I said Doctor!

I've had an interesting 24hours. I'm writing this from my very uncomfortable chair in the ICU. Hey, it beats the plastic chair in the ER, so beggars can't be choosers, right? So let me start by saying I'm not the one admitted to the hospital. Eddie is. Yesterday afternoon he got a stomach bug (I'll spare you the details) and by 1 am when he still was getting sick he called his endocrinologist who told him in no uncertain terms that he had to go to the ER immediately, that he was probably in diabetic ketoacidosis.

I really don't quite get DKA other than when you have diabetes and get sick like this you get dehydrated, your blood sugar spikes and your electrolytes go on a free-for-all in your body. Not to mention the fact that he is also harboring some kind of infection (maybe, they also said it could be his body reacting to what was going on) so his white blood cell count is 27,000. It's supposed to be in the 7,000 to 10,000 range. Plus, because all of his muscles were so tight from being sick for 9hrs straight he couldn't pee. So he had terrible pressure in his bladder. Add to that severe dehydration and you have a very unhappy Eddie.

Hours, multiple blood draws, sugar checks and tests later we're sitting in his ICU room waiting to see how things are going to progress. At best we're looking at a 2 day stay (though we really hope that it's less) and at most 3+. The regular ICU doc is ready to hand him off as long as his x-rays come back clean and there's no appendix waiting to burst or other nasty surprises. What he suspects is he picked up the stomach bug going around his school and it got the best of him OR it was the suspect macaroni salad that Eddie ate yesterday at lunch (I even TOLD him it had probably spoiled).His hospital endocrinologist however, will probably be what holds him up. He's been well taken care of by his current endocrinologist who has him on the insulin pump and knows that Eddie adjusts his insulin in the pump based on his activity level and what he eats that day.

This doc has a hero complex, has taken him OFF the pump and is trying to change how much insulin he gets and how much food he eats. So, when I get home today, I'm leaving a very detailed message with the answering service of HIS doctor. I have a feeling he'll be in tomorrow and as long as the rest of Eddie's results are fine they'll be able to discharge him. The last time this happened (11 years ago, which surprises the staff here as they expected him to be a regular) he was hospitalized for a week. Since we were in a different town as HIS doctor, the hospital we were in didn't call him. We were told by the regular that he should never have been hospitalized for longer than 24-hours.

The nurses are great here, and at least they're working to get him on the right track to going home soon. And I really can't complain about the ICU docs either. So. . .here we sit, waiting and hoping to have some good news with the next update.