Page 59 of Night By Night

“How’s her appetite?”

“She’s been eating normally, I guess. I haven’t noticed any changes. Why?”

“Well, she’s lost four pounds since her last physical just before they moved down, it looks like.”

“What?”

“Let me get the rest of her vitals and then we’ll go from there. What are you here for again today…”

An hour later, they’d done a urine test—which he’d asked one of the female nurses to help her with—checked her blood sugar, drawn blood to send out to the labs, and the doctor looked a little somber when he entered the exam room after reviewing the immediate test results. He pulled up a rolling stool to sit and talk with Maddox, where he sat in a chair with JJ in his lap again.

“What’s wrong?” Maddox asked, fear filling him. Sure, he loved JJ like a daughter now.

“I’m going to need you to bring her back to our office in the morning for her to have blood work drawn after a fast tonight.”

“What do you mean?”

“No food or anything but water after midnight. I want to run some more tests.”

“What do you think it is.”

“Well, for starters, her blood sugar is unusually high. There is no indication of a UTI in her urine, so that’s not causing any of her other symptoms. Her blood pressure is a little lower than I’d like to see. Based on all her symptoms, and on the weight loss in just a couple of months, and with the blood sugar levels, I’d like to be sure before I make an official diagnosis.”

“But what do you think it is?”

He met Maddox’s gaze. “I think the test results are going to show type 1 diabetes.”