Hank was diagnosed with diabetes on Wednesday, March 23. Wednesday morning he had a few potty accidents, and I have always checked the kids if I think they are drinking too much or going to the bathroom too often. Only to reassure myself so I didn't need to worry. However, when I checked Hank's blood sugar on my meter it was 424 (normal is 70-120). A tremendous shock and a very emotional time. So we went to the pediatrician's immediately, and we were sent straight over to Children's Hospital to be admitted.

Hank definitely has diabetes and he is on 3 injections of insulin a day, blood sugar tests 6 times through the day and night, and a meal plan with specific amounts of food for 3 meals and 3 snacks a day. He will have to continue this for the rest of his life. The good news is that he was diagnosed very early on and was not very "sick". He seems to still be making a small amount of insulin himself, but over the next months to year his body will eventually stop making any insulin at all. Diabetes is an autoimmune disease where your immune system attacks the part of your pancreas that makes insulin. While Hank certainly got the gene from me, half of the population also has the gene and most never develop diabetes. The doctors told me that only about 5% of children with a diabetic parent get diabetes, which is not a lot higher than the general population. So Hank was just unlucky.

We were discharged Friday night after two days packed with diabetes education. Hank will be seeing my own diabetes doctor, who works with both adults and with kids at the clinic at Children's Hospital. It is a world-renowned diabetes center, and my doctor is great.

Since I have had diabetes for 30 years I have tons of experience, and we're doing pretty good. Tony knew a lot about diabetes from being married to me, and he is catching on very quickly; he's already done a practice blood test on himself and given Hank an insulin injection (which was a condition of discharge). He's also good at getting Hank to eat. We are working hard to get Hank to understand and follow a diabetic meal plan (having to eat certain things at certain times and nothing in between). Since he really had no regular eating schedule it's a bit of an adjustment! The injections and blood tests are going well - he doesn't submit to it willingly, but doesn't fight too hard against it, either. I'm sure in a few weeks we'll all be more comfortable with the routine. Rene and Corrina are concerned for Hank, but they seem to enjoy being big sisters and helping Hank out.

Here are some pictures of Hank and the girls enjoying the balloons that Gramma and Grampa Polley sent, and one of Hank hiding behind his bed-table.