Yay!!! No Hospital Stay for Emeline this time!

Emeline started December off with a bang. On the evening of November 30th, she fell asleep around 4:30 pm and slept all night through. I had to wake her up at 8:00, and even then she didn't want to get up. That is not normal for her at all. She is usually up much later at night, and up much earlier in the morning, so I was a little concerned. She fought me when I tried to get her up, and she stumbled more than walked down the hall to the bathroom. After she'd been up just a few minutes, she started vomiting. By then I knew the signs. I called our local Ped's office and told them I was on my way. We have been through this before, so we have a pre-arranged agreement that they will give her a shot if/when she needs one. They gave her her shot of hydrocortisone (solu-cortef) right away, and then I called our Endocrinologist's office in Iowa City. I told his nurse that Em had slept for over 15 hours, wasn't "waking" well, and had just vomited several times, but that she'd had the shot, so I was hoping I had caught it in time. She said we'd have to wait and see; she wanted me to call back in the afternoon and we'd talk then about whether or not we needed to head to the hospital. Meanwhile, I gave her a triple-dose of her oral hydrocortisone at the regular times (which is what I'm supposed to do), and watched her closely. And--drum roll here please--we did NOT have to go to the hospital! WooHoo! That was really a source of excitement for me, as it was the first time in the 14 months since Emeline had been diagnosed with Addison's, that she did NOT end up in the hospital from an Addisonian crisis. It gave me hope, that finally, FINALLY I was learning to catch it soon enough that we could handle it at home, and not have to go to the hospital in fear every time she threw up. (After almost losing her twice in the hospital because of Addison's, it is not something I took lightly.) So I am thrilled to report that, for the first time, we survived an Addisonian crisis and managed to avoid the hospital! We continued triple-dosing for 2 more days and then weaned back down to her regular dose, and Em came through it just fine! YAY!

What a way to welcome December!