Stevie - My 9th child
Fatherless at age 8, Type 1 Diabetes at 10
The Hospital Experience
This was a terrifying time. We were camping when Stevie became ill and, by the time we got her to a hospital, she was in a coma and fighting for her life. The first aspect of our hospital stay was the wait, two and a half days while Stevie was in a coma not knowing if she would live or die. Once Stevie woke up, the next three and a half days were mostly a steep learning curve. The amount of information to be absorbed seemed impossible to learn all at once and I was in the mode of believing that if I didn't get it all 100% accurate, Stevie's life would be in jeopardy. I learned later that things weren't nearly so difficult as I made them out to be but, at the time, I was overwhelmed.
Stevie in a coma
One of my greatest joys was seeing Stevie get baptized in the summer of 2005. It didn't take long for her to embrace some of my less conventional religious practices too. Although Christian by faith, some of my ancestors are Jews so we celebrate Christmas and Hanukkah, Easter and Passover, etc. Believe it or not, we're actually preparing for one of our annual Jewish holiday celebrations in this picture.
We slept in the hospital room with Stevie, one of us on a cot, the other in a chair that pulled out into something they called a bed. As if the sleep deprivation wasn't bad enough, we went through the agony of watching her have to poke herself with needles repeatedly throughout the day. While we were living and sleeping in the hospital those 6 days with Stevie, several other children were admitted with diabetes. We cringed as we heard them screaming and cursing when the nurse broke the news to them, every child's worst nightmare, a life filled with needles and injections. Stevie was accepting about her new future and compliant about but it was obvious that most children, when diagnosed, are not.
When it came time to go home the best word to describe me was panic. I was certain I didn't learn it all and Stevie would suffer as a result. I felt like I was being tossed off a ship in the middle of an ocean to teach me how to swim. To those going through a similar experience I would recommend one thing. Get to know your diabetes educator well before you leave the hospital because, once you're at home on your own, she will be your lifeline.
Type 1 Diabetes
