Okay, so where did I leave off about our 12/13/14 story. Yes, that’s right we were at the ER and doctors and staff where swarming around my oldest son. The Main ER doc says she wants to intubate him. Another doc in a long white coat says she called Children’s and Careflight is on the way.
Okay, now things are really getting crazy and scary and we are a little out of the loop. I can tell from the looks on their faces that this is very serious but that they do not want us to get hysterical. Rest assured we did not get hysterical. I got mad when I couldn’t reach grandparents. I got concerned for Lil’ Red having to stay away from mom at almost 16 months. We were upset with ourselves for not bringing him in earlier that day. We were thankful Big Red and Princess were already settled in at the other grandma’s house.
The same EMT crew that came to our house had to bring someone else in and stopped by to see how we were doing. That was super comforting. They also asked if our son was the one who passed out water and muffins May 2013 when a house burnt down on our street. We proudly said YES. So we are trying to figure out who is picking up Lil’ Red and trying to figure out what’s going on with Eldest. So we just keep checking on him and see the current ER staff on the phone with the Children’s Hospital ER doc. The Respiratory and EMT staff from Children’s arrive. Intubation has to happen before transportation. We aren’t allowed to watch. We aren’t allowed to travel with him “due to his condition” which basically means they don’t want to risk having to deal with a hysterical parent if he were to crash on the way to Children’s. THIS IS VERY SERIOUS FOLKS!
I had already posted on Facebook for prayer. What better way to reach the masses then social media right? Just so happens that some of the people that saw my post were in the medical field and had some ideas of what was happening. I was amazed at the out pouring of prayers and well wishes and offers of personal phone numbers to talk.
I got a hold of my mom and it was decided that my sister and brother-in-law would come pick up Lil’ Red and go home with them so we can head on to the Children’s Hospital. Eldest is gotten ready for transportation to Children’s Hospital. Transport papers signed by us for both hospitals. The Medical transport driver recognized my husband from high school which is always nice to have a familiarity with someone else in the crisis. He told us not to try and follow him that he was going “lights and sirens” and would be going too fast for us to keep up. SCARY but understandable. Eldest was loaded up and off we went to meet my sister and install the carseat for Lil’ Red.
I offered to drive but hubby insisted that it helped him focus on something. On the way to the 2nd ER, I call and cancel our Monday and Tuesday dentists appointments. Yes,around 11 pm I call 2 different offices since I had the time and didn’t want to have to remember later on. We got to Children’s 30 minutes later. We parked the car and rushed into the ER. We were directed to a waiting room right next to the room Eldest was in. A team of no less then 8 people were around him. Docs, Techs, Nurses, Patient Care, etc. We were given water and crackers.
The ER Doc came in to talk with us and ask questions. He assured us that situations like this are very scary and aren’t predictable and aren’t our fault. He was impressed with our knowledge of keeping on the lookout for signs as to when to bring a child in and why we waited as long as we did. (lack of fever or limb pain, etc). We step in for very short periods of time to tell him we are there but stay out of the ER room while we try to hold it together. We were given updates pretty regularly as to what they thought was going on, what was currently happening, and what was going to go on before heading to ICU like getting a chest x-ray and CT scan. We had already been told from transport before leaving the 1st ER that Eldest would be going to ICU. We kept in contact with family by texts, updating facebook, and calling a few family members.
We stayed with him the whole time and walked down the hall to CT. We opted to stay out of the CT room for that short minute or 2 since there was a team of 4 from ER plus CT Tech already in the room with him. We didn’t want to accidentally get in the way or bump something plus the rest in the hallway rocking chairs did us good. We had a chance to use the restroom and be ready to head upstairs to ICU.
The first night was extremely grueling since he wasn’t settled into ICU until after 1 am. Around 2 am or so they realized he hadn’t even been given an ID band because he came in so critical and so much had to be done and monitored! There were hourly labs and/or fingerpricks. He was on 6-8 Iv’s plus was still intubated and sedated due to intubation and suction. This is not how we envisioned our weekend before the weekend before Christmas.
Come back tomorrow for part 3 of our Diabetes Diagnosis and to read all about what we had to do and learn to bring our son home!
Did you miss the other posts in this series? Check them out below:
12/13/14 The ER, DKA, and Diabetes Diagnosis (Part 1)
12/13/14 The ER, DKA, and Diabetes Diagnosis (Part 3)
12/13/14 The ER, DKA, and Diabetes Diagnosis (Part 4)
Other Type 1 Diabetes Posts:
How a Juice Box Saved my Type 1 Diabetic Son’s Life
6 to 1 Insulin Ratio, Puberty and Type 1 Diabetes
Type 1 Diabetes Rescue Boxes for Back to School
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What an endeavour for your whole family to go through. Sending you prayers. All the best to your son <3
Thank you so much. We are taking things day by day one blood glucose level at a time.
Remember: You are not alone! This seems like an overwhelming time, but you will get through it. It will become part of your lifestyle. My 12 year old dd also has T1 (and we are also homeschoolers). Six months down the road, you will probably want to begin to think about the possibility of a pump. It makes life soooo much easier (if your son is interested and willing to learn). I also highly recommend finding a good summer camp for your son. My dd goes to a camp in WV for T1 kids (Camp Kno Koma) and she absolutely loves it. Her first year at camp was very emotional because she had never experienced the feeling of being with 100+ other kids with T1. It’s very empowering for the kids because it includes regular camp activities along with the education. Plus, the parents get a ‘vacation’ from diabetes care. Anyway, it’s something for you to think about later. (Not necessarily NOW, because you are probably still feeling very overwhelmed). Just letting you know that many other parents have ‘been there’. Reach out to JDRF. They are wonderful.
Thank you for sharing your experience with your daughter. I am not sure about Summer Camp although people keep mentioning it. He has never been away from the care of family but right now “family” isn’t even adequate enough until he is on insulin pens or they are trained.
I am so amazed you was so calm and could make calls to Doctors offices and to know to stay out of the way. Because I am not sure I would have been able to do those things. Even though I know it would make it easier on the Doctors and Nurses.
It was hard but we were in shock.. We knew we just needed to wait and see what the next step was. The one resident was the sweetest guy and reassured us that it wasn’t our fault and that they were doing the best that they could to stabilize him.