My dear little girl, Spanky here, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on Friday. This journey began when I took her to our family doctor on Thursday, August 14th for an unrelated issue and they ran a blood panel. She was found to have blood glucose rating of 350. She was showing no typical symptoms of high blood sugar though, so we thought it might be a fluke. We determined that we would test for fasting sugar on Monday, since it was late Friday when the test results came back. Her fasting sugar was 87, so we thought we were okay. The Wednesday, the 20th, the PA calls again to tell me that her A1C level is 8.? , it was 8.5 or 8.7 I think. The A1C is used to try and determine an average sugar for the last three months. Normal is 5 or below.

*

The doctor's office referred us to an endocrinologist, who called me at 8 am on Thursday morning to come in as soon as I could get there. Sure enough, based on her sugar numbers they said she definitely had Type 1 diabetes and would need to take insulin shots and use a glucometer four times per day. So, since Thursday evening I've been giving her four shots and four finger prick per day. Sometime more on the finger pricks, depending if I think she might be getting low or it has been a while since a meal.

*

They gave me very little education about what to do for her meals, but my mom and I are going to a three-day class starting Monday. My best friend, who lives about 7 hours drive from me, is coming to watch my children. She has a son who was diagnosed two years ago, so knows how to do shots and finger sticks. She knows hot to watch for low sugars and how to feed someone with diabetes. I am so blessed by this friend. We've been best friends since we were 14yo despite being 7 hours apart for most of that time. I am blessed that her husband is allowing this and willing to watch her other children, with the help of her two oldest who are 15 & 14yo. She is bringing her daughter who is Katy's age.

*

I've been doing allot of reading and am trying to decide just how much I'm going to buck the system and the American Diabetes Association's recommendations on this one. My goal is to for Spanky's blood sugars to always be as close to normal as possible but for her to have enough energy to live and grow. I'm looking into following the recommendations of Dr. Richard Bernstein. Here is his website: