dreadful ketones, hospital...

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Patricia said:
Okay, movement at last: down to 18.8! Hurray! Set change done and pump reconnected. Hurray!

Phew. E is calming significantly already.
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that's great 🙂 shame dad has no PJs though :D

Patricia said:
Well, hey I'm SO glad you guys are up, however! I can actually feel myself unwinding a little now, so thank you...

My daughter is nine. She and her brother are very close, always have been. He is very protective and indulgent of her, and she is wacky, gutsy, free spirit-ish. When he was diagnosed, they seemed to lose each other. She became very *good*, quiet, guilty at not having it. He was so occupied with everything going on that he lost sight of her. Over the summer they seemed to come back to each other, and have been on great form, to my enormous and lasting relief.

I know this event will set her back. She will need to see him to believe all is okay. So I may have everyone home from school tomorrow, 😱!

Oh my. It's all so *important*. And wearing...
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aww they sound lovely! I hope this won't set her back too much, she will at least see he is fine very soon, whereas when he was first diagnosed i'm sure it was a lot longer till she could see he was back to normal.

Right, i'm going to *try* to sleep now (this is early for me). Let us know how he is. Goodnight xx
 
A really, *really* good point Katie...hadn't thought of that. Of course he will be fine so quickly...Okay, will hang onto that for her (and me!)

Try to sleep. And thank you again. You are stars.

xxoo
 
I'm so glad everything has calmed down now and you are feeling less distraught . (((((HUGS)))))


p.s I am not a machine Twin !! cut me deep :(
 
Thank you AM. I didn't believe Katie 😉.

They are all settling down for sleep. Hourly checks.

I'll try too!

And you?

Night night.

xxoo
 
Patricia said:
Thank you AM. I didn't believe Katie 😉.

They are all settling down for sleep. Hourly checks.

I'll try too!

And you?

Night night.

xxoo
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Goodnight Patricia , sleep well 🙂 Let us know how he is tomorrow please 🙂I dont sleep honey >> hence the machine tag lol hehe
 
Patricia, so sorry to just read what has been going on! Thank goodness the 'sleepless twins' were here to give you some reassurance (well done ladies!🙂)

I'm hoping that, by the time you read this you will have managed some sleep and that E is back to normal levels. If it were me, I would definitely have the whole family home today. Once E was receiving insulin, he would be feeleing better very quickly, if my experience was anything to go by - it certainly brings it home how important the stuff is! Hope you can get to the bottom of why it happened and that you all are able to rest easy tonight {{{{Patricia + family}}}}
 
Good Morning Patricia , How is your son today ? I hope your daughter is ok and not too upset , Im sure the whole family will be home again together before you know it 🙂🙂 I hope you managed to get a couple of hours sleep too ? Best Wishes Anne-Marie xx
 
Patricia, it is 7.15am Monday morning and i have just caught up with this thread. 😱

I am so sorry to hear what has happened! How very frightening for you all!

Gosh! You must be shattered! Glad the twins were up to support you. 🙂

How is he this morning? and how are you and the rest of your family?

Thinking of you all and will check later to see update.

Hugs to you all.

Mand xxxxx
 
Patricia, hope all is well and you have a much better day today.xxxxxxx

re blood gasses, they take arterial blood as this gives a very accurate picture of the toxicity of the blood, ie if ketones present and to what level. Ive had it done too and very painful, he is a brave young boy.
 
tracey w said:
Patricia, hope all is well and you have a much better day today.xxxxxxx

re blood gasses, they take arterial blood as this gives a very accurate picture of the toxicity of the blood, ie if ketones present and to what level. Ive had it done too and very painful, he is a brave young boy.
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I'll echo that. The arteries are deep, this is why it is more painful than getting blood from veins. They took mine from my wrist. :(
 
Mand said:
Patricia, it is 7.15am Monday morning and i have just caught up with this thread. 😱
I am so sorry to hear what has happened! How very frightening for you all!
Gosh! You must be shattered! Mand xxxxx
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Patricia, Like Mand I've just caught up on this - can only add my good wishes and hugs. The whole situation must have been SO frightening for you all - pl keep us posted on progress.

All good wishes,
 
Hi Patricia

Just turned on and read the thread. I hope E is ok this morning and levels and ketones are down, it must have been very frightening for poor E. People (not us lot of course) that these are only kids, even the teens, and this is a huge condition to deal with, all aspect of it. Please let us know how he is when you have a minute. I had literally turned off and gone to bed when you post must have come in.

There could be a number of reasons it happened. Bubbles up by the reservoir wouldn't normally affect the levels, the bubbles need to be nearer the body, unless the bubble was somehow preventing the insulin going down, not heard of that.

You did the right thing absolutely. The protocol we have is correct one, if nothing happens given shot of insulin via a pen. I have a few friends who do this automatically. I don't because insulin doesn't seem to behave normally anywhere near Jessica.

Take care 🙂
 
Hi Patricia, like some of the others here, I am just catching up with things. I hope E is feeling better. Sometimes these things feel worse because we panic. DO keep us up to date and let us know how things go. And give E a big get well hug from me.
 
Oh my goodness Patricia!

I feel so guilty as i had just turned off and gone to bed when you must have been posting!:(
I so wish i had been around to try to support you through all of this.

