Listening to the Universe...

This was taken after they removed the IV's...Eli was trying to straighten out the wires so he could sleep without getting tangled up and ended up making a bigger mess! It was so funny I had to get a picture.

Eli ended up in the hospital from January 17th through the 21st. His blood sugar was so high that they wanted to bring it down slowly, so that his body wouldn't be shocked again. They stopped the IV insulin on the 19th and began trying to figure out just how much insulin he was going to need to inject daily. We also received a bunch of Diabetic training to help us understand what is going on with Eli's body and to learn how to control the diabetes.

They thought that it would take a few days to figure out the insulin dosage Eli would need, but they had it figured out the first day off the IV's. We had hoped that would mean he could come home Thursday, but you can't be released right from the ICU. They needed to transfer him to another room on another floor first and watch him for another day.

After getting his blood sugar down to a normal level, it stayed there pretty consistently and Eli wasn't needing to inject much insulin. They gave him a target range for his blood sugar and after he tested he was to inject the amount of insulin needed to get him to the target level. Then at meal time he needed to count the carbs in the meal he was going to eat, check his sugar levels, and inject the needed amount of insulin to compensate for the carbs turning to sugar once they were digested. The thing was...he was pretty consistently right where he needed to be.

Just before Eli was released a Diabetes Nurse came by to make sure we had all the supplies we needed and to answer any questions we might have. When Eli explained where his levels were and how things were going, she mentioned he should keep track and follow-up with his doctor. She suggested that the doctor may decide not to treat him with insulin if it looked like his body was actually still manufacturing it.

You see...I think that Eli's blood sugar had started going up back in December when we were so busy with the remodel. Eli is one of those guys that when he is working on a project, he just wants to get it done. He will get up and start working without even eating breakfast and then keep working until the project is done. The problem was that we were all so involved that by the time we were ready to quit we were SO hungry and worn out, that instead of taking the time to prepare something here at home, we would go out to eat.

Then in January, when we thought Eli had a cold or the flu, that was his body telling him to slow down...but did he listen? Nope, he had things to get done, so he just kept pushing.

There were even other hints that we totally missed! Eli's eyeglasses were not quite doing the trick anymore and things were looking blurry even with them on, so about a week before he was admitted to the hospital Eli got new glasses...duh, poor vision is a side effect of uncontrolled Diabetes. Now that his blood sugar is under control the new prescription in his lenses is all wrong. Luckily the eyeglasses place is going to let him wait a month until things get to normal and then they will redo his glasses free.

Eli had also been needing to go to the bathroom a LOT more then usual. We just figured that it was due to the fact that he had been drinking more lately because while he was "sick" he just didn't feel like eating...frequent urination is another sign of uncontrolled Diabetes.

Yep, our bodies are a marvelous creation! The way all the parts communicate with each other and work together in unison is just amazing to me. The biggest lesson we have learned form all this is to slow down, take care of ourselves & listen.

Life...

Sometimes you can just be going along, living your life, doing the things you always do, and life sends you a curve ball telling you to slow down! Lately, we have had so much going on and have been trying to do so much, that we really haven't been taking the time to be taking care of ourselves. Well, yesterday it all caught up with Eli.

Eli was diagnosed with diabetes about six months ago. At the time the doctor told him he wouldn't need insulin, but would need to take medicine, watch his diet, and get lots of exercise. He was doing really well too and was beginning to lose weight and feel healthy...that is until we got off track during Christmas break.

Our poor boys hate when there is a break in school, because it usually means time to start a new project at the house to Eli & I. We like to take advantage of having the extra hands for a full days work...we do try to find time for fun too, but it's usually the hard work that is the lasting memory.

When we first bought "this old house" the floor plan was just wacky! When you came in the front door you were standing in my kitchen & the refrigerator was behind the open door. There were lots of things we wanted to change. But knowing it was all going to take time, I had Eli build a wall about three or four feet in front of the door to create a small entry.

