Update on Luke

As most of you know, we went to Temple again on Friday to meet with the pediatric endocrinologist to discuss the results from Luke's IV Glucose Tolerance Test he had last week. From what the new nurse told us last week on the phone, we knew that his numbers were worse than last year and his body was not doing as well as it did then. Of course, this was something we did not want to hear for Luke.

Well, Jeff and I went prepared with many questions and wanted to hear the doctor's explanation of the test results. After the doctor explained what the test was suppose to show, he then told us that Luke's results were not any better or not any worse than what they were a year ago when we last did the test. WHAT???? That was not what the nurse had told us at all! Basically, what the doctor was telling us was one of the scenarios that Jeff and I were praying for other than he never becoming a diabetic. Luke's body was still hovering in the normal range thus allowing him to not need insulin right now. The doctor still emphasized that in his opinion, Luke will still become a diabetic at some point, but we just do not know when. It could be anytime, anywhere from a few months from now to 20 -30 years. The doctor is hoping that Luke's body can hold off long enough until there is a cure!

All of this was great to hear! We were a little frustrated that the nurse would have given us her explanation of the test results when they were obviously not exactly accurate. We understand that she is new, but it would have been better for her just to say that she really just did not know what the numbers meant and that it would be best to wait and hear what the doctor had to say about it. It was just so emotionally draining what she had put us through. But in the end, that really does not matter! We were just so happy to hear the real test results and to know Luke is still doing fine.

Yes, unfortunately, Luke will develop diabetes at some point according to the doctors, BUT his body is still functioning as well as it was a year ago when we last did the test. Really that is all we could ask for right now! This is great news to Jeff and I. We are so thankful to God that he is still allowing Luke's body to function so well without the need of insulin. We are trying to be strong and remain hopeful that Luke can go many, many years without insulin. We know that the doctor thinks that Luke will eventually need insulin at some point in the future , but GOD is the only one who knows the outcome of all of this and our faith and hope rests in Him. God is good and will see us through what ever the future holds!

Thank you to all of you that have been praying for us! We could not have gotten through this without your many prayers and sweet thoughts.

Luke's IV Glucose Tolerance Test

Well, I know that it has seemed like I have been posting alot about diabetes, but it seems right now that is what our world is consisting of. Anyway, today we went back to Temple to do a IV Glucose Tolerance Test on Luke. As most of you know, we were told two weeks after Emily was diagnosed with diabetes that Luke, too, had 2 out of the 4 antibodies for diabetes.

At that point which was a year ago, our current dr. wanted to perform an IV Glucose Tolerance Test on Luke to see how well his pancreas could tolerate LARGE amounts of glucose. Luke hated the test and it was extremely painful for him. They had to put an IV in each arm of his little body. They used one set IV's to push high levels of glucose into, while drawing out blood from the other set of IV's. He was only 4 at the time and hated every minute of it. It took Jeff laying on top of him to hold him down, while two nurses pushed the glucose and drew his blood, while I held his hands down. Needless to say, it was the worst thing he had every gone through and a very traumatic experience for him. Unfortunately, at that time, his pancreas did not respond as well as we had hoped. His little pancreas did not handle the large amounts of glucose well. It was explained to us that just meant that the onset of his diabetes would probably be sooner than later according to this doctor. He recommended we repeat the test again in about a year to see how his pancreas would respond. That doctor has thankfully moved on and our new dr left it up to Jeff and I as to whether or not we wanted to repeat the test again. After much thinking and planning, we decided to do it only if they would agree to put Luke asleep to do the test. We were not going to allow him to have to go through something like that if we was going to be awake. He has not forgotten about it and may not ever. Plus, Jeff and I did not want him to be so anxious about dr's, needles and shots. Especially, if for some unGodly reason he is to develop diabetes soon because his little world would be dealing with all of these things alot.

Well, the drs agreed that we could put him to sleep to do the procedure, but we would have to do it in the PICU in Temple because they did not have the capabilites to put him to sleep in just the drs office. It sounded extreme, but we did not care as long as he did not know what was going on during the procedure.

