The Beginning - Day 1

February 28th, 2017. A day that forever changed our lives. Sara had been not feeling well for several days. Just run down, complaining of an occasional stomach ache and achy legs. I also had commented to Daniel that she looked like she had been losing weight. We chalked all that up to a virus that was going through the family and the fact she had gone through a growth spurt. On Monday, the 27th, she stayed on the couch all day. I asked Daniel if we should take her to the doctor and we agreed that if she wasn't better on Tuesday I would call. Tuesday morning, the 28th, she woke up around 6am breathing very heavy and just feeling awful. I called the doctor and they didn't have any appointments for that day. It's probably just the flu, so push fluids and call us in the morning. We gave her gatorade and tried to get her to eat. She just kept complaining, to the point of tears, that she felt awful and everything, especially her legs and stomach, hurt. We decided that a trip to Urgent Care at Pekin Hospital was in order. She could hardly walk, but we made it to the office. Once we checked in, they took us back to do vitals. As soon as the nurse did that, she immediately left the room. That made me very uneasy. She came back quickly and said, "We can't handle this, you need to go to the ER." They put her in a wheelchair and off we were to the other side of the hospital. By the time we walked into the room, there were 3 nurses and the doctor bustling around, setting up 2 IVs and taking vitals. There was such an urgency. The doctor informed me that Sara was very sick and that they had already connected OSF Children's Hospital for transport and a PICU room. At this point, I called Daniel at home. Choking back tears, I told him he needed to some immediately because Sara was so sick, and they were setting up transport to Peoria. He gathered up Selah and came to be with us. By this time, they had tested her blood glucose and it was over 500. They started insulin and were using the term diabtetes. We were in such a fog, trying to absorb everything they were trying to tell us.

While we were waiting for transport, Daniel began sending out emails and making phone calls to church and family members. We didn't know what exactly was happening or what the next hours would bring, but we did know that we needed people to pray.

After about 3 hours, we got word there was a bed for Sara and transport was ready for us. Daniel took Selah in the van and I was able to ride in the ambulance with Sara. She remembers the trip a bit, despite the fact she was fairly out of it. Once at Children's, we were taken immediately up to the PICU where 2 nurses met us. They got Sara into the bed and hooked up to the various machines getting her vitals. The PICU doctor came in and gave us the news. She was in Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) (http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetic-ketoacidosis/basics/definition/con-20026470). Basically her body was eating itself. Since he body wan't producing insulin, it couldn't use carbs for energy for her cells. So the body begins to burn fat for energy leading to weight loss. By the time we figured it all out, she probably lost 15-20 lbs in a very short period of time. They also confirmed that this all started because of Type 1 Diabetes. We knew next to nothing about this disease that was now a part of our family. Over the next few days, we would receive information left and right. For now, though, our concern was getting insulin and fluids into Sara. Tons of labs were drawn, IV bags filled, and every two hours her blood glucose checked. Bryan and Kim Evans came to the hospital to sit with us for a bit and pray with us.  Our minds were still numb, so it was a blessing to have friends come and just be with us.

The hospital allowed Selah to stay with us. We were very grateful for that considering they had a flu policy in place for visitors. Having her with me, allowed me to take care of Sara without having to worry about where my baby was and how I was going to nurse her. She was such a good baby, and hardly made a peep the whole time we were there. I stayed that first night, hardly getting sleep. I wanted to know everything they were doing and why. The more information they gave me, the more I felt in control. It was a false feeling, but I couldn't lose it in front of Sara, no matter how bad my heart was breaking.