Same as She Never Was

We will always remember this day, as it is the day that changed our lives forever...

On Saturday, June 12, 2010, I made a doctor's appointment for my daughter, Allison, to have a diaper-looking rash inspected. I knew in my mind that there was a reason for this rash, and had suspected that it was a yeast infection. Before leaving for the appointment, I decided to do some quick research on the Internet to find out what could have caused her to break out. Being that my daughter is only 3 1/2 years old, it was easy to rule out the most common reasons that one would have this rash. There was the last contributor that I could not ..... Diabetes.

So, onto the appointment we went. We had to see a doctor that we've never seen before because I took her after normal hours. Allison was visibly upset--she doesn't like going to the doctor. After telling Dr. G what I had found out about yeast infections, I also told her that I noticed that she recently had very full urine diapers and had been drinking a lot of liquids over the past couple of weeks.

Truthfully, I had never put those two together as 'symptoms' because the weather had just turned warm and she was playing and exerting a lot of energy. Naturally, I expected her to drink more. However, now that we are at the doctor's, I'm realizing this could be more serious. Dr. G said that she wanted to "wait and see" if her symptoms worsened since I didn't notice anything other than the those two signs I just mentioned. Honestly, I didn't feel comfortable with her response.

Having Gestational Diabetes when I was pregnant with Allison, I knew how serious this could be if left untreated. I asked Dr. G if she could take a quick blood test to get her current glucose levels. She left the room, came back, pricked Alli's finger and left the room again. Little did I know, these would be our last moments of normal. The doctor entered the room and told me that her machine only reads glucose levels up to 450 and "Allison is at 450, and could be higher. You need to take her to the ER." It took a minute to process this information, because just a few minutes ago we were going to wait and see! After it sunk in, I lost it and became a blubbering mess. This moment was the end of our old life and beginning of the new. She would be the same as she never was....