I did get a call this morning saying I have diabetes and have to start immediately on insulin shots and have to test my sugar at least 4 times a day for the rest of my pregnancy. This is for Cayla right now, to jump start the sugar problem as soon as possible for her sake. I will not have to do insulin shots after the pregnancy. I think the hardest thing about the call was the surprise and unexpectedness of it. It did set me off crying I think just because the shock of it all. I was finally able to talk to the dietitian today and will meet with her tomorrow at 11am. She will help me figure out menu options that include Celiac Disease and Diabetes. Cruel punishment now that Dairy Queen just opened back up down the road... Ok, so gluten-free/sugar-free here I come. Got the gluten free down and am sure I will make it just fine without sugar too. The fun part and best part of all this is that my whole family is going to join me on my sugar-free journey. They know this, but I'm not sure if they believe it just yet. Just wait boys... :D If this helps Cayla, of course I'll do it gladly now that the shock has worn off. Dr. Rajabi already has my insulin and syringes and "stuff" waiting for me at the Pharmacy. Yay. I think I'll tell Lowell to buy stock in test strips. :D I'm just wondering why my OB/GYN didn't call me or jump on this. I'd been told they'd call if there was a problem, so I assumed all was well. Oh well, I guess I should be thanking Dr. Rajabi. There's a bit of twisted irony in that...
Well, I have to say too that God cheered me up considerably the rest of the afternoon. He's good like that! I'd been wanting to find just a couple of long sleeve, light weight maternity shirts to wear when I go out of the house. Let's just say at home, it's t-shirts and my big sweaters. I have one maternity shirt like this that my friend Tina Siesel bought me for my birthday and has been a life-saver, but I think I need more than one now. I just felt like driving up to Ashtabula harbor to the Goodwill store to see if they happened to have anything. I found their small section of maternity and was ready to leave when I realized there was a shirt there that was maternity, but I didn't think it was at first. I looked at it and thought it might fit, tried it on and it fit great. Went back to the rack and lo and behold, there was another one just like it but a different color. So, at $4 a piece, I splurged and bought both of them! What a treat! :o) They'll work great. Thank you Lord for your simple but wonderful provision!
Then since we were already in the harbor, I had to stop at my favorite store, Basic Ingredients, owned by a sweet, godly lady. I didn't realize she knew what was going on since last Friday, but found out she's been reading my blog since her church had asked prayer last Sunday night. Amazing how word spreads! After a great talk with her, she had all my gluten-free flours I needed. I'm going to try to save money and bake a little more. Of course, I just now as I'm typing, realize that the dietitian will tell me to cut out bread now that I'm ready and in the mood to bake my own gluten-free bread... Isn't that the way it goes. Maybe she'll tell me that brown rice flour, sorghum flour, millet flour, tapioca and corn starch and potato flakes combo will be ok. Just reading over the list, I know the corn and potato are huge starches, so no, I probably won't be able to use it... OK, moving on... I did buy some decaf blueberry tea too. Whew! Now I'm happy again thinking about the blueberry tea. It's all good and God will help me through the next couple of months. You know, on that note, my OB/GYN put my due date at May 8th. The computer at Hillcrest Hospital and the ultrasound, put my due date at April 30th. I like that date much better. Don't you? :o)
The last part of this evening that cheered me up was going to dinner for a friend's birthday party. So what if it was Pizza Hut, and I had to have their salad bar instead of pizza, but the fellowship was wonderful! Really good to see friends from the store I hadn't seen in months and others too! God knows just what I need when I need it! Thank you Lord for a wonderful day (despite the morning fiasco)! So blessed to be God's child and in His care!
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Diabetes? I guess so.
Just got a call from my regular OB's office telling me that I'm diabetic, and I have to start insulin shots asap. Really? I just had my blood sugar tested Dec. 13th, non fasting and it was 126. Today she said my blood sugar from the end of January, that covers the last 3 months, was 290 and no one called me to tell me. Dr. Rajabi called my OB and told her to get onto this apparently. For some reason, this news pushed me over the edge this morning, and I cried on the phone with the nurse and then burst into tears after we hung up... I will be one happy camper when my hormone levels aren't quite so high. So, off to get my shower and go to the hospital today and find out how to give myself insulin shots. Just typing this is making me cry again... Aye, yie, yie... I'm a mess. :P Tomorrow I get to meet with the dietitian at ACMC to get some info and such. Wish I could get a hold of myself right now... It's somehow easier to trust God in the bigger things and forget to trust in the "smaller" things. Maybe 1st it's back to Psalms again this morning. :D
The Amniocentesis Day...
