The Family

The Family

Thursday, November 5, 2009

"Mommy, I think I am going to have a good day today!"

Well, it's only 11:00am and we are having a great day! Anna woke up this morning and looked at me and said, "Mommy, I think I am going to have a good day today!" Last night all of Anna's levels are back to normal (except for blood sugar, which will constantly be changing). So, they turned off the IV machine. Anna slept great all night. She didn't even wake up when the nurse came in to check her blood sugar at 2am. This morning I did my first finger prick (for blood sugar) and gave the insulin shot. Anna said I did a good job. The hardest thing today has been taking out the IV's. They were each taped and boarded to her arm or hand. Pulling all the tape off was probably just as bad as getting the IV's. She screamed and screamed. She also had 6 electrode pads on her chest and tummy, one on each arm and one on each ankle. I told her we should just take them all of at once. She protested, but agreed. After we got them all off, I gave Anna a bath. So now she is in her normal clothes, with no tubes or monitors. And we have use of our hands again! The first thing she wanted to do was play with the Barbie that Aunt Jill brought last night. Thanks, Aunt Jill!

As for me, I cried with her after I gave her shot this morning. I have a lot of reading to do today. The doctors gave us a packet of papers that we have to read twice before tomorrow. It tells us all about how to take care of Anna. Then tomorrow morning we will attend a class that is about 3 hours long, where they will make sure we understand everything. Then hopefully we will get to come home. Joel's parents are coming in tonight to see Anna and attend the class, as well as my parents and Aunt Jill.

It's going to be a crazy day! We have people coming in and out all the time. I think 4 different people (social workers, diabetes specialist, doctors...) came in while I was trying to give Anna her bath!

Now it's 3:30pm and I am just now getting back to my computer! After her bath, we had Jennifer, Nicole, Valerie and Kristin all come to visit (some of good friends and mom's of Anna's friends)! Now she is on a walk with Grandma so I can have a break. She is doing awesome! Anna is totally back to being herself. Thanks again everyone for all the kind words and prayers. We feel very loved.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Life's New Challenge

I don't even know where to start. Here is our story of the last 24 hours.

Joel and I had noticed that Anna was going to the bathroom alot and had this unquenchable thirst. It has been going on for a couple of weeks, but the last couple of days we noticed that she just wasn't herself. She was really quiet and sad looking. We also started to notice that we was losing weight. Tuesday after school I asked one of her teachers if they had noticed anything different about her. She said that she thought she seemed kinda sad. That's when I decided that would call her doctor and make an appointment. My mom had Abby so we were on our way to have lunch with her when I spoke with her Dr. and made her appointment for 3pm. Anna didn't want to eat much at Chic-fil-a and didn't want to play. She looked horrible, very pale and sad. Right before we were going to leave, Anna threw up all over the place. I left Abby with Mom and ran home with Anna to get clothes and then head to the dr. early. We got there just before 2 and by this time she was in and out of sleep and had thrown up again. The Dr. immediately took us back. As it turns out, she had glucose in her urine and her blood sugar level was 433. It's supposed to be between 80 and 120. I called Joel and filled him in on what was going on and for him to meet us at the hospital. I also called a good friend Dana, who is a diabetic and was so sweet to come and walk us through everything. They sent us immediately to St. Lukes Er in The Woodlands were they got her stable. By that I mean they started her on fluids and gave a little insulin. The whole time this is going on, every time we went into a new place, Anna was looking for where to get a drink. "Mommy, there is a sink over there if we run out of water. We can get more from there." Having such a high blood sugar level makes you very thirsty. Then we had a ride by Ambulance down to Texas Children's Hospital. Her blood sugar was 410 in the ambulance. Anna had to have one more IV put in, which took 3 tries by the nurse because she was so frail and dehydrated. I was promising her anything she wanted! Her requests were 1) sparkly nail polish, 2)sparkly lipstick, and 3) a Sleeping Beauty dress. Of course I told her she could have anything she wanted. We were there for about 2 hours, and then we were moved to the ICU. She was put on an insulin drip for the night to slowly bring her blood sugar back down. This morning her blood sugar was at 117. She got to have pancakes for breakfast, which brought a smile! Now we have to wait to be moved upstairs to a room. They have discontiuned the insulin drip and now we are doing insulin shots. She will need them twice daily now and maybe more later. Hopefully we will get to go home on Friday.

Whew, It's been a long 24 hours, but I am glad that things are hopefully going to get better. Anna really wants to go home and see Abby. It is so hard watching your baby going through this. I hate seeing all the tubes and stickers on her. but we are told that as soon as we move rooms, some of that stuff gets to come off. Thank you so much for your prayers and phone calls. We are doing good at the moment. I will try and keep everyone updated, but hopefully there won't be much more to write about.

Dana shared this verse with me and it has helped more than words can say. Thank you, Dana!

As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents but that the works of God might be displayed in him." Another version says so that "the glory of the Lord might be displayed in his life". John 9:1-3