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.