We got a 6 am visit from the ON Doctor on the floor. Since Kyle hasn't really been eating much of anything yet, the Dr. kept some glucose running in his fluids, hence why the blood sugar level has elevated again after taking him off the insulin drip.
After some education, the doctor's recommendation is that Kyle would be able to go home today. All levels of labs are returning close to normal.
In the past 36 hours, he has had over 10 liters of fluids pumped through, yet his kidneys are still a bit dry. But, he is on his last bag of fluid--finally. It will be up to us to ensure he's keeping hydrated. Clue to all not familiar with diabetes (including myself even after knowing Kyle living with the disease all these 17 years)--keeping hydrated is just as critical as the insulin and diet is in managing the disease. The rest of you can now say, "duh!"
Kyle's next job is to get the blood flowing and moving around. He would really like it if he could ditch the heart monitor--6 wires attached to his chest--so he could feel less tied down to the bed. On a personal note, I would be quite alright if they moved him down to a regular room through today so we could see him monitored in a "normal" situation: getting nutrients the old-fashioned way, taking insulin shots, checking blood levels and walking around. I guess we shall see as the day goes.
Thank you to those who have been checking in--we appreciate your thoughts and prayers. As partners going through this incident, I think it was severely reinforced to us that diabetes can't just be managed through a random increase in insulin units from time to time. We knew that; we just weren't living it well at all. It's funny how easy it is to take our health for granted.
Hopefully, this will be the last post from the ICU. Keep your fingers crossed...
5 comments:
Jennifer and the rest of the Jensens -
While I've never met you all, my thoughts go out to you at this tough time. While I know Kyle will be fine and my even be home by now, this must be a really tough time for you.
My daughter was born premature and I had to visit her in the NICU for the first 6 weeks of her tiny life. I've never been so scared as I was every time I went back there each day and night, and nothing has ever been so hard as to leave her in the hospital and go home.
I am sure that it's just as hard to do for an adult who you have known and loved and raised a family with for the last decade or so.
Best wishes to you all and here's to Kyle coming home!
Hey all -
Thank God for the wake up call. I'm glad to hear that everything is coming back to normal. I think its great that you had such a great orderly to help you out while you were there.
Love to all....
Char
Chris-
Thanks so much for your well wishes. Fortunately, by the time we got to the ER, I knew Kyle's condition was not fatal. So now the most difficult thing is trying to balance mind and time between wanting to be with Kyle in the hospital or trying to explain why Daddy is sick and when he should be feeling better. We are very fortunate that many of our family and friends live in the city with us, so our network for help runs long. So the help we are getting with caring for the kids so I can be with Kyle makes this situation much easier to handle.
Hey Char-
Yeah, your son was awesome. He was really trying to push for information as to when we might get moved or discharged. He wanted to help us get to wherever we were going to next. We had a good visit. It's good to know he is doing well and is very passionate about what he is doing.
Chris- BTW, thank you for sharing your story about your daughter's premature birth with us. It's truly incomparable to ours. I can not imagine the emotional toll those six weeks took on you and your family. By your blog, I can see she is now a thriving little girl who is the light of your life.
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