DAVID

I woke up to bright lights and loud voices. Everything was foggy. "What's his BP?" someone yelled. I tried to ask where I was but I couldn't. My mouth wouldn't move. I tried to move the rest of my body, but I couldn't move that either. There was beeping and yelling, and I was beginning to get afraid. I didn't know what was going on. I had to be in the hospital. Was I sick? Did this have something to do with the dizzy spells? I felt a prick on my arm and began to panic. My breath started coming in short gasps. "His O2 is falling."

That's when I felt someone familiar grab my hand, and above all of the noise in the room I could make out my mother's voice saying, "Mom's here, David. It's okay." Before I could even think to answer, I fell into a darkness and the exhaustion from being awake for the past few minutes engulfed me.

When I woke up for the second time, my parents were both sleeping on chairs beside my bed. There was an agent against the far wall, and when he saw me wake up, he woke my parents. I had wires and tubes all over me, and I felt as though I'd been hit by a tractor trailer. My head felt heavy and my throat hurt.

"David!" My mom sat beside me on the bed and pushed my hair out of my eyes. "We were so worried about you." My father smiled timidly (something I had never seen him do before) and got up to get the doctor. I knew that this was serious.

"Mom, what happened?" Before she could answer, the doctor walked in, my father following behind him. As the doctor flipped through a chart, my father sat on the bed and grabbed my other hand. I wanted to tell my dad that he was embarrassing me, but I felt too sick to say anything or push my dads hand off of mine.

"You gave us quite a scare." the doctor said once he had flipped through my chart. "My name is Dr. Leal."

"What's going on?" I was starting to get frustrated.

"You were in what is called ketoacidosis. It's commonly known as diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA."

"Diabetes? I have diabetes?" caught in my throat.

"Type one diabetes is a manageable disease. With proper diet and insulin therapy you can lead a normal life." he assured me.

"Isn't that when your pancreas has stopped making insulin?" I was squeezing my parents hands now, but they didn't let go.

"That's correct. Because of this your body couldn't rid itself of the sugar that was building up. You had to go to the bathroom a lot?"

"Yeah."

"And you were constantly thirsty, maybe even had dizzy spells?"

"Yeah."

"Your body was trying to regulate its sugar levels. Insulin is what breaks down sugar and keeps your levels at normal levels. Now, there are two options for insulin therapy. I've discussed them with your parents. The first option would be the conventional shots. The second would be a pump. The pump delivers insulin through a thin, clear tube that connects to a patch-like set on your abdomen from a plastic pager-looking device." Dr. Leal pulled his white coat up and unclipped what looked like a pager from his pants. A clear tube was attached to it. "This is an insulin pump. There are pre-programmed insulin boluses and basals. Those are two different rates at which the insulin can be delivered. Also, you can eat almost anything when you have the pump, since you can compensate for most of what you are eating. I recommend the pump to all of my patients because it keeps your blood sugars at a more constant level. This helps keep you away from complications such as vision loss, amputations, and other problems like kidney failure. I know that those things sound quite scary, but they can be avoided longer if you keep a tighter control on your sugar levels." As the doctor went on, my mind started spinning. I knew what diabetes was. And it wasn't good.

Anger was the first emotion that I felt. Then I was afraid. I wanted to cry, but I couldn't in front of everyone. I wondered how Sam was doing. She was probably scared out of her mind and worrying about me. The newspaper was probably all over this one. The pressure was too much, and I was suddenly feeling tired again. I rubbed my eyes and asked my parents if I could sleep for a little while. They nodded yes and each of them kissed me and left the room with the doctor. The agent didn't leave, but I was too tired to even bother and ask him to get out. I was asleep before I knew it.