mum of newly diagnosed 4year old girl struggling

[lollienic]

hi all so this is my first post and it may be a long one !!! its been 6 moths since my beautiful princess was diagnosed with type one diabetes, and my god what a 6 months its been. no one really prepares you for what really happens and how much everything changes not only for my baby but for the whole family.
Kayleigh was ill for about 6 months prior to being diagnosed and although I went to the GP several times as at first I though she had water infections but by Christmas she had begun to loose weight quite rapidly and by new years eve she was like a skeleton and drinking and passing urine all the time, mothers instinct kicked in and I took her to urgent care where we was rushed to rhesus and she was hooked up to machines and drips and was so poorly that at one point they said we could of lost her. no mother wants to hear that and at that point our lives changed. she was in hospital for a few days and we was sent home with bags and bags of medication and needles and told they would support us all the way, and they really have and for the last few moths its been going ok its hard to get used to everything that you have to remember and also I hate seeing her when she's not feeling being stabbed again with needles and finger pricks and especially when she's off playing and I have to stop her and do her blood sugar she really does take it in her stride.
But the last few weeks its really started to hit me that this is forever and I keep thinking will her life be normal and could I have stopped this from happening ????? she starts school in September and that's another thing that's scaring me
so any help advice or just words of wisdom would be brill to be honest.

from a struggling mummy x

 

[catapillar]

No, you couldn't have stopped it from happening. No one knows what causes type 1 diabetes, so there's nothing that can be done to prevent it.

If you have other children they can be tested to see if they have antibodies, in fact if you are under 40 you can be tested too. And that will show if there is an increased risk and then there will be closer follow up to avoid diagnosis in a blue light situation as happened with your daughter, so it enables a slightly calmer diagnosis.

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/media-library/sites/clinical-sciences/migrated/documents/factsheet.pdf

Of course her life will be normal. I'm type 1, I work really hard at a full time job, I run, I travel, I do the same stuff everyone else does. I also do a bit of testing and carb counting, but that's what my normal involves. Your daughter is so little she probably won't remember life without testing, it will just be what normal is for her. It certainly won't stop her doing anything she wants to do.

You might want to check out JDRF for preparing the school for a child with type 1 - https://www.jdrf.org/wp-content/docs/JDRF_School_Advisory_Toolkit.pdf . It's great your healthcare team have been so supportive and the DSN will often offer to do some training for the school.

 

[Jaylee]

Hi @lollienic ,

Welcome to the forum!
Normal life? Diagnosed as a kid. Life's normal for me! Wife, house, job, & dog. That's just the "normal stuff."
My interests is music & jap import vans..

"Could have stopped this from happening."? Nah! My mum was fobbed off by our GP at the time. I was rushed round to a kiddie ward where a nurse friend of my mum's had me admitted right away...
Years later, during a discussion I got to let mum know "excrement happens."

Tagging in @craig_m , he's the father of a recently diagnosed 4 year old...

Wishing you all the best.

J>

 

[Scott-C]

was so poorly that at one point they said we could of lost her.

I was pretty much the same - got taken to hospital at 21, underweight, peeing, drinking gallons, idiot boy child doc said I just had a bit of exam stress, sent me home! Got taken back the next day unconscious, full on DKA, they paid a bit more attention to that, my parents still tell me how they were told it was 50/50 on whether I was going to wake up or not.

But, and here's the good news, you and your wee one have got past that bit, so keep it in the past. Sure, there's still going to be some messy hypos to deal with, I'm not going to pretend it's going to be an easy ride, but the vast majority of us go on to lead full active happy lives. Hell, there's some people on here who go rock climbing and scuba diving even though the authorities say, ooh, don't do that!

I reckon you and the kid will figure out ways to manage this. Might not seem like that at the moment, but that's what has happened time and time again with hundreds of thousands of us. We're all doing fine and so will you and your wee one, just takes a bit of time to learn some basic rules. You'll pick those up over time. Best of luck!

 

[jules84]

hi, just dropping you a message to say that i am in a similar boat, my little girl who is 4 was diagnosed on Thursday. I cant even imagine what you went through as my daughter appeared in good health, apart from the symptoms that made me go to the doctors. But as other posters have said, that bit is over and done with

As with the school, i am a bit apprehensive about the whole process, but as other posters have said and as i have been told, training will be given to the school. There may even already be a child with the same condition in the class already.

thinking of you and hope you both are well