Kyle's back home!

Kyle was discharged from the hospital shortly after lunch today. Our first stop was to see the kids. Max was down for a nap, but Cate was SO excited to see her daddy. She was really bubbly and had just finished cutting paper hearts she decorated and stickered for Kyle. He was so touched by her present for him. We visited for about an hour and Cate was ready for her nap. I finally remembered to bring over her sleeping bag I promised to bring her way back on Saturday night and again last night. I think she took a good rest in her sleeping bag.





Once home, Kyle got cleaned up then laid down for a nap while I worked on, well, work. Mom sent me home with a container of her homemade chicken noodle soup, so we enjoyed a quiet dinner at home, which was really nice. His first blood test at home was in the normal range. Yay!

To the right are all of the blood testing gadgets Kyle gets to try out to find a favorite...

Since we missed Max earlier, Kyle wanted to go back to see the kids again. Max giggled and gave him a big hug around the legs. Jolene was there was well, so we caught up on how her trip to Colorado with the Bassetts went.

Once the kids were in their bath (they're staying with my parents one more night), we went to Target to pick up a few things and we are now settled in for the evening and going to bed very soon. We both still have some sleep to catch up on.

Tomorrow we are both still at home. Kyle is still feeling some fatigue, so we want to ease him back into the day-to-day. We also want to ensure his blood sugar continues to remain where it should be and then we should be good to get back to work.

The kids will be coming home tomorrow. I think they'll be very happy to be home. So are we.

Kyle in the ICU: no longer

However, I wasn't able to bring him home tonight. His heart rate is still too high, his blood sugar is still not regulated (too high) and he is still showing signs of dehydration. At last count, I think he was on his thirteenth liter of fluids. His last blood sugar draw was 279. His heart rate still above 100. I intended to stay with Kyle until a decision had been made about whether to downgrade him out of ICU or release him and then I would spend time with the kids. Unfortunately, that decision didn't happen until 7:15 pm.

Kyle is looking and sounding like his sweet self again, but doesn't have much of an appetite yet. On the bright side, he did eat almost all of his dinner and he especially enjoyed his vanilla ice cream cup.

His parents, Ken and Katie visited around noon. Kurt, Amy and Thora (Kyle's brother & wife with daughter) stopped by in the early evening. They stayed so I could leave and say goodnight to my two children who are staying at my parents' house tonight. Cate and Max are so unknowingly and wonderfully understandable about this situation, for which I am quite grateful.

Three cool things about today:

1) We learned that Kyle's cousin, Joe Wipper, son of Char Waughtel, works as an orderly at Methodist Hospital. It has been several years since we last saw him, so it was nice to chat it up with him. He offered to check on our transfer / discharge situation and said he would be there to help us when it was time. Unfortunately, we found out Kyle's next move about four hours after Joe's shift ended. Oh well, it was still nice to see such a friendly face checking in.

2) Kyle got all washed up today. I even gave him a shampoo in the sink with Aveda Rosemery Mint shampoo (it only comes out on special occasions). He smells much better now! More importantly, it helped him feel better. Now, if I could just convince him to let me shave his scruff...

3) I don't think I cried today.

Thanks again for all of your well wishes. I am looking forward to getting back to my usual ramblings in the very near future.

Kyle in the ICU

Without trying to go into too much detail, Kyle became quite ill Thursday with stomach flu symptons that didn't let up on Friday. After no improvement in his condition, I finally brought him to the ER around midnight today. Or yesterday. Whatever. Let's just say we checked in 23:59:59 Friday evening.

What was first thought to be the stomach flu turned out to be a critically high blood sugar level complicated by a high heart rate. Kyle has been living with Type I diabetes for over seventeen years. Thankfully to this point, this is the first incident where he has required medical attention since the initial diagnosis. So you can imagine, how surreal it was when the M.D. on call told us Kyle was going to be admitted to the ICU.

He is being treated right now with fluids and an insulin drip to bring down his levels. His heart rate continues to be monitored. I hope to get an update from the M.D. on rotation as soon as possible.

Kyle will recover from this. But this is a rude awakening for me and the family that managing all aspects of the disease is the key to living a long, full life--regardless of how good you think you are feeling.

Keep Kyle and his family in your prayers.

Thanks.