It's not a very welcome one,
but it will be helpful in the health of my sweet Chuck.
It's a Glucometer!
Yup, Chuck was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes!
The story... (mind you I know the symptoms of a diabetic)
Chuck and I went shopping on Monday to get some fabulous deals and in each store Chuck had to go to the bathroom. Then when we got home we decided to take the kids to see Narnia, so we went to Taco Bell for dinner (where Chuck used the men's room again) and then to Walmart, and then to the movies where he went to the bathroom again, and then twice during the movie and right after again. After that I texted my mom to see if she was home so we could test his blood sugar. I was kinda worried about him. When we got to my mom's we tested his blood sugar right away. It read "HI." I asked my mom what that meant, she told me it was probably over 300. OK, that's high. We tested mine to make sure it was working. Mine was 113, good to go. Tested Chuck's again, still "HI." So we went home with my moms meter so we could check later. When we got home I looked up the booklet for the meter my mom had let us borrow and the "HI" meant his blood sugar was over 600!!! It should be under 120! Houston we have a problem. I was looking at the symptoms some people show when they diagnosed with diabetes, like polyuria, blurred vision, extreme fatigue (and a few others). Before I would let him sleep I wanted to check his blood again, so we checked it at 10:45pm (2 hours after eating) and it was down to 508. Ok, not over 600 anymore. That's good. So we went to bed and in the morning before eating we tested again. This time it was 307. Ok, we definitely need to get him into the doctor. He told me he would be fine and he could just wait until his annual physical in January. I told him NO WAY!!! Then his level was 405 about 1.5 hours after breakfast and 333 before lunch and 371 two hours after lunch. And then it was off to the doctor.
The doctor told us he knew it was not the type of diabetes that could be treated with meds. He was going to have to use insulin. Chuck is not overweight (well, he has 10-15 lbs to his "ideal weight"), he is active (hello, 1/2 marathon runner) and he has a strong family history of diabetes. The difference between the two diabetes is that...
-Type 1 (Chuck's type) occurs when the body's immune system (which normally fights harmful bacteria and viruses) mistakenly destroys the insulin-producing (islet) cells in the pancreas
-Type 2 occurs when the body becomes resistant to insulin or the pancreas stops producing enough insulin. Weight and inactivity are important factors.
So Chuck got instructions, insulin and his own Glucometer and off we went. It is still very overwhelming for him and I know it will take some time to adjust and learn. He got his sugar levels back to normal earlier today, but they went up a bit this evening again. But with patience and some work it will all even out and he will be back to normal... although through all of this he hasn't felt sick or even any different... but we are hoping for more energy soon.
1 comment:
Mom told me yesterday but she said it was type 2. I am very sorry and I knew how much he was trying to avoid becoming diabetic. Will he have to use injections for the rest of his life or can he eventually use meds?
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