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Deep Thoughts

"Great things are brought about and burdens lightened through the efforts of many hands “anxiously engaged in a good cause.” Imagine what the millions of Latter-day Saints could accomplish in the world if we functioned like a beehive in our focused, concentrated commitment to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ." M. Russell Ballard October 2012 General Conference

Monday, August 22, 2011

The "D" Word


"Worse, how could it get worse, Ellen. We're on the threshold of Hell!"
With his new monkey.

A close up.

My delightful lunch from the Ronald McDonald house.

Our delightful accommodations.

Playing in the playroom.

A backpack and diabetes bear Rufus from the dietician/diabetes educator.

Waiting for the prescriptions and ready to go home.

A gift from his Scout leader.

A gift from our good friend Sherrie.
Legos from Grandma Penny and Granddaddy.
Gifts from the Gessel's and the Pitt's.

Lots of loot!

That is how we feel alot of the time in our lives and then it really does get worse.  On Monday, August 8, 2011Cayden was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes just like Connor.  Connor was 9 years and 3 months old when he was diagnosed.  Cayden is 9 years and 6 months old.  Just a little bizarre.  For about 2 weeks I had that niggling feeling in the back of my mind and really did not want to bring it to light but after too many instances suggesting the possibility, I decided to check his blood sugar on Connor's meter.  That Monday I had already taken him and Caleb to Vegas to get cleats for Caleb for football but after him sucking down liquids like crazy and then having to go potty like crazy after that, as well as similar issues at church and him getting up during the night to use the bathroom-something that he has rarely done, I figured it was time to check him with the supreme hope that I would be wrong.  I checked him on one of Connor's meters that was an extra and it did not even give me a number because his blood sugar was so high.  I called Don's mom and asked her to send over her meter or the one that Connor had with him to double check.  Grandpa came over with the meter and I checked Cayden again and it read 599.  I was trying very hard to not have a complete break down right then and there.  Don had left for Dallas first thing that morning and of course all hell has to break loose when he is gone.  I called the Mesquite hospital to ask them if they could treat Cayden or if they would have to send us to Vegas.  After much cajoling on my end and being told repeatedly that they could not give medical advice over the phone, the woman asked a doctor who said that they would treat him but if he needed to be admitted then they would have to transport to Sunrise in Vegas.  I told them thank you but I would just go ahead and go to Vegas since he would probably have to be admitted because that is what happened with Connor.  Then I called our neighbor Brent May to come over and help grandpa give Cayden a blessing while I called Don and started packing a bag.  Grandpa gave me a blessing after Cayden's and it really helped me calm down and get through the rest of the night and following day without freaking out  myself or going into labor.  Cayden and I left for Vegas around 5, had to stop at Valley of Fire for him to go potty and got to Sunrise ER around 6.  H was pretty hungry but he is such a picky eater and the only to buy at the gas station was carbs.  I was afraid to give him anything knowing how high his blood sugar was.  When we got to the hospital and found a place to park-in the valet area because I did not know where else to park-I told them what his blood sugar was they took us right back and checked him on their meter.  He was still 550 so they took us right back to a room and within 15 minutes he had blood drawn and an IV in filling him up with fluids to help flush out the sugar.  We saw a nurse who we gave our life story to, then an ER resident and then the ER doctor who we repeated our story to.  After about 2 hours in the ER, a few blood pressure checks and another blood sugar poke, we got moved upstairs to the pediatric unit. During our wait in the ER, Aunt Dena and Taylor came by for moral support.  They brought Cayden a monkey from Build A Bear with hospital scrubs on and a set of Cars jammies.  Aunt Dena and Taylor stayed with us while we got moved upstairs and Taylor went out to the car with me and helped me pack in our stuff.  We got settled in room 4014 and around 9pm Aunt Dena and Taylor went out to get us some food since the cafeteria was closed and they only snacks they had were string cheese-which Cayden does not like.  It took a bit of convincing to get them to let him eat actual food but since I knew how to count carbs -and the nurses said better than they did-they let him eat.  He got 20 units of Lantus insulin and 6 units of Novolog to bring him down.  Aunt Dena and taylor got back around 10 with Carl's Jr chicken nuggets and then they left around 10:30.  The nurses had to check him every 3 hours during the night and so by the time he ate and went potty it was almost 11.  We called daddy and told him that we were doing fine and Cayden asked his dad to say a prayer for him.  