Monday, September 11

The Long Story

Abby came down with a fever on Saturday, but she didn't have any other symptoms. We spent the day on the couch with her blankie and lots of kid movies! I figured she'd be over it the next day, but again on Sunday she had a fairly high fever and no other symptoms. So today we took her to the doctor figuring she probably had an ear infection, which is usually what gives my kids such high fevers. But to our surprise, her ears were fine and the pediatrician couldn't find anything obviously wrong.

As a precaution he wanted to take a urine sample to check for a urinary tract infection, but I wasn't able to get her to go while we were at the doctor's office. We took the cup and the clever little seat with us as we went to get some lunch. For the first time all weekend Abby ate a real meal! I was even able to get a smal urine sample to take back to our ped's office. I wasn't really expecting them to find anything, so I was a little surprised when they said to bring her back into the treatment room again.

We waited for the doctor (again), but we weren't prepared for what he told us. He said that Abby had sugar in her urine, and we needed to do a blood test to see how high her blood sugar was. Abby was very good and didn't cry as they stuck her finger and gave her a sparkly Band-aid. A normal blood sugar level for her is 80, and the result was 270!

After filling us in on some diabetes information and answering some of our questions (Could this possible be a fluke?), he told us we would have to hospitalize her for the next couple of days! I wasn't expecting that. He said it's not because she is sick, but so they can run tests and find out how much insulin she will need and monitor it, etc.

However, after consulting with the endocrinologist, he said we can monitor it for a day and then see if it's necessary to hospitalize her. He prescribed a glucometer, and the nurse showed us how to use it. Before we got home Abby scared us a bit. She started fussing and when we looked back she was shaking quite a bit. We went ahead and tested her blood sugar (now that she had already had her finger pricked, she was NOT happy about me doing it again), and it was only 98! I came to the conclusion the shaking was from her high fever...I think she had the chills.

When we got home after a long day, we got Abby ready for bed. We were told to test her blood sugar in the evening, so again we did it. She screamed like I've never heard her scream before. It was not pleasant for any of us. We were hoping it would be low again, but it was 177. Tomorrow we will test it again in the morning and at mid-day. Then we will call the endocrinologist and see what he says.

It's been a long stressful day, but the news could have been so much worse. I am grateful that even if she does have it, it's a managable disease! And also I am grateful that if she does have it, we caught it extrememly early. She is totally asymptomatic at this point. Your prayers are greatly appreciated!

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