This is what I posted on Facebook the day after F's diagnosis, because it seemed to be the best way to update all our family and friends on what had happened, without repeating it all!!
On Wednesday I was worried about F. She had been tired for a long time, but we put it down to having school, dancing classes, swimming club and cheerleading club, and not enough rest. We hoped that with the school holidays she would rest and recover. However, she got more and more exhausted and floppy instead, despite sleeping 12 hours a night. She then started drinking insane amounts, which rang alarm bells with me. I knew someone with a little girl who did this, and she turned out to be diabetic. I took F to the doctor on Wednesday. I feel terrible now, knowing how ill she really was, that I made her walk into town to the doctor's, then to the shops and library, and back again. :-( I had made a note of the things I was worried about, as I have a terrible memory, and I took it with me to the doctor's. If I can find it later I will copy it out here, but for now I'll write down what I remember from it:
Absolutely exhausted.
Drinking excessive amounts (2000ml in 4 hours this morning).
Leg ache.
No high temperature so I don't think it's swine flu.
Seems a bizarre thing to say, but the last few days she has seemed thinner.
The doctor was a bit offhand, and didn't read my whole list of things I was worried about, but did listen when I said how tired she was and that she had drunk 2000ml in 4 hours that morning. He gave me a blood test form and told me to get her tested. He didn't make it sound urgent, so we took her in at 08:00 the next morning. By then she was totally exhausted, drinking constantly and going pale. She looked thinner than ever, and as F is a skinny girl anyway, you'll realise how stick-like she was looking. The nurses at the path lab seemed very worried about her. They could hardly get any blood out of her to test, and she was very weak. They rushed her blood samples through at top speed, and we took F home. Steve carried her to the car, and there were murmurs of "poor little girl" as we passed the people waiting for blood tests.
Steve went out to work, telling me to call him when I'd phoned for the test results (expected back at 11:00). A few moments after he left, Dr Johnson from our surgery called and said that F's blood glucose was at 30, which was dangerously high and meant she was fairly definitely diabetic and needed treating immediately. Could I get F to the hospital fast? As I have no car, I said I couldn't but I'd get Steve home and he could probably be back within half an hour to take us. The doctor said he couldn't risk waiting that long and would order an emergency ambulance. I should pack F's nightie, and could I please try to find someone to look after the other two children so I didn't have to take them with me.
I tried phoning neighbours and friends, but no-one was available who could take the children, so they ended up coming with us in the ambulance. DS LOVED it, especially having the blue light on, but Baby was a bit bewildered. F submitted to everything calmly. By then her breathing was alarming, and the paramedics put her on oxygen.
As soon as we arrived at A&E, F was wheeled into the resuscitation room, but I couldn't go with her as I had to take care of DS and Baby. We waited in the parents room for Steve to arrive. When he did, we were told that we could all go through to F. She was lying on a big bed in the resuscitation room, looking very ill, but being a total star. Baby and DS behaved very well. We were there an extremely long time and neither of them were a nuisance. DS did get very hungry, so Steve took him to get some lunch while I breastfed Baby next to F's bed.
F stayed calm and unfazed throughout, while several doctors, consultants, nurses and student nurses came and went, pricked hands and arms, attached drips, etc... The consultant explained to me that she had Diabetic Ketoacidosis, and that it was a good thing we had brought her in when we had, as her hands and feet were already starting to "shut down". She certainly looked very ill, greyish and unlike my normal lively F. She was put on an insulin drip and another drip to hydrate her (don't ask me what ... I was too tired to take it in!) and attached to monitors, so she had tubes and wires protruding from every limb and needed two people just to hold all her drips and machines when they moved her bed.
In the evening she was moved up to the children's ward, in a little single room with a view of a fishtank from the door. She seemed to like watching the fish (although by then she had stopped speaking to anyone) and gave a wan smile at the pretty paintings around the walls. The children's nurses were fantastic with her - exactly the right mix of reassuring and informative, without condescending to her. I could see that she was already starting to feel a tiny bit better, although not a lot! Her breathing was not good and kept setting off alarms on her monitors.
I stayed with her till around 9:00 in the evening. Steve and DS fetched my mum over, so that there would be someone at home to care for the children. The nurses and play assistant were fantastic with Baby, who was still behaving beautifully. They brought toys, nappies and babyfood along for her, played with her when I needed to speak to the doctors, and found a pram so that I could put her down for a nap.
Just before I left for home, I asked F how she was feeling and she told me she had a headache. I had been warned to watch out for this, so I informed the doctor immediately. He and I were both fairly sure it was due to the beeping on her monitor. Her breathing kept setting the monitor alarm off, and there was a fault on the machine which meant they couldn't turn the alarm off. By the time I got home I had a thumping headache from the beeping, so I'm not surprised F had! However, as headache is one of the warning signs of water on the brain (which the treatment can cause if they do it too fast), they decided after Steve returned to move her to the high dependency unit in the city hospital, where she could be kept under observation and treated quickly if necessary.
Another blue light ride, and she was there. Steve was able to sleep in the carer's room there and be with her in the morning till he came to fetch me. He was able to report to me by then that she looked pinker and was smiling at the TV over her bed.
When I got home I had dinner, updated Mum, updated on here, put DS to bed, fed and cuddled Baby and went to bed. I didn't sleep much, but I'm sure lying down and resting helped. DS continued to be a superstar by not getting out of bed once (he normally gets out a few times a night). In the morning I got up, fed Baby, showered, dressed and grabbed a few things for F, then it was straight out to the hospital again, leaving Baby and DS with Mum.
F was in hospital for a total of 5 days - 1 in the HDU.After that, the diabetic nurses came out every couple of days for a week, and the dietician came out twice to advise us on carb-counting. F started gaining her weight back, and now (4 months later) is doing very well.
