I, like a lot of other mothers, am able to instinctively know when there's something not right with my child.  I knew that Jake had ADD before he was diagnosed.  I knew that he had broken his arm despite the triage nurse telling me there wasn't anything wrong with him (I made her apologize to him for making him wait to see the doctor when he was in pain with a fractured radius and ulna).  I just KNOW when there's something not right with any of my kids.

My mothering instinct is telling me that something's not right with Jake.

He's always thirsty. He's drinking anything he can get his hands on: water, koolaide, milk, juice....he can't get enough fluids. He's drinking or 6 12oz bottles of water a day and is supplementing that with glasses of koolaide and milk and juice and the occasional soda.  He's drinking more than I am.  More than his dad is, even.  More than his brother and sister put together.

He's skinny.  He's always hungry and he eats like a horse, but he's not gaining any weight and has actually lost a pound or two. He eats more than I do.  He'll put away more food at dinner than I will, but 20 mins after he eats he's asking for a snack.

He complained that he couldn't see properly a few weeks ago.  I took him to the optometrist and got his eyes tested, and he needs glasses for distance vision.  He wears them for TV and movie watching and will wear them for school so he can see the board, but he's still occasionally complaining that he can't see properly.

Something's not right.

I'm worried that he might have juvenile diabetes.

I've called the doctor and am waiting for the nurse to call me back and tell me how to go about getting his blood sugar tested.  I want to make sure that I'm not adding two and two and coming up with 5 - in other words, I want to make sure that these symptoms are unrelated. 

I know that something's not right.  I hope, however, that it's not as serious as diabetes.