Sickness- The early days
It had been 1 day since we left hospital. It was Christmas day - eat drink and be merry was usual in our family - a traditional Christmas. Although this was to be slightly different this year with the build up to it being in hospital, but we were home after all - taking the silver lining and all that. All I can say is we are so thank full that Santa was so organised this year with his present sorting and that his elves helped him out with all the wrapping!
Still most of the day went without any mishaps - the floor was no longer visible with the take over of the new toy shop that seems to invade the house year on year. The attempt to walk from one area of the house to the other became a dice of foot death as you were sure to stand on the smallest, sharpest of them all at least once, and then hop around doing the chicken dance for the next 5 minutes before managing to stop shouting all swear words under the sun. It was normality and it was nice. Being able to relax - plan food when we wanted it and know that we could at least try this new routine out in our own way,it was a comfort - a nervous comfort. I couldn't help but think - shit - what if we do this wrong and he has a really bad hypo? - we had no idea at this point how hard this really was going to be.
We had loads more questions that were left unanswered when we were in hospital- one of those moments when someone asks you if you have anything else you would like to ask and your mind goes completely blank because you have so many but which one comes first?! Then after the event you go over what actually you should have asked in your head and now its way too late. We didn't feel like we could ring the emergency line number that had been given to us as it was the holidays - we just hoped that we didn't come across anything that didn't make sense to us.
Sickness was one of those questions. We had briefly covered it in our 'training' but we were told we will find out more about this when we have our first clinic appointment, as they didn't want to over load us with too much information. In my opinion I like and need to know all the information possible so I know that I can make informed decisions when it comes to it. Planning is something I try and do (emphasis on the try)- we all try right?!)
So you clearly can guess what happened next- there on Christmas night I found myself clearing up sick, changing bed sheets several times - it was never ending. I cant stand sick - as soon as I catch the smell it makes me want to heave - I mean no one thinks about the ins and outs (literally!) of what it means to have children before its too late do they! You become a slave to them- seeing to their every need. However when your little one is sick you just want them to hurry up and be better -wish you could take it away for them and give them lots of cuddles - tell them it will be ok. But this was different- Oliver wasn't drinking or eating anything. This was something you don't even think of before Diabetes takes over - you generally just let them eat or drink what they want and can when they are poorly - curl up and sleep it off- when they feel better they will find the energy to eat, just like you would do.
We tested Oliver's blood sugar - it was high - we followed what we had been taught - if its high we need to test ketone's. Ketone's were above 1- this was bad...... We were reading off a sheet of paper of what to do next - if over 1 then give a correction does of insulin, (worked out by yet another little chart) and call the team.
We were told that we still needed to give Oliver insulin and that meant we still had to get some sort of carbohydrate down him. We are so lucky that he actually will still drink when sick so we use juice. Or alternatively if he decides hes not liking the juice - as a lot of 2 year olds do!, then we freeze a sugary drink and then let him suck it. This also helps keep him hydrated with them thinking they are having a little treat. This kept him going through the next day and this time we avoided being admitted back into hospital as the ketone's came down. This was our first win against diabetes - it was tough but we got through it!
Still most of the day went without any mishaps - the floor was no longer visible with the take over of the new toy shop that seems to invade the house year on year. The attempt to walk from one area of the house to the other became a dice of foot death as you were sure to stand on the smallest, sharpest of them all at least once, and then hop around doing the chicken dance for the next 5 minutes before managing to stop shouting all swear words under the sun. It was normality and it was nice. Being able to relax - plan food when we wanted it and know that we could at least try this new routine out in our own way,it was a comfort - a nervous comfort. I couldn't help but think - shit - what if we do this wrong and he has a really bad hypo? - we had no idea at this point how hard this really was going to be.
We had loads more questions that were left unanswered when we were in hospital- one of those moments when someone asks you if you have anything else you would like to ask and your mind goes completely blank because you have so many but which one comes first?! Then after the event you go over what actually you should have asked in your head and now its way too late. We didn't feel like we could ring the emergency line number that had been given to us as it was the holidays - we just hoped that we didn't come across anything that didn't make sense to us.
Sickness was one of those questions. We had briefly covered it in our 'training' but we were told we will find out more about this when we have our first clinic appointment, as they didn't want to over load us with too much information. In my opinion I like and need to know all the information possible so I know that I can make informed decisions when it comes to it. Planning is something I try and do (emphasis on the try)- we all try right?!)
So you clearly can guess what happened next- there on Christmas night I found myself clearing up sick, changing bed sheets several times - it was never ending. I cant stand sick - as soon as I catch the smell it makes me want to heave - I mean no one thinks about the ins and outs (literally!) of what it means to have children before its too late do they! You become a slave to them- seeing to their every need. However when your little one is sick you just want them to hurry up and be better -wish you could take it away for them and give them lots of cuddles - tell them it will be ok. But this was different- Oliver wasn't drinking or eating anything. This was something you don't even think of before Diabetes takes over - you generally just let them eat or drink what they want and can when they are poorly - curl up and sleep it off- when they feel better they will find the energy to eat, just like you would do.
We tested Oliver's blood sugar - it was high - we followed what we had been taught - if its high we need to test ketone's. Ketone's were above 1- this was bad...... We were reading off a sheet of paper of what to do next - if over 1 then give a correction does of insulin, (worked out by yet another little chart) and call the team.
We were told that we still needed to give Oliver insulin and that meant we still had to get some sort of carbohydrate down him. We are so lucky that he actually will still drink when sick so we use juice. Or alternatively if he decides hes not liking the juice - as a lot of 2 year olds do!, then we freeze a sugary drink and then let him suck it. This also helps keep him hydrated with them thinking they are having a little treat. This kept him going through the next day and this time we avoided being admitted back into hospital as the ketone's came down. This was our first win against diabetes - it was tough but we got through it!
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