It is diabetes awareness month, and I therefore want to share our weekend with you. All kids get ill now and then, and it sometimes happens when it doesn’t fit in your plans. That’s life, and you simply have to accept it. Getting a cold as a diabetic is though something else than getting the same cold if you have your insulin production intact.
My diabetes hero, diagnosed at 16 months of age, had her sixth birthday this Sunday. In the night between Thursday and Friday her body temperature rised to close to 40° C (104 °F). A very non-typical curve appeared on the CGM. What is typical though, is that it is not typical, since diabetes type 1 is totally unpredictible. Normally, a cold infection make the blood sugar of my daugher rise all over, but this time it was like if we had measured fever instead of blood sugar.
This weekend has been miserable for my daughter. No party for the friends on Saturday, instead high ketones and sleeping. Fever, cough and a dripping nose. Bad sleeping during night while fever came and went. Breath stinking of acetone. One second sweating, next freezing. No appetite. Dizziness and feelings of sickness. A bucket close to her bed.
A nasty cold can be a misery for anyone. Take this misery and add that diabetes is even harder to manage when fever is burning in your body. Also add that you have to prick your fingers and change pod even if all you want is to disappear from the world for a while. No matter if your body is hurting, the BG and ketone tests got to be taken and insulin must be injected into your body. Then add that your parents wake you up and force you to eat. Nothing tastes good, all you want to do is sleep. Sorry, but you simply need to eat, otherways next stop is hospital.
Sunday morning, after another night of fever coming and going, Amanda woke up (for which turn in order during this night, I don’t know) and said she was hungry. She sounded quite lively – lovely! I told her to pretend to sleep and went up to gather the rest of the family (sleeping on the upper floor during these fever nights). We made some hot chocolate and lit some candles. Then we marched in to her bed, singing loudly and maybe not too beautiful. No reaction. After three strophes without any reaction we kissed her and whispered that it’s her birthday. She was hot as a stove again and it took a while before she woke up. She got some energy when she saw the gifts though.
So, of course no party for the relatives today. Instead she spent most of her day sleeping in her new sleeping bag on the livingroom floor. I guess she liked the present.
Today, Monday, she is better. Still red under her tired eyes and still in need of lots of extra insulin, but better anyway. Food is not interesting, and cough and nose dripping continues. Ketones in the morning, but I think they are gone now. She has some energy to play and it’s lovely to hear her talking again. One more day of convalecence and I think she’s back on track again! Next weekend we will recelebrate her birthday, hopefully in a more funny way.
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