Life got busy

But I am back and will continue with Bean's story where I left off.  

That Friday Bean turned 2 weeks old.  His blood glucose continued to swing rather wildly so he was still far too unstable to take home.  Rarely, rarely neonatal diabetes is associated with neurological problems and heart defects, depending upon what specifically caused the diabetes in the first place.  At this point we didn't know so the neonatologist leaned on the side of caution and ordered the ultrasounds just in case.  

At two weeks of age I wrote:

Two Weeks Old

Hard to believe, it seems so much longer...

Glucose levels are all over the place ranging from the mid 200s to over 500. A normal baby's glucose ranges from 50-100. The doctors are trying get it around 100-200. Going to start the long acting insulin Lantus again, which seemed to work pretty well. One of the docs said he's going through insulin like water. On the bright side they now have a pre-diluted solution of insulin upstairs that the nurses can draw from rather than waiting for the pharmacy. So much faster! They've bumped up the sulfonylureas (glyburide) to the maximum dose today...so far nothing. Sigh.

He had a head ultrasound yesterday to rule out very rare Bad Things sometimes associated with NDM (I didn't ask and I didn't want to know). I asked about the radiologists report during rounds today. Dr. Z said reassuringly that it looked perfectly normal. Dr. C, with a gleam in his eye deadpanned, "Well, normal for your family anyways." Wasn't expecting that one, so I didn't have a good retort at the tip of my tongue. I just shook my head while everyone else had a good chuckle.

Bean graduated to a crib since he doesn't need a warmer. He still eats very well, downing 3 to 4+ ounces at a time or however much he nurses. For once having an overabundant supply of milk is a blessing. The refrigerator and freezer at the hospital are well supplied for Bean.

Later I delved into some research and read about the "Very Bad" things that could happen.  I was glad to learn about it after the normal results came back and not before.  Most of the time though neonatal diabetes presents alone or with minor things like macroglossia (big tongue) or an umbilical hernia.