The Diagnosis

I guess I should begin at the beginning. Ivy had (what I thought was) a habit of drinking. A lot. Quickly. The girl could put down a bottled water in one sip, no lie. I never really gave it a second thought... I just thought she drank a lot, maybe from boredom, maybe as a sort of a parlor trick. I even joked about it making her popular in college.


But then people started to comment on it. Michelle and I were in wal-mart one saturday, and she kind of kicked my ass about it. She told me to get my head out of my butt and take my girl to a doctor. So I did.


I didn't really take her, though, just her pee. Acquiring that pee was a feat, too. If there's one thing my child is, it's stubborn. No clue where she gets that from. Anyway, the child that pees waterfalls somehow didn't have to go that Monday afternoon. So I bribed her. With chocolate (laughable, in hindsight). She still didn't pee.


We went to her dad's and somehow she was able to go then. So I said my goodbye and headed to the pediatrician's office, cup in hand, still not really thinking there was anything wrong.


The office stayed open for me to bring ivy's "specimen". The nurse took the cup from me and did a dipstick thing to test for sugar. I mindlessly talked with Patty, the receptionist. It was 5 days before Christmas, I think we discussed our respective plans. Then I heard the nurse say "Patty, I'm going to send it." She was sending the pee to the lab. It wasn't perfect pee. But they had warned me if I didn't do the collection right, it could show white cells, so maybe I messed something up. Dr. Amy walked out and sat down next to me.... And my world came crashing down around me.


"There is sugar in her urine."


"You need to go pick her up and take her to the ER immediately."


"Without her here, we can't test what her blood sugar is, but if it's spilling in her urine it is high. Above 200. We can't treat it in the office."


"Diabetes."


"Could it be a false positive? Yes, but very unlikely."


"could it be something other than diabetes? Not really. There really isn't much else that causes sugar in your urine."


"She will be admitted. Possibly to the picu."


Diabetes.


Diabetes.


I tried to call nathan to tell him. Dr. Amy took the phone from me and did the talking. I don't think either of us realized the severity of the situation. He needed to take a shower before he could leave. I think he anticipated going to work that evening. I knew he wouldn't be. I decided to go home and change out of my scrubs and pack some things for Ivy