When I was diagnosed 22 years ago (I was 10 years old), I wasn't hospitalized. My mother was a nurse and suspected T1 - she checked my sugar one day and it was high. My mom advocated for me to be treated at home. My endo was (and still is) great and went along with it. My mom would check my sugars around the clock and even call the endo at his home at 3am, if needed, to get direction.
When my sister was diagnosed (she was 12) 6 years later, she wasn't hospitalized either. The same endo did the same thing for her as he did for me. But I realized then we were an exceptional case and usually children had some contact with the hospital when diagnosed. I also realized how 'untraumatic' diagnosis became as a result of just being at home. I had no fear, I got to sleep in my own bed, and be with my family as usual.
I'm just wondering if other parents have experienced the same? I worry about my son possibly developing T1 in the future and what the options would be at that time. I hope that at-home treatment may become more the norm? Or is it still hospitalization?
when our then 4 yr old son was diagnosed last year he was not admitted into the hospital. he was diagnosed at our hospital here and the next day we drove all day to winnipeg and went to the children's hospital where we thought he would be admitted, but the endo just confirmed diagnosis and gave some insulin and a binder of information. we spent the next few days going to the diabetes education resource, but were never admitted. (we weren't at home cause the pediatric diabetes for the whole province is in winnipeg, but we weren't admitted).
my husband was diagnosed 23 years ago and was in the hospital for 5 days at diagnosis.
When I was diagnosed in 1981, I had one of those old-fashioned pediatricians who visited me at my home a few times each day for the first few days, so I was never admitted to the hospital. That would never happen today! If my son was ever diagnosed, I would admit him if it was caught late and he was in DKA or something. But, if it was caught early, I would hope they'd let me take him home w/ instructions for insulin doses because ... um ... I know what I'm doing! But, here's to hoping I never have to worry about that!
My daughter was hospitalized but she was DKA and out. She needed way more than I could do for her here. Some of her levels like potassium and such were barely life sustaining so there wasnt a question they life flighted her about 45 min away from where we live to a hospital who could get her back on her feet.
My son was admitted and hospitalized for 3 days. It seemed that a huge part of the hospitalization was education of myself and my husband. They wanted to make sure we knew what the hell we were doing when we took our son home. I thought that was great. For those of you T1's with kids, you may not need that, but I'm guessing that determining what insulin levels are needed to get it under control is equally as important as the education. But the education sticks in my mind.
My brother was diagnosed 16 years ago at age 9 and he had severe DKA so he was hospitalized. To make matters WAY worse, the stupid doc at the ER gave him way too much insulin when he first came in, instead of bringing his 600-something blood sugar down gradually. He went into a coma for a day and a half. Yeah, so he stayed in the hospital for a week and a half or so. Oh, but not that stupid hospital. My mom INSISTED that he be transferred to one with a more competent staff.
When I was diagnosed 3 years ago (at age 26) I also had severe DKA. My veins kept collapsing when they were trying to take blood in order to diagnose me, that's how dehydrated I was. Like Jessica's daughter, my pottassium level was dangerously low. I spent 3 days in the ICU just getting fluids and electrolyte's to get back to a healthy state. I then spent another 1 day on the reg med floor before going home.
my catholic school never had a diabetic kid so when i was ready to go back the wouldn't let me because they refused to be education so i was out for another 5 weeks so i was out for almost 2 months
Brandan was DKA so he was in the ICU for a couple of days, then he stayed 3 more days while I attended the classes to learn to take care of him. He was in a great children's hospital so the experience was nice, you know, as nice as it could be. The entire staff there treat the children like children. We even got to go to a play room on our floor. :)
When Cassie was dx'd we were in the hospital for 3 days mostly for the education part of it. Thankfully we caught it early enough to were she wasn't DKA.
My brother was diagnosed 16 years ago at age 9 and he had severe DKA so he was hospitalized. To make matters WAY worse, the stupid doc at the ER gave him way too much insulin when he first came in, instead of bringing his 600-something blood sugar down gradually. He went into a coma for a day and a half. Yeah, so he stayed in the hospital for a week and a half or so. Oh, but not that stupid hospital. My mom INSISTED that he be transferred to one with a more competent staff.
