When I said yesterday that the hospital folks were following a script, I hadn’t thought of it in quite such a literal way.

But this morning, I found the actual 5-page script for first-time diabetic admissions, fixed in our room with a magnet.

The hospital folks are doing great work, but it seems there's no way to get a proper drink here.

I’m staying in the hospital with kiddo for the week.

While the kid is receiving visitors, I snuck to the hospital café for a piece of cake

Kid is doing better. Like, a lot.

They came out of the ICU literally yesterday. Tonight, we played board games and foosball for three hours, until I was tired. Kid then proceeded to ask for more food, and generally bounced around a bit.

I'm incredibly relieved.

Kid, who is normally more of a quiet sort, kept going like a dynamo until 1am, when I finally couldn’t keep up anymore.
Of course, the hospital doesn’t necessarily let us sleep in. So it was a fairly short night. But it’s so great to see the kid doing better.
Going from “oh fuck someone call an ambulance” to “will you please let me sleep now” in the space of just three days is quite a journey

I’m rapidly turning into the kind of guy who knows how many carbs are in everything

Disability is something that society does to people.

Our kid just got diagnosed with diabetes. Yes, that sucks. But there’s a society wide support system.

A whole team of professionals is helping us. Insulin is available, paid by health insurance, and there’s a range of devices to administer it. There’s mandatory labels on food.

Our kid will live a full and healthy life, with minor adjustments.

Why can’t we have the same for, say, wheelchair users?

Shifting down to a lower alert level. With the singular focus of the emergency situation no longer necessary, other thoughts creep back into the main brain.

I’d much prefer to sleep, just like kiddo in the next bed, who is doing So Much Better already.

Kid is learning how to manage their diabetes. We’re (probably) getting an insulin pump tomorrow!

They moved us to a shared room. A girl with diabetes and her mum, and another girl who swallowed a magnet 🧲

They’re treating us well, and the mood is fine. But I would absolutely kill for a plate of fries and a beer right now.

Also, being somewhat social all day long is terribly exhausting.

The medical attention is top-notch though. In this public hospital, just today, we’ve been seen by

- the regular doctor
- two diabetes specialists
- a psychologist
- an eye doctor

plus a person who runs an arts & crafts room for the patients just across the hall.

I should add that we didn’t request any of those people.

They simply showed up, because that’s part of the protocol here. There will be no charge for us.

The nurse is putting a basketball net in our room right now. This will surely go well.

I’m on leave from the hospital for a few hours, with my wife taking my place. Using the time to go to the gym again, finally.

Oh, and sneak off to the shops to buy some chocolate for discreet enjoyment

Kiddo got fitted with an insulin pump! Exciting new technology, and it seems to be working well. We (kid + parents) got a two-hour training on using the pump. Pretty cool!

Our health insurance company was also really relaxed about approving the pump. One phone call, and two days later, it's here. Nice!

I snuck a bag of M&Ms into the hospital room, which I'm secretly munching while the kid is occupied elsewhere.

This is your near-daily public health insurance appreciation post.

We’re stuck in the hospital for Thanksgiving.

Helpfully, Thanksgiving is not a thing around here.

Tomorrow we’ll have been in the hospital for one week. It’s ok, but kiddo and I are slowly getting fed up.

Also it looks like our roommate - another kid with first-time diabetes - gets to go home this weekend. The two of them got along really well, and kiddo will be more bored then…

Apparently we arrived as part of an unusual peak in admissions of kids with first-time diabetes.

The doc explained that diabetes type 1 is an autoimmune disease, which often seems to get triggered by viral infections, though the exact mechanism isn't known. So they often get more such patients a while after an infectious wave has peaked.

Room change today. A kid we were sharing a room with came down with influenza. Ouch! So that kid + parent get their own room, and we get our own because of course we've been exposed. It's quieter now, and more boring. (Plus I'm super glad I got my influenca shot a few weeks ago.)

The doctors and nurses praise kiddo for learning all the diabetes stuff really quickly. We have actual training sessions, about 2h just today, to prepare us for managing the condition.

Kiddo needs a new phone to replace their hand-me-down Huawei thingy, because the insulin pump's app won't run on it. For various reasons we plumped for a refurbed iPhone 15. Costs more than we meant to spend, but OTOH it's the first actual expense in this whole adventure.

Also, we figure that kiddo deserves to have at least some upside from the whole newly-diagnosed-with-a-lifelong-chronic-condition shitshow.