Today when I went to visit my Dad, the first thing he said to me was that his blood sugar was 580 this morning. That's a BIG problem. My Dad has never taken a fast acting insulin, except when in the hospital. So, he did what he would always do in this situation, he took an additional 25 units of his Humalin N. Can I just scream now? I have been trying to read more about the Humalin N and cant seem to understand how it works. I thought it was a 70/30 NPH type insulin? All the reading I found so far says it is a straight 24 hour insulin.......whatever it is......there is a better way. I asked him how long he thinks it will be until his blood sugar starts to come down, and he said he expects it to be down by tomorrow morning. So tonight, he doesn't eat. He cant drink much because it "interferes with his Dialysis" so he eats ice chips instead. My Dad wont check his ketones, because he says "I would be nauseated if I had ketones".....yeah...there is a much better way.
I suggested to my Dad that he call his doctor for some Novolog. For the first time ever, he agreed! He mentioned to me that the problem with the fast acting insulin is that he doesn't know how to manage it. VERY SCARY and true, I could imagine him starting on fast acting and throwing in a random start of 20 units and adjusting from there.......that's exactly what he would do. Scary guy my dad is! This extreme high blood sugar isn't helping his healing, that's for sure.
I suggested my Mom call the hospital to find out what ratio they had him on this weekend for highs. Whatever it was, it did cause quite a few lows, but it would be a good starting point to adjust down from. Better than some random 20 unit guess my Dad would shoot for! The thought of him starting fast acting is actually a bit scary now that I think of it! I'm sure he wont even call for an RX anyway.
So tonight, I blog and I worry when I'm supposed to be sleeping. I wonder if he re-checked his blood sugar? Typically he would just wait until morning since he can't give more Humalin right away for the high anyway. Is he getting an infection? Is he approaching DKA? Is he going to suddenly be very ill overnight and my mom won't call to tell me?
Interesting basal reductions for Maddison this week! Last week our school did Terra Nova testing for 1st-3rd grades. By Tuesday it was obvious in her numbers that her basal rates needed to be increased all morning. TRIPLED actually. Now that's what I assume is testing stress related! Crazy disease this is. Why the school had Maddison complete testing when her BS was so out of range, is a whole 'nother story! Her 504/IEP clearly states she is not to test if her BS is over 250. They sent her to the library for testing each day anyway. I've emailed her "case manager" at school to question this and request re-testing, and still have not received a response. Interesting.
Some budget news is in for our school.....both of our 2 Assistant Principals and school counselor will be assigned to classrooms for next year if they still carry teaching credentials and are willing to do so. No news yet on our school nurse, the latest memo said they may not know until JUNE if our RN's will stay. SCARY news for our school today!
Moving my blog again
14 years ago
2 comments:
Scary on a few fronts there! I hope your dad does alright with his healing and is able to find some help with those high BG's. And I hope that Maddison did alright with her testing even when she was high. AND I hope that you get yourself some stress free rest and relaxation. What? A guy can hope right?
I hope your Dad can get those BGs down. I am assuming Type 2 and not sure how they manage Type 2 with insulin. If it is similar, perhaps you can call his endo and make a few suggestions. 580, yuck! Hope you can keep your school nurse. It is a necessity, not a luxury, unless they want to provide home tutoring for all the kids that may have to home school due to lack of proper medical care, which I think would be more expensive. If chronically ill children are at school -- and I am not just talking about diabetes -- the schools need to get on the ball and provide proper care. I guess it will take a lawsuit by some parent whose child was gravely affected because there was no school nurse to make the school board rethink the "cost" issue. The school system could lose millions in a lawsuit, so the $30 or $40 thou they pay to a school nurse will save them a great deal of money in the long run.
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