I went in the ambulance and dad followed behind. We had 3 wonderful paramedics, all called Lou. We went quickly to hospital, lights flashing, siren on. The pediatric team were aware we were coming and were waiting. The rushed us in and I remember turning the corner and the doctors looking shocked, one of them said "she's not 5". They continued to debate on who she was as they had been expecting a 5 year old asthmatic too, don't get me wrong this was a quick conversation and they were still working on Tink until the doctor arrived who knew she was coming. One of the nurses asked "where do I need to be, in here or with the other child?" The response terrified me… "In here, everyone in here. This is the most urgent." This is what I told Guy when I rang him, this is what made him pick up our sleeping boy and drive to the hospital. I don't think we had any idea how bad it was.
We had so many doctors and nurses. They tried to get a drip in tink but her veins weren't there. The veins in her feet weren't even visable anymore. They told me her body was shutting down.
The vein in her arm that was oh so blue just 4 days before had all but disappeared but they finally managed to get a needle in and she was put on a drip. She lay there looking at me and I held her head in my hand. I told her not to be scared, I told her I would keep her safe.
They were so busy treating her, it was frantic, nobody really spoke to us. I turned to my dad and cried, he put his hand on mine but we needed to stay strong for tink. They asked me what had happened up to that point and I explained everything. I told them I had been quite impressed with 111 and the doctor who had phoned but they quashed that thought when they said "the doctor should have phoned you an ambulance not sent you to an appointment". They were guessing at how much she weighed and luckily I had weighed her on Saturday, she was 3.11, I had checked to see if that was a suitable weight for an 8 year old, she was on the 16 centile. I was so glad I had weighed her as they were able to give her accurately the drugs she needed. Finally they told me the outcome. I already knew it, what I didn't know was how serious it was. It was Type 1 Diabetes. She probably had it for quite a while and now that her body had used up all resources it was shutting down. Her body was starving and it was pretty much as bad as it could be. Her hands and feet had been so cold because there was no blood going to them. They told me she was on the edge. 'On the Edge?' so we could loose her? It was that bad. Not only could we loose her, but if she survived there could be damage to vital organs, and later I found out that they were also checking for brain damage. They were amazed she was still conscious. By all accounts she shouldn't be. Not only was she still conscious but she was very aware.
Doodle and Guy arrived and doodle hugged her and cried, she hugged them back. I held him in my arms and he asked if she was going to die, I told him she was in the best place and that she'd be ok. He told me to stop talking and wiped his eyes. I hadn't noticed but quite a few doctors and nurses stood outside the curtain, when everything calmed down later that night the nurse that stayed with us told me that it was because the were overwhelmed with the scene and had become emotional. Tink watched it all happen. She was awake the whole time, the doctor told us that she was a very strong and determined little girl and that her being conscious made it easier for them, but make no mistake our baby girl was in a very bad way.
We were in resus until 5am.
They managed to get her stable by about 4am and we sat holding her hand while she dozed. We talked to the nurse who stayed with us the whole time. We talked about random things, talked about casualty not being a reality but how 24 hours in A&E was, I think we even laughed. It was a strange kind of reality. Maybe only comforting because it was calm, or at least calm than the few hours earlier..
Tink was taken up to HDU at 5am. She was hooked up to everything and in all honesty it scares the living daylights out me. Watching the monitor beep and flash meant for a long night. Her alarm sounded every 5 minutes and every hour they came in to wake her up and test blood glucose.
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