Careless. Senseless. Tragic.

I wish that the common cold virus produced insulin. If it did, my immune system would’ve kicked into high-gear and rid my body of these nagging runny-nose, coughing, stuffy-head symptoms that had been bothering me for the last week.

But even more than that, I wish that pediatric doctors were trained to recognize the symptoms of Type 1 diabetes in children*. Or, even better, if they included blood (or urine) glucose tests as standard protocol when seeing a child, making it just as routine as listening to their chest with a stethoscope. It’s incredibly easy to do, but is all too often overlooked.

If you haven’t already, please read Sunday’s post from Tom Karlya on DiabetesDad. Then read ALL the comments (there are a lot!).  It is, perhaps, the most terrifying thing I’ve ever read. Kids come to see their doctor with the classic textbook-symptoms, the doctor writes it off as a common illness or bacterial infection, and then sends him or her home where they ultimately end up in Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), or perhaps even worse.