I woke up at 4am this morning with excruciating abdominal pain… gas maybe? i end up vomiting (among other things) and the pain gets worse instead of better… around 8 am my parents wake up and i tell them they are taking me to the ER and gw hospital where they work and my dad is director of trauma. Everyone is great got some IV antinausea and dilated (amazing pain killer) then i go to CT scan… Inflamed appendix! and i got an appendectomy an hour later. i kept my BS under 200 the whole time, nurses just let em take my humalog as long as i told them dosages (not like they could really argue with me)
the surgeon told me the nurses would care for my insulin over night while i’m here, and i trusted that… however when i was brought my “chicken” broth and jello… No insulin… nurse comes in and told me i was put on a sliding scale, and as long as my BS is under 150 i would not get any… UHM NO! i just explained i would deal with it using my humalog pen that i had with me and i just needed them to give me my nightly dose of lantus since i hadn’t brought that with me…
Just got my lantus, which they even let me inject myself, and my sugar is 120, 5 hours after surgery… YAY ME!!! just a bit sore and lots of morphine!
i just don’t think the nurses and staff would have been so accommodating if it were not for who my parents are in this hospital
Glad to hear you’re on the mend from your operation. Whenever I’ve been hospitalized I let them know that I will monitor and maintain my bgs with my pump…never had an objection. If we own our disease and let them know we do we shouldn’t have any problems.
Thanks for your support guys!!! i’m still here b/c my heart rate is a bit elevated but my BS is still good…and the food they give me is beyond low carb! lol veggie broth and jello
I got mine out just after midnight Christmas morning this year. Because it was Christmas, the recovery rooms weren’t open. I just recovered in a normal room for a few hours before going home. Luckily I got it done in 2008 though, because my insurance changed and it would have cost me a bunch more in 2009.
Wow, sounds like you just breezed through this. I just don’t get the fact that everyone in the hospital is terrified of us going too low - sheesh - what better place to go low than in a hospital - you are most likely in bed so can’t fall down and hurt yourself, and medical intervention is right around the corner.
I was in a day surgery center with a post-op bg of 390 and they wouldn’t let me take any insulin - “no outside drugs allowed”. The only one who could authorize it was the anesthesiologist, and he was in another operation.
So, a couple of years later, when I broke my ankle and knew I’d be needing surgery, as I sat on the sidewalk waiting for the ambulance, I took my insulin out of my purse and tucked it into the sock of my nonbroken ankle, so I could correct on my own. Only thing was, that when the time came, I had the insulin but no syringe–my purse had been put in the hospital safe. Argh.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Glad you’re doing well! Hope you’re out of the hospital soon. They’re dangerous places for us:) Too often, they don’t allow PWD to control their own meds. Ridiculous, but it’s all about them controlling us, not us controlling our condition. Very frustrating & infuriating. Hard to put up the appropriate fuss when you’re not feeling well.
I’ve come to believe that hospitals are really just prisons for sick people. When I was in the hospital, my husband snuck in food. Got busted & a lecture, not that I listened to a word of it. Yea, their French toast & mashed potatoes were better for me.
yeah i would have thrown a fit! but they’re afraid that if you crash and they don’t notice right away then it all turns out bad. and you dont’ always feel the low on pain meds which is dangerous
but i think i was treated so well bc of who my parents and if i was any other patient they wouldn’t have been so nice
I had an appendectomy as well. Keeping your blood sugar numbers at a good level will help with a speedy recovery! I was fighting high numbers and infection… I had to fight to be able to manage my own insulin as well. The nurses thought that it would not be safe (I’m not sure what they thought that I did when there was no nurse around!). Glad that you can manage your own insulin and that they will give you Lantus.
Take care of yourself and keep us posted on how you are doing!
Whoa! I’m glad you got the help you needed right away. When I was a baby my mother’s appendix burst and she had to have her “innards washed”… as she put it. Get better soon!
Thanks everyone! I’m home now, just stuck around the house for a few days i’m bored! lol but i appreciate all the well-wishing!
Sylvia: My mom’s appendix burst too! when she was 19… my grandmother told me it was so bad they actually read her her last rights before the surgery. but she also had a hypothyroid condition which effected the outcome and made things worse … but obviously she’s alive and well or i wouldn’t be here!!
