Helping Others With Diabetes
vBy Julie Eickhoff
While Trista Miller is on her own
path to conquering the obstacle she’s
recently facing, the brave twelve-year
old is already looking forward to
helping other people meeting the same
challenge. She has been learning how
to live with the Type 1 diabetes she was
diagnosed with in early June.
Trista’s parents, Michelle and Chad,
started to notice changes in their
daughter a few months prior to her
diagnosis, first noticing that Trista was
beginning to lose weight. The weight loss
on the already thin girl was worryingly
obvious on her small body.
“It started to become extremely
noticeable weight loss,” Michelle
explains. You could see all her ribs
and her collarbone was sticking out.”
Suddenly her clothes were too big
and hung on her undersized frame.
The swimsuit from the prior year that
should have been getting smaller on
her was instead too big, and they found
themselves buying her a new swimming
suit that was two sizes smaller.
They first attributed the weight loss to the braces recently put
on Trista’s teeth, believing her difficulty eating was due to the new
apparatus in her mouth. As she continued to lose more weight, the
thought of a possible eating disorder even crossed their minds. Chad
explained how he noticed how thirsty she had become, and Michelle
explained that they suddenly started going through a gallon of milk
every day, an amount suited for a much larger family than their family
of four. Suddenly a large Powerade that previously lasted Trista two
days she now gulped down in only 20
minutes.
One Saturday in June while Trista
was eating applesauce, she commented
on how much it hurt her mouth. Her
mom was alarmed when she peered
into Trista’s mouth and discovered her
tongue was white. Suspecting thrush,
a yeast infection, Michelle took her to
Convenient Care at the Yankton Medical
Clinic and younger daughter Tori came
with. They were fortunate that Trista’s
regular doctor was working the shift that
day. The doctor examined Trista and
found her to be underweight for her age,
weighing 61 pounds instead of being in
the 80-pound range.
Dr. Dawn Larson conducted some
tests with Trista and had her get blood
drawn for lab work. On a whim, she
also included a hemoglobin check in
the lab request. The Miller’s left the
clinic knowing that they would have to
patiently wait for the lab to run the tests
before they could get the results. “When
we were walking out of the clinic that
day, from the clinic to the parking lot up
front just up by the little hill to my car, she just sat down and put her
head down on the center console,” Michelle explained. Trista added
that she just felt very winded and tired with that short walk. Michelle
began to wonder if they needed to turn around and go back in to the
doctor.
After the appointment, Michelle headed to the park, so Tori could
play while she sat with Trista to rest. They stopped at a gas station on
the way to buy something to drink. Michelle’s cell phone rang; Dr.
Larsen was calling to tell her she needed to get her daughter to the
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16vHERVOICEvSEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2018