June 13, 2015, Part 2

I immediately called Joel when we left the clinic and got in the car. He was getting ready to do some projects around the house and had left his phone in the house. I called him repeatedly and left text messages, but he wasn’t answering.

I had to talk to someone. To tell them the devastating news I had just received. I called my parents while driving home. I think they had just left to run some errands. I told them the words I had heard just minutes before. I broke down. I felt horrible crying about it with Luke in the backseat. I couldn’t help it, though. I couldn’t stop the tears. They asked if we wanted them to meet us at the emergency room. Of course I did. We hung up. I apologized to Luke.

About halfway home, Joel called me back. He had seen my text.

“Diabetes. We need to go to the ER.“

We chatted for a bit. I don’t even remember what was said. It was just good to talk to him. To hear his voice.

We got home and I packed a bag with items for both Luke and me. I didn’t know what I needed. I didn’t know how long I’d be gone. I think I packed a change of clothes for each of us. Toothbrushes. Electronics.

We threw the bag and ourselves into the car and we were off to the ER.

They were expecting us. We got right in, first to the triage room. They checked his vitals again. Did another finger prick- 616 now. Asked a million questions. Most of which I knew the answer to.

After awhile we were moved to a room in the ER. My parents arrived soon after. By that time, Luke was exhausted. We answered more questions. We were told he was in DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). He had to get a picc line for an insulin drip and a saline drip. The nurse in the picture below was AMAZING. She has Type 2 Diabetes and told him all about what he should expect as a T1. She told him he’d be feeling a lot better really, really soon. I wish I remembered her name.

After being on saline for 10-15 minutes, Luke started feeling better. And he was starting to act a little goofy. He was talking non-stop about the weirdest scenarios. He was hilarious! Someone- either the doctor or the nurse- came in and said, “I’m sorry, Luke.” Luke replied,

“My pancreas is the one who should be sorry!“

(We know now, being talkative and silly is a symptom of extremely high blood sugar for him!) He was still so dried out. The picture below shows how dry his lips and mouth were at this point.

After spending some time at our local ER, they told us they were going to transfer us to Memorial Children’s Hospital because they are better equipped for treating DKA and educating us on T1D.