A picture from today's ultrasound of our precious Cayla Joy's little face... Just gotta love it!
Today has been an emotional day. We were able to find the hospital without a problem... I just need to look at the directions before we get to that part of the trip. It was actually harder to find the Dr.'s office in the hospital. I realized I have no idea what Hillcrest Hospital is, but it's definitely more than just any kind of pediatrics branch of Cleveland Clinic...
Lowell and I had a very good, informative talk with Dr. Rajabi. He was so good! He drew pictures to describe Cayla's condition, answered all our questions, and was so patient, clear and understanding with us. The whole staff there was wonderful. So over-the-top in helping us through every step. He explained that this is a syndrome in that it has many levels of possibilities in severeness which makes every case very individualized. He is looking for 5 main things in the left side of her heart. Each could be at a differing degree of defect. I don't know that I could remember it all, but something like the aorta, the aorta ventricle (or something), the valve between the 2 chambers, and the lower chamber... ok, so I really can't remember. Anyways, he said he will be looking at these parts as closely as possible today. He also said that he did not want to do the amniocentesis unless the ultrasound showed any other unexplained abnormalities that would lead to a possible chromosome problem. That was a relief to hear. He also said that even if it's just the heart defect with no chromosome issues, she still will only have a 50% chance of living once she's born. Ok, so that's not what I wanted to hear, but I can't bury my head in the sand. Thus went hour #1.
Hour #2... the ultrasound. Lowell's mom and Samuel got to come back for this. The ultrasound tech was one of those people that just has a perpetual smile, and I just feel drawn to people like that. So nice. Here we go for level 3 ultrasound. I was hoping it might be a 3-D one, but it wasn't, just a stronger and more powerful one than our hospital. She showed us her fingers, her nose, smile, face, spine, humerus, ulna, radius, femur, and even her little, left club foot. Kind of hurt my heart for a minute there to look at it, but made me so thankful for technology and doctors that can supposedly fix it without much of a problem, I hope. I had to turn on my side for her to see the heart and then I couldn't see the screen. Lowell said he could see the right heart as she labeled it, but then couldn't see anything else. Granted he also said he really wasn't sure what all he was looking at. Bless these people that can tell what's what on those ultrasound screens. Her left heart looked very small indeed. Dr. Rajabi said that out of the 5 point he tried to see, there were problems with 3 of them that he could tell. She was moving quite a bit giving them a challenge to snap the picture at the right moment. He was not trying to be all gloom and doom, but just trying to be realistic and up front. So... he did see another problem outside of the club foot that could easily be caused by chromosomes. The umbilical cord was not formed normal, although it seemed to be working fine. Here we go again... don't quote me on this... something about it supposed to having 2 arteries connecting it and there was only one...? Combine that with the club foot and he had enough reasons to want to test for chromosome causes. Since no where that we know of in either of our families has anyone had a club foot, which is usually hereditary, that leads him to think it is a chromosome caused problem too. At this point as the ultrasound was ending, I was feeling exhausted, and my emotions were rising, but with many prayers from so many people, I was able to keep them in check since we still had more to do that I needed to be sane for. Thanks again for all the prayers today!
Hour #3... the Amniocentesis (yay.) I was mentally ready to do it today, so jumped right into the whole process. The prayers of God's people were definitely answered during this hour! When it came time, they sent everyone else out. I was kind of hoping Lowell could've stayed, but then remembered how bad he is with needles, and realized it's for the best. (Love you Lowell!) The prep took forever it seemed, and then out comes this long, lovely needle... Did I mention it was kind of long? The ultrasound tech had the view on screen and was showing him exactly where he was with the needle. She never took her eyes off the tip of the needle and was telling him to pull back, move left, and so on. I hardly felt the needle go in and felt less pain than the last blood sample drawn that turned my arm purple. Everything went perfectly and God was in the midst of that room! I smiled, answered the doctor as he talked to me throughout it. I have to say I was nervous during the prep, but actually when the needle came into view... I know this sounds weird, but at that point is when I was overwhelmed with peace. I watched it go in, watched the screen and the tip of it, watched the fluid fill up the tube like I was observing someone else. While the tube was slowly filling up, he's telling me what they do with this. They take the skin cells from the fluid and grow it in the lab like a culture and then they are able to take that and separate out my 23 X chromosomes and match them up to Lowell's 23 Y ones. Then they can look for any extra... Praying it's God's will that there will be no extra ones floating around in there. The doctor even thanked me for being a such a good patient and handling it so well. To God be the glory. He just smiled. So did I.
