Medomak Valley freshman Michaela Melody feels just like every other cheerleader on the Panther squad. Her tired muscles ache, and her body is bruised and beaten from the daily punishment of catching flying bodies as a base on the team, and her inside upper lip is split where an errant elbow, knee or foot struck her as she caught a twirling teammate.
What sets Melody apart from her teammates, is she lives with Type I diabetes. Melody wears an insulin pump nearly 24 hours a day to combat the disease, also called Diabetes Mellitus or Juvenile Diabetes.
Melody was diagnosed with the disease when she was nine years old and living in Rhode Island. Her symptoms were the usual, excessive thirst, increased urination and dramatic weight loss. Melody lost 20 pounds in a month. Her mother, Joanna, bought her a communion dress and it fit pretty snug. Two to three weeks later, the dress was too big.
A trip to the doctor’s office revealed that Melody had diabetes. She started out on five shots of insulin daily, shorter action insulin at meals and longer acting insulin once a day before bedtime. When 11, Melody attended a diabetes camp, which gave her the confidence to administer her own shots, and gave her the opportunity to meet other children with diabetes.
“I don’t feel any different from the other kids,” the quiet and soft-spoken Melody said of her classmates and friends. “I just have more responsibility.”
When asked if her disease made her grow up quicker, she nodded in agreement.
She follows a daily regimen of checking her blood sugar levels, ketone levels and calculating her carbohydrate intake to insulin ratio. A typical baulking teenager, the 14- year-old Melody doesn’t relish the task, and prefers her mother to still do much of the record keeping and calculating.
Melody was fitted with an insulin pump three years ago, and said the spring loaded port in her stomach makes dealing with diabetes “a lot easier. No more sticks with a needle.”
The port, which looks like a plastic button, attaches to her stomach and has to be changed every two days. An IV tube runs from the port to her insulin pump, which she clips onto her cheering skirt. The insulin pump is about the size of a cell phone.
Melody has never had her port accidentally pulled out or had her pump fall to the floor during cheering practices or games. The only time she unhooks the pump is to take a shower.
An autoimmune disease, the pancreas of a diabetic does not produce sufficient insulin, which is critical to unlocking the cells so sugar from food can be utilized by the body. As a result, sugar builds up in the blood stream. High sugar levels can cause Ketoacidosis, a potentially life threatening medical condition in which glucose builds up in the blood so the body looks for other forms of energy and uses fat as a fuel source. As fat is broken down, acids, called ketones, build up in the blood and urine.
Part of Melody’s daily regimen is to check her urine for ketones to prevent a possible medical emergency. In early December, Melody’s pump did not deliver enough insulin, probably due to an air bubble, or blockage caused by a blood clot in the tube.
She went without insulin all night and for the first time, she had to be hospitalized briefly and given an IV to combat Ketoacidosis. Although she recovered quickly, the event left her tired and wiped out.
The hardest part for Melody was not the lack of energy, or the trauma of being hospitalized, but was the fact that she was not allowed to cheer at a game because she missed school. “It is hard to get used to,” Melody said of the high school rules that apply to all athletes.
Melody said she eats “whatever she wants,” including typical, popular teenage foods like pizza, chips, and soda. She constantly monitors her blood levels before snacks and meals (five times per day) to make sure she is getting the insulin she needs to offset her carbohydrate load.
She is on a 504 plan, part of the American with Disabilities Act. On the plan, Melody cannot be tested in school within a half hour of a low blood sugar reading. “She won’t be able to test right. If her levels are low she can become disorientated,” her mother Joanna said.
Melody said living with diabetes “is difficult for me sometimes. It is hardest when I’m with my friends.” From the beginning she said it was awkward to be around friends when having to check her blood levels before she eats. “It’s still awkward” she added.
She has two younger brothers, age 11 and 12, who know how to administer a shot of glucose, should her blood sugar levels fall too low.
“They know if she passes out or they can’t wake her to give her a shot,” Joanna said. When asked how she felt about her life being in the hands of her little brothers, Michaela said, “I know they wouldn’t let me die. I know they would do it (give shot) if they had to.” “Her friends need to know what to do, too,” Joanna added.
Although Joanna is still much in control of Michaela’s care, she knows the day is coming when her daughter will have to take on the responsibility of her own care.
“When she goes off to college, I’m not going to be there and be able to catch her when she falls. We (parents Joanna and Sean) won’t be able to stand over her anymore. When she goes off to college she’ll need to take responsibility and to do this (manage diabetes) independently.”
When asked what recommendations she could make to a younger child that was diagnosed with diabetes, both she and her mother agreed. “Don’t have them change anything. Keep on doing everything you’ve always done. Kids can’t let anything hold them back. They just have to do it,” Joanna added.
The Melodys moved to Jefferson from Rhode Island four years ago, and currently live in Union.
