Samantha’s blood sugar and acid level are both back to normal. The doctors want to see if she can keep food down so we are going to try some clear fluids soon. Rather than move her out of ICU they hope to release her this afternoon if all goes well.

As I was writing this update the Popsicle she wanted arrived and she is sitting up in her bed enjoying it while watching some tv. So far so good.

So much is going on right now it is hard to know where to begin. There are two big pieces of news to tell. First, we are planning on moving back to Ottawa this summer. We may have found the house for us and Cynthia is travelling there right now to see. At the same time Samantha was admitted to the hospital today.

Early this week, Samantha had a fever and a bit of a cough. But the fever was not too high and she seemed ok. At the same time, a house which looks great for us was listed in Ottawa. Our plan was to go to Ottawa in March to look for a house. Work is very busy this month and I just couldn’t afford the time off. The house we were looking at had a pretty good price and it looked like it would move quickly. So, we decided to book a flight for Cynthia to Ottawa on Friday, returning Sunday.

Last night though, Samantha could now keep her food down. For a diabetic this is very serious because her blood sugar could drop very quickly. We checked her frequently and found he sugar level high. We gave her less insulin than we would normally because if she got low, it would be difficult to increase her sugar. Then, she couldn’t keep water down.

I called our endo and she recommended we bring her to the hospital. So, Matthew and I took Samantha to the hospital while Cynthia headed for Ottawa. I figured they would just rehydrated her and do something to settle her stomach. But, it looks like she is somewhat acidotic probably from the days of increased temperature. The vomitting was likely a side affect of the acidosis. That means she needs sugar an insulin to bring her pH back into balance.

They have a couple of IVs in her left arm, delivering glucose and insulin. She is improving in her stats but she is still very quiet except when she cries to go home or for her brother.

Which is another story. Matthew is now allowed in this hospital. They don’t allow children who are not patients. With Cynthia away, I was a bit stuck. Thankfully, Jessica, a good friend of ours, offered to host Matthew tonight. And tommorrow, Randi and her family will have him if Samantha is still here. Thanks to both of you for your support.

Cynthia has a full day tomorrow looking at her favourite house and a couple of others. Unless she sees something terribly wrong we will likely make a conditional offer on the house on Sunday. I will update the webpage as often as I can about Samantha and also about the house news. I may be able to post pictures of Samantha here using my phone so perhaps I will have some up soon.

Again thanks so much to Jessica and Randi and their families.

Samantha turned two late in August. On her birthday, we celebrated at home. After a bath, Samantha opened her presents. We gave her a toy laptop which she loved and you can see her playing with it in the pictures. It was a quiet birthday celebration but we had bigger plans for later.

We invited many friends to come join us to celebrate Samantha’s second birthday. We rented a “jump house” for the kids and there was always one or two and often many bouncing in there throughout the day. I bought a case of Canadian, partly to enjoy a beer from home but also to introduce people to Canadian beer but not many took advantage of the opportunity. So, I had Canadian beer in the fridge for a couple of weeks after the party.

I baked a cake and Cynthia decorated it. I did some calculations to estimate the carbohydrate count of the cake because Samantha was going to get to enjoy eating some chocolate cake on her birthday. After opening presents earlier, Samantha was very excited to open more and I was hard pressed to keep up with her.

Later in the evening, some families left but others stayed and we had a BBQ and some more dessert before they came to dismantle the jump house. It was getting late and Samantha was very tired. So, soon after that we said our good-byes and Samantha’s second birthday party was over.

Thanks everyone for your gifts and birthday wishes.

Early in the spring, we bought ourselves a patio set. Back in Dunrobin, we would have never considered having a patio set in our back yard. Either it was too hot, too cold or too buggy. There were just too few days where it was comfortable to enjoy our yard. But, here almost every day is beautiful and we have had many of our meals on our back patio. The video here was taken right after our meal and starts with a trick to try and get Samantha to eat some more but mostly shows Samantha playing outside afterwards.

