she wasn't feeling well.
April 7, 2016, he called me before the office officially opened, panicked. He asked if she had eaten yet, and if we could come in ASAP. I went up there, and they took us back immediately. That had never happened. He weighed her and she lost 2 more pounds, for a total of 12 in 6 days. He then told me he had done labs overnight; she had lots of sugars in her urine and her A1C was 11. He proceeded to speak in some other language about how diabetics want their A1C under 7 at the very highest. I did the math between 7 and 11 and still didn't understand why this was a big deal. I didn't know what A1C was. He told me to go home and pack our bags for at least 3 days and he would tell us when to head to Vanderbilt Children's Hospital, 2 hours away. He had to call them to let them know to expect us. Still in denial, I asked what this all meant. He told me she was in DKA and had diabetes. I just knew he was wrong. Our wonderful doctor who has NEVER steered us wrong, was in fact wrong, in my mind.
Before we even got home, the nurse called and said the hospital was waiting for us and to get there as soon as possible. I arranged childcare for my younger daughter, and we set off.
From there, they took us back immediately...there was never a wait for doctors or nurses, etc. STILL in denial, I asked what this meant. They told me she had Type 1 Diabetes. Of course, I asked if they were sure. How could they be sure? How did they know by one incident? My world crashed around me.
Before April 7, 2016, Type 1 & 2 were the same, and only old, unhealthy people got it diabetes. Shots were only given at doctor's offices. Little did I know, my sweet, extremely healthy 10 year-old would develop this horrible disease and teach us all a lot about it. I was floored when they started teaching us how to do shots. It shocked me that they were sending us home with needles and medicine to inject into my daughter. I thought, "Don't only nurses and doctors do this?" I knew someone with Type 1 before, but never really talked about it. I heard about his pump he got, but just thought he went to his doctor to have it "installed."
As horrible as this disease is, I'm so thankful my doctor caught this. He felt horrible for misdiagnosing her. He still feels guilty, although we don't blame him. I did realize he knows hardly nothing about diabetes, which is why we have our endocrinology team. I'm also thankful for modern medicine that was able to get my healthy girl back. She went from looking like a sick skeleton, and now is my very fit, healthy girl! She's gained 25 pounds (almost back to where she was at her yearly checkup last November), and looks wonderful!
October 2, 2016 was a date I wasn't sure we would see while sitting in the hospital with my very sick daughter. I didn't know if she would get to celebrate her next birthday. And thankfully, that day has come and gone and we had an absolutely wonderful day! She celebrated by going horseback riding and out to eat at her favorite restaurant!
Thank you all for reading and helping me spread awareness to this monster of a disease.