Emergency Room Visit

Things went into a tailspin VERY fast yesterday afternoon. I got home from work at 12:30pm and Kacey was playing on the computer and seemed to be feeling better. She managed to eat some plain ramen noodles at lunch and she'd kept them down. She asked to get on the computer so she could blog. Yep! She started her own...good for typing skills AND for writing skills. So she sat at my computer and even though she said she felt ok...you know that "Mommy intuition" says something just wasn't right. I'd checked for ketones...still negative. No fever. But something about her wasn't right. She finished blogging and then her sister came home from school. We were just about to figure out what to do for dinner when she said she felt sick again. Ugh! Twice back to back she threw up. I tried to get her to drink something and she refused. I tested her BG... 73! Yikes! That means she's falling fast because just an hour before she was a 219. I got her to eat a glucose tab and then I called her CDE. Kristen told me to hang up and call Dr. R on the emergency line. I called him and he called me right back. He said he wanted us to take her right to Children's Hospital ER and he'd have her paperwork waiting. By now it was a little before 4pm and we knew we'd hit tunnel traffic! We dropped Kayleigh off to my Mom and off we went. I checked her BG on the way and she was up to an 89 (whew!) Thankfully we didn't hit too much traffic and we made it down there in record time (LOL! I think Daddy had a case of "lead peddle foot") When we walked in, her paperwork was waiting like Dr. R said it would be and we were taken into triage. She was given diet ginger ale and we only had to wait in the packed waiting room for 40min. I heard some lady make a comment about how they'd been waiting 2hrs and STILL had not been seen....along with a comment....we were here before them. I resisted the urge to tell her what I thought and throw the BG meter at her when I tested Kacey sitting there and she was down to a 77! I took a deep breath and breathed a sigh of relief when we were called back so quickly when we showed them she'd dropped on the meter. Kacey started getting the nervous shakes because she knew what was coming....the IV! Dr. R had already told us that she was getting it and so I prepared her. We had some super nice nurses come in and one great ER doc that took his time talking to Kacey and helping her calm down. He took the time to look at her blood sugars that I'd written down the last few days, along with the times she threw up and what she'd eaten and thrown up. I told him about the visit with the PCP and how she was tested for celiac as well. He took a little weight off my shoulders when he said "Possible....but HIGHLY unlikely!" So the plan was to "fill her gas tank" (as he put it in terms for Kacey to understand) and give her some Zofran in the IV to take away the sick stomach. After that, they'd get her to drink by mouth again and if she kept it down we could go home.

The paramedic we met when we came in was the one that was going to start the IV. I explained to him that she'd had blood taken out of the one arm so if he could try the other arm first. He agreed. He tried the top of her left hand first....and blew it! So he moved up to the crease of her arm and went to a smaller needle because she was so dehydrated. He got that one! Now we had to wait for "hook up". Nerves had gotten the best of her and she had to pee before she got hooked up. As we were walking around the corner, who do we run into? NURSE AMANDA! Nurse Amanda was the nurse she bonded with when we came in to be diagnosed last July. Kacey was so excited to see her because we'd gone looking for her when we went to pump class and we spoke to 2 different nurses in the ER and they didn't know who she was. We chatted for a few min and we got her last name this time so we could keep in touch with her. Potty...back to room...then hook up to IV. The nurse gave her the shot of Zofran in her IV and she was allowed to lay back and just rest.
About 15 min after hookup, the IV alarm kept going off. Kinked line! Nothing was kinked. They did everything they could to avoid having to restart the line. She'd only gotten 1/4 of the bag of fluids. There was nothing more they could do and they had to take the IV out. When they took it out, the found the reason for the alarm. The IV cannula was the one they use on babies and they were trying to push the fluids in her fast and the IV just wasn't holding up! During all this, we got a special visitor :) Nurse Amanda decided to pop her head in and check on Kacey and let her know she was going home and hopefully the next time she saw her it would just be a friendly visit, not an ER one. I thought that was soooo nice fo her! She made that effort to come see her just like she did when we were in the hospital for diagnosis. It really meant alot to Kacey! After they got it out, the nurse gave her more ginger ale and said she was going to call our doc and see what he wanted to do since her tummy was settling from the Zofran and she was drinking now. Our hopes were to not be stuck again :) Nope! Our doc wanted her getting "a full tank" and so they had to do it again. This time...a different paramedic! After lots of tears, the paramedic walks in and goes to the sink to wash his hands. Kacey immediately starts to point and I notice the black Cozmo pump clipped to his scrubs. YAYYYYYYYYY! It gave them something in common to talk about while he did her IV.

He's been diabetic for 21 years and absolutely LOVES his Cozmo. He went on to tell her about the camps they had and for the last 16 years he's attended. It completely took her mind off things and made her calm right down. He was so gentle with her and took his time to get the right vein and even marked it with a pen. He rubbed her arm and said "I know how it feels to be stuck over and over and I will make sure I don't have to do that to you." She smiled at me and she did great! They drew more blood to test all her levels...which for throwing up were actually great!

About an hour later, she'd gotten her appetite back...was having to pee (thank you fluids)...and wasn't sick at her stomach. She'd kept down 2 cans of diet ginger ale and a pack of crackers. We were ready to come home! It was almost midnight when we left the ER. We hadn't had dinner and so we slipped through a Wendy's drive thru. Kacey immediately asks for french fries. LOL! I looked over at Frankie and he responds with "Anything she wants!" Haha! Since her BG was only a 130, she ate them and we didn't dose. I was so scared about her dropping during the night. We got home after 1am and I checked Kacey's BG again...149. Wowww! Good thing I didn't dose :)

I didn't sleep much last night and we're all home today to catch up on rest. I'll update how things are going later on once Kacey wakes up.

Thanks again for the continued prayers! Love and hugs to you all!