So it happened. I knew it would. It was inevitable, but somehow, I was still not prepared. The flu bug came to visit Madeline. That little microscopic stomach bug joined forces with her diabetes for many fun filled days.
The fist game we all played together was Catch Me If You Can. This is the fun game of catching vomit before it hits the floor, bedding, walls, or best of all, me. Diabetes added extra fun to Catch Me If You Can. Blood sugars had to be tested continually to be sure she was safe. Since this game started at 12:30 in the morning, we lost the first round, but came back strong for the next 6 hours and took the victory. Madeline-1 Diabetes-0
Our next game was You Can't Win. This game was a bit more tricky. Blood glucose had to be tested hourly, if not sooner, to be sure there were no major number fluctuations. I thought I had this in the bag. Madeline's numbers stayed within her safe range and I was even able to introduce liquids. 12 hours into our games, Madeline was finally hydrated enough to wet a diaper. It must have happened when I was looking in the mirror yelling "oh yeah, that's right, who's the mama", but diabetes added LARGE ketones in her urine. Great. Time to call the doctors office. I had to stop my feel good moment and push anything I could that had carbs to get her glucose numbers up, so I could give her an insulin shot, to bring them down. Confusing you say? Yes it is. It's called Diabetes. Remember I had already played Catch Me If You Can, and now I had to push things, she did not want, into her sensitive little system to clear the ketones. Incredibly, 6 hours later, there was only a trace of ketones. We did a high five and accepted our win. Madeline-2 Diabetes-0
Our final game was How Low Can You Go. This game was introduced to me 3 days post flu. Madeline was back to her crazy little self and eating her normal foods. We had just finished dinner, then it happened. Out of the flipping blue, blood glucose numbers dropped super low and hover there for 3 hours straight. Fantastic. There is a frantic call to the hospital (to find out that this does happen, but not too often) and to keep pushing carbs to get numbers up. Juice, cookies, candy. 47. More juice, carb loaded soda, fudge brownies. 46. Arrrrggggg! Madeline was extremely tired, queasy from all the junk we were making her eat, and just not feeling well from the low numbers. I was testing every 20 minutes and had the Glucagon kit ready. Those 3 hours went by so slowly I swear the clock was going backwards. At 9:30pm the number 80 finally came up on her meter and there was a huge sigh of relief. Scared senseless, but still victorious. Madeline-3 Diabetes-0
Diabetes is a poor loser. It just couldn't sit back and chill. It decided to spike Madeline's blood sugar numbers through the roof overnight. She woke up droopy and exhausted, to a blood sugar over 300, with a soaked diaper, jammies, and bedding. Love it. We spent the next few hours making insulin corrections to get her numbers back in range. Crazy blood sugar numbers followed for the next few days. Good times.
I am happy no one else in the family got the flu (thanks Kim and Tim for taking Sophia!!!). I am happy Madeline never had to go to the emergency room due to the "games" we played. I am happy I had 24 hour access to knowledgeable doctors at the hospital.
I am not happy that I heard a small voice say "tag, you're it".
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