About Me
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Shannon was born June 6, 2001 which was 12 weeks before she was supposed to make her entrance into the world. She weighed only 2 lbs. 5oz was 13 in. long and had a head the size of a baseball. Shannon spent the first two months of her life in the hospital hooked up to machines to help her breath, tubes to feed her, and in incubators to keep her warm. Even when we were able to take her home, she spent the first 7 months on a heart and breathing monitor because she would slow her breathing and heart rate. We thought these would probably be the hardest times of her life.
In late February 2003 when Shannon was 20 months old, we were proven wrong. Shannon had come down with a cold, but nothing out of the ordinary for a small child. Then she started wanting to drink water all the time. At first I thought it was a game. Then one morning after drinking tons of water the day before, she woke up with her lips purple and peeling like she was dehydrated. I took her to the doctor and they ran tests. They called and said we needed to take her to the hospital. When we arrived her blood sugar was over 700. The normal person’s blood sugar runs 80-120. They said we were lucky she hadn’t gone into a coma. She was then diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
Shannon spent five days in the hospital and was sent home getting her blood sugar tested 5-10 times a day and getting 5-7 shots a day. We were taught how to measure food, count carbohydrates, and convert the carbohydrates she ate into the amount of insulin she needed. A few months later Shannon was put on an insulin pump, which has made life a little easier. We still have to test her blood 5-10 times a day, but instead of the shots she only has to have her pump site changed every other day.
Since her initial diagnosis, Shannon has been in the emergency room twice and admitted to the hospital two other times. When Shannon gets sick, her blood sugars go out of control.
With all of the work that goes into managing Shannon’s diabetes, you would think that she would be healthy, and for now she is. The problem is, is that no matter how much work we put into it, her blood sugar will never be perfect and this leads to long term problems. Most diabetics have an average life span of 15 years less than the average person. They are at risk for everything from skin problems, amputations, heart disease, blindness, and kidney disease. There is a very large chance that by the time Shannon reaches 20 years of age that she will already be in need of a kidney transplant. Type 1 diabetes is not something that she will outgrow. Unless a cure is found, this is something that she will live with for the rest of her life, and what will more than likely eventually lead to her death.
