Seems surreal.
I have had many people ask me how Landon is doing since his type one diabetes diagnosis in October. He is actually doing pretty well and handling everything that comes with this diagnosis with a level of grace that I didn't expect. He continually prays that he can give God glory through this diagnosis and that God will help him have a good attitude.
He recently got a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor. It has its pros and cons but one major pro is that I don't have to wake up at 2AM every morning to check his blood glucose (BG)! After two months of blurry-eyed, sleep-hazed 2AM checks I was exhausted. It really is very similar to having a newborn baby at home.
Landon likes that he is able to see his BG any time of the day without pricking his finger. I can see his BG through an app on my own phone but I currently have to be within 20 feet of him to get a signal. When he gets his own iPhone I will be able to sync mine with his and see his BG when he is at school, out playing basketball or any really, any time at all.
The Dexcom is not always as accurate as we would like but thankfully Landon has gotten really good at paying attention to his body. To say he is active is a bit of an understatement. Due to his level of activity he tends to hit low BG levels a lot. Last week he was playing basketball out front and his Dexcom didn't alert him that he was low. He realized he felt shaky and he came in and tested with his glucose meter. His BG was at an all time low of 26! We checked his Dexcom and it said he was at 104! That's quite a discrepancy! It is a huge answer to prayer that Landon has been able to recognize the symptoms of low BG and that he isn't just depending on technology to tell him how he is feeling.
In addition to the Diabetes, Landon recently underwent an endoscopy & was diagnosed with Celiac Disease. I realize that Landon has been through a lot in the last year but it wasn't until I said it out loud to the pre-op nurse that it really hit me: Pertussis (yes, he had been vaccinated), Type One Diabetes, Celiac Disease.
In less than six months.
All I can say is, thank you, God, for your continued strength.
Landon was a trooper and said he wasn't nervous at all. He likes hearing me recall how after they gave him the "giggle juice" he didn't react for a few minutes but then began giggling uncontrollably. I could hear him giggling as they wheeled him away for the procedure.
In true Landon-style he woke up smiling in post-op.
We learned that these two particular autoimmune diseases, Diabetes & Celiac, often go hand in hand. Much like the Diabetes, we didn't originally see any evidence of Celiac but now that we look back we can see a few of the symptoms. Thankfully, Landon is familiar with a lot of gluten free foods because I have a gluten intolerance. (There is a good possibility that I have Celiac as well but I am unable to undergo testing because I have had gluten eliminated from my diet for so many years.) He actually prefers some gluten free foods.
That being said, Landon is having a more difficult time with this diagnosis than with the Diabetes. The doctors made sure to let Landon know that even though he had Diabetes he could still eat all the same foods that he has always eaten...he'd just need to have an insulin shot to cover the carbohydrates. With the Celiac he has no choice but to remove the gluten from his diet which means missing out on some of the things that he loves. I am trying to focus on all of the things that he CAN have as opposed to all the things that he can't. Having had to cut a lot of things that I love out of my diet I know that this is the only way to get through. If you constantly focus on the thing you can't have you will just end up miserable. I am truly thankful that I have dealt with this, to an extent, and that when he comes to me and tells me how much this sucks I can honestly tell him that I understand completely. I get it. It really does suck sometimes.
One encouraging thing that he has learned is that often times when athletes remove gluten from their diets their performance improves. So far, Landon hasn't let a little thing like being diagnosed with a couple of autoimmune diseases slow him down.
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