We arrived at Texas Children’s Hospital on Sunday at 7pm to start Jackson’s first Safety Fast since being released from the hospital in September. We knew it was going to be tough and we were as prepared as we could be. We didn’t think Jackson would last longer than eight hours but we really wanted to know.

I’ve read that several parents of HI kids prefer not to do the fast and skip the process. Withholding food and forcing a child into a hypoglycemic state does sound barbaric but we felt it was necessary to make sure his dosage of diazoxide was high enough to sustain him for a considerable amount of time, and to see if there were any changes in his lab results.

We started the fast at 8:30pm. He stayed on schedule with his dosage of diazoxide and was allowed water. He started with a blood glucose level of 81. From the start of the fast until his blood sugar dropped below 70, we checked his sugar every three hours. 70 – 55, every hour. Our goal was to see how low he would go before becoming symptomatic.  Then at that point, administer glucagon, do the glucagon challenge (sugar checks every 15 minutes expecting to see a rise of at least 30 points in an hour), then run labs.

Jackson’s blood sugar stayed above 70 for 10 hours. We were shocked because that hasn’t been typical for him. He tends to drop below 70 over night but never below 65. We later found that our glucometer is about 15 – 25 points off from the hospitals. Theirs being much more accurate and confirmed by lab results. Jackson went from 70 to below 50 in about 2 hours, then hovered between 44-32 for HOURS.  He never really showed, outwardly, typical symptoms of hypoglycemia. No sweating, clamminess, or shaking. Since he can’t communicate we don’t know what he was feeling on the inside but he was cranky, asking for milk, and overall a bit miserable. His CGM alarm was relentlessly going off. We learned that when your blood sugar drops below 40, you no longer see numbers, the app just shows LOW. After about 3 hours or so, he did lose the color in his face and we immediately stopped the fast, took labs, and administered glucagon. He was still active, playing, laughing between crying, very alert, but there wasn’t a point in pushing him much more. At that point, he had been fasting for 15 hours.

When Jackson has taken the glucagon challenge in the past, his blood sugar always rose as expected – Not this time. It was 34 when the injection was given, @ 15 minutes it was 44, @ 30 minutes it was 38, @ 60 minutes it was 32. I wasn’t expecting this and honestly, didn’t know what it meant. He was immediately given D10 (dextrose) through his IV and was allowed to eat. His blood sugar quickly came back up, all the way to 210! We turned off the dextrose and he stayed between 85-120.

When Dr. Paul returned to go over the the lab results and discuss the glucagon challenge we heard words that we never expected to hear:

1. Jackson was making ketones! This is something that he hadn’t done in the past which is typical of those with HI.
2. The glucagon reaction suggested that his liver was distributing glycogen appropriately which is why it didn’t “work”.

These two results plus more things that are over my head, suggested that it is possible that Jackson has TRANSIENT HYPERINSULINISM! Something we did not think was possible at this point. From what I understand, I’m obviously no expert, is that most babies with transient hyperinsulinism are identified within days of birth and it typically resolves within the first 30 days of life but some later in the first year. Seeing as Jackson just celebrated his birthday and wasn’t diagnosed until he was four months old, the odds were not in our favor so we really never considered it. But, now, could it be? Dr. Paul thinks there is plenty of reasons to have HI HOPES.

There are three ways to test this theory:

1. Let him outgrow his dose of diazoxide to get below 4mg/kg.
2. Slowly start weening him down.
3. Admit him back into the hospital for a Cure Fast.

We’ve decided on having him admitted. It’s not that we don’t think we’re capable of doing this at home, it’s that there is an added comfort of being surrounded by a team that is more well versed in this disease than we are. In an emergency, there is an army behind us. We think it’s the best decision to make for Jackson. So in two weeks, we’re going back.

Dr. Paul looked at me yesterday and said “You know, if he has outgrown this, you’re going to go through withdrawals.” He might be right. I have been running 100mph since August. My brain is constantly on 10 things at once, running from doctor to doctor, researching, advocating, running a Facebook page, a website, planning a fundraiser, up all night, constantly checking my phone to see what his CGM is reading, fighting with insurance companies, scared for him, afraid of the unknowns of the disease, that if he no longer has it, we will suddenly be moved into a “normal” life. I don’t even know what that looks like, since it has never been considered a possibility. That said, I’d much rather have a calm life with a healthy kid, than a hectic one with a sick kid.

None of this is a guarantee but there’s hope. I let Jackson sleep in this morning before rushing him off to daycare. Yesterday was rough on him and I knew he needed the rest. When I walked into his room, he jumped up to greet me, and I was overcome with emotions. No matter what the Cure Fast shows next week, I’ll never give up on him and wanting him to have the best life possible. This kid is amazing. He is strong. He is a fighter. He’s is sunshine and rainbows in every single storm we go through. He deserves a life free illness and I want this for him so bad. #wehaveHIhopes