Hello from Seattle, new here!

[IndigoBlue]

Hi,

Just wanted to introduce myself first before I started posting. My name is Kathleen and my oldest son who is now 6 has type 1 diabetes. Diagnosed 6-24-2005 at age 4 1/2.

He's adjusted pretty well to our new routine and luckily our eating habits didn't need to change much. But he's been sick the last 8 day's or so with a bad head cold. We'll get the ketone's out of his system, and 3 day's later they come back. I took him, his little brother and myself to the Dr's yesterday since we all seem to keep clinging on to this ick. I have full blow sinus infection and the kids luckily, just have bad colds. The Dr told me my oldest could have been reinfected which may have caused the ketone's to return.

I'm doing my best to keep them hydrated and hope this bug clears up soon. If anyone has any input or suggestions, it would be appreciated!

[hallenbeckfamily]

Welcome Kathleen!! Glad you found us! This group is the best support I have found. My son Chris was just dx 4 months ago but he is 6 like your son. You have been dealing with this longer than me but since they are the same age I mite look for you when something comes up that you can relate to and share your exp. I hope you all get better soon!! It is especially hard when mom gets sick at the same time~~sending happy healthy thoughts your way :) ~~Jennifer

[IndigoBlue]

Thank you so much Jennifer!

I tell you, diabetes definately throws our worlds upside down. When Russell was first diagnosed, he was really sick already. We had no clue. He lost weight, was drinking a ton of water, soaked his bed at night, and can you believe we thought he was going through a growth spurt?! I finally took him to the Dr's and it didn't take them long to diagnose him. His little brother was 4 months old at the time and we had to rush Russell to Children's ER here in Seattle that day. So I totally understand the whirlwind of what this does to our families.

Russell is still on Hemolog and Humulin shots twice a day, but we expect to be changing that a bit this summer to a different regeim to give him more "freedom".

Enough about me, this was supposed to be support for you :) I'm so glad I joined this forum!

[beckybuckley]

you've been at this much longer than I have, my 3 yr old was just diagnosed over the summer. But I'm glad you found this forum, it's definitely helped me deal not only emotionally but I've learned so much, too.

You're pushing fluids and that's really about all you can do. For the cold itself I'm a huge fan of mucinex so if you haven't tried that -- you should. The childrens version has been great for my kids this winter. Good luck!

[Mama Belle]

Illness is the worst. When I tell people that I'm home with a sick kid, their response is usually something along the lines of "cool, you get a day off!!!" If they only knew ...

I'm sorry your son has been ill for so long. I don't really have any advice, other than to stay on top of the ketones and pump the water/fluids, which it sounds like you are already doing. Lots of rest too!

Good luck getting through this, and don't forget to get some rest yourself! Also the mucinex is great for sinus infections.

[IndigoBlue]

Hi Becky and thanks for the welcome! I'll try your suggestion for my boys.

I've been reading posts with parents who use a pump, and it's all Greek to me. We just do shots for now, been for the last year and a half. So I'm already learning lots from you all. His Dr is thinking of changing things up a bit this summer before he starts 1st grade, so I'm not sure yet what that will entail, so we'll see.

Russell got sick with the flu about 4 months after his diagnosis, vomiting, fever, high ketone's, high blood sugars. So I kept all my log books and marked everything down each time he developed ketone's. It's been helpful when managing sick day's. But this last week threw me for a loop, but what our Dr said made sense, that he could have been reinfected with another cold, or the first one never cleared up completely. Either way, they're on the mend and I'm on antibiotics.

I'm so glad there's a place to go and meet other parents who are dealing with this. I tried the local group thing and didn't care for it, too big and my son wasn't interested in meeting the other kids (most where older then him, and girls who where not interested in a 4 1/2 year old boy then). He's also going to special ed. Been in the program since his diagnosis. They think he's got Over Sensory Processing Disorder, or a variation of it and he ranked low on the social and emotional areas. But he's doing so good now and will be attending regular first grade next year!

[Brandon B]

Iam curious what endo does your child see we are from Seattle area?:cwds:

[deafmack]

Welcome Kathleen,
Glad you found this board. I live in Shoreline, just north of Seattle and have just finished having the crap you are talking about. It was on the news and is called a pandemic virus because it is so contagious. Took me 3 weeks to get rid of the thing and I was on antibiotics. My mother and sister also got the same thing and it took them 3 weeks as well.
Anyway, welcome to these boards and let you know I am sending (((hugs))) your way.

[IndigoBlue]

Hi Brandon and deafmack, thanks for the welcome!

I live in North Seattle, off 145th (on the border of Shoreline). My son see's Sarah Benitez, PA-C (I think that mean's nurse practitioner). She's way better then our other Dr. She spends time with Russell and he really likes her. Children's has been the best, we make it a family day when he has his follow up visits. So it's never been a negative experience for him (he does remember being sick, but doesn't dwell on it).

Ick on that pandemic virus. I'm not absolutely sure that's what we had, but my boys took about 10 day's for it to clear and I had to go on antibiotics (today was day 10, yay!!!). It was definately no fun. But we're all back to "normal" :D