A Difficult Day

There are no pictures for today. It has in fact turned out to be a very trying and difficult day and I honestly didn't even feel up to taking any pictures.

About 6 months ago we learned that Dustin was pre-diabetic. This in itself is a very long story, so I will try to keep it short. Intel offers their employees a monetary incentive every year to have a full physical completed. And every year, Dustin has taken advantage of this. It wasn't until this year that something was flagged. His glucose levels had been rising the past few years, but this year they were in a range that would put him at risk for diabetes. We went to our regular doctor, and he also confirmed this. We tried to get an appointment with an endocrinologist right away, but every one we talked to said that we would have to book six months out. So we also made an appointment with a naturopath and found ways to control Dustins blood sugar levels just by monitoring his diet. At this time is also when we found out that Dustin has an allergy to wheat and yeast, and this is the reason for so many of his stomach problems in the past.

At the time when Dustin was just being diagnosed we had lots of lab work done. My very limited knowledge of this disease has let me learn that the glucometers that take your blood sugar levels are never extremely accurate, but a good day to day reading of what is going on in your body. But the Hemaglobin A1C levels are the best indicator of what is going on. According to one resource we found "In most labs, the normal range is 4-5.9 %. In poorly controlled diabetes, its 8.0% or above, and in well controlled patients it's less than 7.0%." When Dustin first started on this journey his A1C levels were 6.6%. After months of monitoring his diet very strictly his levels dropped to 5.5%. I can tell you on this day we were praising God more than you can imagine and giving Him all the glory for putting this fabulous naturopath into our lives and teaching us some alternatives to medicine.

Fast forward to about a week ago. We knew that his endocrinologist appointment was coming up so we thought that he should start monitoring his levels again on his glucometer. And since the wedding and the holidays we haven't done a really good job of monitoring his diet, so we thought we should get back on track with that as well. So last week some day, he took his levels on the glucometer and it registered as a 380. This is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than any level we have ever had before, even on days where lots of sweets were consumed. Dustin rushed to the doctor just to make sure that everything was fine. He ran some more test results and said to get back to working out and watching his diet.

So today was the day we got back the test results. He got a phone call from the doctors office asking him to come in after work. (This is never a good thing). So he called me on my way to bible study to tell me the results. Dustin's A1C levels had risen to 8.9%. **Heart drops as I hear this** In the past Dustin's body had produced normal levels of insulin, but now he was producing very little **Heart drops a little more** I knew that we hadn't been great about his diet, but I also knew that we were far better than anyway we had been prior to his original diagnosis. Thankfully the appointment we scheduled with an endocrinologist six months ago is next week, Thursday, February 4th.

But oh no... the story of the bad day doesn't end here. In fact, it hasn't really started. About ten minutes after my conversation with Dustin, and while I was sitting with my girlfriends at bible study I get a text message from one of my girlfriends, Tiffany. Tiffany's husband, Donnie, was diagnosed with hypogammaglobulinemia about 6-7 years ago. This is an immune disorder, and how I understand it is that Donnie truly doesn't have an immune system. There are very very few people in the world with this disease, so very little research has been done to find a cure. If his daughter gets sick with a cold at school, he will for sure catch it and become even more sick. And because of all that he is dealing with he is constantly in pain. Okay... so back to my story. Tiffany had told me earlier in the week that Donnie hadn't been doing all that well recently and was in a ton of pain. To make a very long story short, Donnie had been prescribed several medications for the pain and for the immune dificiency. Earlier today, he had a root canal in which he was given even more drugs. Somehow the drugs had all interacted with each other in a not-so-good way and had caused Donnie to have an accidental overdose. Tiffany was there as all of this happened, and their son was able to call 911 right away. The firefighters were there in a matter of minutes and we transported to Thunderbird hospital.

As soon as I got her text I called Dustin and we headed out to the hospital. All in all he was doing okay, and very lucky. Tiffany and Donnie have been the most faithful people through all of this. Witnessing their relationship with Christ through all of them, and watching them find strength through Him was such a testimony to Dustin and I. I think it would be so easy to become disheartened and become frustrated with God, but they seem to have so much strength and faith. On the way home, Dustin looked at me and said "Wow... isn't this a great reminder that things could be so much worse." And that is definitely the truth.

We spent the evening trying to sort through all of our emotions from the day. I praise God for giving me a husband that in the last few months has become so faith-filled. Dustin was the one to keep me grounded and remind me that God will provide us strength to get through all of this diabetes stuff. We are praying for godly wisdom in understanding the road that is before us, and the journey that Tiffany and Donnie are on. We are praying for the doctors that will reviewing Dustin's case, that they will know the best approach to his situation. And we are praying for incredible wisdom in Donnie's situation that someone may find a cure or a treatment for his disease. And we are praying to see God work in all of this!!