Joshua - Pumping at 11

My son Joshua, 12 years old now, was diagnosed February 10, 2002, two weeks before his eleventh birthday. I remember him complaining for about three weeks of being tired and so thirsty and oh my god running to the bathroom every fifteen minutes. In early February I called the doctor and had a check up and the doctor said it was just an urine infection so give him cranberry juice. So I did and he did not like the taste of it. but the doctor said he had to drink it so I made him. Which turned around and made things worse.

The night before I called the doctor again my son was watching a movie with me and he fell asleep with me. I remember waking up to him running to the bathroom and first thing in the morning I called the doctor's office and got him in. The doctor sent us to the lab, so I took him in and that afternoon after school we got a call to come as soon as possible to the office and to hear that it made my heart beat so fast I was scared. We walked in and they immediately took us in and that is when the doctor comes in and tells us he is really sorry but Josh has diabetes and needs to be hospitalized NOW. So I came home and woke my husband up to tell him what was going on and everything changed that day.

Josh was getting 3 shots a day and testing his blood 4 times a day. I was searching through the web when I found the pump and of course I immediately called and had them send me information. Josh really liked the idea of not being on a schedule so we talked to the Endocrinologist and they said we should wait for a while. I didn't understand why but I said that I would rather try it than wait. Especially after watching my son get so excited about it. So the doctor gave me three companies to call which I did and as of November 2002 my son got put on the Disetronic plus which had just came out with the latest and greatest. We had the rep. come to our house and do a training and for a week he was doing saline water instead of insulin and it was pretty easy.

My son is now wearing his pump and LOVES IT because he changes every 2 to 3 days and eats when he wants, not when it's time. He also plays soccer and is great at it he just disconnects from the pump so his sugar does not drop quickly. His A1C two months ago was 6.8 and the doctor said it is great.

So we are all very happy and he is a great child.

Karina Sieg
jjuph98@aol.com