My daughter, Courtney (now 25) who I had mentioned earlier in My Journey To Crochet, had to go in to the ER 2 days ago. She had zero BS (blood sugar) control and was in a lot of pain. She was there for over 9 hours waiting to be seen by a Dr.
While the ER was overcome with patients to be seen with a packed waiting room, a Nurse came out about every 2-3 hours checking her vitals. (not her BS) When she arrived her BS was at 411. After 9 hours of course it went up higher. *Note* When a Type 1 Diabetic's BS reaches 240, their body starts making ketones. Basic run down for those who aren't familiar with ketones: It is acidic and eats away at the muscle and fat of your body from traveling in the bloodstream.
Layman's terms: Imagine the blood in your body turning to acid and running through you.
She was informed the usual... No Drinks, not even water and No eating before you see the Dr.
One would think that when you do vitals on a Type 1 patient and see their eyes sunken in, lips cracked, weakness and the dehydration and be aware of their disease, that BS would automatically be part of the Vital Signs check. In this case, it wasn't. It was an extremely rare case (I hope) of maybe, just maybe the Nurse couldn't get a hold of a Blood Monitor machine when doing Vitals. (?)
Courtney was told when she first got there to do a urine sample and blood test as well.
Results came back within an hour of her being there and of course, both results were abnormal.
Blood in urine and high amount of keytones in urine.
I showed up there and met my daughter. She didn't look good at all. I knew at that moment things needed to get better with her and right away. When I got there, after seeing the situation and trying my best to be well mannered and wait as they were swamped... I finally broke and politely walked up to the check-in counter and asked 2 things. The woman behind the desk said Can I help you? Did not even acknowledge me. Didn't even look up.
My daughter needs insulin right away or she will chance being DKA, who can give it to her since she is not allowed cause she is checked in? No reply, no eye contact. She was still staring at her computer.
Also, she needs water and tons of it to flush out the high amount of ketones. Why does she have to wait until she sees the Dr. to have that?
The lady finally looked up at me and said, We will get to your daughter as soon as we can.
So I said.. I will do it. Just wanted to let you know, thank you.
I understand sometimes we get so busy and caught up in the healthcare field that we don't mean to be rude or not pay attention... but I must say.... if you can't multitask and treat others with compassion, you should probably find another job. I didn't have to be nice to her, after all this was my child.
I said thank you for your time and walked away. I walked over to my daughter and instantly did what I had to as a parent. As a bystander. For her.
She was slumped in her chair and barely responding to me. I checked her BS, pulse, breathe, etc.
Her BS was 598 so I gave her coverage like usual. Then went and got water bottles and forced her to drink, one after the other. Took awhile for her to respond with ambition to fight it, or have to use the bathroom, but finally by the grace of God, she started feeling better and her BS started going down. The only way to rid of ketones is to flush them out with water. Sometimes she is so dehydrated that only an IV can fix the problem. Also, if she started throwing up then I knew the only way to give her water would be by IV.
After a couple more hours of sitting there, her BS was at 313 and I decided to take her home.
We would continue around the clock care until all the ketones were gone and would see her Doctor and the Endocronologist in the morning.
As of just today, I am happy to say that Courtney is back on her way to recovery. As of last night there is no more ketones in her body. BS's are a little on the high side but she is controlling it with coverage. She has received antiobiotics for a major Kidney infection and that is why she could not control her blood sugars and was in so much pain. With this disease comes a weak immune system and infections can ruin a perfectly good day.
With sharing this I want to express that I hold no grudges or animosity towards anyone at the hospital. Who knows what just happened to the lady at the desk? Maybe she had her own child in the hospital being treated, or maybe she lost a patient. I never try to judge. Though I really did want to explode that night, some kind words from a friend(s) helped me to regroup before acting on it. Sometimes the positions that we, as parents get into, put us in a place that is foreign to us. We have to remember that compassion towards others is what is important no matter the situation. My Dad used to tell me "Kill them with kindness Colleen and say a prayer later for them". How true those words are!
Thanks for reading about continuous journey of being a Mama to eight amazing blessings!
~Colleen
