Oh, What a Night.....

I crawled out of bed this morning with an old tune in my head..."Oh, what a night...la, la, la, back in '63....la, la,la,....What a lady. What a night." I really don't know much of the words, but the tune was there. Man did we have a night!! Our first night with the pump was memorable for sure.

Knowing how much my hubby loves to be the first one to play with any new gadget that comes into the house. And knowing I would be out of town next weekend. I thought HE would need the practice, so I tried to stay out of the decision tree last night for dinner.

There were two heart stops, however, that made me wonder how this night would end up. First, was when hubby was walking toward me with the take-n-bake pizza's at Wal-mart. I began to think that pizza was not the best choice for our very first dinner on the pump. I mean everyone knows about the pizza phenomenon, right? We've experienced it. We know that J.J. ALWAYS goes high and requires a second and sometimes third shot to cover pizza.

The second heart stop was when hubby was figuring everything out for dinner. I made a comment about how nice and wonderful it would be or will be to be able to use the different bolusing features on the pump to cover the pizza. He says something like, "Well, let's do it. Why do I need to wait for them to tell us? I can figure this out?"

Of course, my mind did a quick......"I wouldn't do that if I were you." But when I decide to have him take over diabetes I like to be removed from the decisions. Normally it gives me the break I need.....so I kept my mind on the task I was doing and somewhat ignored his actions with the pump.

When we put J.J. to bed around 10 pm, he was in the 180's. High even for him at night. But hubby said he programed the pump to be delivering insulin and we really couldn't or shouldn't correct for anything until midnight. He asked if I would check at midnight, then he would check at 3.

I was doing all I could to stay up until midnight.....remember yesterday's early morning drive to St. Paul? But I managed to make it, and stumble downstairs to J.J.'s bedroom. The first thing I noticed when checking his blood was how big the new meter was. It's very bulky!! I fumbled a bit but was able to get a reading........

483!!

My heart stopped. The fear of DKA while using a pump was drilled into us at the clinic.

It took a second for me to think of what to do.

O.k......I think I need to check ketones...is that right? Do I give him a shot and not use the pump? Has the pump failed already.... WHAT DID HE DO? WHAT DID MY HUSBAND DO?

I ran upstairs to the fridge to look at the magnet the clinic had just given us.

Over 300... check for ketones.

Ketostix....Where are the Ketostix? I just had them right here!! Where are the Ketostix? Wait....I'm gonna have to get him to pee for me. I can't get him to drink for me at night, how am I going to get him to pee in a cup? Ketostix....whare are the Ketostix?

Hubby finally wakes up to my frantic searching for Ketostix and asks what's going on. I informed him of the situation. He gets up right away and begins to help.....and bring a sense of calm to my heart....I'm not in this alone!!

We get J.J. up to pee in the cup. Well, hubby did. He laughed at me this morning. Told me that when he heard me say in a sweet little voice, "J.J..... Sweetie.....you need to get up and go potty for Mama." He knew I was doomed, and proceeded to yank him out of bed and "walk" him to the bathroom. He's had experience with that and knows that J.J. won't wake up even to taking him to the bathroom.

1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15

PHEW...negative ketones.

A weight is lifted....momentarily.

How old are those Ketostix? Do they really go bad that fast? What if they're wrong? I should've bought some on the way home today. They told us to have fresh Ketostix. And the pump.... Is the pump working right? What do we do now? A shot or use the pump? Check the magnet....CHECK THE MAGNET!! Thank God for magnets.

NEGATIVE KETONES....USE PUMP TO GIVE HIGH CORRECTION BOLUS AND RECHECK IN ONE HOUR TO MAKE SURE BLOOD SUGAR IS COMING DOWN.

ONE HOUR....I could barely make it to midnight, and now I'm staying up until 1 am?

Like I could sleep. I tried to figure out hubby's scribbles in the log, and even checked the meter to see what it had actually done, but I couldn't really figure anything out. I waited the hour out praying that the correction was working and he was coming down.

368

YES, thank-you Lord.....he's coming down.

Hubby took the rest of the night and continued to give correction doses to bring him down. That is normal on a pizza night...but what is not normal is him being so high.

At 6 am J.J. walked into my room and said, ."Dad forgot to check my blood. I just saw him drive away. He needed to check my blood."

I asked him if the pump was beeping or something and he said it was.

I got up to check the log and his meter and noticed hubby had checked him 2 minutes prior. J.J. probably woke up to the beep the pump gives when a blood glucose reading has been received from the meter.

While I'm checking the log J.J. had run to the bathroom and I hear a THUD. I run to the bathroom where J.J. is holding the pump saying "What do I do with this thing.....I have to pee soooo bad.....what do I do?"

Poor guy.....we'll have to figure this all out. Not being attached to something all the time does have it's advantages. I'm sure he'll get used to it. I just hope the pump holds up while he's learning how to live with it.

The funny thing about this whole night is that J.J. had no clue any of it was happening!! When I told him we had to get him up to go to the bathroom to check ketones he didn't believe me!!

Kids are sooooo resilient.

Now.....how do I function with so little sleep while the rest of my brood has slept so soundly!!???

CAFFEINE!!! I NEED CAFFEINE!!!