I cant imagine how worried you must have felt and poor E - he is a brave young man isnt he? A had blood gasses done on diagnosis - very painful and took 3 different doctors to try to get some.

Lets hope both E and dad had a restful night and that his levels are within range this morning.🙂

I have seen how to do de-gassing - but it did seem a little difficult and time consuming. Perhaps i will try it though. I hope you can work out what the trigger was for this and put things right if you can.
I have been filling 2 resevoirs when doing a set change - so that we have a 'spare' for the next change. I do this so the resevoir can sit flat for a few days and any bubbles can be seen as they will slowly rise of their own accord - then when we use it we just use the plunger to push a small amount out of the top before we start the whole fill tubing process. Probably a waste of insulin - but it works for us.

Anyway, your probably all shattered today - so try to get some sleep and family hugs!
When you can, let us all know how you all are please.🙂Bev xxxxxxxxx

WELL DONE TWINS FOR LOOKING AFTER PATRICIA SO BRILLIANTLY! YOUR A PAIR OF STARS! BEV XXX
 
Hi Patricia

Just caught up with this thread and wanted to say I'm thinking of you. I can't imagine what it must be like watching your child go through the horrors of diabetes but do know what it's like when they have to go into hospital and you're left feeling helpless. Hope things are better today and he's ok. You must have had a very worrying night....

Allison
 
Hello all

Well phew first to say that everyone is now home and well. Levels absolutely normal. OH up hourly to test last night of course because wanted to use same meter for our records, but E got fitful sleep.

My daughter was in a very upset state this am, not surprising. She is still home, and they are bonding. Both were very wobbly and tearful when he came back. Katie, I used your thoughts while talking through things: this is not diagnosis, this is over quickly. He was always safe, just sad and feeling dreadful (which produced more floods of course because she is so empathetic and knows him so well!).

The care was *very good* -- mainly because they *listened*. Although there were live drips in, none were used. My husband managed to convince the registrar that
reconnecting the pump was the way forward with this, as the levels of insulin were so tiny and constant. He also made clear that there was no background insulin so a unit at a time etc was not going to have the desired effect...At 3 am, when he was 16mmols, my husband sought out the registrar and told him he was doing a correction, etc... The doc let him get on with it, and they charted this lovely downward curve. The staff were impressed by the pump.

Unfortunately however only last week they had an Austrian boy in, 11 yrs old, on a school trip, on a pump,also very high numbers and ketones, but no DKA. My husband did his best to drill into them that the pump was absolutely fabulous anyway...which it is.

The great relief is that we now know what happened: this morning out came the old set change, and it was a bent cannula. Really bent. Like 90 degrees bent.

You were right Adrienne; whatever we saw in the tube that looked like a bubble obviously didn't cause this!

We are though a little confused about the timing: did set change before lunch. Lunch insulin saw him at 9mmols 3 hours later. Did one unit correction, which saw him overreact a little and be 5 before dinner. What we can't figure is why all of the sudden it decided to bend completely...I looked at the site, and it's clear that the set was vulnerable from the start: it looks to have gone in at an angle, under the surface, because there is a scratch rather than a dot. The only thing I can think is that at some point just before dinner, his body position must have forced the angle even more, and the cannula totally went?

Anyway now we know. And we will also work through all the possible circumstances this could happen in. For instance: we shouldn't have gone to the beach without a pen in a Frio, just in case. We were two hours from a hospital that day.

All this is a scary reminder of how quickly things can go wrong. We managed a laugh though: apparently the best bits for E were a) Dad going 20 mph over the speed limit to get there (!) and b) four nurses fussing around him the minute he arrived (!!).

Husband sleeping now. Will bring daughter into school at lunch to see her friends and relieve this of any crisis proportion now. E is relieved. And grateful to everyone who looked after him, and for the love of his family, in his quiet way.

And I'm grateful too. You learn things about what's important whenever you deal with this condition the big D. I mean important like in life and people. Twins: you REALLY saved my bacon last night. Truly. Thank you for being there.

And thank you all on here for your support and good wishes. I'm so glad I know you. (sniff!)

xxoo
 
Hi Patricia , what fantastic news that they were led by your husband and actually listened ! I'm so pleased that your son is home where he belongs again ,what a lovely relationship your children have ! 🙂
I hope you will relax and get some sleep yourself now !! I bet you didnt sleep a wink for worrying ! You are very welcome , I am glad I was online when you needed someone to talk it through with , I know Twin will say exactly the same thing ! This is a support forum and this is what we are here for , to help and support eachother in the good times and the bad . Take care

Best wishes Anne-Marie xx 🙂
 
hi there patricia only just reading through the thrwads aint been here for days , im so sorry you had such a bad time , but im pleased your son seems to be on the mend xxx hope you will get some well earned rest now
 
Hi Patricia, soooo pleased that all is well - and particularly that you found the problem so that E has not lost confidence in the pump. An extremely worrying thing to go through, but in some ways good that it happened when you were in a position to act quickly. I'm sure all other parents will now be forewarned of the possibility, what to look for, how to react, and what can be done to safeguard their children in future - a hard lesson, but a good outcome.:D

Hope you can get some rest today, you and your husband must be exhausted!
 
Excellent news that E is ok and so is his sister and dad and you. What an awful experience hopefully never to be repeated. You are so right about taking pens with you just in case, I do, if I know I'm gone for a while.
 
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