Thursday, July 23, 2009

Morning Update

The night went great! She stayed up until about 11 pm and by that time, her ketones went back to normal! She was at 115, so I went ahead and gave her a juice box and sent her to bed. I checked her at midnight and she was up to 150. I went to bed and set my alarm for 2. At 2, she was back down to 112- but no fever. I debated whether or not to give her anything, but since she went to bed very late, she would sleep later. This morning she woke up at 150 with a small amount of ketones showing and with a temp of 102.3. Some motrin and her fever went away and we'll be checking her blood sugar soon. So thanks everyone for your prayers- so far it's going smoothly. I think it's way worse thinking about what "could" happen than when you are actually in the middle of it.

I have to take a moment to say thanks to the head nurse on duty last night at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital. I don't know who you are....but you are awesome. Here's the story:

When Eli got sick, I took a trip to Walmart to stock up on some essential items, including ketone test strips. I knew that we just had a few left and with illness emerging in the family....desperately needed more. Well, that was last weekend. They were completely out- they couldn't restock them. I thought, okay, I'll just wait a few days and come back. I checked again earlier in the week and still no ketone strips. I *should* have gone to some other pharmacies in town, but Walmart is by far the cheapest place to shop here. So....when Jada got sick last night, I had two ketone test strips left. I called Jeff and asked him to run Walmart on the way home. Walmart was still out! He went to the 4 other grocery stores in town.....nothing. So...he headed to the hospital- not knowing if they would help or not. The first nurse he spoke to suggested bringing her down to the ER and Jeff's reply was that we need them so that we don't have to bring her down. I mean, really- exposing a sick, diabetic child to who knows what else? He asked to talk to her supervisor, who immediately agreed with Jeff and handed him a whole bottle of test strips- not just a few to get through the night- at no charge. It may not seem like a big deal to some-- but it meant the world to us. So thank you who ever you are---you took some worry off our chest last night!

9 comments:

Wendy said...

So sorry your world is still spinning...but so HAPPY to hear you were able to get some help! Those multi-stix (usually the ER checks for more than just ketones) are pretty cool!

LakeLady said...

We nurses can be pretty cool! Glad you found one! Hang tuff, I am hoping that all of this will be over soon.

Rachel Lundy said...

I hope your little princess gets better soon.

That's wonderful that there was such a great nurse at the hospital!

Jill said...

That's awesome that you got such a great nurse to help out! Can you order those by mail order? or does AK shipping make them too pricey that way?

Shamae (Ghost written by Loren her hubby) said...

What an awesome nurse! I hope things go smoothly and you don't have any issues.

On another note, I hate those middle of the night checks where they are like 102 or 95. Technically speaking, that is a rocking BS but in the night it's like, "Are they going up or down? Should I give them something? Will it makes them go high?" Anyway those are frustrating for me.

One positive thing about Syd's pump is if it is low 100s, sometimes i will just turn her basal rate down through a temp basal setting. She doesn't need carbs right away to treat a low. For the next 3 or 4 hours she only gets 50% of her normal basal rate and it usually brings her up to around 170s or so...a much more comfy number for me to sleep soundly with.

Anonymous said...

That's awesome. YAYA for Fairbanks Memorial!

Do you want me to check and see what they have here for ketone strips and I will bring them up if you want? It's no problem!

Melissa's Thoughts said...

Love that story. It's great to hear when people do that right thing.

carrie said...

Amy, what gift from God. He is so good. I am so thankful that they did that for you.

Meri said...

Sometimes the angels find us, what a gift that nurse was!

My J came back from scout camp with the swine flu. My other diabetics were given tamaflu right away and didn't get it. But I did. :( J got over it in four days. It took me two weeks. Really scary, but I'm glad it's over.

Glad you found me, It's a relief to be connected!