Chapter 10 - Daughter Diagnosed Type-I

Once a year Joann and I would have each girl tested for diabetes and I was refilled with relief each time the tests came back negative.

This relief lasted until Noel was sixteen when she was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetesˆ . Recognizing the signs and getting affirmation from high blood sugar tests and then a glucose-toleranceˆ test, she was admitted into Stony Brook Hospital to learn about her disease. This really took me back in time. Going to the hospital after work the first day she was admitted, I remember walking into her room where a nurse was attempting to teach her how to give her own injection. She was making a fuss and I heard, "My Dad is the only one who is going to teach me how to take insulinˆ ". It was great for my ego but not very practical.

Being a teenager new to diabetes is so much more difficult than my getting used to diabetes at the age of six. All my habits were formed around diabetes. Noel had to change all her habits. No more sweets with school pals any time you wanted them; no skipping meals when you weren't hungry. Now you had to take insulinˆ injections every day. There were also some good differences compared to years ago, however. One is, people with diabetes no longer have to weigh foods on a gramˆ scale. Instead, Noel learned food exchangesˆ .

My own training on food exchangesˆ had come several years earlier, before Noel was diagnosed. At the same time Noel started taking blood sugar readings, I replaced my Clinitestˆ Kit with the same self-test blood-glucoseˆ monitorˆ that she was given. What an advance in diabetes care. No more four-hour-ago sugar results. Actual current blood sugar results took less than thirty seconds. Breakthroughs in diabetes research are becoming more apparent all the time.

Now I know what my mother had gone through. It's so much easier to be the patient being diagnosed than the parent. I felt so helpless. As a parent, my number one priority has to be supporting my daughter. Comparing my mother's experience to mine, however, I realize that my situation was much easier than hers. She had to learn everything at the same time I did. In Noel's case, her father and mother had already lived with a diabetic patient for years.

There were so many differences between my embracing and accepting the 'world' of diabetes and Noel's hesitation and reluctance. She was afraid to tell anyone about her disease. She would not cope with a new situation until forced to, going through mood swings before coming to grips with the changes her condition brought into her life.

Yet Noel always had more strength than even she realized. After she got married, she and her husband decided to have a baby. Being a brittle diabetic, one who can rapidly go from a low blood sugar to a high blood sugar and vice versa, Noel went to a doctor specializing in maternal diabetes. The last month of her pregnancy she was resident in the hospital. Once Heather was born, Noel was told that, because of the complications of this delivery, she should not become pregnant again.

Heather Elizabeth Stewart was born on August 31st, 1996. Elizabeth must be a good name. It's my mother's first name, it's Joann's mother's first name, it's Joann's actual first name, now Heather's middle name. Of course, before the first week of Heather's life was over she had Papa wrapped around her tiny little finger.

A year or so later, Noel's sister Krista presented her husband with a strapping baby boy, Joshua Louis Carlino. Louis is Joann's Dad's first name.

Last year (2000), Noel's endocrinologist recommended that she go on the insulinˆ pump and suggested the newest model from MiniMed®, the 508. Before making her decision, of course, she had to confer with Dad. Not only did she convince me she needed the pumpfor herself, she convinced me that I needed one as well. Speaking with my endocrinologist, she saw no reason why I shouldn't be on the pump, so I got one too. Endocrinologists have their own Diabetes Educator who train patients on pump use. Noel was connected to her pump one week to the day before I was.

For as long as I can remember a snowstorm meant snow blowing. While living in Sound Beach, New York., I cleared over a dozen driveways after each storm. One homeowner was a very special lady to my wife and me. Her name was Ruth Jensen, a Norwegian woman with heavy accent and a simply loving lady. She absolutely adored both Noel and Krista.
At age seventy-eight, she had been widowed for many years, living on her husbands pension and social security. Ruth attended church where my family attended. She asked me one day if I knew someone who could do her driveway. Explaining she couldn't afford much, in lieu of monetary payment, her work would be done just before lunch so she could serve Joann and me a meal before I continued my rounds.
We found she would listen to weather reports diligently and prior to a snowstorm would stock up on certain cooking items. Ruth lifted her phone off the hook each morning of a storm so nobody could disturb her. She would not only make lunch, but we always left with a large cookie tin of "krumkake". These light crisp cone shaped delights were worth dying for.
For seven years I was spoiled and loved in this manner before Mrs. Jensen was placed in a Nursing Home and then passed away. I praise the Lord that some day, either upon His return or during my life after death, as Scripture promises, I will see her again.

Genesis 29:16-NIV Now Laban had two daughters; the name of the older was Leah, and the name of the younger was Rachel.