That was about Don's undoing. Don was not happy that he was so far away and we were having to do that all by ourselves but we were doing just fine.  After Aunt Dena left we said our prayers and started watching Chicken Run on the Playstation they had in the room.  We just stayed awake knowing they would be back soon to check him again. They checked again at midnight and his blood sugar was slowly coming down.  After that Cayden could not go to sleep and consequently neither could I. He wanted his music which I forgot to bring with us.  I spent an hour trying to get connected to the internet and another hour trying to download "I am a child of God" for him.  He finally fell asleep around 2:30 but I decided to just stay awake because they would be coming to check him at 3am anyway.  At 3:15 the nurse still had not come in so I went to find her.  After checking him and then helping him go potty which seriously took forever because we had to unhook him from the pulse ox thing and wheel his IV thing with us to the bathroom, then we had to measure how much was going out (glad he's a boy on that account), wash our hands and then get him back to bed and hooked back up.  After all that I could not go to sleep.  I layed there for a while and finally texted Don at 4:15 because it was 6:15 in Texas and I figured he would be up soon.  He was and he called me and we talked for a bit.  I finally fell asleep around 4:45 but at 5:30 the circus started with a blood draw, then 2 peds residents, 2 new nurses a 6am blood check and another potty break there would be no more sleeping.  They brought Cayden breakfast at 8 and then we had to do his shot.  There was a student nurse that we were sort of the guinea pigs with who took FOREVER to do anything and after only 45 minutes of sleep I was getting cranky and could have done what he did in record time just to get it done but it was ok because he was nice and thorough albeit forgetful.  Around 10 I was able to sleep for about 15 minutes more but then Cayden had to go to the bathroom again.  They had Disney Channel and a Play Station that played movies so Cayden stayed entertained for a bit but he started getting a little cabin fever and wanted to go to the playroom.  I got a shower around 11:30 right before lunch.  We were told that we had to do a few things before we would be able to go home, the first of which was to get Cayden stabilized and responding well to the insulin.  Then we had to get our mess of prescriptions and then I had to show them that I could check his blood sugar and give him a shot.  Cayden did not want me to leave him alone and I did not want to leave him so we waited until almost 4 when the pharmacy finally delivered our stuff.  I should have just gone myself because we probably would have been out of there by 1 but oh well.  Cayden spent his time between his room and the playroom and was the healthiest kid on the floor.  It was very reminiscent of Connor because he was not sick either and wandered the halls and went a bit stir crazy himself.  Cayden did get a visit from a lady who brings in story books to read to kids and also a visit from the same dietician/diabetes educator who taught about diabetes when Connor was there.  I got a sack lunch delivered by a lady from the Ronald McDonald house.  It was a welcome meal since I had not eaten since the night before.  It was just a turkey sandwich, chips, an apple, a mini pack of oreos and a soda but it was delicious.  It took me 2 trips to haul or stuff out to the car but we were finally on the road by 4:15 and home by 5:15.  Cayden was asleep before we hit the freeway.  Our sweet RS president and the compassionate service leader brought us dinner around 5:30 and by 7:00 I was zonked out.  Don was able to get a flight out of Dallas and was home by 8:30.  I was so out of it that I hardly remember anything other than him coming home and telling me that I had done good and he had the con.  It was a very stressful and hard situation but gratefully my contractions were not as bad as they  had been and I had access to the pebble ice machine.  I know that the only way we all made it through that event was through the power of the priesthood and the power of prayer. We had lots of phone calls and texts with lots of offers to help all of which we are very grateful for.  During the whole hospital stay I kept trying to think of the positive aspects of this whole situation.
1.  We can deal with and treat diabetes.  We know the drill and because we knew what we were doing we only had to stay in the hospital for 1 day.
2.  Diabetes is not terminal.
3.  The hospital took very good care of us.
4.  Labor and Delivery were just down a few floors in case this baby decided to make an appearance.
5.  The baby did not make an appearance and I did not have to take a newborn to stay with us overnight in the hospital.
6.  We have insurance.  So far the bill for the hospital is at over $13000.  We may get away with only paying around $1000.
7.  The other boys were taken care of by gma and gpa.
8.  My family was willing and able to come down and help just on my request.
9.  Don was able to get home and was told by his bosses that family comes first.
10. We have concerned friends and ward members who were very supportive.

1 Happy Thoughts:

Suzanna

We love our Cayden! Sorry you're going through all this mess... thinking and praying for you often! LOVE YOU!