DKA On Thanksgiving 2012

I have finally figured out why  I do not write on this blog much, it puts our "D" life in words. So here I am blogging in hopes of what happened on Thanksgiving Day 2012 will help me put my mind around all the "what if''s."

I will start with Wednesday November 21. Was like any other day I got up went to class while Sweet and Sassy stayed with a friend, she did not have school that day. Sugars were wacky all day but nothing new in the life of diabetes. After her third high number for the day she called to tell me she was still "HIGHER" then normal. I told her to give herself 1 unit of injection and change her pod. It was pod change day anyway. A little over an hour later an we are down to 144. Pod change was needed we are good, She feels fine acting like a normal 9 year old girl. Hold on...do not get to excited at dinner a little later than normal but it is  Thanksgiving Eve nothing is normal!!! We can't be getting sick although in the back of mind I knew that is what was going on or at least I think.

7:22 P.M back up to 327. WHAT we were fine 4 hours ago. Eat, correct and get ready for bed for TURKEY DAY!

 9:17  P.M. BG is 417. We are in for a long night. Did a 2 unit injection and increase basal rate. Being the over protective mom and worried what is going on I check again at 10:08 P.M. BG is still 415.

 My next thought is something is wrong with the pod and or insulin. I get a new pod and a new bottle of insulin just to be on the safe side I change pod and use the new insulin. 

Oh I should add in all this time she never had Ketones. I checked with the blood ketone meter as well with the urine sticks
.
 Time for me to get a couple hours sleep... checked at 12:45 A.M BG 248. We are getting somewhere was it the pod or the insulin?!? Who knows I am just grateful she is coming back down. Correct and back to bed for 3 hours.

 3:40 A.M. BG 351 check ketones again they are Trace okay no biggie she has had high numbers all day. More insulin to bring down the numbers and drinking more water.  Back to bed and alarm set for 6:30 A.M.

 Sweet and Sassy comes crawling in our bed around 6:00 so I checked her then BG 267 not bad. As all my "D" mama's know all I can think of is SLEEP. So I go back to sleep with my arms wrapped around my child.

She wakes at 8:00 A.M. crying " Mom I am going to get sick." That is right our crazy "HIGH" numbers were a Virus. Get her calmed down and sugars and ketones checked BG is 347 again...ketones are LARGE. How is this happening I have been keeping a close eye on her all night.

More insulin and for ketones and high sugar. She is one sick little girl she can not keep even a teaspoon of liquid down. I give Zofran. Having her take a spoonful of liquids every 20 minutes and it comes right back up.

Check sugars and ketones again at 10: 48 BG is 322 and large ketones still.  She screams "mom I need you!" Not even 15 minutes have gone by and her breathing is rapid, fruity breath, flushed face and all this vomiting. She is soooo weak she cannot even hold her head up. I took one look at her and knew I had to get her to the ER she was going into DKA! Those 3 LETTERS are my worst nightmare coming true. 

We get to the ER and she is vomiting non-stop and her little body is shaking uncontrollable. The Dr says " Has she ever been in DKA?" No she has never been in DKA not even when Dx. I am really scared ! Let me rephrase that I am more than scared I feel like my worst dream is coming true I am going to loose my baby to Diabetes... knowing all that is involved with what her little body is going through.  I have to stop thinking this way but I can not my head is spinning and I am going to be sick. I quickly tell myself to pull it together you are at Children's they will take care of her, About that time I hear Code Blue Rm 14 my heart falls, oh no this is not good. Everyone takes off running, I feel so bad for that family of that child. I did not ask many quetions as to what happened but I do believe he/she did make it through, During this time all I can think of is "Please God do not let that be us" as I feel so bad for thinking that and saying it as well. Why am I thinking this way is it I have read to many stories on kids going into DKA and not living or am I just being a normal Mom of a diabetic kid?!?

We are hooked to an IV and insulin drip her Ph level is elevated, electrolytes are showing DKA and blood gases are elevated too.

