I'm writing about it while it's fresh in my mind so that if anyone Googles this (see the very specific post title) they will be able to compare their child's symptoms to Bud's, and maybe get in to see the doctor more quickly than they might otherwise have.
Because, in retrospect, it's obvious.
For one thing, he always has had a massive sweet tooth, but it had gotten really nuts in the last month or so. To the point that he would ask me, "Mama, I want something sweet" or "Mama, I need a sweet drink". To which I usually said no, but take this as point one.
He had also been going potty about every 20 minutes for about a week. I thought maybe it was a bladder infection and started giving him cranberry juice until we could get into urgent care. But this was strange potty--so frequent, and he began having accidents again, which he hadn't had during the day for almost a year.
On Friday he wasn't speaking as clearly as normal. While getting him ready for bed, his daddy remarked that he seemed skinnier than ever (he has always been skinny), and I was worried by how pale he looked--there were dark circles under his eyes, and I felt like you could see all his bones. He kept climbing into my lap and saying "Mama, my eyes feel sleepy."
On Saturday I rushed him to the doctor because he looked like this:
That's him trying to smile for me, not even reacting to the IV in his left arm. At this point all he would do is smile, whisper, and tell me that he had something in his eyes. (Later we would learn that high blood sugars can blur your vision.)
The hospital started an insulin drip and called the flight nurses to get us to Salt Lake via air ambulance.
Here he is after being on the insulin drip for a couple of hours:
Still not completely with it, but enough there that he could smile at me with both eyes, and...
...that he could play games on flight nurse Kelly's cell phone. (God bless flight nurse Kelly!)
Here he is in ER in Salt Lake, still on the drip.
And our first breakfast, after we got off the drip. He ordered everything he could think of, and the hospital brought it to him. He's loving food lately, which makes total sense now that his body can actually use the nutrition he consumes.
One of the things that has surprised me the most is what a difference this has all made in his moods. He's always been a sweetheart, but over the last month or so (seeing a trend here?) he was fussy and fragile--which I thought was just due to turning four, or something--but by fragile I mean crying because he couldn't have the cup he chose, or something like that. Now he's himself again, goofing off with his sister, snuggling me, and drawing. He got sick so slowly that I hadn't realized how much stuff he had just quit doing.
This is the "something in my eye" position, although at this point he was healthy again, just waking up.
He's also been sleeping a lot--recovering, I think. I know that's how I feel.
Things to Thank God For:
1. Our medical team advised us to call the insurance company and make sure that everything that needed to be preapproved was preapproved. I did, and the representative I talked to was a little offended that I wondered whether or not they covered diabetes education/hemoglobin A1c/insulin pens. OF COURSE they cover those, I was advised. Apparently we have Cadillac insurance, and all this time I thought we were driving a Buick.
2. Buddy has to get injections every time he eats. Last night was the first time he didn't cry. Today's injections have been better, even though he does cry a little bit. He's already fine with the finger-stick to check his blood sugar, and has fun telling us which finger to use, and exactly where to "snap" the finger to get the blood droplet. He likes his blue glucometer.
3. We all slept all night.
4. Since we got home, Buddy's blood glucose measurements have been perfect--right where they're supposed to be. This is encouraging, because in the hospital they were continuing to run high.
5. The pharmacy was very helpful about ordering 1/2 unit syringes. (Buddy is so small that his insulin doses are correspondingly tiny--sometimes he only gets 1/2 unit at a time.)
Things to Keep Praying For:
1. Pray the injections keep getting easier.
2. Pray that I get some energy back. I got all the way through getting everybody home and dealing with the pharmacy, and then all the pep seemed to ooze out of my body. Probably my adrenal glands are just wrung dry of adrenaline, and my body is making the point that no more running is going to happen. Also I might have a cold, Miss Boo and I both have a cough.
3. Pray that we get used to keeping meals on a schedule, measuring everything, and doing calculations.
Cheers,
Breanna
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