After we moved the kitchen, we turned the old kitchen into an office area. We were also still looking at how we could open up that area to make the living room bigger, so our furniture didn't seem so crowded. Having the baby grand piano, it gets pretty tight, especially when we add a Christmas tree to the mix! Eli was looking at how much space would be added if we opened the entryway into the office area from the living room when I suggested we just take out the wall we had built. So that was the planned project for Christmas break...No big deal!?

What was so easily said, was not easily done. Back when we laid our hardwood floor I'd had this great idea that we should have the planks in the entryway going the opposite direction of the living room. Plus, the floor was put in after the wall had been built! This meant we needed to pull up and relay part of the floor, so it would match the rest of the room...thank Heaven's we still have lots of flooring.

Our days during the remodel were kept pretty busy. We had to knock down the old walls, rewire electric connections that had been in the now gone walls, pull up and relay portions of the flooring, add a support beam to the ceiling, put sheet-rock over the cinder-block wall that was in the old office area & other areas that had been exposed by taking out walls & rewiring, mud & tape, paint, and add molding. Simple, right?! We had figured out a schedule that would have it all completed a couple of days before the break was over, so that we could also do something fun as a family...yeah right!

Anyone that has ever started a home remodel project knows that there are always little things that turn into big things adding time to the project timeline. As the break was coming to an end we could see that we were not going to finish as scheduled. Since we wanted the boys to be able to celebrate New Year's and not spend their entire break working, we decided not to press it because we could finish up over the next few weekends.

Shortly after New Year's Eve Eli started feeling sick. It started out like a cold, but then seemed to turn to the flu. His whole body ached and he was just tired all the time. He spent a few days in bed and was taking some over-the-counter medicines...which is very rare for Eli. He never really started feeling better, but was just pushing himself to get up and finish the project. I would tell him he needed to go see his doctor and he kept telling me he had an appointment scheduled for later in the month.

We were getting SO close to being done, that Eli just kept pushing himself. Monday was Martin Luther King Day & the boys had school off, so the plan was to try and take advantage of the long weekend and finish the project. Friday evening Eli ran out of steam pretty quickly, so mostly he just told the boys how to do stuff. On Saturday, he was able to come down to the couch, but just didn't have any energy and by Sunday he could barely make it down the stairs from our bedroom. He had stayed home from church, but tried to come down for something to eat when the boys I got home. He was so weak that it seemed like he could barely hold his head up, and he was very unsteady on his feet. I tried several times to get him to go to the ER with me, but he kept refusing because he already had a doctors appointment coming soon.

Monday morning I told Eli that I wasn't going to wait for this "doctor's appointment" to come any longer and called his doctor's office. Turns out his doctor was on maternity leave and his appointment was scheduled in three more weeks when she returned! I asked the girl on the phone if there was another doctor or Physician's Assistant that he could see today and we made an appointment for an hour later.

When it was Eli's turn, the nurse brought him back and proceeded to take his vitals. After trying to get his blood pressure and pulse a few times without any luck she asked if she could try the other arm, when that didn't work she went and got the PA. He came in and tried the first arm a few times with no luck and switched arms just like the nurse had done...still no luck. He then sent the nurse to get the EKG machine. When they hooked Eli up they found that his resting heart rate was 156! The PA said he could give Eli medicine to bring the heart rate down and send him home, but because they hadn't been able to find a pulse either he was sending him to the ER (which was across the parking lot) instead. He gave us a printout from the EKG and sent us on our way. When we got to the ER and showed them the test results they hurried us back to a bed and started taking blood and running more tests. While sitting there waiting for the next set of test results, Eli turned to me and said, "Good call."

A short time late, the test results came in and we realized how it was actually a "close call." Eli's blood sugar was off the charts! 1387! That is about 10 times above the normal level! They don't know if the high blood pressure aggravated the sugar or the other way around, but explained that when his heart was beating so fast his blood couldn't circulate like it should so his sugar kicked in to compensate. Then the elevated sugar made the heart rate increase, which then made the sugar increase...and on and on. I really think that if I hadn't made him go to the doctor's he would be in a diabetic coma today.

They have moved him to the Intensive Care Unit and have hooked him up to all kinds of IV's. Until they get his blood sugar down they want to control everything that goes into his body. Hopefully they will be able to get it into control in the next few days and he will be released.