Monday, March 08, 2010

Croup

From the wheezing and coughing in my ear, and the "I really need a drink of water" every 10 minutes throughout the night, I kind of figured that the Little Man had the croup.

I took him to the doctor this morning and sure enough, I was right.

Because he was having such a hard time breathing they gave him a dose of dexamethasone. Wikipedia definition: Dexamethasone is a potent synthetic member of the glucocorticoid class of steroid hormones. It acts as an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant.

Anyone else see something familiar in that definition? You see that word glucocorticoid? The name glucocorticoid is made from 3 words (glucose + cortex + steroid). Yes GLUCOSE.

I don't need Wikipedia to tell me what the steroid is going to do to his blood sugar. Actually back in October Little Princess has the same dose and it was complete havoc on her blood sugar where it wasn't below 400 for 2 days. I fully expected them giving this to him when I took him in, but when the Pediatrician called his Endocrinologist and came back and said "The Endocrinologist wants to see him in the office on Thursday. He feels that this steroid alone could kick him right out of his honeymoon." it kind of surprised me a little. You see we caught his diagnosis so soon that we thought his honeymoon would be a really really long time. Right now the only insulin that he gets is at meal time or when he is high. Which isn't all that often. The doctor wants to see him in a few days because he feels he will have to start getting some sort of basal insulin.

Guess what this means? That he can start using a pump a little sooner than we thought. The approval has already been done for it, I just have to fill out some more paperwork. I never thought I would feel this way, but I can't wait to use the pump for him too!

So we will see after Thursday for sure, but maybe in a few weeks I might have 2 pumping kids. One with a pink one and the other with a green one. How exciting! I will keep you posted.

7 comments:

The Piquant Storyteller said...

I guess God works in mysterious ways! In the future if your kids get croup give them Ibuprofen and take them outside. The Ibuprofen is also anti inflammatory and the cool, moist air outside will help them breathe easier too. My oldest is the only one who gets croup. I wrap him up in a blanket and we sit on the front porch. This year he threatened croup a few times but I think because of the Ibuprofen it never turned into anything. I don't know that for sure but I'll take it! Good luck at your appointment.

Meri said...

I totally felt the same way!! With B I just wanted him on the pump. Sure, I LOOOVED the honeymoon, but when he started needing more insulin, I was anxious to start the pump.

Hope your little man is feeling better soon! B had the croup too...NO FUN!

Amy said...

Well...I'm loving your attitude of bring it on! You might as well have two pumping, right?
I do hope that sweet boy feels better soon!

Reyna said...

LOVE YOUR ATTITUDE miss positive pants! That will be nice to have the different colored pumps in the house...and to make life a little more flexible!

I hope your little one feels better soon!

phonelady said...

yep steroids will jack the sugar up everytime . Hope the little man feels better soon .

Wendy said...

WOW!!! Can't wait to see a pic with both of them showing off their pumps :) That's awesome...but...sorry about the croup!!

Holly said...

Croup can be scary stuff. We ended up in Primary all weekend once with Robbie over a case of croup. I imagine the "scary" is triple withe diabetes. Do you ever feel like by the time the kids graduate high school you'll have earned half a medical degree?