since thursday

Just wanted to say thanks for all the phone calls, e-mails, messages, concerns and prayers regarding Ty and our family. I know I was a bit of a loner while Ty was in the hospital. It was just all so overwhelming at first and I just needed some time to myself to take it all in. Not to mention all the training and education I had to go through. We constantly had people from the medical team in our room and aside from them, I just wanted to focus on Ty and be with him. We finally got released from Children's on Saturday night. It's been a bumpy road...ups and downs. I feel nervous (like a 1st time mom) bringing him home from the hospital. The biggest changes for him are the blood sugar checks (4-6 times per day) and getting insulin injections 3 times a day. It was overwhelming for him at first, now he is getting better at it but still has his ups and down. On the first day we had to physically hold him down (took up to 3 of us) to give him his injections and for all the finger pricks. Now, today he was able to do the finger prick and blood check himself. This isn't anything he will out grow he will have to do this for the rest of his life. He has what is called Type 1 diabetes, meaning he is insulin dependent. If he were to ever not take his insulin (making his blood sugar too high) or let his blood sugar get to low it would be life threatening. I had a cousin that died from diabetes (low blood sugar) about 10 years ago. I'm more overwhelmed and scared at this point..I feel such PRESSURE to keep him healthy and his blood sugars in check in order to reduce his chance of complications later in life. It's a lot of regimented stuff at this point, until we all figure out how his body works and reacts to the insulin. Right now I have to check his blood sugar at 8am-11am-2pm-5pm -8pm-2am. He can only have 60 carbs at meal (but he HAS to eat ALL 60) and then he gets 2 snack a day that can be no more then 20 carbs (and he HAS to eat all of those). Basically he eats every three hours. It's a lot of mental energy. Right now I have to record everything he eats and all his blood sugar readings. At this point it's not like he can't have any sweets, it just has to be taken from his carb intake at meals or snacks. Sixty carbs don't go far and don't typically fill him up. His diet is high in protein to fill his belly. I'm letting him make the choices on what he eats for meals and snacks and so far he has chosen the healthy filling snack over a choice of 2 cookies, ect. He's learning that meat, cheese, and crackers fill him up more then 2 cookies would. We spent about 2.5 hours in the Wal-mart reading labels and letting him pick out food. Everything he wanted to know the carb count for I would read it to him and let him decided if it was a good choice. He did really well. And so far he has no issues with the food. Before all of this we already ate very healthy and they didn't get sweets that often (it's not that big of a change). It's easy to control when everyone is eating the same thing...it might be tricky when he goes back to school. Valentines day with all the cookies and sweets it will probably he harder for him. Eventually he will be able to have a few treats at a Valentines/Birthday/etc party he'll just adjust his insulin with and extra injection to account for his blood sugar rising. There have been changes especially in the past 6 years according to the Doctor.

It's just all mentally draining, like having an infant again. There are "things" I have to take with me everywhere he is. I just constantly have to remember and take it all. I know I be a pro at the soon..right now it's a lot to think about.