Journal entry by Jenn Simchick —
It's been a long week since last Friday when we received the news that Violet has Type 1 Diabetes. We've waited to put this site public until we told our immediate family members so we now will update when we can. A heavy sadness has hit our family and emotions are all over the place as I'm sure you all can imagine.
First I'll address the question we most frequently get: "How did you know she was sick?" About 3-1/2 weeks prior to her diagnosis, Violet was having night time accidents. They started out infrequent - like 2 nights a week for the first week and a half but quickly kicked up to every night. During this time she was at summer school for half of the day and daycare/camp for the remainder of the day so we hadn't noticed anything else too unusual and hadn't been receiving any feedback from daycare that they had any concern. Her thirst had picked up a little and she was always rushing to the bathroom, but she's always been one of those kids that refuses to stop whatever she's doing to go take a potty break so we didn't think too much of it in the beginning. She wasn't running a temperature, appetite was normal, energy normal, her urine looked fine and she complained about nothing. But we were still perplexed about this nighttime situation. We scheduled an appointment to see her pediatrician.
A couple days prior to the appointment I took a day off of work to take Violet up to our friends lake cabin to do a day of boating and goofing off with their kiddo who is also Violet's age. Being there with her 24-7, I was suddenly really concerned. She would need to use the restroom every 30 minutes and every time there was a normal output of urine. Not a trickle, a full urination like you expect after a couple 2-3 hours of constant hydration. We came home and waited to see the doctor.
Despite my typical voracious "Googling" of all symptoms and possibilities, I never stumbled across T1D. We went to the doctor and within 5 minutes of sitting down they told us they were 90% sure it was that and off to Children's Hospital's ER we went. After about 4 hours of Violet being treated like a pin cushion, we were relieved with the news that she did not have to be admitted and we could go home with the caveat that we needed to go to urgent care every day and the same exact time to have them administer a long term insulin shot until we could be trained on how to do it ourselves. They scheduled us for a 5 hour training first thing Monday morning.
Monday began at 7:00am and we got out of there about 1:30pm. We were cross eyed by 10:30. Towards the end of the class they asked us if we wanted to practice trying to give an injection with a pen that we won't even have to use for about 4 months and as Clay grabbed it for a test run I looked at the nurse and told her I was saturated from the knowledge drop and there would be no way I would remember it. Then we scheduled day 2 training and day 3. We have to come in for 6 training sessions total in the next couple months so we can best begin to learn how to care for Miss Violet.
We're to keep her activity low and the food restrictions high as we start out this process to see how her body reacts to the new regimen. She is also on thyroid medication and we need to test her urine every morning for ketone levels. Despite it all, we've inserted fun into this last week. A little Germanfest, a little swimming, and some State Fair action this last Friday with some of her best buds.
I have to tell you, not that I didn't expect it (and after a very rough start), this kiddo has made this so easy! We have to poke her for blood glucose checks 4 times during the day and wake her up at midnight and 3am for pokes as well. She gets 3 insulin shots before each meal and one long-acting insulin shot before bed (with a regular syringe - she's still working on her courage for that one). Major food restrictions. It's not like we're saying no to candy and soda as we've never been those kind of eaters. It's "Daddy can I have some grapes?" No. "Mommy can I have a banana?" No. All the decent stuff we're so used to letting our kids graze on. She gets crabby and little fussy about it all now and again but WHO WOULDN'T? We couldn't be more proud of her. As I was putting her to bed last night I reminded her that pretty soon we won't have to wake her up twice in the middle of the night for these pokes and she looks at me and says sadly, "Awwww..really? I like it when I get to see you and daddy at that time". Heart. Melt.
Day 2 training is tomorrow morning. Violet will be with us for this one as well and then she can return to summer camp Tuesday with restrictions. We want to thank everyone who has given us support, kindness, resources, and love this last week. We will keep you updated on our journey and appreciate prayers, energy and keeping us in your thoughts!
Jenn, Clay and Violet
First I'll address the question we most frequently get: "How did you know she was sick?" About 3-1/2 weeks prior to her diagnosis, Violet was having night time accidents. They started out infrequent - like 2 nights a week for the first week and a half but quickly kicked up to every night. During this time she was at summer school for half of the day and daycare/camp for the remainder of the day so we hadn't noticed anything else too unusual and hadn't been receiving any feedback from daycare that they had any concern. Her thirst had picked up a little and she was always rushing to the bathroom, but she's always been one of those kids that refuses to stop whatever she's doing to go take a potty break so we didn't think too much of it in the beginning. She wasn't running a temperature, appetite was normal, energy normal, her urine looked fine and she complained about nothing. But we were still perplexed about this nighttime situation. We scheduled an appointment to see her pediatrician.
A couple days prior to the appointment I took a day off of work to take Violet up to our friends lake cabin to do a day of boating and goofing off with their kiddo who is also Violet's age. Being there with her 24-7, I was suddenly really concerned. She would need to use the restroom every 30 minutes and every time there was a normal output of urine. Not a trickle, a full urination like you expect after a couple 2-3 hours of constant hydration. We came home and waited to see the doctor.
Despite my typical voracious "Googling" of all symptoms and possibilities, I never stumbled across T1D. We went to the doctor and within 5 minutes of sitting down they told us they were 90% sure it was that and off to Children's Hospital's ER we went. After about 4 hours of Violet being treated like a pin cushion, we were relieved with the news that she did not have to be admitted and we could go home with the caveat that we needed to go to urgent care every day and the same exact time to have them administer a long term insulin shot until we could be trained on how to do it ourselves. They scheduled us for a 5 hour training first thing Monday morning.
Monday began at 7:00am and we got out of there about 1:30pm. We were cross eyed by 10:30. Towards the end of the class they asked us if we wanted to practice trying to give an injection with a pen that we won't even have to use for about 4 months and as Clay grabbed it for a test run I looked at the nurse and told her I was saturated from the knowledge drop and there would be no way I would remember it. Then we scheduled day 2 training and day 3. We have to come in for 6 training sessions total in the next couple months so we can best begin to learn how to care for Miss Violet.
We're to keep her activity low and the food restrictions high as we start out this process to see how her body reacts to the new regimen. She is also on thyroid medication and we need to test her urine every morning for ketone levels. Despite it all, we've inserted fun into this last week. A little Germanfest, a little swimming, and some State Fair action this last Friday with some of her best buds.
I have to tell you, not that I didn't expect it (and after a very rough start), this kiddo has made this so easy! We have to poke her for blood glucose checks 4 times during the day and wake her up at midnight and 3am for pokes as well. She gets 3 insulin shots before each meal and one long-acting insulin shot before bed (with a regular syringe - she's still working on her courage for that one). Major food restrictions. It's not like we're saying no to candy and soda as we've never been those kind of eaters. It's "Daddy can I have some grapes?" No. "Mommy can I have a banana?" No. All the decent stuff we're so used to letting our kids graze on. She gets crabby and little fussy about it all now and again but WHO WOULDN'T? We couldn't be more proud of her. As I was putting her to bed last night I reminded her that pretty soon we won't have to wake her up twice in the middle of the night for these pokes and she looks at me and says sadly, "Awwww..really? I like it when I get to see you and daddy at that time". Heart. Melt.
Day 2 training is tomorrow morning. Violet will be with us for this one as well and then she can return to summer camp Tuesday with restrictions. We want to thank everyone who has given us support, kindness, resources, and love this last week. We will keep you updated on our journey and appreciate prayers, energy and keeping us in your thoughts!
Jenn, Clay and Violet
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