God upheld us all the way through the 3 and 1/2+ hours we were there. I was told to go home and stay off my feet the rest of the day. Loved hearing that since I was about to fall asleep on the ultrasound table. We made our appointment for 2 weeks to go back and get the news of the test results and of course, another ultrasound. This will be one well photographed little girl! I have this sneaking suspicion that these next 2 weeks might seem longer than the next 3 months. We all talked as we left, made some phone calls, let them know I wouldn't be at church and called my replacements. Chit chatted in the car about it all, but the tiredness was stronger than my emotions for most of that time. We did see a rainbow on the way home and it hasn't rained in a while. It put a smile on our faces that God was reminding us that He is still in control. Love when God throws in special little things like that when He doesn't have to. Got home at 5:15 and went to bed. Woke up around 8. Got a bite to eat and went back to bed. Didn't sleep this time. This is when I was now somewhat rested and now the emotions took over. I am so thankful for my loving, sweet husband! He just held me as we cried and talked about the day and how we were feeling and what were the hardest things for each of us to deal with through this. I hurt for Cayla. I hurt for Samuel. This was not an easy day for him. At one point he just plugged his ears as I was telling my family the results of the day. He's got a sensitive heart and this is really affecting him. Both he and Lowell are having to really focus hard at work and school. We really appreciate all the prayers being offered on our family's behalf. God has sustained us and will continue to during these next months and Lord-willing, years.
I wasn't going to write anything until tomorrow, but I felt so refreshed tonight despite the late hour and the day, that I decided to get up and pour my little heart out onto the blog. We serve an awesome God. He is everything He's ever promised He would be. There is no better place to be in the world than in His will and in His care. You know, for anyone who's kind of backed off from God or never even known Him personally, you don't realize the wonderful peace, rest, love and so much more that you're missing despite what your circumstances are. God is real. God is amazing. I wish everyone that reads this would come to know and understand this first-hand and not just take my word for it. My email address is lindasowry@gmail.com. Send me a note if you want to know more. I'd love to talk about it with you. It would make all this worth it!
Thanks for the umpteenth time for all your prayers! God is working behind the scenes in ways I can't imagine right now. I'm ready for tomorrow... one day at a time. :o) Woah, I guess it's time for bed since it's now 1:20am. Goodnight my friends!
Lowell and I had a very good, informative talk with Dr. Rajabi. He was so good! He drew pictures to describe Cayla's condition, answered all our questions, and was so patient, clear and understanding with us. The whole staff there was wonderful. So over-the-top in helping us through every step. He explained that this is a syndrome in that it has many levels of possibilities in severeness which makes every case very individualized. He is looking for 5 main things in the left side of her heart. Each could be at a differing degree of defect. I don't know that I could remember it all, but something like the aorta, the aorta ventricle (or something), the valve between the 2 chambers, and the lower chamber... ok, so I really can't remember. Anyways, he said he will be looking at these parts as closely as possible today. He also said that he did not want to do the amniocentesis unless the ultrasound showed any other unexplained abnormalities that would lead to a possible chromosome problem. That was a relief to hear. He also said that even if it's just the heart defect with no chromosome issues, she still will only have a 50% chance of living once she's born. Ok, so that's not what I wanted to hear, but I can't bury my head in the sand. Thus went hour #1.
Hour #2... the ultrasound. Lowell's mom and Samuel got to come back for this. The ultrasound tech was one of those people that just has a perpetual smile, and I just feel drawn to people like that. So nice. Here we go for level 3 ultrasound. I was hoping it might be a 3-D one, but it wasn't, just a stronger and more powerful one than our hospital. She showed us her fingers, her nose, smile, face, spine, humerus, ulna, radius, femur, and even her little, left club foot. Kind of hurt my heart for a minute there to look at it, but made me so thankful for technology and doctors that can supposedly fix it without much of a problem, I hope. I had to turn on my side for her to see the heart and then I couldn't see the screen. Lowell said he could see the right heart as she labeled it, but then couldn't see anything else. Granted he also said he really wasn't sure what all he was looking at. Bless these people that can tell what's what on those ultrasound screens. Her left heart looked very small indeed. Dr. Rajabi said that out of the 5 point he tried to see, there were problems with 3 of them that he could tell. She was moving quite a bit giving them a challenge to snap the picture at the right moment. He was not trying to be all gloom and doom, but just trying to be realistic and up front. So... he did see another problem outside of the club foot that could easily be caused by chromosomes. The umbilical cord was not formed normal, although it seemed to be working fine. Here we go again... don't quote me on this... something about it supposed to having 2 arteries connecting it and there was only one...? Combine that with the club foot and he had enough reasons to want to test for chromosome causes. Since no where that we know of in either of our families has anyone had a club foot, which is usually hereditary, that leads him to think it is a chromosome caused problem too. At this point as the ultrasound was ending, I was feeling exhausted, and my emotions were rising, but with many prayers from so many people, I was able to keep them in check since we still had more to do that I needed to be sane for. Thanks again for all the prayers today!
