Encore

Last night treated us to a repeat performance of the previous, with a twist. As feared, Joseph was again teetering between high ketones, nausea, ketoacidosis, insulin, fever, hypoglycemia and more nausea. For a primer on how it dangerous it can be, see On Razor's Edge.

I was still up at 3:00 a.m., after having tried for the previous half-hour to encourage Joseph to get some food in his stomach so that I could give him some insulin without crashing his blood sugar. All of a sudden, Allyse woke up crying with an upset stomach. We were able to calm Allyse quickly, so I started reading to pass the time while I waited for the next time that I was going to test Joseph to see if he was showing any improvement. Because he had several consistently high ketone tests in a row, I had already determined that I was going to take him to UMC if he tested high again.

In the meantime, it soon became apparent that Allyse would not be able to sleep unless and until she vomited; it was no longer a question of if, but when. It also was fairly obvious that she had food poisoning from eating a hamburger that had not been completely cooked. Allyse had eaten dinner with her Sunday School class at their teacher's home. While I was reading, I came across a story where Kroger (parent corp for Smith's) had expanded a recall of ground beef tainted with E Coli to include Las Vegas Smith's stores for beef dated "sell by" through nearly the end of this month. Smith's is one of only two grocery stores in our neighborhood.

Now that I was completely freaked out, I was convinced that Allyse had to get rid of what was making her sick. I unsuccessfully tried to convince Allyse that sticking her finger down her throat would cause her to gag and get rid of the offending food. That was Plan A; Plan B was to trick her. She had earlier asked for water, and I told her that water wasn't a good idea because it would likely make her stomach more upset. I told her that when I still had hope that Allyse would be able to get back to sleep. However, now that I knew Allyse was truly sick, I asked her if she was thirsty, and when she said she was, I encouraged her to drink some water.

Within minutes, Allyse had lost it, and almost immediately, she said she was feeling much better. She quickly got to sleep and slept quite soundly the rest of the night. I, on the other hand, had to wait a while longer to test Joseph. I was already planning how I would just get ready for work, take Joseph to UMC, get him admitted in the PICU, and later in the morning walk over to the NICU to meet with one of the neonatalogists prior to taking him to court for a hearing that morning. However, when I tested Joseph at 3:30 a.m., I was pleasantly surprised to learn that Joseph's ketones had almost completely returned to normal.

As a result, I was able to get to sleep by 3:45 a.m., only to be awoken by Benjamin at 6:30 a.m. I won't bore with all of the day's details, but I highly recommend to avoid attending court hearings and meetings of the Board of County Commissioners on just two hours and forty-five minutes of sleep.