A Trip to the ER

What started off as a stomach flu weekend (or so we thought) turned into a  trip to the hospital and an overnight stay for Cayden.  He started getting sick Friday but we didn't know how bad it would get or that it was diabetes related.  His blood sugars were pretty high after lunch and their policy is that if the blood sugars stay above 300 with intervention for over an hour then he has to come home.  It is kind of stupid though because it really takes 2 if not 3 hours for the insulin to peak and do it's job.  So I brought Cayden home and we gave him his shot and we didn't think much of it.  The next day I took him to The Smith Center to see Joseph and the dreamcoat show and while his sugars were running in the high 200's I was not overly alarmed.  By Sunday morning he was throwing up but as an odd coincidence Don had come home from Houston with what he thought was the stomach flu but was actually food poisoning.  We didn't realize that until much much later and after this hospital trip.  I had to go to ward council that morning so I left around 8:45.  Then since it didn't get over until after 10:30 I just stayed at church and Don was going to bring the boys.  Don texted me at 10:30 and said that Cayden had been throwing up several times that morning but that his blood sugars while sort of high were being treated and so Don was just going to come to Sacrament meeting with Kyle and Caleb and then we could go check on Cayden during Sunday school.  Unbeknownst to us, Cayden's blood sugars were actually in the 400's but he didn't tell us that and he had actually started throwing up much earlier but he didn't tell us that either.  So Don came home after Sacrament to check on him.  Cayden was asleep in the chair holding a bowl of throw up.  Don texted me during Relief Society that Cayden was pretty sick and that his blood sugar was still high.  I immediately thought that we needed to check Cayden's ketones.  Don did that and there were moderate to high ketones.  Cayden was very lethargic and even sayiing weird things.  When I got home from church Don told me how high the ketones and blood sugars were and I told him that we needed to go to the hospital.  Now that is always a really hard decision to make out here because the hospital is so far away.  In the past we have decided to go to the hospital but then we get halfway there and the problem has gotten better usually it has been croup.  I called Dr. Chris and asked him what to do.  I was pretty freaked out and told my brother that he needed to tell me what to do.  He told us that we might be able to reverse the ketoacidocis from home but that we couldn't know for sure how bad it really was or that if it was getting better without going to the hospital.  He told us to just go.  We were able to get Brother Witsken to come over and Don and him gave Cayden a blessing.  I packed up a bag for Cayden and me and we headed in.  Cayden was still very lethargic and kept saying  things like there were minions in his head.  One of the very few good  things about diabetes is that when you get to the hospital they don't wait around.  We checked in and within 5 minutes they had called us back.  They checked his blood sugar and it was only about 350 but his color was so bizarre and the lethargy plus the symptoms of several hours of vomiting lead them to believe that he was in ketoacidosis.  That really can only be confirmed with a blood test so they sent us back to a room.  They put Cayden on an IV with saline and did the bloodwork.  About 6pm they cam in and said that he was definitely in DKA and while it was a mild case he would have to be admitted to the PICU because he had to be on a continuous IV drip and that had to be monitored hourly.  We didn't get to our room until after 8pm because of how busy the hospital was and because of shift change.  We had a really nice nurse in the ER who actually knew several people from Logandale but now I can't remember his name.  That is him in the picture below.  There was a Subway in the hospital so that was nice to be able to eat something while we waited.  After we got Cayden settled in his room Don left to go home and take care of the boys and I spent a very uncomfortable night in a pull out chair.  Being in the PICU is not as comfortable as being on the regular pediatric floor.  We were right across from the nurses station and you have to leave the door open all night long.  Cayden was taken really good care of and the nurses were as accommodating to  me as they could be.  There is a family lounge with bathroom and there was a shower there but it was out of order.  I had to take a sponge bath out of the sink.  The next morning we had to wait for some labs to come back to see where Cayden was at and that would determine if we could go home.  The insulin did it's job and by about 8am they were able to transition him over to the his regular insulin shots.  Don came back in about 12:30 which was just in time to get us and take us home.  Just like Connor, Cayden has a very high pain tolerance.  He didn't flinch when they did the IV's and they had to do them in both arms.  The thing that bothered him the most was taking the tape off to get IV's out.   I was so glad to only have had to spend 1 night there albeit a very long night.  I am so grateful for the prompting to check Cayden's ketones.  I am so grateful for medical care and insurance and Don's job that provides the insurance for us.  I'm grateful for priesthood power and that my husband is worthy and able to bless our children. This was our first experience with DKA in 9 years of dealing with this.  Even when the boys were diagnosed they were not in DKA and did not require the insulin drip or the PICU.  We hope not to repeat this experience again and hope that our kids can learn the absolute necessity of always telling the truth. 

Going to his room in the PICU.  

Getting ready to go home on Monday.  

The Big 1-8!

