The universe tilted.....and then righted itself.

We had one of those moments yesterday when the universe tilted.

First, a little background to the story. I'm a diabetic and have been for more than 30 years. When my children were younger, I was a bit obsessive about watching my children for signs of the disease. Since I frequently test my blood sugar, I would often test theirs just to reassure myself that all was well.

Every year I have my children screened as part of the Diabetes TrialNet study. I was relieved when test results came back negative for the antibodies which are the forerunners to the development of diabetes.

When we had the girls tested a few months ago, the technician suggested that we have Baby Bop tested too. I explained that it wouldn't be necessary since Baby Bop (our foster and soon to be adopted son) wasn't our biological child and thus wasn't at risk like my daughters.

Now back to our story......

We were at church yesterday when I tested my blood sugar during the worship service. Baby Bop watched me intently. Henry asked Baby Bop if he would like his blood tested too. So, I pricked his finger and performed the test not thinking anything of it. We were both stunned when the result came back as 183.

For you non-diabetics, the range of normal is generally 80-130 with 60-150 on the extreme ends. So, 183 is not good.

Henry's first response was that it was some kind of error. Since my blood test moments earlier had a normal reading, I didn't think there was a problem with the meter or the BG strips. To rule out cross contamination, I cleaned Baby Bops hands with a baby wipe and did the test again.

This time the result was 181. Not good at all. By this time, our girls have picked up that something was going on. We reassured them that everything was ok while I mentally ran through the lists of things I would need to do and what life would be like for our family with a diabetic toddler.

We decided to wait and do the test one more time after the service was over. I took Baby Bop and washed his hands carefully. Henry and I then went into an empty room to do the test one more time. By this time, Baby Bop did not want to have his finger pricked one more time and Henry had to hold him.

We heaved a heavy sigh of relief when the result was 112. Probably the high readings were caused by food residue on his hands. Still, next year when I have the girls screened for diabetes, I'm having Baby Bop screened too.

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Tags : Type 1 Diabetes, autoantibodies, Natural History study, TrialNet