So, we left this morning at 6:45 to be in Temple by 8:45 for his appointment. The dr in charge of the PICU met us outside of the PICU unit and was perplexed as to why we were wanting to put him to sleep for this kind of procedure. We attempted to explain our last experience and told him we did not want him to go through that again. Plus, we emphasized that we were told that was why we were at the PICU in order to have the option of putting him to sleep. If we were just going to attempt all of this again without some sort of sedation, we could have just done all of this at the drs office. I don't think he was real pleased to be messing with us, but we had to do what would be best for our son. After discussing our range of options from doing nothing to giving him oral sedation of vercet (Sp?) to a shot that would completely knock him out, we deceided on the oral sedation of vercet. It was not going to really make him completely asleep, but it would just make him feel very relaxed and really not care what they were doing to him. So, the dr led us to a treatment room luckily not inside the PICU. I was nervous about seeing all of those very sick kids dealing with alot worse than what we were. :(

They hooked Luke up to all of the machines and the dr gave the medicine to Luke and told us he should start feeling it in about 15 - 20 minutes. Well, Luke never really fell asleep, but he was DEFINTILY relaxed. He was very silly acting and very talkative to the nurses. He was very intrigued by the little red light that was on the tip of his finger that measured his pulse. I think that was the medicine kicking in! :)

It takes two nurses to do the test and to start all of the IV's. They first tried starting the IV in his hand, but were unsuccessful and had to do them in his arms. Luke was definitely aware and even cried a little, but it was nothing like before. So, that was an answered prayer and a blessing. After the IV's were in place, they began the tests of pushing the glucose and drawing the blood. Again, Luke was very aware of what was going on, but just very relaxed through it all. He actually kept the nurses and Jeff and I laughing with all of the silly things we was saying. Here is a picture of him with all of the IV's in his arm. :(

And a picture of one of the nurses drawing the blood.

It makes me sad to look at it and think about what his little body had to go through. He is just too little to have to endure something like that. But all in all, it was a successful day and Luke did great! Praise God!

Anyway, we do not have any test results back yet. I think that we should get the first set back at the end of this week and the rest of them a few weeks later. So, please pray that it has not progressed any further or EVEN MAYBE HAS IMPROVED, which is a possibility! I know GOD CAN DO ANYTHING!

Update on Luke

I wanted to give all of you an update on our last dr. appointment we had for Luke. As most of you know, Luke was diagnosed soon after Emily for being in the early stages of diabetes. One of the first tests that they did on Luke showed he had some of the antibodies that attack your pancreas which in turn eventually make you become a diabetic. But fortunately the antibodies have not yet attacked it enough that he would need the care and attention that Emily requires. Thank God!

Anyway, we went last week to meet with our new pediatric endocrinologist. Our last dr has moved and we were really not too sad to see him leave. He was not the most positive or hopeful doctor. When you are dealing with something like diabetes, you need hope and receive care from a dr. that offers you hope in a situation that sometimes is anything but hopeful. Our new doctor that we met with on Wed. was really positive and really seemed to care what would be best for our children. We were meeting to see if we wanted to repeat the IV glucose tolerance test that we did on Luke back in May. It was the worst thing that we have yet had to do with him. They put an IV in each arm and shoot large amounts of glucose in one IV while drawing blood out of the other IV continuously for about 45 minutes. Well, Luke HATED it and did not respond well to it. It is important for us to do the test because it gives us information on how well his pancreas handles such large amounts of glucose. The last time they did the test, the results were not good, not good at all and it showed that he would probably be needing the same care that we are doing now with Emily sooner than later. Well, of course that is not what we wanted to hear.

Well, it is time to do the test again to see now more than six months later, how his pancreas responds to the glucose again. We talked to the dr about our concerns and just did not want to make Luke go through all of that again. We wanted to see if they could do anything for Luke that would make this not such a traumatic situation for him. The dr said that we could wait until this summer to do the test again to see if Luke would do better because he would be a little older. I told him we could wait thirty more years and Luke would never calmly want to go through that test again. So, the dr. said that they would put him in ICU in Temple, put him to sleep and repeat the test under the superivision of the staff at the ICU. I know that it may seem a little extreme, but this is the best thing for Luke. Hopefully, we will get to be in the room with him and he will not have to endure what he had to last time.

I wanted to share something very positive that the dr shared with us. He said that Luke could stay in this phase he is currently in right now from anywhere from 6 months to 20 years. We are already past the 6 month part! :) So, please pray that he will have many, many years free of diabetes. Unfortunately, he has two out of the four antibodies that make you have diabetes, AND has a sibling with diabetes. So, that is why he thought it is a good idea to repeat the test so we can see how he is doing. The dr. said that his numbers could have gotten better , stayed the same or have gotten worse.

We are planning on doing the test in a couple of weeks. We will let you all know when we schedule the test and what the results are once we receive them.

So, please be prayer that Luke's body can tolerate the glucose and that his numbers are better than the last time or at least have stayed the same. I know that God can do anything! I know that he can heal Luke and allow him to never have a life filled with the stress and problems that comes with diabetes.