Holy cow!  I have another child that is officially an adult.  That is so very very surreal!    Connor's birthday was on a Sunday but for some reason my kids seem to think that they get either the whole week for birthday celebrations or atleast the weekend.  I try to give them no chores on their birthday but since Connor's birthday was on a Sunday he got no chore Saturday.  We had a birthday dinner for him on Sunday night.  He wanted diet coke chicken, rice pilaf, biscuits, chopped salad and Grandpa made him his favorite Skor cake.  This kid starts asking about his birthday on Christmas Eve if not before.  He loves having his birthday.  This year he got some camouflage headphones, a camouflage cooler, a BYU long sleeved t-shirt from us, and a set of plastic shelves for the shed over at grandpa's. 

This picture is of him pondering about what to wish for. This is the hardest working kid around. He has been helping a fence company that has random fence jobs around here. He worked at the Chinese restaurant until they started being jerks. He has been working a few nights a week with grandma and grandpa's business since they have been short handed. He's even worked a few nights for Caleb so Caleb could go to mutual or stay home and watch Kyle while I was at relief society. He got his eagle project done in 2013 but he was short a few merit badges. He squeaked those out with lots of help from his leaders. The big one was hiking and he seriously did 3 hikes in 5 days and his leader took the blue scout card to the scout office the day before his birthday. 

He doesn't like leaving the valley unless he gets to go to Ely. He went with grandpa and Don and Caleb a month or so ago to McGill to bring a bunch of furniture back from the house up there. He loves to do yard sales and has done about 3 of them here recently selling stuff grandma and grandpa want to get rid of stuff. He will still take a nap if he sits still for long enough which isn't very often. He eats just about any thing and really isn't picky about things. He had a pair of boots that he wore out in about 6 months and the pair he got for Christmas have been worked over really good. He wears out jeans faster than anyone and he prefers Carhart work pants. He likes to call his dad with football scores. Sometimes before his dad has even watched the game. He gets a lot done and we sure love him!

Mustang Pride

Cayden came home from school today with a great big grin on his face.  He was called up to the office today and was on their school TV for morning announcements.  He got to draw for money!  He first got $1 but because he was wearing his Mustang shirt he got to try again and he got the $10!  He has been talking about wanting to do this all year long and he finally got the opportunity!  He got the tickets to go in the drawing by being courteous and helpful in class.  Good job Cayden!  Now he wants to win the $100!

Christmas is for Giving

We took the boys Christmas shopping a few weeks before Christmas so they could help us pick out gifts for 2 young men who we were helping provide Christmas for through the Angel Tree at Cayden's school.  We went to St. George so of course that meant we had to eat somewhere yummy-Texas Roadhouse!  We always order way too much food and we eat way too much.  Don and I always forget that we should just order one entree and share it and we only remember after we have ordered and eaten the appetizers and are stuffed and still waiting for our main course.  We ordered fried pickles this time which was a first for me and I decided that I didn't like them at all.  Kyle on the other hand loved them and consequently didn't eat his dinner when it came because he ate lots of pickles and cheese fries.  After dinner we spent a considerable amount of time in Walmart walking up and down the aisles trying to decide what to get to 17 year old boys that we knew nothing about.  We ended up getting them each a basketball, a blanket, a leatherman and some pj's and a sweatshirt.  We also put in some gift cards to McDonalds.  My boys were very helpful in picking out stuff and also telling me "no way" on other things.  Caleb also bought them some candy with his own money.  We had to of course go to Swig on the way home.

This is Kyle driving his sleigh/cart in Walmart.

The other things we did to help others for Christmas was while we were in Utah at Thanksgiving.  Suzanna and I had talked about what we wanted to do with our families literally the night before we found this idea and I know that it was just a complete tender mercy and inspiration from Heavenly Father.  That morning I was reading the paper on the kitchen counter while getting breakfast and I saw this story about patients at the state mental hospital and a program that they did every year called "The Forgotten Patient".  Oh my gosh!  Talk about a sad situation!  There are people at the hospital of all ages who would not get a Christmas of any kind unless this program was available.  There was a contact email for the director and after calling Suzanna to tell her what I had found I emailed the lady and even called her phone number to leave a message because we really wanted to participate.  I was quite surprised when she emailed me back that afternoon and we called all the family members and decided how we were going to help.  We were given 2 people to buy for a 14 year old young man and a 35 year old man.  We did our shopping before we left Provo so that we didn't have to ship stuff.  We bought and filled a stocking for the young man. Caleb bought him the monster truck. The teenager seemed like he had a much younger mental age so he was easy to buy for.

  Aunt Suzanna and grandma Penny wrapped all the gifts and delivered them to the hospital. We were so glad that we could participate in this program and we look forward to helping again next year. 

We also helped a single father and his son here in our valley who were new and basically had nothing. We got them a grocery gift card and sent them a bunch of fruit. There were several people who helped this family have a nice Christmas. 

Share the Gift

For FHE the second Sunday in December we watched the Mormon Message "Share the Gift" and we made our own signs to show how we will share the gift.  Why my children want to look like they are in a police line up I don't know.

Dad said he would share the gift by recognizing and sharing and letting people know when he has seen someone be a good example or when they have done something good.
Mom said she would share the gift by being friendly, cheerful and polite while out shopping or in public.  Connor said he would share the gift by doing service either big acts or small acts.
Caleb said he would share the gift by doing random acts of kindness.
Cayden said he would share the gift by smiling and being kind to others.
Kyle said he would share the gift by helping people, being sweet and saying kind things.