This is a fairly old video clip from late January. We were having some friends over for dinner at our house and we prepared some banana muffins for dessert. After they were out of the oven, Samantha was insisting that she have one early and this is a short clip of her asking for a muffin.

Of course since then we found out about her diabetes so there hasn’t been as much baking lately. But, we things have gotten easier for us to manage lately. Samantha is now on a OmniPod insulin pump. With the pump, we are no longer giving insulin shots manually.

We just attach an stick a new OmniPod onto Samantha every three days and it has a little needle which injects a cannula just into her skin. After that initial pain, we can then administer insulin without giving her shots. Also, the pump can administer much smaller doses of insulin than we can measure which is important because Samantha doesn’t eat that much. Being a toddler, Samantha doesn’t eat just during meals either so this gives us the ability to quickly give her a bit more insulin as she snacks through the day. It really has been a great solution for us and has helped us to bring her blood sugar more under control.

One of the shocking things when Samantha was admitted was that she had lost 3 pounds, going from 19 to 16 pounds in only three weeks. Last week, we had our first doctor’s appointment after leaving the hospital and they weighed her there. She has regained all three pounds and is back to 19 pounds in just slightly more than a week of treating her with insulin. Since then, her appetite is still bigger than ever so she is probably even more now.

So, things are going well. Her blood sugar is still bouncing around but not as much as before and we are getting closer to a regular schedule for insulin shots.

Again, sorry for the lack of update but today was a whirlwind. Cynthia and I had a bunch to do to bring Samantha home. We met with the endocrinologist in the morning and had some lunch with Samantha. Then, I left to pick up Matthew from school and have a shower at home before going back to the hospital. There, we got the prescriptions and I headed out alone to fill them so we had all we needed to care for Samantha at home. I brought back some dinner for us and after dinner, we headed home with Samantha. She was very happy to be in the car and by the time we got home, she went straight to bed. I think she would have rather stayed up a bit but we want her to get back into her routine as soon as possible. Life in the hospital really made it difficult to keep her eating and sleeping schedule.

Cynthia and I did our first blood test on our own at home an hour ago and also administered a bit of insulin as a correction according to our instructions from the endocrinologist. It took some time but it will get easier in the future. Daily, we will contact the endocrinologist to update her on the blood sugar results and the injections we have administered and she will adjust the treatment plan. On Wednesday afternoon, we have a busy day meeting with the endocrinologist team and a diabetes support group.

So, life isn’t exactly back to normal but we are slowly adjusting to the new normal. Thanks everyone for your support this past week. Even though we are far away from our family and friends in Canada, your kind words, concern and offers to help out have meant a lot to us.

Sorry for the delay in updates. Today was a bit of a rough day for me and I was either too busy or napping to do an update. Regardless, Samantha is doing very well. Her sugar is still variable and gets pretty high every once in a while but they are still adjusting the dosages and schedule and that will confine after she is discharged.

Today, Cynthia and I both did our first blood sugar tests and both of us administered insulin. We aren’t that comfortable with it yet but we are getting there. I will try to do more updates tomorrow.

This photo is from yesterday when Samantha was still very tired and was hooked up to her IV’s. But, this afternoon, she has returned to her usual self for the most part. She is eating and awake. We took her for a short walk down the hall to a play room and she had some fun there also. Cynthia and I have spent most of the day talking to a dietician and an endocrinologist assistant (the endocrinologist will be in to see us later).

I left Cynthia with Samantha at the hospital so I could pick up Matthew and get cleaned up a bit at home. Then, Matthew and I will bring dinner with us to the hospital so we can enjoy a family meal and Samantha will be very excited to see Matthew again. I will likely spend the night with Samantha again and Cynthia will go home with Matthew.

So, Samantha is doing much better and we can imagine her at home with us this weekend. We just have to be ready for the responsibility.