We've had a lovely Christmas break. In fact, although I'm back in work tomorrow we're still effectively on holidays, as i've the 2 days after New Years off and M is still on hols, so we're all still very much in the holiday frame of mind.
D hasn't behaved itself, but we didnt expect it to, what with the lack of routine and the richer food. We coped as best we could and we were willing to try relax a bit on the control side - not enough though for K, who threw at least one tantrum when she wasnt allowed to have hot chocolate. In reality I think the tantrum was caused by exhaustion rather than any real feeling of denial; as humans i think our emotions are much more affected by diet and tiredness than we (free will believing) people would like to admit.
Anyway, a quick break down of the last few days;
Christmas Eve - a lovely day, just dad & daughter doing a bit of last minute desperation shopping for mammy, i.e. the only present that dad really has to buy. I joined all the other desperate dads wandering around town with gormless looks on their faces and open wallets ("please take as much money out as you want, just give me something (anything) that she'll like and makes me look like i put thought and care into it!!!"). Anyway its great to have an ally in this annual search and K & I had a really lovely few hours together.
But dad let himself down on the D front. I got K to check her glucose on the train into town, it was high at 16.1 (290) at 11:59a.m. We had planned for lunch at 12:30, but had trouble finding a restaurant that K liked. By 12:46a.m. K had crashed to 2.6mmol (46-47). Three gluco tabs later and we're still searching - have you ever seen a parent beg their child to eat McDonalds and the child refuse? We eventually settled on a toasted ham & cheese in the Marks & Spencer cafe that tided us over (and even left K high at 3p.m.).
Christmas Day dawned early, but not uncivilised early (about 6:30am). The second youngest was trying to rouse everybody at 2:30a.m. but we persuaded him to get into our bed and he conked out again.
Santa normally leaves a Selection Box at the end of the kids beds to show he's been there, this year K asked him to leave some art supplies instead (she's actually gone off a lot of chocolate, a lot of it ends up making her feel sick). Santa obliged with a fashion notepad and some art pencils, K was very impressed, good man Santa...
St Stephens Day was still very high & we upped K's insulin to combat same. But the 27th was beautiful numbers all day long.
K has been getting 0.5 to 1 unit of Novorapid at tea-time. On Stephens Day we went to 1.5 units to little effect, however on the 27th, as she had lovely numbers we went back to 1 unit to avoid night time lows (i know the novorapid should be worn off, but it seems to combine with the levemir to leave a low at midnight). Anyway it was a big mistake to drop back.
At midnight K was 15.4 (277). At 1.30am she was at the same level (M did both these checks).
At 3:15am she was at 17.6 with Keytones of 1.0 (i hate the word keytones, it sounds like some dodgy sixties vocal group). I didnt think i'd wake back up if i went to sleep so i started reading and checked again at 4:50 - she was now at 16.1 but had keytones of 1.6. We hardly ever see keytones, and as they were rising i gave K a half unit of novorapid to try get the numbers down.
By 6:20am she was at 16.8, but keytones rose to 2.2, at this stage I woke her for a big drink of water to try flush out the keytones.
By 7:30am K had come back to 14.9 but keytones still at 2.3. By 8a.m. she was back up to 16.7mmol with keytones down to 2.1.
We rang the hospital - they wanted K monitored every hour & said they'd ring back at 12.30. They didnt seem to have any issue with the 4a.m. half unit of novorapid (unlike last time when the doc gave out to me for taking the same action). Anyway, K was still high but the keytones pretty much disappeared, prob as soon as she was taking on fluid in the morning.
The outcome - we're leaving the Novorapid at 1.5 units and the Levimir at 2 units, and monitoring tonight, just in case it was a bad injection or some such issue.
K is still high this evening, but as its the 28th we had another little celebration - my baby is 10 years old today, definitely a tweenie now; so a little excitement and a little slice of cake & rice krispie bun to celebrate.........lets see how the night goes.
The other outcome of last night, i found i can function on 3.5 hours sleep (prob one of the lowest totals for a nights sleep so far) and was surprised that i was without my usual cranky dad routine, although i did feel fairly zonked until i caught 40 winks at lunch time......
Hope you've all had a really nice Christmas break.
D hasn't behaved itself, but we didnt expect it to, what with the lack of routine and the richer food. We coped as best we could and we were willing to try relax a bit on the control side - not enough though for K, who threw at least one tantrum when she wasnt allowed to have hot chocolate. In reality I think the tantrum was caused by exhaustion rather than any real feeling of denial; as humans i think our emotions are much more affected by diet and tiredness than we (free will believing) people would like to admit.
