The Signs I Missed

I remember the afternoon where I was rushed to the emergency room because I had no energy and the school nurse who took my blood glucose level saw numbers that were beyond what they could measure. I was put in the ICU and my aunt had to rush down from Boston. What she heard at the ICU was that I had diabetic ketoacidosis (“DKA”) which could have led to a life-threatening situation if I had been sent to the emergency room even just one day later. Because of this risk, there are countries now requiring mandatory testing for type 1 diabetes.

After the scare, my mom, my aunt, my grandmother, my cousins and I, who basically lived together whenever I was in Seoul during vacation, racked our brains. What did we miss? How could we have missed the signs? 

It seems that it is quite common to miss these signs. So much that in Europe, they teach the 4 Ts. Toilet (frequent urination), Thirsty (excessive thirst), Tired (fatigue), Thinner (unexplained weight loss).

Back to me, I became so thirsty that I kept asking my mom to buy larger water bottles. I usually carried 500 ml water bottles but I ended up asking for 2 liter water bottles. My mom just thought I was thirsty because I was doing more exercises. I kept needing to go to the rest room. And I felt even more thirsty so I would drink all different types of beverages and go to the rest room more than 20 times a day! When it got really bad, I did think that maybe something was wrong but did not take it so seriously.

I also started to use lotion on my hands. I was not one to really be using lotions but my hands started to be so itchy and dry. Similar to my need for more water, it seems that type 1 diabetes results in high blood sugar levels that can pull fluid from your body and make your skin very dry. So I started ordering hand lotion and putting them on.

I also started to lose weight. I was never heavy and I was famous for not eating a lot. So it was not something I took seriously. I just got in a lot of trouble back home and my grandmother started to feed me each time I went back home for vacation. She thought I was not eating properly because I was in boarding school. But then, one month prior to the night I went to ICU, I started to lose excess weight. So much that people said I weighed like a K pop star. When my aunt saw me at the ICU, she was shocked because I looked like someone who had been starving and the nurse confirmed that in fact, my body had been starving because of the lack of insulin.

My body grew thinner and my skin turned rough, but I didn’t understand why back then.

The tipping point and what thankfully led me to the school nurse was feeling so tired. I wanted to do well in class, exercise and also play with my friends. But every day, I felt more and more tired. I thought it was because I was adjusting to the new boarding life, to new friends. It seemed strange because I am known to be outgoing and always one to raise my hand to hang out but I just wanted to sleep and sleep. The day I went to the school nurse was the day I felt I was too tired and I knew it was not a normal feeling of being tired. 

Even  now, thinking of that day, I am glad but scared that one more day and I could have been in serious condition. 

Italy is the first country in the world to introduce a law that makes it mandatory for type 1 diabetes screening. It was driven by the parents of a four year old boy named Tommaso from Bari, Italy who died of undiagnosed type 1 diabetes. It is a slow process but I know there are movements around the world to help increase awareness of type 1 diabetes screening in children and adults. I hope I can contribute to this movement.