Update on pump progress, Bekah's dental procedure and Megan

It looks like we should hear back in about a week about our appeal to our insurance company for a pump. I can understand why they denied it in the first place. 6 months minimum of MDI is a good standard to have. I told them about the school situation and had the CDEs from our Endo's office write a letter. I have been in contact with a great rep at the Animas company who has been wonderfully supportive and is fighting for us. I know we'll have that pink pump, it's just a matter of when. I am really hoping to get through the learning curve of pumping prior to sending Bekah to school.

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When I took the kids in for their 6 month dental check up in June, the dentist noticed some cavities on Bekah's teeth. Her teeth had been perfect in December. Meri pointed out that being in such severe DKA at her dx in March, she would have been breathing sugar so that could have attributed to the decline in her oral health. Whatever the reason the cavities were there and she was so timid (I think due to the trauma in March from the hospital etc at dx) that the dentist thought it would be best to do the work in her mouth with her under sedation.

Today was the day we went in for the procedure. I was very nervous after almost losing her in March . I had talked with our CDE and had a well child check done to make sure to minimize any risk that we could be taking by putting her under a general anesthesia. We did a BG check at 3 AM again at 6 AM and then at 9:30ish right before the anesthesiologist gave her a shot. Her BG was 167 at 3, 176 at 6 and then 205 before the procedure and 215 after. I was actually happy with those numbers. They could have been better but given the stress she was under, I'll take it! The anesthesiologist talked with me for a minute, listened to Bekahs lungs and the gave her a shot to relax her. I carried her back to the chair, kissed her on the head and went back out to the waiting room. I had brought a book with me. I haven't had the time to read for pleasure in quite sometime so I thought I would take advantage of this time to escape to another world with my favorite author, Karen Kingsbury. I chose "Halfway to Forever". The book opens with a woman standing in a cemetery at her daughter's grave. Could I have chosen a worse book for the moment?!! I fought back tears as I read and tried to distract myself from the circumstances surrounding me and tried to focus on the characters. (it wasn't working very well and I made a mental note to skim the first chapter of a book before I decide to dive in at what could be not the most optimal time for said book)

The procedure took about an hour and then they let me come back as Bekah was waking up. I had never seen anyone come out of anesthesia before and they told me it was normal but it still freaked me out a bit to see my daughter shivering and coughing with a weird snoring sound coming from her. It looked like a seizure to me. For a mom who knows that her daughter could have a seizure as a complication of her medical condition, this was particularly scary to watch. I took a deep breath and sat and held her hand and rubbed her leg until she woke up. The anesthesiologist warned me that she would probably wake up very grumpy. My sweet girl woke up with a smile on her face.

After about a half of an hour, they let me take her home. I carried her to the car and put her in her seat, buckled her up and arrived home in less than 10 minutes. She was happy to be home but did cry a little at the numb feeling she had around her mouth. That really bothered her. (who doesn't get bothered by that icky numb face) She slept a lot today. One of the side effects of general anesthesia is nausea and vomiting. I don't know about the rest of you but vomiting with D is one of my greatest fears. I proactively called our pediatrician and got a prescription for an anti-nausea medication (Zofran). I didn't have to use it but it did put my mind at ease to have it on hand just in case.

Poor Bekah was a climbing structure for David all day. He knew she wasn't feeling well so he wanted to snuggle her. At 17 months old he doesn't know his own strength nor does he understand that laying on someones face is not snuggling on their part. She was so patient with him as he squeezed and smothered her with his toddler love. She is such a great big sister!

Bekah didn't eat much today but, I did get her to drink some juice boxes and some yogurt smoothies. Her BG stayed in the 170-200 range most of the day. I bolused after meals because I didn't have a clue how much she would eat and I didn't want to try to force down extra juice to make up for the uneaten carbs. Tomorrow we will go back to pre meal bolusing.

Bekah ended up needing 8 crowns plus sealants. I'm still feeling guilty for letting this happen although, I did get the hygienist to let me in on the fact that both of her kids had 8 crowns as well. I didn't feel like the worlds worst mom after that. I keep tooth brushes everywhere now. I have 2 for each kid by the candy jar that we use for low blood sugar. I found a cute tooth brush timer app for my smart phone that we use every night too. Hopefully all we will need in the future is cleaning and checkups at the dentist's office.

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Megan did her collection for the GI doc and I got a call back that all was negative. I guess that is a good thing. I want a correct dx if there is something going on in her body that we need to know about. I did ask our pediatrician what I should expect at the GI doc when she called with the results of the stool tests. She told me that the GI doc would maybe redo the blood work once more and then maybe do a liver biopsy. Not sure really what to expect so I am trying to keep myself from googling or thinking about what could be and trust God that He knows what's going on and will grant wisdom to this GI doc.

On a positive note Megan and Bekah get to go to camp together on Sunday. I will fill in the details in another post because this one is long enough.