Newly Diagnosed 3yr old - Need moral support

pplprincess5480

Active Member
Messages
33
Hi,

My 3yr old daughter Lottie was diagnosed with type 1 nearly two weeks ago. She had been under the weather for a while but I couldn't work out why. I thought maybe she had a UTI. The weekend before she was diagnosed we had decided to get her checked out at the GP's on the Monday morning. That Sunday night she woke every hour, she was desperately thirsty and it started ringing alarm bells. I googled the symptoms of diabetes in children and started to worry even more, I thought I was being neurotic. I took a urine sample to the docs with us and he confirmed that she was most likely diabetic and sent us on to the hospital.

As you can imagine my Hub and I were in shock and cried all the way to the hospital. When we got there they did all the tests needed and confirmed that my daughter is a Type 1 Diabetic. We stayed in hospital for two days while we got to grips with things. Lotts has been so brave and accepting. We haven't had any issues with testing or injecting and I feel blessed that we caught it early and that she has coped so well.

I coped fine when we were in hospital and up until the past few days have been ok but it seems to have caught up with me now. I haven't slept well since we found and I wake every morning before her so that I can be there when she does her blood sugars but now I am exhausted which doesn't help my mood.

Basically I just wanted to be able to talk to other people who understand what we have been through and know how it feels. Sorry for the moan but I needed to get it off my chest.

 
C

catherinecherub

Guest
Hii and welcome to the forum.

There are several parents of young children with diabetes who use the forum and I am sure they will answer your post.
You will get the support you need at this very difficult time and they will understand your emotional reaction. It seems quite normal to me as you have had a terrible shock.

Take care,

Catherine.
 

leggott

Well-Known Member
Messages
533
Hi, Sorry to hear about Lottie. Right now life must be very difficult for you and it will take you time to accept the diagnosis, understand it and treat the condition. You are on a steep learning curve right now, but overtime things will get easier and having a diabetic child will become a way of life.

There are many parents on this forum who are always here to offer support, advice and a shoulder to cry on. I remember when 2 of my children were diagnosed within a day of each other. My husband also has diabetes so we knew alot about the condition and how to treat it, but nothing prepared us for the way we would feel about hearing the news about 2 of our beautiful children. It did take us time and many sleepless nights, but you do come out of it the other end and life does get back to normal, just a different kind.

There is so much research being done at the moment and I'm sure that in the next 5 - 10 years there will be a better and easier way of managing this condition. I know that this doesn't help right now, but it is something to be positive about and give you hope for the future. Big hugs.. Leggott.
 

hanadr

Expert
Messages
8,157
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soaps on telly and people talking about the characters as if they were real.
Welcome Lottie's Mum
You must be reeling from shock.
However the other parents of diabetic children on here will show you how to cope and your baby will remain fit and well.
Hana
 

SophiaW

Well-Known Member
Messages
1,015
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Hi, I can understand exactly how you are feeling right now. My daughter had only just turned 4 when we discovered she had diabetes and what you explain in your post is pretty much the same as what we went through. Hugs to you and your little girl. It's a shock and steep learning curve in the beginning but this new way of life will soon start to feel like a new "normal" and become more of a routine. It gets easier with time and knowledge and children being diagnosed at a young age seem to cope so well with it all. I think we as parents had a harder time than our daughter did with accepting it all. There is lots of support and information available to you here, please never feel that you are alone as there is a wonderful online community here offering so much support.
 

marynf

Member
Messages
10
Hi,

Our daughter was diagnosed in October last year aged 4. I can remember the shock as if it was yesterday, but two things kept me going during that day in hospital. Firstly I kept saying to myself that there was probably someone downstairs being told much worse things about their child, and secondly that diabetes is a manageable condition. Now six months on diabetes is just a part of our lives, it is manageable, she is fit and healthy and we have coped with it all. There are days when the numbers just don't work out and I don't know why, there have been a couple of times she has gone really low (which was more frightening in hindsight) and there are days where I get fed up with having to think about whether she can that snack or how many carbs she might eat at lunch. But 98% of the time she is just who she always was - a healthy little girl - and I try to focus on that.

Diabetes has definitely affected us more than her: this is now normal for her and she cannot remember a Before, for which I am thankful. I've not posted before but have been reading, and people's advice has been really helpful. It's good to know that whatever is going on someone has seen it before.

Big hugs

Mary
 

Jen&Khaleb

Well-Known Member
Messages
820
Dislikes
Not having enough time. Broken sleep.
I remember breaking down in the hospital after a few days, after having a pretty rough year all round. This was the second diagnosis I had to swallow and Khaleb now has a hat-trick of problems. I was actually kind of glad that Khaleb was very young as he doesn't know any other life and takes it in his stride.

Diabetes can be really trying at times but it is just best to go day by day. We've all been where you are now and somehow have made diabetes another member of the family. My 15 yr old son was helping me put stuff in the car and commented that it was like we were packing for a week (we were going out for a day).

I too miss sleep. Last night I got up to test Khaleb and ended up having to change all his clothes, the bed sheets and give him some milk (too much by his bsl this morning, oops). It is Mother's Day in Australia and not a great start to the day.

I hope you have some help at home and have some family members ready to learn the ropes.

Moan all you like! The frustration gets to us all.

Keep smiling - it does get better :) :) :)
 

annettekp

Well-Known Member
Messages
153
It is so so hard to cope and accept it all at the beginning. My wee boy was just 20 months old in February when he was diagnosed and I felt totally overwhelmed by all the information and the responsibility of it all. The diabetic nurse told me to treat it like having a new baby in the house which goes with Jen's comment about another family member so it is a tremendous amount to handle.