Hour #3... the Amniocentesis (yay.) I was mentally ready to do it today, so jumped right into the whole process. The prayers of God's people were definitely answered during this hour! When it came time, they sent everyone else out. I was kind of hoping Lowell could've stayed, but then remembered how bad he is with needles, and realized it's for the best. (Love you Lowell!) The prep took forever it seemed, and then out comes this long, lovely needle... Did I mention it was kind of long? The ultrasound tech had the view on screen and was showing him exactly where he was with the needle. She never took her eyes off the tip of the needle and was telling him to pull back, move left, and so on. I hardly felt the needle go in and felt less pain than the last blood sample drawn that turned my arm purple. Everything went perfectly and God was in the midst of that room! I smiled, answered the doctor as he talked to me throughout it. I have to say I was nervous during the prep, but actually when the needle came into view... I know this sounds weird, but at that point is when I was overwhelmed with peace. I watched it go in, watched the screen and the tip of it, watched the fluid fill up the tube like I was observing someone else. While the tube was slowly filling up, he's telling me what they do with this. They take the skin cells from the fluid and grow it in the lab like a culture and then they are able to take that and separate out my 23 X chromosomes and match them up to Lowell's 23 Y ones. Then they can look for any extra... Praying it's God's will that there will be no extra ones floating around in there. The doctor even thanked me for being a such a good patient and handling it so well. To God be the glory. He just smiled. So did I.
God upheld us all the way through the 3 and 1/2+ hours we were there. I was told to go home and stay off my feet the rest of the day. Loved hearing that since I was about to fall asleep on the ultrasound table. We made our appointment for 2 weeks to go back and get the news of the test results and of course, another ultrasound. This will be one well photographed little girl! I have this sneaking suspicion that these next 2 weeks might seem longer than the next 3 months. We all talked as we left, made some phone calls, let them know I wouldn't be at church and called my replacements. Chit chatted in the car about it all, but the tiredness was stronger than my emotions for most of that time. We did see a rainbow on the way home and it hasn't rained in a while. It put a smile on our faces that God was reminding us that He is still in control. Love when God throws in special little things like that when He doesn't have to. Got home at 5:15 and went to bed. Woke up around 8. Got a bite to eat and went back to bed. Didn't sleep this time. This is when I was now somewhat rested and now the emotions took over. I am so thankful for my loving, sweet husband! He just held me as we cried and talked about the day and how we were feeling and what were the hardest things for each of us to deal with through this. I hurt for Cayla. I hurt for Samuel. This was not an easy day for him. At one point he just plugged his ears as I was telling my family the results of the day. He's got a sensitive heart and this is really affecting him. Both he and Lowell are having to really focus hard at work and school. We really appreciate all the prayers being offered on our family's behalf. God has sustained us and will continue to during these next months and Lord-willing, years.
I wasn't going to write anything until tomorrow, but I felt so refreshed tonight despite the late hour and the day, that I decided to get up and pour my little heart out onto the blog. We serve an awesome God. He is everything He's ever promised He would be. There is no better place to be in the world than in His will and in His care. You know, for anyone who's kind of backed off from God or never even known Him personally, you don't realize the wonderful peace, rest, love and so much more that you're missing despite what your circumstances are. God is real. God is amazing. I wish everyone that reads this would come to know and understand this first-hand and not just take my word for it. My email address is lindasowry@gmail.com. Send me a note if you want to know more. I'd love to talk about it with you. It would make all this worth it!
Thanks for the umpteenth time for all your prayers! God is working behind the scenes in ways I can't imagine right now. I'm ready for tomorrow... one day at a time. :o) Woah, I guess it's time for bed since it's now 1:20am. Goodnight my friends!
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