I posted a while back here on my blog that I was going back to one of my favourite places to photograph in the world! Well we did go but due to circumstances my mind was not really on shooting and I didn’t get a lot of the images I was looking for! I did come away with a couple but like I said my mind was not really into shooting during the trip.

We had arrived in Kauai on Thursday, May 16th and had planned on being there until the Friday the 25th. We were there as a family group, my parents, 3 sisters and their kids and our family, to celebrate my parents 50th Anniversary! I was going to shoot the renewal ceremony that had been arranged as well as taking off to do some sunrise and sunset shots while there. I knew there were 2 nights that I wouldn’t be able to shoot sunsets due to planned family dinners.

After we got there my son just didn’t seem to be himself. He had lost a lot of weight recently which we figured was due to a 3 inch growth spurt since Christmas and he seemed a little tired. Saturday he wasn’t feeling very well. Sunday we had a surf lesson booked for the kids but my son Jaxin wasn’t well and we assumed he had just gotten something at school prior to leaving. He stayed back at the condo with my wife and I went out with the kids. When I returned he felt a little better but not a lot. Some nausea a headache etc. I ended up falling asleep at around 8:30 PM after getting up for a sunrise shoot that morning and being active all day. The kids went to the hot tub at around 9 and coming back Jaxin felt very light headed. He complained of stomach pains that were getting more severe. As the night progressed he started having more pain and then around midnight started having difficulties breathing. My wife was sitting with him the whole time. At about 1 AM he started to throw up and it didn’t stop. At 3 AM my wife woke me up saying she was really worried so we decided to take him from Princeville to Lihue (about a 40 minute drive) to the hospital.

We left a note for my parents and told my daughter we were going and were on our way by 3:15 AM. Jaxin was starting to really moan in pain and was struggling to breath. I was sticking fairly close to the speed limit as but as we drove further down the road he seemed to be in more pain and my foot got a little heavy on the accelerator! I was actually hoping to be pulled over thinking I might get an escort to the hospital!

We arrived at the Wilcox Memorial Hospital Emergency room in Lihue at about 3:45 and I dropped Cindra and Jaxin off at the door. I parked the car and came into the ER and by then Jaxin was already on a bed in the ER. The doctor looked at him and shrugged his shoulders then told us they were sending him for a CT scan of the abdomen. Not what a parent wants to hear! I went out called my travel insurance company and came back to the ER. While I was sitting in the room waiting for Jax to come back I heard the Dr. and the nurse saying that this now made sense. I went to the nurse’s station where I was asked if there was a history of Diabetes in our families. I said no and was told that Jaxin was in Diabetic Shock or DKA with extremely high blood sugar levels. He could be treated and the disease could be managed but he had to be medevac’d to the pediatric intensive care unit at the children’s hospital on Oahu! By 4:45 we were advised that they were getting the transfer team and aircraft together on Oahu and the doctor in the Lihue ER was on the phone with the on call endocrinologist in Oahu. An insulin drip was started and they kept testing his blood sugars which slowly started coming down but still remained high!

My parents brought Breanna down from Princeville at around 6:30AM and we sat with Jax for a bit. THe transfer team arrived around 6:45 – 7:00 AM and started prepping Jaxin for the flight to Oahu. By 8 AM he and Cindra were in an ambulance on the way to the Lihue Airport. By 9:00 AM he was in the Pediatric ICU at the Kapiolani Medical Center in Oahu!

Jaxin and Cindra spent 2 days in the ICU unit in Oahu were Jaxin stabilized fairly quickly and was diagnosed with Type 1 or Juvenile Diabetes. They then another day and night in a regular room and we had them flown back to Kauai on Thursday morning. While this has changed all of our lives, Jaxin is doing well and we are managing his diabetes and trying to help him have as close to normal of a lifestyle as possible.

A big thank you to all the Dr’s and nurses we dealt with at both Wilcox Memorial Hospital in Lihue and Kapiolani Health Center for Women and Children 0n Oahu! The care was excellent from start to finish!

Also a lesson to be learned, do not travel without some sort of travel health insurance!

Needless to say from Monday on I spent most of my vacation on my cell phone or on my system at the condo texting Cindra to get status updates and to find out more. Once the diagnosis was made Cindra and I decided that Bre and I would stay in Kauai with the rest of the family and go ahead with the renewal ceremony and the planned family dinners to try and have a normal vacation!

Even though I did go out with Bre I was constantly with my phone waiting for updates and asking questions! My mind was not into shooting or anything else!

I did manage to get down to Queen’s Bath near Princeville, I believe on Wednesday night and get some sunset pictures and came away with an image I am reasonably happy with! But I really didn’t get out all that much after the incident! The few images I have are from the first few days we were there before Jaxin was rushed to hospital! Our sunset at Ke’e Beach was a bust due to an uninteresting sky but I did mange to improvise and got a couple of good shots.

I recently found a seat sale and in the very near future we are heading back to give us all, but especially Jaxin and Cindra the vacation they didn’t have again! This time we are heading out for a couple of weeks so lots of time to get out shooting! There are several locations I have been scouting and will be sure to try to get to these locations over the 2 weeks we are there. In addition I have a Canon EOS M that I have been testing (what a fun little camera) and that will be coming along to be used as a second body and walk around camera!

We are all really looking forward to going back and visiting and this time I hope my mind will stay clear to get some nice shooting in!