Update on SD's Hospitalization- SD Really Saved Her Own Life Yesterday

As I posted last night, YSD was sent via ambulance to the hospital due to a Type 1 Diabetes related issue. From the info we got at first, it sounded like she would just get some insulin and go home. They ended up keeping her overnight and she might be discharged today. Turns out the situation was far worse than early reports.

Here is what really happened. SD was horribly thirsty and exhausted all day and vomited everything she tried to ingest. BM left her with her BF to attend a meeting for work and her phone died. In the early afternoon, BF heard her cry out from her room and went to see what he could do. She was very thirsty and he gave her both water and Gatorade. She threw it all up. He asked her what else he could do since he couldn't reach her mother. She said "Call an ambulance". She knew she was in major trouble and likely saved her own life.

Turns out she was having an episode of Ketoacidosis. http://m.diabetes.org/living-with-diabetes/complications/ketoacidosis-dk... (link if you are interested). Very dangerous situation that can turn very, very quickly.

I am so glad SD told him to call the paramedics. Thank god!

FDH was at the hospital all evening and got home around midnight last night. He picked up MSD very early this morning. They stopped by the hospital on the way to go see OSD for her milestone birthday 4 states away. (He didn't want to ruin her birthday and BM is at the hospital full time with YSD who is out of the woods). He said the endocrinologist was there and it turns out that SD has NOT been checking her blood glucose enough each day (they can see it on her testing device). She is supposed to do a minimum of 4 times during the day and she is averaging 2-3. So they will delay her pump until she has two full weeks (post-recovery) of proper testing.

I am just so relieved that everything is OK. That poor kid was so sick. And I am also happy that FDH made the decision to make sure he still showed up (albeit one day late) for OSD's birthday. In families with one sick child, the others often get totally forgotten in the mix. FDH seems to finally understand that and I think he did the right thing once YSD was out of danger.

So now I have the house to myself and a nasty cold. So I am going to watch mindless TV with my dog all day. Relieved.

Anne Boleyn's blog
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Comments

Thank you. The pump will not

Thank you. The pump will not answer the problems unless SD fully commits to being 100% responsible to manager her disease with both parents over-seeing her closely. I think this episode may have scared her into reality though. One can only hope. It's scary stuff.

I am glad your SD is ok now.

I am glad your SD is ok now. Doesn’t she test for ketones when she is sick? DH test for them anytime that he is not feeling well. He has gone into Ketoacidosis and without the strips he wouldn't have known. You can get the strips at any drug store.

I wish her the best of luck when she finally gets on the pump. I know that it was a lifesaver for DH. He was at 10 injections a day and testing 8 times a day min. Now he tests and the pump calculates how much insulin he needs. I just wish he were healthy enough to get on the transplant list.

We have the ketone strips at

We have the ketone strips at our house and I have seen FDH make her test any time she's high and feeling badly. And usually that ends up with a call to the endocrinologist who gives us advice and then it's resolved. I honestly have no idea what happened yesterday at BM's. From the sounds of it, no ketone testing was done because they would've known far earlier in the day that there was a major problem. I am trying not to be judgemental but I am sort of pissed at how this was handled. She suffered unnecessarily.

Our Drs will not approve a

Our Drs will not approve a pump unless the patient has proven to be responsible and adequately takes care themselves. Like testing as required. Maintaining a healthy weight or significant weight loss. Taking their medication as prescribed.

The pump is not responsible for taking the edge of DM care. We had a patient call Thursday evening at 4:35pm (office closes at 5pm) saying her sugars and ketones were climbing. She had been sick since 5AM and only thought to call our office now. She hadn't eaten all day and had thrown up any fluids she took in. Never mind she was chugging back a glass of water at a time. Of COURSE you will throw it back up! And when it was suggested she took a bolus shot of insulin by the RN she wanted to know why and argued with the RN then hung up on her!

They made her wait over two

They made her wait over two years for the pump (she was just about to get it next week). And a few months ago she had to go through the whole process of proving she was responsible. But I don't see how testing regularly and food diary for only two weeks shows a real pattern. She did it just long enough to get approved. And now she's back to square one but only needs to do it for two weeks. I told FDH that I sincerely hope she realizes that those two weeks are supposed to be indicative of how she ALWAYS manages her health/disease.

Funny about your patient. Sounds like an older version of SD with high BG.