Cook Family Blog: How to legally torture a child, aka, TrialNet Phase 2

We got the results of Cammie's retest for the TrialNet study and she definitely is positive for the GAD Auto antibody. We now had the option of saying that is nice and leaving it at that, but no, I opted for choice number 2, which was to enroll her in Phase 2 of the study. Because of course my kids are great and they will have no problem with me choosing to have them poked and have lots of blood drawn.

For this part, Cammie had to be fasting overnight, then go in for several hours to take a glucose tolerance test, you know that horrible test you have to take when you are pregnant and drink that gross gross disgusting super sugary pop. Fortunately for her, she only had to have about 4 oz. Unfortunately for Cammie, she had to give lots more blood, every thirty minutes for 2 hours, and 3 draws before drinking the gross stuff.

To prepare we bought a special bottle with built in straw for drinking the special stuff.

After patiently waiting for a long time while paperwork was filled out and equipment was readied, she had a hep-lock inserted. Luckily she had a good vein and the first try was a winner. Sadly though it was in her right arm, so she wasn't able to color through the rest of the day.

Cammie was great for this part, she just barely flinched once, and was a bit tense until they pulled the needle out. She actually had to watch, despite me trying to distract her. After the IV was inserted the blood draws started.

For this phase of the trial, they retest for the auto antibodies, they test for insulin in the blood, they test for c-peptides (which is a way to measure the amount of insulin the body makes itself), they do a genetics test to look for a protective gene that some people have which greatly reduces their risk of ever developing Type 1, and they test the blood glucose levels.

These are all the vials for blood, after the first round was over, in which they took another 4. 25 in all. Lucky girl.

After being there for over and hour and totally starving she finally got to have her special drink. She said it was very good.

We took books and a portable DVD player to keep Cammie entertained. She also got a few toys at the beginning. She patiently watched her movie and tolerated being bugged every 30 min for them to suck a little more blood.

At the end she was rewarded with a trip to the prize box and a water bottle full of little treasures.

We also got these fantastic t-shirts for everyone in our family.

After it was over, she said she wanted to do it again, and was wondering if it could be tomorrow. I think we will definitely go on for Phase 3 in which she gets to go every six months for the same testing to monitor any changes in her body. The nurse in charge said she was the best 4 year old she had ever had and she was better then many of their older kids.