Keeping Life "Interesting"

Pink eye or scratched eye?

Warning: This post contains Too Much Information (TMI).

Bertrand woke up late from his nap and had lunch. During lunch I noticed that one of his eyes was pink! He'd also scratched his nose, so I was inclined to believe the eye had also been scratched. However, being Friday, if it was pink eye, I'd have an easier time getting a prescription called in today than tomorrow. I changed his very messy diaper, making a mental note to cut-out Bertrand's miralax, and called his pediatrician's office.

As I was hanging up the phone with the nurse, I heard Bertrand retching. I turned around to find him covered in vomit! Poor baby! As I was cleaning him up to get him in the bath, he went through several more cycles of diarrhea and another of vomit. I managed to get him cleaned-up along with his room's carpet, bean bag, and myself. At this point he'd lost a lot of fluid and didn't want to take anything--food or drink. He'd vomitted everything since 10am--it was almost 4pm.

Matthew and Sabrina are out-of-town, and Bertrand's nana is with with his great-grandma in the ER. We like to limit family members in the ER to one at a time. Bertrand is at risk for ketoacidosis and hypoglycemia because of the ketogenic diet and dehydration thanks to the fluid loss. As we've seen, he can go downhill fast. And, once he is in the hospital, Bertrand likes to find reasons to stay there. It was vital to get fluids in him.

So, I called in the "big guns": our neighbor, Nurse Cathy. She is an angel. She left work early to watch Bertrand, and confirm his pink eye. I was able to pick up his prescription & sick baby supplies (pedialyte, pediasure, boogie wipes, etc.) in record time. Once the sweet ambrosia that is Pediasure--well, a KetoCal/Pediasure/water solution--touched Bertrand's lips, he FINALLY drank. And, it stayed down. His color started to come back. An hour later he was ready to drink more, and he was able to take his medications.

I can't help but feel like I dodged a bullet. I even went so far as to continue with Bertrand's zonegran wean (stepping him down to the last 25mg) and there still haven't been additional seizures. He is making at MOST trace ketones. This isn't how I wanted to wean the diet again--under threat of hospitalization--but now I am not sure I want to raise the ratio if he is doing fine. We'll hold steady the next few days and see what happens.