Thanksgiving at the Hospital?

Sorry I didn't get a chance to call everyone on the Holiday. Hopefully everyone had a great Turkey day. I made it home Wednesday without much of a headache, and luckily made it back to Philly yesterday just before the entire east coast got delayed. However, my time at home wasn't exactly peaceful.

As most of you know, I am very close to several of my cousins. We literally saw and played with each other every day growing up. Paul, my cousin who lived next door growing up, now has two beautiful little girls - Serenity and Sidney. They have not had the smoothest year. Early this year, their mom left. She really didn't give much of an explanation, but did say that she didn't want the kids with her. The "kids" are now 8 and 5. Since her departure, she has only been to see them twice and that was with much prompting from my cousin. He understands - mostly because he is living with the girls - how much they miss their mom. Things got worse for Sidney this holiday.

I had just walked into my parent's house when the phone rang. It was Paul asking if I could come take a look at Sidney (he now lives across the street and a couple of houses down). I stated that I am not a pediatrician, but would be happy to see her. She had come home early from school on Tuesday, and had spent most of Wednesday just lying around. If you knew this kid, you would understand how not right that last statement is. As soon as I saw her, I suggested we head to the emergency room. Anyone in the medical profession - be it doctor or nurse that is any good - will tell you that somewhere along the way you develop a sixth sense. Often, even before they "start looking bad" by medical standards, a little buzzer goes off in your head. Sidney had all kinds of alarms going off in my head. This little girl was not well.

We quickly learned why. At the hospital, routine blood tests revealed that she was an undiagnosed diabetic. She is only 5 years old. Her blood sugar had risen to a dangerously high level and she was now in a diabetic coma from the ketoacidosis. She was flown to Egleston Children's Hospital in Atlanta. For much of Wednesday night, we were not given much hope that she would make it through the night alive. She was intubated and her brain started to swell requiring placement of a ventricular drain. Many prayers later, she finally started to improve. She was extubated on Saturday and is slowly waking up. Unfortunately she still has a long road ahead of her. She developed a blood clot in her leg from a groin line and will need treatment for it. She now also has to deal with insulin shots and glucose testing for the rest of our life. I have adult patients who don't like to give themselves shots - I can't imagine that this 5 year old will cope all that well.

We did not get a chance to have the normal Thanksgiving that we would have liked, but we all ended the weekend with so much more for which to be Thankful. For those of you who sent prayers for Sidney - Thanks and keep them going.