Emergency Room

We made it almost 2 years after Serenity was diagnosed before our first visit to the emergency room.

Her blood sugar was staying in the 400s and just wouldn't go down. It started in the evening and led to multiple pump site changes (due to my assuming that they were the problem). When her blood sugar finally did go down, around 1:30am, I went to bed. The next morning Serenity's blood sugar was back up to 400 and she had moderate ketones. So, off to the ER we went.

We spent a total of 10 hours at the hospital. At one point a man came through the hall with a food cart offering free coffee to parents. (We were at the children's hospital.) It felt like Christmas! (Hi, my name is Amber and I am a coffee addict.) I hadn't eaten all day and had only had a cup of coffee hours earlier. I was so excited as a stirred cream and sugar into my styrofoam cup. And then I took the first glorious drink... and was reminded that hospital coffee tastes like cardboard. Oh well. It was a nice gesture.

They did blood work on Serenity, did a thorough exam, gave her insulin and managed to bring her blood sugar down to the 200s. And in the end they determined that Serenity's insulin pump had malfunctioned. They had me call the pump company to have them send her a new one. (Thank God her pump was still under warranty!)... This led to a forty-five minute phone call while the pump representative had me read off all of the information from every screen, determining that he, in fact, could not see that there was a problem with the pump, but agreed to replace it simply due to the doctor's request.

Serenity would have to go back to getting shots for a couple of days until her new pump arrived. Once we had her school note, prescription for more insulin, and discharge papers, we were (finally) free to go. The hospital had provided Serenity a sandwich for lunch, but I had still not eaten all day. So, on our way home at 6:00, McDonald's sounded (and tasted) like a 5-star meal.

Serenity's pump came in the mail today. She will be put back on it after dinner this evening (24 hours after her last shot of long-lasting insulin). But her numbers are still not great. I find myself wondering if it was her pump malfunctioning and her blood sugar levels are having trouble getting back on track or if it was never her pump to begin with and something going on inside her body instead... I guess time will tell.