On the day we went home, we had two cars at the hospital. The one I had driven up three days earlier and the one Destry drove up so he could be a part of the training. I had stayed in the hospital with him the whole time. Taylor chose to ride home with his dad. I was somewhat afraid to let him out of my sight, but the ride home from Primary Children's Hospital was only about 45 minutes.
I was actually afraid to leave the hospital. I wondered how they expected me to keep him alive now. I remember feelings of apprehension every time I brought home a new baby. This was similar, only magnified. In the hospital two nurses were required to count the carbs., calculate the amount of insulin, and check to see if the correct amount had been drawn out of the insulin vile. Yet, they were sending me home, by myself, after three days of training and expected to keep this boy alive.
We were to call the doctor daily. Thank goodness. That was helpful and I needed his reassurance. A unit of insulin is a very small amount, 100 units is equal to 1 mL. It is a life sustaining hormone, but can be deadly if too much is taken. To this day I cringe when he is taking 15 units at a time, even if he is eating a ton of carbs. to go with it.
Weirdly, I was grateful when he had his first "low." I remember it well. He was sitting at the computer only a few days after returning home from the hospital and he said to me, "Mom, I think I'm low." Wow, a new experience. We got his meter and a a test strip and checked his blood. He was low! We dutifully gave him 15 carbohydrates and waited for 15 minutes and checked his blood again. It was back up. I was not grateful for the low, necessarily, but I was grateful that he could recognize it.
He has had hundreds of highs and lows since that days, including times where I have force fed him brown sugar. We used the glucagon once, I hope to never need it again!
He is still alive and teaching me every day. We are still struggling with the highs and lows. I try not to worry too much about the day he moves out. I may or may not be going with him when he does.
He now uses a pump to give him the insulin he needs. I'm not a big fan of the one we are using and am counting down the days in the next year when we can try another one. I does have a lot of benefits, but it has a lot of annoying malfunctions as well.
We can continue to hope for a cure, but in the meantime we will continue to learn and to be grateful for each new day.
I was actually afraid to leave the hospital. I wondered how they expected me to keep him alive now. I remember feelings of apprehension every time I brought home a new baby. This was similar, only magnified. In the hospital two nurses were required to count the carbs., calculate the amount of insulin, and check to see if the correct amount had been drawn out of the insulin vile. Yet, they were sending me home, by myself, after three days of training and expected to keep this boy alive.
We were to call the doctor daily. Thank goodness. That was helpful and I needed his reassurance. A unit of insulin is a very small amount, 100 units is equal to 1 mL. It is a life sustaining hormone, but can be deadly if too much is taken. To this day I cringe when he is taking 15 units at a time, even if he is eating a ton of carbs. to go with it.
Weirdly, I was grateful when he had his first "low." I remember it well. He was sitting at the computer only a few days after returning home from the hospital and he said to me, "Mom, I think I'm low." Wow, a new experience. We got his meter and a a test strip and checked his blood. He was low! We dutifully gave him 15 carbohydrates and waited for 15 minutes and checked his blood again. It was back up. I was not grateful for the low, necessarily, but I was grateful that he could recognize it.
He has had hundreds of highs and lows since that days, including times where I have force fed him brown sugar. We used the glucagon once, I hope to never need it again!
He is still alive and teaching me every day. We are still struggling with the highs and lows. I try not to worry too much about the day he moves out. I may or may not be going with him when he does.
He now uses a pump to give him the insulin he needs. I'm not a big fan of the one we are using and am counting down the days in the next year when we can try another one. I does have a lot of benefits, but it has a lot of annoying malfunctions as well.
We can continue to hope for a cure, but in the meantime we will continue to learn and to be grateful for each new day.
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