The Dr came in and said to me " you got her here just in time she is going into DKA within 2 hours she would of been FULL BLOWN DKA. Right now she is in a Mild Stage of DKA." I am speechless as look at my little lifeless girl laying there and to think this is  "MILD DKA" Hate to see Full Blown DKA.  Lots happened in the nearly 12 hours we spent in the ER.  I will not go into detail as it was a long day and seems to be a blur or maybe I just want to forget that it even happened. I still am asking myself " What did I do wrong or could I have prevented this from happening?" As I have learned over the past 2 1/2 years with Diabetes it is always a guessing game and you never know why?

On this Thanksgiving 2012 I am thankful that I have educated myself and those around me on Type 1 Diabetes and for all the Dr's and Nurses who cared for my Sweet and Sassy at Nationwide Children's hospital!

Summer's Gone

         Yikes! Where did the summer go?!? I am sure many of us are asking yourself that same question. Well I know we have just been busy realxing lakeside with great friends this summer.   

 

                        NOTHING BUTT FUN AT CHOCTAW LAKE

                                              
  A day on the boat is fun too!

                       And of course us moms like to have fun as well!

Okay I know enough from all the fun we had this summer and back to the real reason for writing this blog.


Sunday I decided it was finally time to go through our stock pile of diabetic supplies and get things ready for school which starts tomorrow.  This what we have OH MY LANCETS wow did not really know we had that many at all!

 

Sweet and Sassy will be going to a new school this year. Found out last week or week before can not really remember  but there will be another T1D in her classroom too! How cool is that she will not feel different from other kids. And as of this morning one across the hall as well. We had our 504 meeting with all the teachers, nurse and principal. For the first time since sweet and sassy was diagnosed that I felt like I was in control of the meeting. Maybe because this is my 4th 504 plan meeting or maybe a was more prepared who knows either way it went great!  I am not nervous at all about her going to school this year. I have taught her to take care of herself and be very aware of her body feels. Some say I put to much responsibility on her?!? NEVER and you know why? I can not be with her 24 hours a day 7 days a week and so on, so she MUST be able to care for herself. I am very confident if she had to care for herself for a week she could without my help. Do I want that no but it is nice knowing she can do it.

So here we are the day before school starts still with many things left to do and places to be. One of Sweet and Sassy"s favorite sports is Cheer so off to Studio for cheer in a couple of hours.



      

 

We Don't Have It So Bad

As I was wondering what I should blog about this evening. Nothing came to mind except we don't have it so bad after all. Even though we as D parents think sometimes how could it get worse. We are either to high or low, ketones, snacks and juice every 3 hrs in the middle of the night. We wish we could sleep more than 3-4 hrs. Then there are night OH MY GOODNESS I slept through my alarm. You take off running to the bedroom to check BG and to your surprise your child is sleeping and is just fine. God has taken control for a few hours so we can sleep. This brings me to why I am posting tonight.

As I signed onto Facebook yesterday I read a girl I had gone to high school with had passed away unexpectedly at age 35 leaving two little boys here on earth without a mommy to get kiss away the boo's boo's or watch them play ball, graduate, go to college, get married and so on. Then  I few weeks ago I stumbled across a family who's daughter is fighting Neuroblastoma cancer stage 5. I do not know this family at all but have several friends who do. Check out her CaringBridge site her mom has set up.   http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/isabellasantos/mystory  

So just when we all think HOW BAD IS TODAY? We still have our babies with us and are doing everything we can to help find a cure. With this being said I will leave with a picture of Sweet and Sassy playing softball and pitching and enjoying life to the fullest no matter what D throws at her she throws it right back on the field.

Feeling Numb

     Well here it is been three months since I blogged. What have we been doing?!? I can't really remember all the details but we have had highs, lows, been on vacation, birthday parties you name it. Oh and Sweet and Sassy has a broken hand now. Through all this I have often sat and wanted to write but just have not. After a lot of thinking I may know now.
      
