Home Again, Home Again...Jiggety Jig?

Three days, two nights at Children's Hospital.
Jack enduring a 24-hour fast.
What seemed like 20,000 toe pricks to test blood sugar.
Lowest blood sugar during the fast:  68.
Probably a $35,000 medical bill heading our way.
Five medical doctors giving us NO input into why our son's blood sugar fell to a critical level on Thursday.

Here we are, home again and exactly where we were last December with no answers.  To the doctors' credit, they tried everything to get his levels to fall low enough to run the blood tests needed, but they could not duplicate the conditions that prompted the blood sugar fall:  a virus and high fever.  Their parting advice to us?  Make sure Jack eats three meals a day and three snacks, one before bed.  Like we don't do that already!  Since his autism diagnosis, we already obsess about every bite that goes into his mouth.  One positive they tried to relate to us is that he CAN keep his blood sugar within a healthy range for 24-hours without food.  Before discharge, we had this enlightening conversation with the doctor:

doc:  Do you have any questions for us?
me:  But, doc, this is so bizarre.  Why did this happen twice?  Do we need to be extra vigilant when he's sick?  Why would this happen if he's otherwise not showing signs of hypoglycemia and ate good meals the prior day?
doc:  You're right.  It is bizarre.  Yes, it's a good idea to watch him closely when he's sick.  Remember, three meals/three snacks per day.
me:  Yeah, thanks.
me (thinking):  Douchebag.

There are three blood tests taken last night during a normal sugar level that did not return from the lab before we left, and the endocrinology unit will call us this week with those results.  We could not start the battery of tests needed to really get to the bottom of this because his blood sugar never reached that critical level.  They also referred us to the Neurology Department for Jack's autism.  I'm not sure what that will entail, but it's another route to pursue to maybe find some answers. 

Funny thing about the hospital...every person that walks into the room asks you the same questions over and over and over again.  The staff obviously does not read the reports taken from the ER, the nurses station, from doctors visiting earlier in the day, or from prior hospital visits.  Here's a funny conversation we had with a nurse, who obviously had no idea that Jack had autism or could not verbalize, which was something we told at least ten people prior to this moment, ten people who either wrote or typed this information into a report:

nurse:  Hey buddy!  How are you?
(Jack stares at her and turns toward Bob's arm)
nurse:  Oh, are you being shy?  Don't worry, we'll have you talking by the end of the night!
me:  Actually, he's nonverbal.
Bob:  But if you could get him talking, that would be great.
(Awkward silence)
nurse:  Oh...okay. (uneasy giggle)  Uh, well, if you need anything, give us a buzz!

Well, I guess we go back to our "normal" now.  Time to reclaim the house back from the cats and their stink.  Time to get back to work and refocus.  Time to shake off the last three days and move forward.  We can't help asking, "What next?"  We're on edge, for sure. Since November, we've been reluctantly riding a downward spiral of bad news, bad luck and bad juju.  If anyone knows a good witchdoctor or voodoo priestess, give me a call.  We'll try anything at this point!