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He amazes me everyday with everything he goes through!
When round two of the tummy bug visited him in the middle of the night on Saturday the 6th we (The Daddy and I) were determined to do everything we could to avoid the ER/Hospital. We gave him the anti-nausea meds, lots of fluids, and insulin to keep the ketones down.
He seemed to be doing ok. He tends to run low when he has a tummy bug, so we did a decreased temp basal for several days (at least -40%). We were doing ok keeping him between 80 and 150 or so. He only threw up the one time on that Saturday.
Then I posted about him having LOWS that were not fun, in the middle of his nap. We had a REALLY rough day that day. He threw up again that night at my mom's, but was still acting fine.
Then Thursday came and he was still running low. I was doing ok trying to keep him up, until he threw up AGAIN on my floor! Checked BG, low, checked ketones, 3.5 blood ketones (HIGH)! We did our best to get him to eat/drink and get his BG up so we could give him insulin, to get rid of the ketones.
Being 3 years old, and VERY independent (wonder where he gets that from!), he REFUSED to eat or drink anything. We finally made the decision that we knew was coming. It was time to go to the ER. We needed fluids. We needed dextrose to get his BG up.
All day I debated this decision. I felt like I was failing or giving up. But, it was time. We tried everything we knew how and there was just no convincing a 3 year old that he HAS to eat/drink.
We left The Princess with my parents (on their anniversary) and took The Superhero to the ER. He was acting fine. He kept asking where his "hosi-hole" was. We got there and were taken back immediately. They were worried about the ketones and low blood sugar combination, as we were.
They decided right away that they needed to get an IV going. The Child Life specialist came in to try to "distract" him during the IV/blood draw. The nurse came in and got started. They used this neat pen thing to numb his hand. She attempted the IV and ended up blowing the vein. The Superhero cried, A LOT.
Nurse #2 called in. She evaluated The Superhero's hands and arms to try to find the best vein to go for. She was determined to not put him through it more than one more time. She had the lights turned off and used the little light to see through his hand. (you know, the one they use to look in your mouth, nose, throat, etc)
She took a long time determining which one she wanted to go for. She marked the vein with a pen and the spot she wanted to numb as well. She got the other nurse ready. With the lights still turned OFF she did the IV and blood draw shining the light through his hand. Yes, the lights were still OFF. She did the whole thing in the DARK. I was/ am super impressed!
She got it in and we got the fluids started. They gave him some zofran in the IV as well as a dextrose drip. The ER docs were in and out. We saw several different docs and one resident. They all were a lot better about us handling his Diabetes this time around. After our last visit, we were very happy to see that things had changed.
I was impressed that the resident admitted she did not know much about diabetes and she was asking A LOT of questions trying to learn. Yep, she was actually learning from us, the parents! She understood that we knew more about it all than she did!
We ended up getting admitted. Once that decision was made, I went home so The Princess could sleep in her bed. The Daddy and The Superhero ended up sleeping in the ER all night because there were no rooms upstairs. I took The Princess to her doctor appointment the next morning (follow up for ears, and more antibiotics because the infection was not gone). Then we switched off. The Daddy brought The Princess home and my mom and I stayed all day with The Superhero.
We finally got moved to a room around 2pm. We met the pediatrician who would be seeing The Superhero while we were at the hospital. I had a good feeling about him from the beginning. He told me that he was going along with what the endo decides and that the endo would be calling the shots and he would be ok with sending us home when the endo thought it was ok.
Such a HUGE difference from the last time we were there! They actually were listening to us and letting us check his BG when WE wanted. We just wrote things down on the white board in the room and they would come copy it down occasionally. We were allowed to let him eat whatever, whenever he wanted.
He did great all day Friday. He nibbled on different foods throughout the day and was keeping it all down. His BG was finally up and his ketones were down. We decided to stay one more night just to make sure he was really going to be ok. We did not want to have to go back in a few days if we had more issues.
Then the next morning I get a call from The Daddy letting me know that he threw up AGAIN. We decided this was because the nurses decided to come in for a blood draw at 5 AM and the flushing of the IV woke The Superhero up. Then because he was awake he wanted to eat. The cafeteria does not open until 7, so he ate fruit snacks (or froop snacks as The Superhero would say) and Diet coke. This was all they had in the room that he would eat. This combination on an empty stomach does not sound appealing. I am sure this was why he threw up.
So when I got down there, after breaking down and balling my eyes out because I thought for sure we would be staying overnight again, I ordered 3 bananas from the cafeteria to keep in the room. He actually did very well and ate bananas, toast, pancakes, etc and was acting completely normal.
Ketones were finally gone. BG was staying up. We were given the ok to take him home. I let him finish his nap and then we were off! It was so nice to get to bring him home.
Since coming home, we have had to increase all of his basals and are working on that darn breakfast ratio again. It seems that now that he is feeling better he is having an increased need for insulin.
He has found a new favorite food, French Toast. He requests is for breakfast and dinner every day. And I let him have it. As long as he eats, I am ok. At some point I will quit giving in to the request, at least at dinner time.
The Superhero amazes me every day with everything he goes through. He gets at least 4 finger pokes a day (thanks to Dexie), site changes every 3 days, Dexie changes every 7 days (or more if they fail). And all this with no numbing cream (which I hear a lot about from other D families), no screaming, no crying. He actually runs around the house screaming "Yeah! Site change!" and "That's not too bad!". I don't know how he does it, but he is so amazing.
I hate that he has to have this disease, but I am so thankful that he can take it all in stride. It is no big deal to him.
Thank you to all who sent messages to me on FB and who prayed for us. I am so happy to have my amazing, brave, strong little boy back! (and the irritating, stubborn, independent one too)
Here is a pic from the hospital...
He CRASHED as soon as I got him to lay on me. It was literally in an instant.
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