Jacob is home

Jacob got to come home on Monday, Aug 30th. He got released around 7pm. Funny story. I left the hospital around 5:20pm to head home to pick up Tyler and Aaron from our Home Teachers house, where they had gone after school. I had dinner coming in at 6 from my Visiting Teacher and needed to be there. It all worked fine. I got the boys, a little late, but still before 6 and got home to meet my VT. Joe called me at about 6:20. Did I know where his car keys were? See on Saturday in the PICU he couldn't find the car keys. So to keep them safe, I put them in my purse. It hadn't mattered since then because we were traveling back and forth to the hospital in Joe's truck. So we would just hand off those keys and we left the expedition parked at the hospital. Well, now it mattered. I was home, Joe was at the hospital almost ready to bring Jacob home when he realized I had his keys to the expedition in my purse. So after a quick call to a good friend to come over and watch the boys, who had no desire to get back into the car for a ride to the hospital (especially Jared), I got back in the truck to deliver the car keys so we could bring Jacob home.

So I've finally got a few pictures from our hospital experience. I didn't take many, but there are a few. Jacob even took some pictures so I included them just for fun.

This is in the PICU on the 2nd floor at Cardon's Childrens Medical Center. I took this on Sunday about lunch time. That is his lunch in front of him. I had to give Jacob his insulin injection for this meal. My first time. It was scary, but I didn't it and it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Aaron on Sunday visiting Jacob.

We had the Wii to play. Tyler and Jared playing during lunch.

Sunday afternoon we were moved off the PICU floor to a regular diabetic floor. He moved to room 522. Jacob took this picture of the view from his room. On Sunday we had many visitors. This was great for Jacob's moral. Home Teachers, Grandparents 2 sets of different cousins and ward friends were among the visitors. We decorated his room with posters from primary and friends. Of course I forgot to take a picture of it before we took it down and brought it all home. I need to get better at taking pictures.

Before we left the hospital on Monday, Jacob was able to give Mom and Dad a saline shot so we would know how it feels. Let me tell you, don't feel sorry for this boy! It was nothing. I didn't even feel it. The anticipation of the shot was way worse! And donating blood is 100 times worse that his injections. He will be so used to them soon that it will be nothing.

Thank you to friends that brought Jacob fun lego sets. They made his day and made time in the hospital more bearable.

When we got home this was on our garage. It really made Jacob smile. Thank you Asay Family! You made the night.

Home Sweet Home!

This is all the stuff the hospital sent home with us. This isn't even half the supplies he will need, but it gets us through for now. We will forever be in debt to our great diabetic nurses, especially Jaime who hooked us up with all these supplies.

This is Jacob's Blood Glucose meter. He tests his blood many times throughout the day. This helps us know how his blood sugar is doing. And tells us when he need insulin. We use it all the time. Jacob does it all by himself. It gets easier every time he uses it.

These are the emergency shots for if he is unconscious. I hope we never have to use them. We had to get 1 for school. 1 for the house and 1 that goes with him everywhere.

These are his insulin. He takes 2 different kinds. Long lasting called Lantus and short lasting for meals called Humalog. We have to do math with every meal. Great practice for everyone!

This is my new bible for Jacob's meals. I have to know how many carbs are in everything he puts in his mouth. We total the carbs then divide it by a certain number and get the ratio of how much insulin he needs to process that meal. It sounds hard, but is getting easier with practice. He does have carb free options to eat for snacks and stuff, like protein, pickles etc. Take a look the next time you are eating something and you'd be surprised how many carbs are in each food. The hard part is I have to break down all my recipes as I make food to know how many carbs are in my homemade dinners, etc. I plan to write the numbers right on my recipes until I have them memorized.

This is why I am not accepting any meals from outside sources right now. No meals are being brought in until I know how to manage Jacob's food I can't take any chances.

So thank you to those that have offered. We appreciate you thinking of us, but want you to understand why we are declining.This is Jacob's life. All tied up in 1 small pack. Needles, meters, lancets, snacks, emergency sugar all in 1 small pack.

It is quite a change at the Macdonald home, but we are adjusting well. Jacob is doing the best. He gives his own injections and is good about checking his sugar when we tell him too. We are going to try to fatten him up a bit in the next few months.

Thank you again to everyone for your kind words and prayers. Know that we are doing great.