Eli's Endo Appointment - We have BIG news!

Today was Elijah's 3 month check for his Type 1 Diabetes. We had a great visit and some of the things were were worrying over are now a thing of the past but of course there are new things to change as is the case daily with this disease.

BUT Elijah is getting an insulin PUMP!

We have batted the idea around for years, five years to be exact and we just didn't like any of the options that we had in insulin pumping. We went from syringes to pens and today we were introduced to a NEATO pump.

It is remote controlled which is so an Eliman pump. :) And the blood sugar meter is combined with the remote insulin injector.

He will wear a little "pod" on any part of his body that he chooses for 3 days in a row and then switch it out for a new one. The insulin is inside of it and will be injected into him via the little tube that is inside of him. The other pumps we looked at were attached to the meter with long tubing that you threaded yourself. This one does it all itself without the hassle.

We are so super excited. I can't wait for it to be normal and the learning all done. I can't wait for his sugars to normalize after the switch. I am a little nervous because he will not be on 2 insulins anymore...but just a fast acting one.

Wish up luck!

The photos are of Eli wearing the demo in order to get used to the feel and idea of it being on him full time. He is super excited because this makes him more independant and now maybe his friends mothers and our relatives won't mind having him over without us. He has had to miss out on so much because of his invisible cord attaching him to me. *sigh* I am very pleased for him. :) I look forward to seeing his world open up. :)

http://www.myomnipod.com/

Eli Sickness Update!

Yes, it is LATE!

Both his Endo (diabetes specialist) and Ped wanted me to take him in for fluids in the local emergency room at about 11pm. I am like WHAT? I just need a prescription to calm the bouts of extreme vomiting. I know that the vomiting is not a cause of the ketones and his sugar is low. I know it is because he hasn't kept food down and I haven't been able to give him normal doses of insulin which resulted in low blood sugars and high ketones.

I say yea, yea, yea.

And then the inner healer/midwife that I very much am was ready to HEAL with love and time. I got some Q-tips and dipped them in organic peppermint oil for him to smell and taste when he became sick. I started my "magical" sick day vitamin regimen that I learned in my midwifery training. This would take care of the nausea and help his immune system. I then inlisted Eli in the fight to heal himself. I so believe in that inner physician. He was like yea lets try for a few hours and then make a decision to go if we still need to. So with the young man with me and ready to do this although he was so SICK feeling and all he wanted to do was sleep and give up we began.

I checked sugars every hour.

They stayed from 40 to 120. I knew when he got to 120 that we were on to something. He had been using his fat stores for energy resulting in the ketones. We needed to get some real sugar and food in him. It was mostly gatorade and simple sugars, but his body finally had something to EAT! Which resulted in a normal sugar of 120.

He drank two glasses of liquid with 1 unit of insulin every hour. Since we are checking every hour I was not worried about lows. We would catch it. :)

I am happy to report that we had an ALMOST CLEAR ketone strip! A small trace amount. This is down from his last strip when we started at the highest point of the spectrum. He was so proud of himself.

But since we have brought the ketones down he is looking GOOD. And since the sugars he ate are in his body he has pepped up of course. And the fluids have made him so vibrant looking.

Now he is begging for Wii (Matt's co-worker sent a new game for them to try since Eli was sick) at 2 am in the morning.

I know this sounds scary to everyone. But Eli is me made over. He loves to tend to people and he is very much a believer of the "ladder of care". I have always strived for him to know he has an illness that means he needs to take extra care of himself. BUT it shouldn't make him one to run to the doctor or hospital until he has tried to care for himself safely first.

This kid cheered when he got the fever finally tonight. He knew he was on the path of healing. And he knows so much about the endocrine system because of his illness.

I am just glad that for now we don't have to go in and spent the night at the Emergency room for 1 bag of fluids. We turned it around here at home.

But while he gets to sleep tonight I will be up checking an tending to him every hour on the hour until he is normal. And then I get to wait for me to get sick and Remy. Matthew already feels icky.

Keep thinking of him!

I HATE diabetes!

Eli has had a stomach thing today but it isn't flu like. Just that gastro thing that almost whips the best of us. :( Add into that his type 1 juvenile diabetes and UGH! He had HIGH ketones the one time I caught him peeing which isn't much when you are SICK. His sugars are low even with feeding. But we feed and give insulin and check ketones as much as possible. I check his sugar every hour. My poor young man!

I will say this.

He is not my baby anymore.

Oh, you say this can't be true?

But it is. Today when he was throwing up or at his worst he just wanted me OUT and NOT touching him! *sigh*

I will always remember you my little baby Eli (Man-Man). But I adore this young man before me as well. I say bring it on...grow up and make me proud! :)

Please be in prayer that he makes a turn around soon. I do not want to be in the hospital. *sigh* He is finally running a fever, thanks be to GOD! So now his body can toast those critters that are making him so ill. Burn em' up! *EVIL LAUGH*