Unexpected Connections

March 20, 2008 changed our lives forever.

My husband and I had been noticing some random (or so we thought) changes in our son over the previous 3-4 months. His appetite was not the same. He was looking thinner. He had started wetting the bed after being potty trained for 2 years. He was asking to drink water every night before bed. These changes, however, we felt could be explained by a number of other occurrences in our lives. His younger sister had just been born at the end of 2007. We put our house up for sale in February 2008 and were planning to move to St. Louis a few months later so my husband could attend seminary. And if he would just stop drinking water before going to bed, he would stop having accidents during the night. Logical.....all logical.

But the week before March 20th, things started spiraling downward. He had become increasingly thirsty throughout the day. He was having to go the to bathroom very often. He complained at school of headaches. We made an appointment to see the doctor later in the week but it soon became clear that we needed to see the doctor right away. The doctor did not seem surprised when we explained all of Caleb's symptoms. She did a simple blood test and when the result came back, there was no hesitation in her voice as she said, "Caleb has type 1 diabetes." There were no "ifs" or "maybes" or "we need to do more tests." Instead she told us we would be going directly to the Children's Hospital in Houston and would be spending several days there getting Caleb stable and learning about the disease.

I still remember leaving the doctor's office, going home, standing in the kitchen with my husband, crying. Crying because of the diagnosis our son was just given. Crying because of the unknown. Crying because the future we planned for our child had changed.

As a parent, you never plan that your child is going to develop a serious illness. You plan all the good things....birthdays, school activities, sports, graduation, college, marriage, grandchildren....but never those unexpected road bumps along the way.

While at the hospital, we learned what a diagnosis of type 1 diabetes meant for Caleb and for our family. We learned how he would be "connected" to his need for insulin for the rest of his life. We learned that we would soon become experts at checking his blood sugar many times a day, counting the carbohydrates in all his meals, and administering insulin shots. We also learned that despite the diagnosis, if managed well, Caleb can live a long, healthy and normal life.

Fast forward four and a half years. Caleb, now 8, is managing his diabetes very well. He's now connected to an insulin pump, which has helped the management of his disease tremendously. I can't say every thing's been easy, but we've made it. We've struggled through the sick day management, the daily counting of carbs, and the extra vigilance we need to keep when he's active.

Although we truly wish diabetes was not a connection in our life, we're hopeful that by the time Caleb goes to college, management of his disease will be even easier than it is today, and perhaps, they'll even have found a cure. But until then we know he has many exciting things in store for him.

Have you had any unexpected connections in your life? Perhaps the initial connection you experienced was negative but has turned out to be something positive in your life? Share your stories with us today!

Next week we will be introducing a new theme for the month of October. Make sure to add your photos to the flickr pool to be considered for our last "connection" InFocus selection for this month!