stomach bug

Our house had a visit from a not so friendly stomach bug this weekend.  It started Thursday night with Drew throwing up all over me....multiple times.  A couple hours later, Jaden came running into our room saying he didn't feel too good and subsequently threw up on the floor by our bed.  I was dreading the fact that Bryce was inevitably going to get sick too.  We just had an appointment with our endo that said to call right away if he throws up because diabetes management gets tricky at that point.  I figured it was because the risk of going low due to not eating or keeping anything down.  Not the case really.  Well sure enough, 3:30am and Bryce was joining the other two throwing up.  I called the on-call doctor (I could tell I woke him up!) who basically said to check for ketones often and then call before breakfast.  We were up all night long, ended up just watching movies and tv shows with the boys. Not a fun night at all! In the morning, there was no way Bryce was going to be eating but he still needed to have his insulin...this is where it gets tricky.  Apparently the body produces excess sugars when it is stressed, like with an illness, so even though he was throwing up and not eating, his bs levels were high.  He only got half his usual dose in the morning.  I had to check his levels often to make sure he didn't go low and check his ketones also.  Normally ketones only form if blood sugars are high over a period of time but when sick, they can form with normal bs levels.  So when I tested him around lunch time, he had moderate to large ketones (ketones are the byproducts of the body burning fat for energy instead of sugars and they make a person very sick)  Apparently the only way to get rid of ketones is with insulin so Bryce needed another shot.  I was able to get him to drink some apple juice (though it took a couple hours!) and this kept him from going low.  We spent most of Friday sleeping on the couch and watching endless tv.  It is no fun having three sick boys to take care of....especially once I started feeling queasy too!!!  Everyone (except me) was feeling much better by the time John got home from work.   I am bummed that we missed the boys' school Valentine parties...especially after all the hard work we did making Valentines for everyone.  But I am so glad everyone was doing better for the actual Valentine's Day....well, that is except for John.