today was a tumultuous and stressful day
My niece Elena has been sluggish, sleeping all day, incoherent, vomiting and weak for a good few days. My sister took her to OP medical center last night and the night before last. They told her that it was a virus, and acted as if she was paranoid, telling her to just let her sleep it off. Today my mom tried to feed her, and she just slept sitting up in her high chair. My sister just knew something was wrong so she took her to Wolfson Children's Hospital. Here, they found that her blood sugar was so high, the machine couldn't even read it. Normal blood sugar is 80-120, hers was over 400. They didn't have room there, so they airlifted her to Shands in Gainesville, my dad nor sister could go. As soon as my dad got back from the hospital, we drove to Gainesville. We all tried to keep a positive attitude, as if nothing was wrong and just secretly worried and cried silently. It was hard not to be pessimist until we actually knew that she had made it here and was stabilized. We got here at 1030, my mom dad and sister went in first. She is two years old and has been diagnosed with Type I diabetes. Her pancreas has completely stopped producing insulin. She will have to have shots up to three times a day. She has two huge IVs in her arms, and is hooked up to machines. Her blood sugar was down to 292 last time I knew. If my sister would have listened to the fat lazy bitches at OP medical center, she would have potentially slipped into a coma and never woken up. She looks so cute just laying in the bed, sleeping peacefully finally (who knows what was going on inside her), with her Dora doll next to her. We are all looking at the bright side though, like Irma says, it could be worse, and at least she'll be healthy. She might miss out on some things as a kid, but food should be about nutrition, not enjoyment right? She'll appreciate it when she's older. I'm really sad while typing this because five minutes ago (we're waiting in the family room), a man came in and told us how he has been here for a week. His four year old daughter had a brain tumor removed, and five hours ago, him and his wife found out she has cancer. Things could definitely be worse. Tonight when you go to sleep think of these two little angels-Elena Terry and Marissa Clark, and please keep them in your thoughts and prayers. Oh how insignificant my 'problems' really are...