We’re back from the hospital. Incase you didn’t know we were there, my mum posted about it on Sunday and yesterday.
I had been hoping to come home yesterday afternoon but when the endocrinologists finally arrived to talk to us they explained that they could test in one of two ways.. one was to do an overnight fluid deprivation challenge thing or else to just try taking first morning’s urine and blood at the same time. I wasn’t keen on the fluid deprivation thing because that would make Abigail really upset. So I agreed to stay last night so they could get the early urine and blood.
What a fucking disaster that was. The urine bag that they put on Abigail at about 0430 caught only about 1mL of urine, the rest of it leaking straight out into her nappy. The blood that was meant to be taken right after the urine was finally first attempted at about 8.30 or so, and failed spectacularly. They tried to get blood from the cannula that she already had, none was forthcoming. They said they’d go get a phlebotomist to come and draw blood in the usual way.
She finally arrived about 1145. She’d apparently not recieved some of the pages they sent and also got called away on an emergency or something. She poked one of Abigail’s arms and got a tiny bit of blood before it stopped flowing. Daniel and I both cuddled and consoled Abigail through the whole process. She said there wasn’t enough for all the tests they wanted. They tried again to get some from the cannula, which needed to be flushed first, which Abigail doesn’t like. None came out of there. They took the cannula out then finally which was good. Since they still needed more blood they tried the elbow of that arm, and got some more thankfully. Abigail was really upset, I was crying by now too and so was Stephanie because she could see how upset Abigail was getting. We got all the stuff together then and left, and Abigail actually wanted to get into the pram which says a lot for how much she wanted to just leave.
We’re still going with the theory of diabetes insipidus, I believe, and that’s what the tests are aimed at confirming and getting more information on. There are a couple of variations, depending on whether the dysfunction is with the pituitary gland or with the kidneys. Some of the causes are also genetic which I think they want to test for since if it is genetic it would be advisable to have Stephanie and Kristian tested as well. She’s not in any serious danger since we are aware of this and once it’s confirmed and the details figured out, we can get a treatment and management plan for her. Although diabetes insipidus is really not at all related to the more common ‘sugar’ diabetes, like that one it can be easily managed and not cause any big problems. Unfortunately, it is a lifelong thing.
She fell asleep in the car on the way home, we were going to go and see my mum but since she was asleep we just came home instead. She stayed asleep for a good while longer, I expect she was quite worn out from the bloodletting. She was really crying a lot. She’s happier now she’s awake and we’ve had a shower (they offered her a bath at the hospital but she wouldn’t get in it).