When I was diagnosed 3 years ago (at age 26) I also had severe DKA. My veins kept collapsing when they were trying to take blood in order to diagnose me, that's how dehydrated I was. Like Jessica's daughter, my pottassium level was dangerously low. I spent 3 days in the ICU just getting fluids and electrolyte's to get back to a healthy state. I then spent another 1 day on the reg med floor before going home.
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Yeah Riley was in the picu for 4 days and 3 of them were on fluids they had a hard time getting her potassium back up. They told me she was one of there longest on them. They expected her to do a 180 with in 24 hours it took her 48 to start being her again. The 3rd day she was much better telling us to shut up when we picked on her. She didnt get to eat solid foods until the 3rd day either.
I had bad DKA, so I was in the hospital for 2 days. My parents stayed with me the whole time, and I believe it was helpful to them and me, as we were all surrounded by smart CDEs and nutritionists, and endocrinologists, all trying to teach us and make sure we understood everything about type 1 24 hours a day. People were there to help us all the time.
If I have children and they have diabetes (cure before then?) I will certainly make sure they stay in the hospital. I think the first few days after diagnosis are when a person is in the most danger, and if something should go wrong, one is already in the hospital
i was diagnoses at 5, DKA, and stayed in the hospital 8 days. i don't think my parents or doctors would have felt comfortable keeping me at home (probably a good thing). even though i'm experienced with diabetes and feel i know how to properly care for it, i would more than likely want my kid to be in the hospital intially.
My son was in the hospital for 2.5 days. Mostly it was for education and getting his insulin needs figured out. It seems even today that people have very different experiences, our regular clinic dx'd him and sent us right away to the Children's Hospital ER where they have a great pediatric endo program. They had called ahead so we only spent about an hour in the ER, then right up to a regular room. I would have been a mess if we had just been sent home with insulin and needles, etc. and told to come back the next morning. I do wonder though if I would want the same thing if my daughter is ever diagnosed. I would probably ask if we could just see the endo at our clinic and then work with them thru regular phone contact to manage things at home. THough my son has no bad memories or feelings about being in the hospital, so that's good.
Emmie was not hospitalized but I wish she was. We caught hers somewhat early because I mentioned her symptoms to our pediatrician when I was in for the twins check up and he sent me home with a urine cup to get a sample. When we took her in to the endo clinic her level was 510 and keytones were detected and large. They did a blood sample and her potasium was low but ok. We spent 5 hours there got a lot of info and a lot of medicine and were sent home. It was all very overwhelming and frightening. Also because we were never hospitalized people acted like her diagnosis was no big deal and she was fine when really she was sick, feeling awful and we were just trying to absorb it all. Being hospitalized would have allowed us to focus on just her and get a better grasp on everything. Instead we went home to our other 3 children and had to handle it all at once.
When we went in for her check up 5 days later the dr said he should have hospitalized her after really reviewing her labs but maybe it was better she was home and did not have the stress of being in the hospital he also did not want her in the hospital for halloween and her birthday. I saw it the other way and explained it to him. He now says he has changed his policy and when kids are border line he leaves it up to the parents. I think if I was a type 1 or a nurse then I would have been more comfortable going home.
Well I remember when my bro David was diagonsed(15 + yrs ago) my parents took him to the ER & they admitted him overnight, then rushed him to a hospital about 45 mins away & they kept in ICU for a few days then moved him to the ped's floor(he was 10 when he was diagnosed)& he stayed there for about 3 weeks(!!!!). My parents stayed with him and got the training that was given at that time. Everyone was still a little scared when he came home b/c my parents didn't have any other support.
When I was diagonsed about 13 yrs ago(I was 19) the dr. told me my bg level, told me to stay away from sugar then sent me home & I ended up in the hospital the next day for 3 1/2 days.
Over the yrs I haven't had much support so I've been doing things the best that I can on my own.