Children and Teens

Dekotas Story

09 July 2009

I had been concerned for several months about Dekota and suspected that she may have diabetes, as she was drinking excessive amounts of water during the day. It was the last week of the 2006 April school holidays, Dekota was almost three and a half years old and we were taking a trip up to Perth from Bunbury. During the trip, I became very worried about Dekota as she couldn’t seem to stay awake – this was not like her as she would usually stay awake and talk for the entire trip.

As soon as we got to Perth I rang our doctor in Bunbury and made an appointment, which we headed back for immediately. There we had the blood test done and when my phone rang 30 minutes later it seemed as though my life had stopped. Our doctor confirmed that Dekota had type 1 diabetes and told me that I needed to get her straight to hospital as her blood glucose levels were dangerously high. My husband, Daniel, rushed home immediately and, after an hour at the local hospital, we were told we had to go to Princess Margaret Hospital (PMH). It was a nightmare and a seemingly never ending drive – while Daniel drove us to Perth, I stayed in the back with Dekota, afraid she might go in to a coma.

We stayed in PMH for seven days where we learnt how to look after our little girl and what the ins and outs of having diabetes would mean for our family. A major change for us was the fact that we could no longer just get up in the morning and decide to drive down south, we now had to plan every little thing we did including where we went, how long we would be and what we would take with us. There are also the nightly checks, the injections and constantly working out blood glucose levels. To add to the pressure, we have three other children – aged 10 years, eight years and 18 months – and another on the way.

Learning how to deal with this life changing information was difficult but I now try to take it all in my stride. I am extremely grateful to PMH for providing 24/7 advice and for the clinics held in Bunbury every three months. We are currently waiting to get Dekota on to an insulin pump, which will improve her life greatly. Having an insulin pump will give back some of the spontaneity we used to have as a family and relieve the constant battle to get her to eat when she is not hungry. This will mean more work for myself and Daniel, as Dekota is too young to learn how to work it, but I believe it will improve her life and will be worthwhile.

My husband and I are just so proud of the way our little girl is handling life with type 1 diabetes and are extremely grateful to have her in our lives.