Second Checkup

Sam had his second checkup yesterday.
He's put almost 5 pounds back onto his 4 year old frame, which doesn't sound like much, but is actually 16% of his total body weight.
His average blood sugar level taken over a period of 6 months, in this case was 180. That was lower than the high 200s that he showed at our first appointment, before the official diagnosis.
We were told that an insulin pump will run us about $5500. So we are taking donations. :)
We met with both his doctor and a nutritionist. Both said we are doing a good job. That's encouraging to hear, because some days I feel like I'm doing a miserable job at taking care of my child. His blood sugar levels have been dropping significantly lately, which has confused us. Some days we intentionally undershoot him with insulin, hoping to normalize him and keep him from dipping so low below 100. It hasn't been working.
They informed us that this means that Sam has entered "the honeymoon phase." We had read about this and our doctor had talked about it, but we didn't know when it would start. No one does.
The Honeymoon Phase occurs after a Type 1 diagnosis. In very simplified terms, the very tired pancreas gets to take a breather while the insulin injections take over. In Sam's case, at the time of his diagnosis, his pancreas had not yet shut down completely. He needed a very small amount of insulin to normalize his blood sugar. With practice, we were able to figure things out and generally could predict what his blood sugar number would be. Not always, but often.
Over the past couple of weeks, however, his numbers have been consistently low and confusing. That means that what is left of his beta cells have started working again, so he requires less insulin than he did before. This honeymoon phase can last a few months or even a couple of years. Eventually, his remaining beta cells will stop working and his body will be completely reliant upon the insulin we give him.

That might be more than you ever wanted to know about Diabetes.
Me too.
And yet, that is where we are.

This handsome boy turns 4 in just a matter of days. He seems much older than that. He has been forced to grow up a lot in the past 3 months. He asks about carb counts, he handles his syringes gently and carefully, he no longer fights or complains about being poked and prodded. God has been gracious to him and to us throughout.