It finally happened to me. I wound up in the hospital this week after showing up at the ER with abdominal pain and vomiting. It turns out I had a kidney stone. I ended up having a stent put in and spending two nights in the hospital.
I have been hospitalized about five or six times in my life since being diagnosed with Type 1. I have had it 32 years so it’s not something that’s new to me. Anyway, every time I have been hospitalized, I have always maintained control of my own diabetes care. Not this time though.
As soon as I was admitted I told them that I had plenty of my own supplies with me and that I would manage my own blood sugar. No, they would do that for me. I was not to take any of my own medications or do any BS checks myself.
At first, it didn’t matter so much I wasn’t able to eat anything due to being doubled over with pain and throwing up.
After I had the stent put in and was feeling better and wanted to eat, that’s when the battle began. There seemed to be no diabetic dietician monitoring my food. Random food was brought to me the first night after the surgery. Mashed potatoes? Custard? I also got chicken soup which was ok. When I asked for insulin so I could eat it, I had to wait nearly an hour for it to come and when it came it was only two units of short acting. I told them two units wasn’t going to do anything. Nope, all I got was the two units. I was starving so I ate. Two hours later my blood sugar was over three hundred. So I had to then call for a correcting dose and wait for that to come and haggle with them about how much I was going to get.
During the over night at about 2 am I checked it myself. 220. I took my own correcting shot because I wasn’t going to call for the nurse and play an hour long game in the middle of the night just to get four units of insulin. I woke up the next morning fasting at about 150. Not great, but I was satisfied considering what I had to do to get to that number.
Breakfast, the same thing. They bring me two units of short acting. I told them two units wasn’t going to do anything. That I needed at least 6. They come back with a compromise, how about 4 units. No, I want six. I asked to speak with the person who was making these decisions. She came in. She was about 25 years old. Of course her reasoning is that she didn’t want me to bottom out. I told her that I have been doing this 24/7 for 32 years (probably longer than she had been alive) and that I knew what I was doing. Then I told her that I had my own insulin and diabetes supplies in my bag right on the chair, that I had been doing it their way like they wanted, but that I would take my own insulin if I felt like it was in my best interest to do so. She agreed to the six units at that point.
I was discharged soon after eating anyway. As soon as I got to the main lobby of the hospital, I checked my blood sugar and did my own corrrcting shot. I was never more glad to leave a place. They fixed my kidney stone situation but they sure as hell had no clue what they were doing in the diabetes management department.
I will never again agree to let someone else manage my diabetes. If they don’t like it, they can refuse to admit me and I’ll go someplace else. Or just die on the sidewalk.