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On a day nearing the end of the school year in 2011, we woke up at my household and it appeared to be a day like many others. My two daughters and I were doing the morning routine which consisted of mostly coffee and feeding ourselves. Mid shoveling of cereal into her mouth, my 13 year old daughter looked at me and said “Mom, I got up like 5 times last night to go pee.”
Instant alarm went off in my head.
You see, my grandmother was an insulin dependent diabetic and I knew that frequent urination due to excessive thirst was a sign of diabetes – both Types 1 and 2. I then asked my daughter what she drank the night before. She named off SEVEN different glasses of beverages – all of which were drank between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m.
The alarm inside my head went from the slow steady beeping of a backing up truck to a full siren.
Not wanting to alarm my daughter, I told her to go to school seeing as it was only a half day and that we would look into it when she got home. While at work that morning, I went through the last couple of weeks in my head looking for clues. She had told me that her feet felt “floppy” one night while she was at the mall with her girlfriend a few weeks earlier. She did look kind of peaked. She seemed to be a little bit moodier than usual.
Then it dawned on me.
That damn dog that we had for the last ten years WOULD NOT leave her alone. Genevieve, a pure bred Labrador Retriever, was CONSTANTLY parked outside of Sydney’s door and even using her nose to try to weasel her way into Sydney’s bedroom.
What did I read before about dogs knowing when someone was sick again?
I went to the computer at my desk and typed in “dogs and diabetes” and was mildly surprised to find the following information: there were organizations that had succeeded in training dogs to “sniff out” diabetes by detecting highs and lows in blood sugar. Could this be it? Could Genevieve have been watching Sydney because she was concerned that Sydney smelled off? Could Genevieve have been trying to tell us something?
It was the longest morning of my life.
At the appointed time, I went and got Sydney from the bus stop. On the way back to the business that I owned, we stopped at CVS. I explained to my daughter that we needed to buy something called a “blood glucose monitor” and that I suspected that she might have something called “diabetes” but I wouldn’t be too worried about it. My grandmother had Type 2 diabetes – not Type 1 so it didn’t run in the family.
We got back to the salon and I pricked Sydney’s finger and checked her blood sugar. It was 77. Okay, I thought to myself, not so bad. It’s pretty normal. I fed Sydney some lunch and then I waited. Having experienced the “blood sugar dance” with my Granny, I knew that it took a bit for the sugar to reach your system after eating. Forty five minutes after she was done eating, I pricked her finger again. Little did I know that this would be a ritual that we would practice for probably the rest of her life.
Her blood sugar was 433! Yes, 433!
Having been only a novice at the whole diabetes game, I did what any other overprotective mother would have done. I panicked and told her to get in the car. We were heading to the urgent care. When we got there, they all but confirmed my diagnosis. It was 450 and rising. They advised me to take her to the hospital.
Thankfully there was a great hospital in our area that had a children’s unit and an awesome pediatric endocrinologist. Within two hours of her admittance to Health Park Hospital (which housed the Golisano Children’s Hospital of SWFL), her new doctor and my new advisor came to us with the news. Dr. Cayce Jehaime, Pediatric Endocrinologist, informed us that what I (and Genevieve) suspected was correct. Sydney was a Type 1 diabetic.
Even though I knew that something was wrong, I was in shock.
But then I thought to myself, why was I so shocked? Why was the dog suddenly massively IN LOVE with the kid? Why did Genevieve, all of a sudden, become Sydney’s best friend. Sure, they were close before but never to this extent since Sydney was just a little girl. They were “buddies” but as Sydney grew up, Genevieve grew old and was more concerned with sleeping in her dog bed then jumping the 3 feet up into Sydney’s bed. There had to be a reason.
Type 1 Diabetes was it.
This was six years ago. Today, Sydney is a happy and healthy 19 year old. She is attending college to become a nurse. Genevieve went to doggy heaven two years ago at the ripe old age of 14.
Genevieve earned herself the title of “BEST DOG EVER” in my book. She helped us save my daughter’s life.
SIGNS OF DIABETES TO LOOK FOR IN CHILDREN
Urinating a lot, which may be more noticeable at night. The kidneysare trying to get rid of the excess sugar in the blood. To do that, they have to get rid of more water. More water means more urine.
Being very thirsty. This happens if you urinate so often that you lose enough water to become dehydrated.
Losing weight without trying. This happens because you are dehydrated. Weight loss may also happen if you are losing all of those sugar calories in your urine instead of using them.
Increased hunger. You feel hungry because your body isn't using all the calories that it can. Many of them leave your body in your urine instead.