First Doctor's Appointment

Monday, June 8th

One reason that we chose to take Ellee to Children's Hospital in Columbus (instead of Dayton or Toledo) is because there is an doctor's office in Dublin that we could go to for her follow up appointments. We have no idea what to expect when we get there, how long it will take, or what all they will do. Ellee was especially nervous, asking if they would have to put a "straw" in her arm (an IV or blood draw from inside her elbow, she calls those big needles straws). I felt like a broken record saying "I don't know".

We stop at a Tim Horton's which is right down the road from the office to get breakfast. From the display case, Ellee picked out a jelly filled, powder coated doughnut. I hate choosing something for her to eat, but at the same time, I hate letting her pick stuff out... either way, it's a 50/50 chance of her liking it. She did do good and ate half of the doughnut, but I wrapped it back up in the little bag it came with and we went inside.

I actually like going to a doctors office and getting called back before you get all the paperwork filled out... so much better than sitting in the waiting room for hours!! The nurse took us into a little room to check her height and weight and to get a blood sample for her A1C (gives an average of blood sugars for the past 3 months). I have no idea how they are going to do this, but I'm hoping not by a blood draw! To our relief, the nurse asks if we have her test kit and if we can use the lancet to get a few drops. YAY, it's just like testing her sugar but using a different kind of meter!

We still waited a little while to see the doctor. A Diabetes Nurse Educator came in to talk with us and look over her log book. We talked about a few of the numbers that were either really high ore really low to see if we knew what caused them. Most of the time we did know, but I think she was mainly just checking to see how much we are watching and understanding the diabetes.

Dr. Monika finally came in (I call her that because I can't spell her last name without looking at it and can't pronounce it unless some one says it first!). She was a very nice, down-to-earth woman. She said that she was very happy with the numbers in the log and her A1C came back at 8.6. They want it below 8, so being just a few points over considering that her pre-diagnosis numbers were included is very good! She discussed changing Ellee's Insulin to Carb ratio so that we are giving her less insulin and she told us how to dose her if she's high and we need to bring her down.

She flat out told us that it's a learning curve and there is no set standard or guideline. It's all about finding what works best for Ellee and making adjustments as Ellee's body adjusts. It would be nice if there were a magic formula to follow, but unfortunately, there isn't.