Anyway, a quick break down of the last few days;
Christmas Eve - a lovely day, just dad & daughter doing a bit of last minute desperation shopping for mammy, i.e. the only present that dad really has to buy. I joined all the other desperate dads wandering around town with gormless looks on their faces and open wallets ("please take as much money out as you want, just give me something (anything) that she'll like and makes me look like i put thought and care into it!!!"). Anyway its great to have an ally in this annual search and K & I had a really lovely few hours together.
But dad let himself down on the D front. I got K to check her glucose on the train into town, it was high at 16.1 (290) at 11:59a.m. We had planned for lunch at 12:30, but had trouble finding a restaurant that K liked. By 12:46a.m. K had crashed to 2.6mmol (46-47). Three gluco tabs later and we're still searching - have you ever seen a parent beg their child to eat McDonalds and the child refuse? We eventually settled on a toasted ham & cheese in the Marks & Spencer cafe that tided us over (and even left K high at 3p.m.).
Christmas Day dawned early, but not uncivilised early (about 6:30am). The second youngest was trying to rouse everybody at 2:30a.m. but we persuaded him to get into our bed and he conked out again.
Santa normally leaves a Selection Box at the end of the kids beds to show he's been there, this year K asked him to leave some art supplies instead (she's actually gone off a lot of chocolate, a lot of it ends up making her feel sick). Santa obliged with a fashion notepad and some art pencils, K was very impressed, good man Santa...
St Stephens Day was still very high & we upped K's insulin to combat same. But the 27th was beautiful numbers all day long.
K has been getting 0.5 to 1 unit of Novorapid at tea-time. On Stephens Day we went to 1.5 units to little effect, however on the 27th, as she had lovely numbers we went back to 1 unit to avoid night time lows (i know the novorapid should be worn off, but it seems to combine with the levemir to leave a low at midnight). Anyway it was a big mistake to drop back.
At midnight K was 15.4 (277). At 1.30am she was at the same level (M did both these checks).
At 3:15am she was at 17.6 with Keytones of 1.0 (i hate the word keytones, it sounds like some dodgy sixties vocal group). I didnt think i'd wake back up if i went to sleep so i started reading and checked again at 4:50 - she was now at 16.1 but had keytones of 1.6. We hardly ever see keytones, and as they were rising i gave K a half unit of novorapid to try get the numbers down.
By 6:20am she was at 16.8, but keytones rose to 2.2, at this stage I woke her for a big drink of water to try flush out the keytones.
By 7:30am K had come back to 14.9 but keytones still at 2.3. By 8a.m. she was back up to 16.7mmol with keytones down to 2.1.
We rang the hospital - they wanted K monitored every hour & said they'd ring back at 12.30. They didnt seem to have any issue with the 4a.m. half unit of novorapid (unlike last time when the doc gave out to me for taking the same action). Anyway, K was still high but the keytones pretty much disappeared, prob as soon as she was taking on fluid in the morning.
The outcome - we're leaving the Novorapid at 1.5 units and the Levimir at 2 units, and monitoring tonight, just in case it was a bad injection or some such issue.
K is still high this evening, but as its the 28th we had another little celebration - my baby is 10 years old today, definitely a tweenie now; so a little excitement and a little slice of cake & rice krispie bun to celebrate.........lets see how the night goes.
The other outcome of last night, i found i can function on 3.5 hours sleep (prob one of the lowest totals for a nights sleep so far) and was surprised that i was without my usual cranky dad routine, although i did feel fairly zonked until i caught 40 winks at lunch time......
Hope you've all had a really nice Christmas break.
I totally had to read bits of this out loud to my mother because I just adore the phrasing...chalk it up to stupid Americans who can't speak eloquently to save their lives!! ;)
ReplyDeleteSometimes you just have to do a little trial and error, unfortunately, to figure things out. And those pesky ketones are certainly the most mind boggling, I must say. Bean rarely has them, and they seem to go just as quickly as the arrive, but I still can't stand them!
Hope tonight brings more sleep and better numbers!!
ugh, sounds like a bit of a rollercoaster (to say the least). i hope things have levelled out by now. and happy birthday to the 10 year old! :)
ReplyDeletediabetes seems to be ever prent in all of our lives. Wishing you good numbers in 2012! happy birthday to your 10 year old too!
ReplyDelete