Basic HTML Version
November 11, 2012
HEALTHY LIFE: DIABETES
7
Abdul added, “We were having a conversa-
tion a little while ago about all this. We don’t
knowwhat is going on under her skin. You can’t
let your guard down. There is no room for er-
ror.”
Tenetia noted that Sean can give herself
shots, but to be totally independent, she needs
an order from the doctor.
“That will probably happen in a couple more
years,” Tenetia said. “It’s so hard to do the
math. I make her lunch every night for the next
day at school, and I write down every carb and
figure out how much insulin she needs to take.
We both went to college and got our degrees,
but we wish we had paid more attention to
math!”
Initially, the Rutherfords had
a difficult time getting their sup-
plies lined up. When Sean left
the hospital, the couple was giv-
en enough testing strips and in-
sulin to get them started.
“We had to get set up with a
mail-order pharmacy so we
went to a local drug store to pur-
chase what we needed for the
time being,” Abdul said. “The
first month, our bill was $3,000.
My insurance plan allows $1,400
per year for prescriptions —
that was gone the first day. Even
with health care coverage, our
costs are still horrendous.”
Tenetia added, “We can go through any-
where from four to 15 test strips in a day, and
during that first period, we were down to two
test strips while waiting for them to come
through themail. It was pouring down rain, and
I drove to the pharmacy to buy more, and the
pharmacist said our prescription amount was
‘overfilled,’ and he couldn’t sell me anymore.”
Luckily, Tenetia got some sample test strips
from the pediatrician’s office to tide them over.
In addition to the test strips, there is the cost
of insulin. Each small tube costs $200, and there
are eight in each box. While boxes purchased
right now have an expiration date in 2014, once
a box is opened, the insulin expires 28 days later.
Finally, there is a one-time-use emergency kit
to be used if Sean’s blood sugar level drops
drastically by mixing a powder and liquid to-
gether and injecting it.
Each kit costs $500, and the Rutherfords have
one at home, one at Templeton, one in Sean’s
backpack and one at the Montessori school.
Now 10 months into the process, the Ruther-
fords have the mail-order system running like
clockwork, “but even with insurance, we still
pay a lot out of pocket,” Tenetia said.
Even littleAmira has gotten involved in help-
ing take care of Sean.
“She’s so concerned about her sister,” Tene-
tia said. “She wanted to have her blood sugar
level checked too.”
And a huge issue for the family is determin-
ing the content of the food they eat because
Sean has to be so careful.
“We have never had a meal that we don’t
know exactly what’s in it since January,” Abdul
said. “I’ve never counted anything in my food
except how many hamburgers and how many
slices of pizza I ate. We both have apps on our
phones now to tell us the carb counts in foods.”
Tenetia added, “Abdul is the tech guy, so he
has been downloading apps for us. One we like
is Calorie King. I can take the girls for Slurpees
and know what’s in them. There are so many
cool things out there now.”
The Rutherfords also have discovered that
many restaurants have special menus with the
carbs listed for each item if people just ask for
them.
“We have to pre-plan everything,” Tenetia
said. “If Sean is invited to a birthday party, I call
ahead to find out what is going to be served and
get the ingredients, and I have to go with her.
And she can’t spend the night at other kids’
homes.”
Abdul added, “She’s smart and responsible,
but she’s 8 and will test the wa-
ters.”
The couple is hopeful that re-
search will lead to a cure for dia-
betes and/or better ways to treat
it such as an artificial pancreas
outside the body that secretes
insulin.
“I think there will be a cure in
Sean’s lifetime,” Tenetia said.
“But believe me, if I could give
her my pancreas, I would.”
Doctors have not given the
couple any specific causes for
Sean’s diabetes, and the only
other case of Type I diabetes in
the family is in Abdul’s brother’s
teenage daughter on the East
Coast, who was diagnosed three months before
Sean.
“People seem to randomly get it,” said Tene-
tia, who is very proud of Sean and how she has
handled everything. “She’s come so far since
she was diagnosed. At first it was emotional —
shewas so upset and couldn’t even talk about it.
She wouldn’t read about it.
“Now she wants to help other people. We are
encouraging her to be independent. She’s doing
so well — I’m so proud of her.”
From Sean’s point of view, the experience
was pretty terrifying when she was first diag-
nosed and hospitalized.
“I was bummed,” she said. “I didn’t want to
have diabetes. I thought that I would die — I
didn’t knowwhat it was. I cried a lot.
“But then I found out that I only had to have
shots, and they didn’t hurt, although I was
scared at first that they would.”
Last spring the Rutherfords decided the fam-
ily had been concentrating too much on diabe-
tes and decided to focus on another “D” word
(dog) — they got a year-old miniature labra-
doodle named Ollie.
Type 1 diabetes often begins in childhood or
adolescence when an autoimmune response in
the body starts destroying the pancreatic cells
that create insulin, the hormone that removes
glucose from the blood.
Type 2 diabetes usually occurs over several
years as the body continues to produce insulin
but the cells don’t respond to it correctly; while
it can’t be cured, it often can be controlledwith-
out insulin through changes in diet, exercise
and weight loss.
About 95 percent of the cases of diabetes in
the U.S. are Type 2.
“Now she wants to
help other people.
We are encouraging
her to be
independent. She’s
doing so well —
I’m so proud of
her.”
— Tenetia Rutherford,
Sean’s mother
■
From page 6
49.110712 HL