Curiosity is getting the best of me and I feel like maybe I should take a POLL.
When Kacey was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes we went straight from the doctors office where she tested at a 385 with large ketones and was ketoacidosis....to the Emergency Room where we stayed for 4 hours while tests were run to confirm the diagnosis. After the confirmation, we were admitted to the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit where we stayed for 3 days (we were scheduled for 4 but we were let go a day early) I was under the assumption that when diagnosed you spent a few days in the hospital while your doctor stabilized the blood sugars and got you started on insulin and were taught the "Diabetes Crash Course". So this brings me to my question....
When YOU or YOUR CHILD was first diagnosed with Type 1, how long was your hospital stay? What year were you diagnosed?
Thank you all!
11 comments:
2 days...arrived Sat., PICU til Sunday....left Monday
I actually never went to the hospital, nor was I advised to. I was "diagnosed" via an oncall doctor on the weekend, had an appointment on Monday, and started insulin on Tuesday. I find it interesting when people talk about their emergency room stays, when I didn't have to go through that.
Okay, for me it was 29 years ago, but I think I was in for about a week. Maybe a bit less, but definately more than a couple of days. I was diagnosed in the ER and was in and out of consciousness. I don't think I was actually in a diabetic coma, but I think I was close. I was 11 at the time. (And by now the details are quite fuzzy - and my mom still doesn't like to talk about it.) I know that before I was released we were trained on insulin and I saw a dietitian to learn the Exchange System - gosh, things were SO different then. We didn't even have blood test machines - it was urine testing every day instead. I know this probably doesn't help much for your poll, since things have changed so much in the past 29 years. But I thought it might be a bit interesting to you or others. :)
Lynnea~ Thanks! :)
Amalas~ Wowwwww! :)
Karen~ Thanks! Yes it will be neat to see how things have changed. Scary for you! :(
I guess I should include- what was the year of your diagnosis because that might make a difference too!
I'm also wondering if insurance has an afffect as well? Our insurance covered Kacey in ICU for 3 days and they wanted to move her to a step down room since she was obviously improving and we had learned what we needed to in 3 days so they let us come home a day early. Our pediatrician had told us we'd stay overnight but when we got there the Endo said "Noway! It was going to be a few days!" We live an hour and a half from the hospital so the day after we were admitted my husband drove all the way back home to get us more clothes and leave our older daughter with my Mom. Lemme tell you...Ped ICU isn't very quiet!! They had 2 babies come in with severe asthma attacks and they were poking them with tubes and these poor kids were screamin at the top of their lungs...oh yeah and all we had was a curtain for a door! LOL so we got no sleep...then ended up in the Diabetes Crash Course the next morning! Whew! That seems like so long ago and it's been nearly 6 months.
I'll add the year of diagnosis to the question :)
Jake, 2008, no admit - we spent about 4 hours at the VCU ER but we caught it so early that there was no need for hospitalization.
Me, 1986, no admit - though my blood sugar was high I guess my other levels were not bad enough. I was grateful, as it was 2 days before high school graduation.
Kassie~ Wow! No admit for either of you. Great that things were caught early :) but bad timing with yours being right before graduation :( I just took a peek over at your blog :) You don't live very far from me! I'm about an hour south of Richmond. I'd really like to talk to you more about the diabetes camps.
It was 1985. I was in for about a week. Most of that time was in ICU. Things sure are different now.
Glad to see you stopped by :)
Addy was dx 7/25/05 -- age 24 months. We left the pedi's office in an ambulance to the local ER...from there, she was flown to a PICU. She was in PICU for 2 days and on the general floor for another 3 days.
She had shown symptoms for awhile. In my heart, I knew it was diabetes...what I didn't realize was how quickly she'd come so close to death.
Jada was diagnosed March 23, 2008- Easter Sunday. She had the flu when diagnosed. We took her to the emergency room because she was having difficulty breathing. We thought the flu had turned into pneumonia or something- she was really in DKA. Transported from a hospital in West Houston, TX to Texas Childrens. She was in the PICU for about 24 hours and in the hospital for another 4 days. She might have gone home sooner, but they wouldn't release her until she had been fever free (from the flu) for about 24 hours. Never want to go through that again! :)
Riley was admitted straight into the hospital from the doctor's office. We never went to the ER.
He was admitted around lunchtime on October 6th (2005) and discharged around 4-5 PM on October 7th. He was in a regular room the whole time. So, he spent a little over 24 hours in the hospital.
I think his stay was shorter than most. For one thing, he wasn't sick, he wasn't in DKA. And, I'm a nurse. I had plenty to learn (especially about carb counting), but I didn't have to learn how to draw up insulin and give injections.
Wow! I'm still amazed at the difference in hospital stays. I guess I just thought that it was always a couple days in the hospital because you have to go through the training with the CDE and then they get insulin started...blah blah blah you know the rest!
Thanks so much for everyone clearing this up for me! If they had told us we were going home in 24 hours I would have begged to stay longer! I was no where near ready to care for Kacey on my own and lack of sleep along with tons of worry kept me from really getting the hang of dosing her.
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