Madison

From her mother Elizabeth:

Madison was diagnosed at the age of two. She had been sick after a family vacation. I took her to her pediatrician and she was diagnosed with a double ear infection. She was put on antibiotics. After a week, she was improving so I took her to the ER. I explained to the doctor at the ER that she wasn’t eating much but she was drinking quite a bit. He said that it was good she was drinking. He put her on a different antibiotic and sent us on our way. (This was a Sunday.) By Friday, same week, her symptoms were worse and she was deteriorating. Her speech was not coherent, her eyes were rolling back and she looked like someone had sucked the entire fat out of her body. I rushed her to the ER. That’s when we got the Type 1 diagnosis. Her blood sugar was over 1000. I don’t remember exactly the number. That day was a horrific nightmare. She was life flighted to the nearest children’s hospital, which is about an hour and a half from where we reside. She did go into a diabetic coma, which her condition was not favorable. I could tell that the doctors who were part of her care team did not believe she would recover. But after being in the pediatric ICU for a little over a day, she came out of the coma. Her dad and I went through the diabetes education at the hospital, while Madison continued to recover and get better. After a week of being in the hospital, she was released and thus began the beginning of a new journey for all of us. She is now 16yrs old and thriving. However, it has taken many years and a lot of work and tears to get her and us to this point in her journey.