Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Brief Scare with Ayla

Sunday afternoon, while my Dad and Dante were pounding wooden fence posts with his tractor mounted post driver, ( Did I say that right?) Ayla started complaining of a bad headache and started looking REALLY bad. Despite her being only 3 years old ,and having type 1 diabetes, she is NOT a sickly kid at all, I actually can't ever remember her being sick aside form her diagnosis. Soon she moved onto puking and a fever set in. Mother's Intuition woke me at 4:00am yesterday morning and told me to check on Ayla. Fever of 104.9, bg 378 and large amount of ketones in her urine. She was breathing a little fast and it brought back all the horror of DKA.
Fever in a diabetic will often drive their blood glucose high with large amounts of ketones circulating in their bodies and puts them at risk for Diabetic Ketoacidosis aka DKA, which is very dangerous and can be fatal.
We kept in close contact over the phone with her diabetes doctor, and were prepared to go to the hospital even though we all dreaded it. Remember this is the hospital that sent us home with her in full DKA and told us to use a humidifier, missing all the warning signs even though I repeatedly told them she waas drinking obscene amounts of water and there wasn't a diaper on the market that could keep her dry. Anyway, we have a lot of trauma associated with that hospital. Sick day protocol for her is different than the other kids because the fever raises her blood sugar and ketones. I realize fever in itself is beneficial and don't sweat it too much with our other children. We had to give her Motrin to keep the fever down around 100, and even though she wouldn't eat she still needed insulin to combat the ketones. It was a major balancing act and I am pretty worn out, so is Ayla, but I'm happy to report she ate her breakfast heartily, and managed to make Veda cry by spitting milk out at her. Typical Ayla. She is also playing and looking forward to milking the cows with me. Whew, and Life goes on. Thank God---Everyday.

4 comments:

  1. Our family is keeping you and your family in our daily prayers. I hope Ayla recovers quickly and stays healthy. I and thankful GOD is in control of this world. I pray HE sends HIS angels to circle you with protection and guards and keeps you in all your ways.....

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  2. Oh Jessika, reading this brought tears to my eyes. Thank God Ayla is all right. I will be thinking of you all and praying. Big hugs to you. Maybe you can give Ayla one for me. She touches my heart in a special way.

    Tammy

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  3. Thanks for your prayers! She is a tough little lady but still LOVES all the hugs and kisses she can get!

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  4. I wish we were closer to help. Maybe we'll see you guys at Christmas time. Kiss all the bambinos for us!!!

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