November 6th, 2008 Anniversary of Justin's accident/health issues It was in November 2008 (Justin was 16 at the time) his nightmare began. Justin was having a tough time at school and not liking his Graphic Design teacher (a sub because his teacher was on maternity leave) so I thought he was trying to get off school that day, yes stupid of me...so I told him if he was sick the next day then were off to see the Doc since he seemed fine. The next day he was feeling ill and it was showing, so I got him in to see the Doc. There was a P.A. there instead of his Doctor...she gave him a pill for stomach flu. I had a gut feeling I should just take him to the ER and didn't because Justin just wanted to go home and lay down. By that night he was feeling the same but the throwing up had stopped so I thought he was going to be OK. By 4:30 - 5 AM he was acting REAL loopy like he'd been on bad drugs...so we called 911...the Ambulance crew got him loaded up and by this time (it took forever or so it seemed) Justin was semi unconscious it all started happening so fast. When we arrived at the Hospital he was totally unresponsive. It was horrible seeing my kid laying there and nothing I could do...Nurses and Doctors were coming in to do stuff...with that look in their eyes "hes not going to make it"...finally a Doctor told me he had a blood sugar of 1400 for starters and Justin technically should not be with us. From the very start of this Justin has baffled these Doctors and staff. They ordered him to go to Portland or Bangor, I chose Bangor...so off we went to the PICU there...for three months. They told me Justin would not make it through the night after waiting forever in the waiting room. When thy finally let my mom and I in with Justin, I sat there holding his hand the entire night...telling him he can do this, he's going to make it...lets show them you can make it etc...8 AM rolled around...the Doctors were totally shocked Justin was still alive...that was the first time I cried about all this. Inside I will never stopped crying or stopped kicking myself for not getting him to the ER FIRST THING. UGH! Anyways...they stabilized him and diagnosed Justin with Diabetes got him around to where he was responding again, even asking to go to the bathroom but, a few three days in PICU something went wrong. Justin's Kidneys, Heart, and Lungs gave out all at once. Back to square one. "Your son Justin may not make it through the night..." is what I am told this time...instead of will not though make it...he went on tons of machines for his breathing, heart...all of it...his heart was functioning at 24%. Oddly enough the very next day, exactly 24 hours later, he made another totally turn around...his heart was functioning at 75% again. The Doctors has to check patient numbers to make sure it was the same patient...now he is in a coma...while out his heart had stopped for eight minuets causing the brain injury, so now he is on a bunch more machines and med's filling his room full this time. They finally got him to the point of being able to go to Rehab...I'm skipping allot of emotional stuff, It was hard. Just typing this is hard...but Justin is now home, has been since January 16th 2009. We have gone through two Home Nursing care companies. They pissed me off, they just look out for their paycheck, not whats best for my son. The Hospital did put me through tons of training to do all Justin's care including the respiratory stuff...and here we are four years later. Justin's becoming vocal more and more each week, but nothing we can quite understand yet. He blinks to communicate so he can choose his own movies or CD or whatever. He has some really good family and friends who still take time to stop by and check on him...we will get through this one way or another. Right now though I have to stop here, you get the idea. Thank you for your visit to my Gallery. Rose