When my son Shaye was three years old he came down with a bad cold, after a few days of both of us sick we went to the doctor. I was told he had bronchitis, they put him on an antibiotic and I thought for sure everything was going to be fine.
Shaye stopped eating and started drinking excessive amounts of water, I realize now this should've been a huge sign as to what was really going on but I honestly just thought it was the medicine and his bronchitis. After two days I noticed he was losing a lot of weight. I made the decision on a Friday evening after dinner to call the doctor first thing Monday morning, something else was wrong.
We never made it to Monday. At 4am Friday night Shaye woke up and started to cry. I went to his room to find him soaked in pee and cold, I got him cleaned up, cleaned his bed and tucked him in again. I sat with him thinking he would go right back to sleep after a few minutes of me holding his hand and talking to him. I noticed now that he wasn't breathing right, he was almost making a gasping sound which seemed to be what was keeping him awake.
I rushed him down the stairs, woke up my sister and we rushed him to the emergency room. He was swarmed right away, everyone focused on his breathing issue first, when nothing came of that they did blood work. The blood work gave us the answers, his blood sugar was 863 and he was in ketoacidosis. My local hospital had us sent to Children's Hospital, we spent three days there watching Shaye get better and learning how to handle this new part of our lives.
Shaye is going to be five soon, he's cried only a few times about his shots or finger sticks and he is an inspiration to all of us that know and love him.
Galion, OH
