Thursday, July 28, 2011

This is what it sounds like when chunks fly

"My tummy hurts!"

"Blurk"

Two things you never want to hear from your child at 1:30 in the morning.

Your child with diabetes.

Your child with diabetes, a blood sugar of 67 and a CGM screaming LOW with a downwards arrow.

Welcome to our Tuesday night/Wednesday morning. The story actually started a good 4 hours earlier, when Elise's BG was 91, which was curiously low given that she had eaten ice cream for dessert, and had her 15g uncovered snack around 8:30.

In other words, she should have been much, much higher. We gave her 9g and toddled off to bed. We checked every 30 minutes, noting with some alarm that her BG is not going anywhere. A little after midnight, we gave her 5g more.

That's when Elise started complaining of a tummy ache. When her BG is low (or falling), this is usually what she tells us, so I attributed it to that. Somewhere in the back of my mind an alarm was going off, saying, "danger, Will Robinson!"

At 1:30 in the morning, all spew broke loose. Elise had stated crying again, so Fred went in to see her. I hear the, "my tummy hurts!", then the unmistakable sound of a technicolour yawn coming from the baby monitor.

Awesome. Just so very awesome.

I ran into Elise's room to find a huge puddle of vomit in Elise's bed, her pjs covered in hurl, and puke hanging from her hair. A quick BG check shows her at 67. Ketones are .3. I got her to drink some juice, praying we would avoid further regurgitation.

I took her sheets and comforter down for washing, while Fred bathed and washed her hair (Yay teamwork!)
. Did I mention that during all of this Mattias is awake and yelling for food? While I'm nursing him, I heard Elise throw-up again as she got out of the bath. Her BG is only 105 and ketones are now .8.

After Mattias was fed and back in bed, Fred and I talked over our options. Because of the wealth of knowledge of the DOC, I knew the best thing would be to get some Zofran into her. And I also knew the only way we'd get it would be if by some festivus miracle
, Elise's pediatrician was on call that night.

Thankfully, she was and she agreed that Zofran was the way to go. One hour later, Fred was back with the prescription. Elise's BG was still hovering around 100, and ketones were now 1.1. She had thrown-up again, and didn't want to eat or drink anything.

It's a good thing we had the Zofran , because a few hours later, her BG was 88 and ketones 1.6. I was able to get her to drink some juice and water.

Wednesday morning, she woke up perky with a BG of 246 and 1.6 ketones, but said she felt fine. Until the Zofran wore off, and the up-chucking started anew around lunchtime.

Thankfully, today (Thursday) is a new day. Everything seems to be back to normal. And we survived our first sick day (night) in almost two years. I had forgotten how scary it can be.

And there is so much to be learned when you're going through these situations; putting ketone meters back in the right place so you don't have to tear the house apart looking for it.

The importance of having spare ketone meters.

How great it is to have a pediatrician that will listen to you and what YOU think is best for your child.

And just how amazing the DOC is; for teaching you about Zofran, mini-gluc, and ketone meters.

20 comments:

  1. I always appreciate reading about these experiences, because I'm always trying to mentally prepare for a future one. Glad the worst is over.

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  2. UGH poor Elise! So glad to hear that she is doing better today. You guys are rockstars and definitely loving the teamwork!

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  3. Yuck! Poor Elise! Nothing scares me more than low blood sugar when I am too sick to eat or drink anything or can't keep anything down. So glad it all worked out! :)

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  4. Good reminder not just for parents of children with D, but also for us grown-up T1D folks. It's been a LONG time (knock on wood) since I've been sick, but I remember how scary it was as a kid when I couldn't keep anything down and my BG was plummeting. I need to get some Zofran and keep it on hand, just in case...I have had to do a mini-dose of glucagon once because of what I think was food poisoning and that was scary enough.

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  5. Totally rocking out to Prince right now! ;)
    So glad that all that mess seems to be over. Way to ROCK the team work!

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  6. Poor baby! We have been there and its awful!!

    Hope she's on the mend and ketone go away! Love the teamwork. :)

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  7. yikes! Looks like I need to get some Zofran myself! Thank you for the reminder.

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  8. Your poor little angel, and poor ye two as well, so glad it worked out for you, very scary stuff, it hasnt happened to us yet and please god it'll be a while.

    Need to look into Zofran, havent heard of it on this side of the pond.

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  9. Recently had M's first sick experience. Nothing like no sleep for two days. Hang in there!

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  10. wow, props to you for handling it all so well, yay teamwork!

    i gotta check into zofran too, thanks for the tip!

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  11. Wowza! Now that is some night. I fully recognize the whole lowish...not budging BG issue right at bedtime...and not budging...no matter how many times you feed 'em sugar...and the hurl at MN:30 and after...OY.

    So glad that your Pediatrician ROCKS! xo

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  12. Yea for Festivus miracles!! And for Zofran...you did a great job keeping her out of the ER. I am so glad to have Zofran on hand now for whenever that kind of thing happens again. Hope she is feeling back to normal soon!

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  13. Wow! Glad you got through that. Poor Elise. I hope she continutes to get better!!

    I looked at the ingredients in Just 10 and it looks like it's sweetened with sucralose. Don't know what that is....

    Lora said Minute Maid Fruit Falls is also 2 carbs. I haven't looked at that yet....not sure what the difference is...

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  14. Ugh. So sorry. But the DOC and your doctor rock! Glad to hear she is doing better and you made it through the puke storm. Score one for you guys!

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  15. Hope Elise is feeling a little better. ((hugs)) to you both

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  16. Hope tonight is much, much better. I remember the night one of ours threw up in my hair, my clothes, my shoes. Not a fun night...

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  17. UG. so descriptive and scary. Hope everybody got cleaned up and feels better.

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  18. Nothing beats the sound of vomitrous. Distinct. Unique. Makes ya cringe. Add T1D into the mix and the sound carries a high pitched emergency siren. Ugh. Way to go with the tag team pancreating!@!!!

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  19. Hope she is feeling better *taking mental note of things I need to ask the Doc about!!!*

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  20. Ugh, sorry you and Elise had such a rotten couple of days. :( But I'm so glad you had tips from the other d-parents to help make it a little bit less scary. Hugs to you both!!

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