i just need to write all this down, i've barely spoken a word to anyone today because my heads all over the place
my parents went to dublin on friday for my dads birthday, this is the first time they have went away together in 15 years. i was looking after my younger brother (11) and sister (15.)
my sister is a type 1 diabetic and she hadn't been feeling well for a few days, she's been diagnosed with an underactive thyroid a few weeks ago though, so we thought it may have been the new tablets making her sick. anyways, she wasn't too bad on friday, and her blood sugar levels were normal, then on saturday she said she still felt sick and didn't want anything to eat. we altered her insulin dose in the morning and her blood sugar was fine. she slept most of the morning. i realised how sick she must have been feeling about 1pm, she was supposed to go out with her friends, but cancelled. i tested her blood sugar then and it was up to 25.2 (average blood sugar level should be between 5-8 ) i made her eat a bowl of soup and take some fast acting insulin, half an hour after the soup she brought it back up, and by this time i noticed she was drinking a lot of water and getting sleepy. tested her blood - it was at 28.2. i phoned the hospital for some advice and a doctor told me to keep her hydrated and keep an eye on her blood sugar by this point she was throwing up the water she was drinking
basically this went on for an hour with me trying to get her to keep drinking and measuring her blood sugar levels every 20 mins. they came down to 26.9 but she the had a temperature and was getting really confused and saying random things (signs of high blood sugar.) then i phoned the hospital again as she seemed to be getting worse, i asked the doctor i spoke to last time if i could speak to someone else as he was still telling me to keep her hydrated he put on the registrar who asked me to bring her in straight away. we got her to the car and she threw up all over the drive way, then she started blacking out i phoned an ambulance and they were there within 10 minutes. her eyes were rolling to the back of her head and i had to keep moving her and talking to her so she wouldn't pass out, she didn't know where she was, the day, the time.
the ambulance had to take her to the nearest a&e to stabilise her. my OH had to watch my little brother, the both of them were absolutely shocked, they had never seen anything like this before anyways, got to a&e and she was put on a drip, infusion of insulin, and oxygen.
i phoned my mum eventually and her and dad managed to get a flight home and were with us by 12am. she was transferred to a paediatric unit last night when she was more stable.
i'm sorry if i've bored anyone whos reading this, i just had to get it out. oh and i are going to the hospital at 2pm to let my mum go home for a bit. i just feel awful, it's so typical this would happen the one time they go away, my mum also said last night - 'great nurse you're going to make' i know she was just upset, but i don't think there's anything else i could have done yesterday. it just happened so fast. i can deal with things like this when it's a patient i need to look after, my sister is a different story i was absolutely terrified.
thanks for listening girls