Well, that came outa nowhere!

We were feeling crazy with the house and all the work that goes with it.  We were worried about the new school year both for me and the kids.  We were happy to see Maggie growing up to be a lovely young woman as she lost her baby fat this year.  We were busy, busy, busy all the time.  Maybe that's why we missed that our sweet girl was basically starving to death in front of us.  Perhaps it can excuse us not noticing her growing more and more dehydrated no matter how much she drank.  And even though she had no energy and was going to the bathroom so much and even threw up every once in a while it was easy to excuse with the stomach flu that went through the family twice.  So when I was coming home from getting my bountiful basket on the Saturday before school started and saw that Mom left a message that Dave was taking Maggie to the ER, maybe I shouldn't have been so shocked.  Diabetes struck my little girl and in doing so has changed our lives forever.

To be honest and fair, I was worried about her and was planning to take her to Urgent Care if she wasn't improving by that Saturday.  Mom and Dad were sick about how, well, sick she looked.  Leslie and Shane had diabetes flashbacks the night before we took her in.  Dave was worried, but was so busy with the house that he really couldn't see the changes in her.

Then, as we watched our girl languish in the ER and as we drove her down to Primary Children's Hospital we were able to look back and see so clearly what we had missed.  The odd thing was that as she slept for almost 24 hours and was pumped full of fluid and insulin she already began to look better.  She had color in her cheeks.  She started making sassy comments again.  Her eyes were shining and her smile was no longer strained.  Sam summed it up best when he said, "Wait, now that she's sick she's better?"  And strangely it was true.  When her little body finally got what it needed it only took a day to really get my girl back.  I thank my Heavenly Father every day for the miracles of modern medicine and the great men and women who discovered them.  How can I not when without them she would be gone by now? 

But here's the thing.  She has a big burden to bear; monitoring and taking accountability for everything that she eats is something that the majority of American adults can't seem to manage (even me). She has to poke her finger up to 10 times a day.  She has to get shots and has to ask permission before she eats anything.  She writes down every morsel of food she eats and the carb count for each as well.  But, in our mind the fact that she gets to do these things is a blessing, not a burden.  I mean, let's face it, it sucks, but really what's the alternative?  I can't even contemplate it, so instead we just thank heaven for her shots, her tester and all the un-fun-ness that goes with it.

The time is Primary's was a strange few days.  The first day she just slept and Dave and I met with nurse after doctor after nurse after doctor and told them all the same thing!  Then we began our training and pretty soon we were, to coin a Maggie phrase, being "beat up with knowledge."  We got to give shots to oranges and stuffed bears and finally to each other and we desperately tried to keep up happy spirits and only cry when she was sleeping.  Then we got to come home and start up life with two full-time jobs, 5 kids, church callings, the new school year, a new house and now diabetes.  I'm not going to lie, the first time I was alone with her I felt more shell-shocked than a new mom alone with her baby for the first time!  And two days later as I watched her walk away with the nurse and a teacher to her middle school I was more scared than any Mom sending their kid to Kindergarten.

But we did it, and not alone.  We were given love and support from all the family.  Our awesome babysitter, Sandra, watched the little ones for free, and on a Sunday no less.  We got visits and calls and flowers and prayers and each little thing buoyed us up.  I mean, Mark and Kirsti brought us Market Street Grill to Go!  You can't ask for better family than that!

And the kids have been amazing.  Because my nephews have diabetes my kids are well aware of what that means and so had some unique responses.  Molly knew she'd be ok because Dean is normal, right?  Owen and Lee were clueless but were just glad to have Maggie back.  And Sam immediately responded with "I think it will just take me $5 a week."  Why?  Because when Aunt Leslie told him that he would have to help us watch Maggie and keep her safe and healthy his reply was that he could help by buying her emergency juice and he knew where he could get a 12 pack for $5.  Such a good heart.

As it is we are happy.  Maggie is well and is thoroughly immersed in the supreme awkwardness that is Middle School.  She is strangely better now that she's sick.  We've had highs and lows, in more ways than one, and Dave comes up with endless jokes about shots, pains in the butt (a prime shot location), her need to get a part-time-job now and he's happy with so much fresh fodder.  Dave and I still don't want her to see us cry so we laugh instead. 

Maggie is back to her old self and other than when a shot hurts or she's a little too zealous with the finger poker I've never heard her complain.  When we asked her what she thought or how she was doing she'd just say "I'm just going with it, Mom."  And of course, she's the only 6th grader who gets to keep a cell-phone and carry a purse to class, so that's pretty cool. 

As for Sam, he still hasn't had to use his $5, but really it's the thought that counts!