Kyle Brandt-So Mom Won't Forget These Things

We love how he says hammer-burger and thinks every drink needs to Sprite or chocolate milk.  

He is recently been enthralled with Legos much to Cayden's chagrin and mine because now they are all over the house.  

He is in that rough stage where he sometimes still needs a nap but if he takes one then he won't go to bed until really late.

Since we have 1:00 church he will usually fall asleep on my lap in the middle of the meeting and then he gets a 20-40 minute power nap which is just enough to get us through until bed time.  

He loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, going to story time at the library and going to the park.  

He is really an obedient child and doesn't throw too many massive fits.  When he does throw fits though he will stand in place and scream at the top of his lungs.  

He was on a grilled cheese kick there for a while and ate one every day and sometimes more than one.  

He doesn't like the crust on his sandwiches.  

He loves to have grits for breakfast and if he is not starving I can get him to wait the 15 minutes or so it takes to make them.  

He loves pink cookies from Wally's-the Granny B's kind.  He calls it Wa-wee's.  

He loves loves loves his brothers and tells them all the time that he loves them.

He will just randomly run up to us and hug around the legs and say I love you mommy or I love you daddy.

He has to hold my hand while he's falling asleep.

He likes to wear his ball caps and remembers to put one on most times when we are getting ready to leave the house.  

He doesn't like me to leave and I go back and forth about sneaking out or telling him and making sure he knows that I will come back.

He loves to read books.  He really likes the Llama Llama books and since they rhyme he can finish the sentences.  He really like a book called Little Blue Truck as well that we renewed for as long as we could from the library until we had to give it back.

He loves to sing I am a Child of God and asks me to sing the temple song to him usually every day.

He wants to say his prayers by himself.

He is not the most compliant and attentive during home evening.  It is hard to teach the older boys with him jumping all over the furniture and all over every one else.

He pretends that he is a puppy named Bella and crawls around and sniffs the ground.

He is quite imaginative and plays with his toys and makes up stories about what is going on.

He told me this afternoon after he had a nap that he wanted peace and quiet.

He has said the word d*** it a few times when he has dropped something wonder where he got that?  

He knows who the prophet is and likes to carry around a little pendant that the prophet's picture on it.

He wears 3T pants and 4 t shirts.

He has a second pair of "spiderman" shoes that he wears in a bigger size from before.  They are easy to get on and he can usually get them on himself.  He could get his flip flops on by himself over the summer.

He carries around calculators and call them his phone.  He took a big magnet off the fridge that was the size of an Ipad and called it his Ipad.  He was quite upset if anyone took it away from him.

He throws every toy he can in the bathtub-sometimes toys that shouldn't be thrown in the bath tub.  

He likes to stand at the kitchen sink and do dishes-which translates into let the water run and empty the bottle of dishwashing soap into the sink.

He likes to help make dinner and just climbs right up on the counter and tries to help.

If any of the boys have friends come over he calls them HIS friends.  Cayden's friend and his little brother came over and he grabbed the little brother's hand who is 8 and said "Your my best friend.  Want to see my room?"  He gets quite distressed when Cayden tries to lock him out or keep him out of his room.  

He calls his big toe his thumb toe and his other toes finger toes.  

He adds "er" to the end of lots things to turn them into nouns like his lemonade-er, his hot dog-er, 

He started singing songs about a troubador.  Not sure where that came from.

He didn't want to wake up from his nap and he so he told me that he needed peace and quiet.

He likes to make "machines" and calls his inventions a "double decker" whatever  hotdogger or bigger hot chocolater.

He call the tall barstool that he likes to sit on "the bigger chair".  If you get him the shorter bar stool he will remind you that he needs the bigger chair.

Right now the kid will not stay off of the counters.  It is driving me up the wall because I constantly find him and hear him climbing on them and I'm afraid that he is going to turn on the stove or get down the knives or something.  

He has of late been concerned about loud noises.  He doesn't like the hair dryer or the fans.  I hear him quite often say "what was that noise" and half the time I can't hear anything.

He has been the easiest of all the boys to potty train!  Yay!

Obamacare Consequences

This is Gladys, our very awesome nurse at the UMC Diabetes Clinic.  The clinic was shut down as of September 30 because of the Obamacare mess.  This is one of the few diabetes clinics in LasVegas and one of even less that takes low income patients.  We were so blessed to find Dr. Flynn a few years ago and this is where she worked.  Luckily, (tender mercy) Dr. Flynn was able to move to another doctor's office across town that has nothing to do with UMC.  200 people lost their jobs and many quick cares and this office and others were shut down.  We didn't get a picture with Dr. Flynn because we will still get to see her in the other office but we will miss Gladys!  She was sweet and funny and patient and always entertained and engaged Connor and was kind to Cayden.  She gives nursing a good name and we were glad to have met her.  Thanks for nothing Mr. Obama.