      I love reading everyone's blogs on how they are doing with D but for me to write a page is just to painful at times. I so wish our lives were normal...but what is normal? I forget. This time of year brings so many emotions that I almost feel numb, now days. All the highs and on her birthday reading off the PDM for nearly 4 hrs felt has if I was in bad dream and couldn't wake up. When she looked at me and said "Mom I am scared will I be okay?" Holding back the tears I say " Yes you will be fine." Not knowing what was going to happen to her that evening. Needless to say 22units of insulin in 4 hrs we got a reading of 523. Thank- you Jesus for keeping my little one safe tonight.

     May 17, 2010 was the start of our 21 days and 3 trips to the Dr to finally get some answers...we have D. The dreaded word I have come to learn so much about. Sometimes I just feel like the high and lows have no affect on me anymore its just a number and we know what to do. No more of the worries I had in the beginning. Did I count carbs right did I change ratio's right. Don't get me wrong I still worry everyday just that I feel numb to the numbers and that there is no right or wrong with diabetes. Everyday is different. The lack of sleep, counting carbs, weighing and measuring are just are normals now. Life before diabetes is just a blur and honestly I do not remember life before.

      Sweet and Sassy is becoming very good at learning how to care for herself, pod changes,weighing, measuring and carb counting.. I put a lot of responsibility on her because I can not be with her 24 hrs a day. So with our endo appt tomorrow at noon I am little worried to see her A1c because we have been all of the place with numbers the past three wks. I leave the blog tonight still feeling numb to all that diabetes has given to us over the last 2 yrs.
      

I am back

Well it has been a little over 2mths since I have wrote on this blog. Mainly because I am so busy. Here you go an update on the Omnipod:)

We have been podding for 3mths and had our 3mth check up with endo today, drum roll...A1c was 7.1!!!! Awesome for us, I was a little worried because she has been all over the place lately. We are still trying to figured out some basal and IC ratio's but over all I am very proud of how we have done so far.

Sweet and Sassy's handles it all very well. She can even do a pod change by herself with no help. I am getting braver and have let her spend the night away from twice. The third time will be Sunday she is staying with her cousin.

Hope all my blogging friends are doing well, I promise to update more often.

What were we waiting for

So we have been pumping with the Omnipod for one month tomorrow, so far so good no big issues. We love it, as I sit back and think about why I waited so long to get started on the pump? I really think it was just I had the injections down I knew when she would go HIGH or LOW with what activity.

Pod changes have went well every three days we have not had one fall off or be uncomfortable...I am patting myself on my back because when were on saline the first week I put one her arm and it was EXTREMELY painful for her. Sweet and Sassy cried for almost two hours that day. I felt so bad for her and thought is this going to work for us. She was so afraid of and said " I just want to go back on shots!" I encouraged her to keep trying it out. Trying to explain this too a crying 8 year old who is very strong willed was quite difficult but all in all she agreed.

One of our first days on the pump she said " I do not even feel like I have diabetes anymore." This brought tears to my eyes. I am glad she feels that why now me it took me a few days, seeing the pod attached to her was a constant reminder to me that she had this awful disease. It does not bother me at all anymore.

We have had awesome BG only a couple high's but this week are struggling with low's in the morning after breakfast as in 40 yes I said 40 to low for me.

A big thanks goes out to Nicole Stupp when ever I had question no matter the time of day or night she was always there for me.

With all of this being said Sweet and Sassy is preparing for our next cheer competition on Saturday

24 Hours and counting on the pump

A very long time awaiting but we did it and so far we love it. As I did not think it was going to bother me very much but as we ate our first meal without and injection I become overwhelmed with emotion I started crying and could not stop. I am sure everyone in the place was like what is wrong with the mom. I have been an emotional mess since then. I think it just brought back so many memories of Dx day.


So here we are just over 24 hrs and counting and we have had great numbers and only one high but no ketones. Keeping my fingers crossed that we continue with all the good reports.

Her first meal without an injection!