Our first visit to the hospital since dx

Julia started with the stomach flu on Monday around noon. I checked her b/g and ketone level. She was 99 with small ketone. I kept checking every 2 hours, as our sick day plan calls for. She was going at it at both ends by the 4th hour into this. Her b/g was starting to raise, and her ketone level was medium. By the 8th hour she was dry heaving, and wouldn't hold down even 2 oz of water. Ketone levels were large, and instantly black. Her b/g was staying stubborn around 240. She was very ill. It was time to take her to the E.R. per endo instructions.

When we got to the hospital we were the second worst case there. She was ushered back quickly. We were first seen by the nurses aid who asked some very frightening questions. He asked if Julia took her insulin as needed, or on a daily basis, and then asked if I gave her insulin even though she was high. He knew she was a type one. Obviously he didn't know what that meant.
I decided at that point to stay one step ahead in the b/g game, and correct before they had the chance to even check her. NO ONE WAS GOING TO GET NEAR HER TO TREAT HER DIABETES!!!!! The nurse was ok with that. They started an IV soon after our intake to get her fluids restored. Over all she would receive 4 bags of much needed fluid. She really wasn't peeing much anymore. They took blood out through the IV line, and later the E.R. doc came in to tell me that she was heading into DKA pretty fast. About an hour after that they decided to transfer her to the larger hospital about 10 mile away. My car had broken down earlier that day, so I ended up having to follow her in the ambulance since it was our only car.

When we got to the second hospital the resident there decided that since Julia was pumping I would do all diabetes care. I was fine with that. Doctor number two then entered the picture an hour later. He started asking me questions about Julia I:C ratios, and ISF, Basal rates.... ect. He wanted her to go back on injections so that the nurses could do it.....and he was trying to figure out how to write the orders. Once I explained how much easier it would be for me to just use the pump for all corrections, and boluses we were ok. He wrote to refer to me for insulin needs, but the nurses were to check b/g. The rest of the night went pretty easily. Julia didn't want to sleep until she had her IV out so she pushed herself until she fell asleep from exhaustion at 5am, but she did quit throwing up, and the diarea stopped. At 8:30 she got her first food. She ate Jello. This jello was absolutely the hardest thing to cover.... It was 40% sugar free, and was not measured! I took a guess, and bolused her for 10g of carbs. I suspected that there might be as many as 15g, but regular jello is all sugar and will be gone before the insulin. She was 157 so I didn't correct. I figured the b/g would catch the rest of the insulin. It worked. She was a happy 90 3 hours after. The nurse freaked out and tried to treat her for a low. I told her no way, that 90 was a good b/g. She wanted to give her a 8 oz juice ~ at least 30g of carbs which would easily send her into the 300 range, which would only increase the ketones we were trying to get rid of.... She huffed off and went to tell the doctor on me, who I believe sided with me since the rest of the would be hell. She drank some milk. Juice, and milk were all that she was allowed for some odd reason. Since Juice is almost impossible for me to cover alone poor Julia had to drink milk ALL day. This nurse, who was not happy about referring to me for Julia's insulin needs, and was not happy that I would not allow her to treat the 90 later restrict Julia's diet to a diabetic diet. Her meaning of diabetic diet was to remove all things she didn't think proper. She tried to tell me Julia couldn't have anything with sugar, then started making suggestions for Julia's first meal which needed to consist of 1 carb choice, and 1 serving of protein. My choices were scrambled eggs, PB, or boiled eggs for her protein, and Pears, bananas, or toast for her carb. She could have juice, or MILK for her beverage. Her first meal ended up being Milk, banana, PB, I guess the nurse didn't realize that gram crackers have sugar, because she gave Julia some of those, too. Because of my lack of understanding of the diet she was trying to put Julia on, and the fact I wouldn't treat a 90 as a low she decided I needed diabetes education, and that I didn't know squat. This actually led to a positive event. I met the "diabetes guy" who took care of us, and our discharge. He knew the nurse was full of it, and after talking to me for a few minutes knew that I knew what I was doing. He was really great, and I don't think I could ever express how thankful I am to him for everything he did for us. The nurse from hell wasn't happy, but that was ok. She seemed angry that he did our discharge rather then letting her, and then he didn't make Julia ride in a wheel chair to leave, and let us walk out.

I am so scared of ever having Julia go back to the hospital again. Our endo was informed that we were in there after the fact. He is getting us a script for an anti nausea med. Hopefully we can avoid another hospital stay. We arrived home around dinner time last night, and are very glad to be home. Julia and I have been resting today, and are trying to catch up on our energy, and sleep. Today is our day off, and tomorrow we will go back to life as it was before.