Not so positive health news

I called my older sister this evening just to chat. My older sister that has 2 boys and a daughter. The one who drove out here a couple weeks ago?

Anyway, she let me know that my BIL's youngest sister's oldest son probably has diabetes. He is 10.

My sister's 17 year old nephew (my BIL's oldest sister's son) came over for dinner with the 10 year old cousin my BIL's youngest sister's son around dinnertime yesterday. The two boys ended up eating dinner. And during dinner, the 17 year old mentioned that the 10 year old drank a TON of water that day. Like 10 glasses of water!

My sister was washing dishes and something clicked in her head. The fact that the 10 year old looked like he had lost some weight. The fact that the 10 year old had consumed a bunch of water that day. The fact that she had seen a bunch of glasses in her sink each evening when she came home after work (the kids would sometimes hang out at my sister's house). The fact that my BIL's younger sister had mentioned that her son had a couple nighttime accidents in the last couple of weeks.

My sister corned my BIL and had him call his sister. They found out that the increased water consumption had been going on for about three weeks. MUCH longer than my sister had realized. My sister told her SIL that she needed to call the pediatrician and tell him what's been going on. The pediatrician was called and he said that the 10 year old should get his blood tested.

My BILs Mom has adult on-set diabetes, so she has a blood testing kit (as does my father). So my BIL had his Mom bring over the kit first thing this morning. The 10 year old hadn't eaten yet, so they did the test. The normal fasting blood test is supposedly around 100. The 10 year old? His level was 325. That is THREE TIMES what it should be. So they are bringing him into the pediatrician first thing Monday.

The poor little guy was fully upset about it. I would have NEVER suspected that he would develop diabetes. He's not overweight one bit. He runs around regularly - he loves to skateboard. You would have never guessed it people.

But what's really good about the situation is that there are 3 families that live within a block of each other. My sister/BIL. My BIL's younger sister/husband. My BIL's older sister/husband. And all the kids. There will be enough support from all the adults because everyone is in such close proximity of each other. My BIL's mother has adult on-set diabetes, so she'll know how to show him how to test. And my father also has adult on-set diabetes, so he can show my sister how to test and do the shots (if that's the way they'll need to control it).

So people....watch you kids. Make sure you know what they eat. Make sure you watch what they drink as well. You never know...