# Newly diagnosed 10 yr old son



## Jojo76 (Aug 5, 2011)

Hello,
My son Ollie has just bee diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. 
we have been home from hospital for a week and things are running smoothly so far, the blood sugar is slowly coming down thankfully! 
Glad we have the long summer break to get used to this, we dont know anyone with diabetes so finding it all quite baffling!!! 
Ollie seems to be taking it in his stride most of the time and we have only had a few wobbles! I think he is being sooo brave! 
Im worried about him going back to school  .


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## Northerner (Aug 5, 2011)

Hi Jojo, I replied to your earlier post  Please feel free to ask anything you are unsure of - there are lots of lovely experienced people here. You might also want to join Children with Diabetes with lots of knowledgeable parents who understand just what you are going through


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## Gillsb (Aug 6, 2011)

Hi JoJo,

So glad you have found this site so soon, everyone here will be such a help to you.  For a week in you sound as if you are all coping fantastically.  My daughter was just 12 when she was diagnosed now and started on the same insulins as your son.  Gradually your nurse will help you take control of the insulin yourselves and before you know it you will have readings in single figures.  I remember worrying myself about the first "hypo" and when it did occur it was quite non eventful.  It was simply a case of "mum I think I feel a bit different".  She did a finger prick and indeed was 3.9.  To this day she has never failed to recognise the signs and a drink of juice/a few jelly babies does the trick.  

There is a lot of information to take in and you must be feeling overload at the moment.  You may have feelings of bereavement (this is quite normal) just take one day at a time but dont be frightened to ask any questions about the technical stuff no matter how silly it seems at the time.  You will both learn to understand this condition and I promise life will be "normal again"  even if it is a slightly new normal it is still good.  

Lots of love to you all.


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## Hanmillmum (Aug 6, 2011)

Hi,

Welcome to the forum, sorry to hear about your son  Have a chat to your son's DSN about when he returns to school, she will be able to reassure you and perhaps draw up a care plan/visit the staff to educate them about his needs. Take care


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## Tina63 (Aug 7, 2011)

Hi there and welcome from me too.  My son was diagnosed at the age of 15 a few months ago, and I agree with the person above, we were terrified at the thought of the first hypo.  I had visions of him collapsing and us having to dial 999.  Instead it was him just calmly coming to us, I grant you looking deathly white, but he had the shakes, said he felt sick and his body was telling him he needed glucose.  I can't remember the specific figure now, nothing too drastic, but then he had been well into the 20's when diagnosed so was bound to feel odd when the levels dropped so much over the first few weeks. We were given loads of information at the start, but I do think that's the only area we were perhaps a bit misled, I certainly expected a full collapse from him, but touch wood, so far that has never happened.  Hypos became quite a regular thing for a start, but now things have settled down a lot and we have odd spells of them, but never anything too drastic.  We have had one or two 1.9s and he has still been standing and able to communicate, so though the first few will be a bit scary, it's not half as bad as you imagine.

Going back to school will be hard for your child.  My son was diagnosed during the Christmas holidays.  That was a bad time as no-one was around.  We had to keep him home the first day back until I was sure the school were fully aware of the situation and had things in place to help him if needed.  We had to supply a 'hypo box' for school with coke, dextrose tablets and cereal bars in, and our school nurse has a supply of my son's needles too, as he managed to forget to take those in with him one day and it was a nightmare getting some down to him that particular day, so she keeps a spare handful in her office now.  The first few weeks back at school were a very anxious time for him and he did suffer from diarrhoea each morning for the first few weeks, which the professionals all put down to a stress response, understandably so.

Whilst you have the summer holidays, I would advise you to invite your child's close group of friends round, maybe one at a time, to start educating them a bit and take the mystery out of it before your child returns to school. They will rally round your child and become quite protective.  You may get the odd one going a bit funny about it, but on the whole they are great.  My biggest fear was teenagers messing about or perhaps pinching his stuff 'for a laugh' but it just hasn't happened.  He is allowed to take a friend inside if he wants to when he needs to inject, though he is now very private about it all.  School have also been very understanding too when in the early days I seemed to be phoning every other day either excusing his absense or asking advice.  I never had any real contact with the school before, but they do understand your anxiety.  It is hard for us mums saying goodbye and passing that responsibility over to other people, but you do get there in the end.  Good luck!


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## CatO (Aug 7, 2011)

Hi Jojo

I have just joined the board today, my son was 10 when he was diagnosed 3 years ago, the school were absolutley fantastic about it.  It happened during the easter holidays so we had 2 weeks at home before I had to send him back in, for the first 2 weeks I went in at lunch time to watch him test himself and make sure he had the right amount of insulin.

His nurse came into the school one afternoon and they called a full staff meeting to make sure that everybody was aware and knew what to do in an emergency.

3 years in and he has not collapsed once, he is very good at spotting the signs of a hypo, and knowing what to do about it.

Try to enjoy the rest of the holidays

Take care

Cat


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