Remembering Why

Last week at work one of my patients was a newly diagnosed diabetic. As you can imagine, this can be devastating news to a teenager during their summer vacation- who had to leave a mission trip in Mexico early. Big bummer. She was a very sweet girl, with a great family and as we chatted away about her dream to be a beautician, going on mission trips, 4-H, etc. her blood glucose stabilized and we were able to turn the Insulin drip off and start carb counting to see how much Insulin we needed to give her before eating. In the ICU world we're great with Diabetic patients when on an Insulin drip, but we try to get them to the floor ASAP because we dread giving shots and carb counting, and aren't trained well for diabetic education! (Seriously, when I count carbs I think the more the better: Bread+pasta+cake. Not the right formula). Since no floor beds were available I had to suck it up, carb count, and give a shot :(

At lunch I tested her blood level and administered her shot. By dinner time I was pulling stuff out of the back of my brain on diabetic education that dates back to college days (don't roll your eyes, 4 years is a long time!). I gave her the option of either pricking her finger or administering the shot, she had to pick one. She chose the first option and it was a tearful, anxious attempt. She's shaking, sitting in the bed with parents and grandparents huddled around encouraging her. After several failed attempts to get close enough to prick her finger I gave an inspiring speech that went something like this:
          "Kara (not her real name), one day you'll be cutting some girl's hair and she'll have a frown on her face and you'll be thinking 'Oh no, she doesn't like the haircut' but you'll be brave and ask her instead 'So tell me what's going on in your life' and she'll reply, 'I just found out I'm diabetic.' To this you will reply, 'Guess what? Me too! The good news is that this disease doesn't own you, you own it!' "

By this point the family is all rallying behind me and she (Kara) is nodding her head in agreement that she CAN do this...and she does! I was so proud of her, and of course afterward she comments that it wasn't really that bad. I know this diagnosis is a bummer, and that it's a complete lifestyle change but compared to so many of the diagnosis I see she is one of the lucky ones.

She was transferred to the floor sometime during the night and had undergone enough teaching that day on the floor that she was getting discharged after dinner. Before leaving the hospital they came back to the PICU to tell me goodbye. They gave me a sweet, handwritten thank you card as well as a Starbucks gift card (totally unnecessary but it will be used!). It's been a few years since a family has expressed their kindness through action like this and it meant so much. As we said our goodbyes, and relayed how great it was to meet one another, I encouraged Kara to see her own mission field here at home and to remember that God knows her desire to serve in Mexico (after she gets her diabetes under control). Now the mom is crying, I've got tears in my eyes and the second round of hugging begins. This is the first time since being in California that I've openly been able to talk about God with a patient and their family. It used to be an every day occurrence when I worked at Duke b/c in the South just about everyone is a "Christian"/"goes to church". I'm so blessed to have met them, and my body will be thankful for the caffeine tomorrow morning as I go back to work after being off for 6 days.