It will gradually get better. There are good days and bad days for us all.

Annette
 

pplprincess5480

Active Member
Messages
33
Thank you for all your replies and kind words. I finally had a decent nights sleep last night and things look a lot better today. It is an overwhelming feeling and very like having a new baby. Things should be a bit more normal this week as we head back to normal routine albeit with me tagging along to Pre-School again.

It was very reassuring to hear that everyone had the same feelings as we are experiencing when their babies were diagnosed, I thought I was being pessimistic and maudlin. I am looking forward to accessing all the combined knowledge and experience available here.

We have our first clinic on Tuesday, I'll let you know how we get on.

Thank you again x x
 

pplprincess5480

Active Member
Messages
33
Re: Newly Diagnosed 3yr old - Incompetent surgery

We had our first Diabetes clinic yesterday which went really well. The Consultant was really happy with Lottie and how we've been managing her :eek:)

I am still struggling quite a bit which is not helped by the fact that our doctors surgery have been absolutely appalling at sorting out Lottie's medication. I have made numerous phone calls and trips to the surgery just to find that they have prescribed the wrong thing yet again. I am so fed up with their incompetence that I am considering moving to a different surgery. I don't what else to do.
 

marynf

Member
Messages
10
Hi,

Well done on your first clinic!

When we left hospital I think the Diabetes team gave us a print out of our prescription to give to our surgery. Ever since then all the stuff still has "as directed by hospital" on the labels. If the surgery is getting it wrong it might be worth asking the hospital team to put them right. We deal only with the hospital and have no contact at all with the GP surgery except to pick up medication. I don't know if this is the same everywhere.
 

pplprincess5480

Active Member
Messages
33
The hospital did give us a letter telling the GP what Lottie would need prescribing and they still managed to balls it up. That's what makes me so cross. I have actually decided to move surgery, I'm that fed up.
 

marynf

Member
Messages
10
I'm not surprised you want to move. You need people to make it easy for you, not for you to have to check they have done it right. Let the surgery know exactly why you are moving. What you want is to sign for the next prescription whenever you pick one up so there is always one ready for you at the surgery. How frustrating for you.
 

helenamc72

Member
Messages
13
Hi there, Sorry to hear about Lottie xxx Our daughter Grace was diagnosed 2 weeks after her 2nd birthday so I truely understand what you are going through on the emotional side of things although our experience of Dr's, med centres and hospitals is slightly different as we are stationed in Germany with the British Army at the moment. As soon as we were given the diagnosis my whole world fell apart in an instant but almost 18 months down the line, life is still difficult but we all cope fairly well with it all. Grace has been a star from day one and coped with everything that has been thrown at her with such dignity, I am extremely proud to say I am her mum! Grace is on a pump which does sort of make life that bit easier but in other ways it doesn't in our case, and when the pump breaks down then I go into free fall with panic!

Grace has just started nursery and I am glad to say after almost 3 weeks of being in school to help out and make sure the staff are comfortable in what they are doing and that Grace is happy I am almost ready to cut the apron strings and let her go on her own, which is no mean feat, as I have discovered from other mums out here!

There are some really wonderful people on here that will offer help and advice whenever they can and in the weeks after Grace's diagnosis this web site was a god send for me, I might not post regularly but I do get up dates and look in the forums to get advice or help if I can. Sometimes it's just knowing that you aren't alone in your situation that helps get you through when you feel like giving up and the people on here whether they know it or not are a big part of that, well for me anyway!

I hope everything is getting better for you all and that Lottie is going from strength to strength. Take care xxx Helena
 

husbandad

Newbie
Messages
4
Here is a copy of post I previously made on July 16th, 2010

hi,
This is my second post as a dad whose 10 year old daughter has just been diagnosed with type 1. i had to write this after i saw your post and the others, with so very young kids being diagnosed with type 1.you see i can tell you that the future is full of hope. me and my 42 yr old ( she'll kill me for that) wife,have three kids.two girls,9 and 10,and a boy,14 and have a normal family life. so far so what,eh? well the thing you might like to hear is that my wife was diagnosed with diabetes type 1 at 18 months old.
i'm not trying to claim any kind of a miracle here,i'm sure that i aint the only one to have multiple family members with diabetes (or indeed something worse!),but i kind of sensed that some of you might have needed to hear that ,even though the professionals tell you time and time again that a "normal" life(what the hell is that anyway?)is achieveable, you still have doubts,but it is a reality.
hope this helps
husbandad
 

heart01

Member
Messages
12
Hi Im sorry to her about your little girl my daughter was diagnosed 6 weeks ago and she is 4 1/2 yrs old...........I also had a 3 week old baby at the time and I too understand the devestation you first feel.........Things do get easier as the weeks go on and it is great that we caught them early on in life. My dd had been syptomatic for about a month before I realiseeedd she needed to see the gp...I put alot of her syptoms down to having a new brother so i felt so bad once she was diagnosed as I was telling her off for wetting her self and for her aggressive moods and it was something she couldnt help. My Daughter is starting school next week and the thought of her going to big school and the nervous parent is trebled now that she has T1.
 

Jen&Khaleb

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820
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Not having enough time. Broken sleep.
heart01, congratulations for your new baby. I can't imagine you can remember what sleep is like. You have done a lot better than me as it might of nearly been a year before I was prepared to say it gets better. :lol: