One of our 4 yearly trips to Medcenter One. Yep, that's normal.
Well, August came and left and I have to be honest and admit that I wished the summer away. Fall was the projection for the end of the flooding and life is slowly getting back to "normal". Life in our household is ever changing, so normal always deserves quotation marks.
Chase is back in school. Now that we have 2 years under our belt, making the transition back is getting easier each year. I feel truly blessed to have the full support of the staff at Solheim. They get it. They got it right away.
Getting people to understand type 1 is not easy. Either I get a deer in the headlights look when I describe what it takes to keep my kid healthy, happy and alive. Or I get the wave of the hand and an "It can't be that bad" comment or look. I'd rather have a deer in the headlights look because then I know they get it.
A few years ago I had a "wave of the hand" friend watch Chase for a couple days. After the first day she met me a the door and said, "I had no idea managing diabetes was so hard!" Part of me felt good to know that she finally got it. The other part of me wanted to ask, "What took you so long?".
I'm not sure why some get it and some don't. Maybe because when you see a child with type 1 you don't see a sick kid. They look just like any other kid.
Or, maybe you've never been around what a "normal" day looks like:
7:00 am - Grab glucometer, test strips and lancet. Pull back covers, grab foot, poke big toe for morning glucose reading. Do one of the following - treat high blood sugar on insulin pump (and wonder why he went so high during the night), wake sleepy child and force feed fruit snacks to treat low (and wonder why he went so low during the night), or tell sleepy child to wake up and get ready for school (always a good way to start the day).
7:15 am - Count amount of carbs in breakfast and give him insulin with the pump. Hope to heck that he eats everything otherwise he will have a low blood sugar later.
8:15 - Drop him off at school. Say a little prayer to God to watch over over your son. Wonder if watching him walk away from you is ever going to get easier.
8:45 - Arrive at work. Place cell phone on your desk just in case the school calls. Take that phone with you at all times - except into the bathroom because you learned a $150 lesson when he was in kindergarten that cell phones are not waterproof and that you don't need it with you at ALL times.
9:30/10 - Snack time at school. Have faith that your child is giving himself insulin for his morning snack.
11:30 - Have faith that his blood is being tested before lunch and that lows or highs are being treated correctly.
11:45 - Have faith that he is giving himself insulin for his lunch and that he eats all his lunch.
Noon-3:05 - Have faith that highs or lows are being caught and treated.
3:05 - Happy to have your little boy back in your care!!
3:20 - Keep nagging kid to give himself insulin for all the food he is inhaling after school.
5:30 - Test blood before supper. Treat high blood sugar or feed kid supper immediately if low. Count carbs eaten and give insulin accordingly.
7:00 - Nag kid to treat himself for any snacks.
8:00 - Test blood before bed - treat high with insulin and/or feed him a bedtime snack. Count carbs & give insulin.
Every three days - remove insulin infusion site, refill pump, poke kid in the butt with the infusion needle.
Every six days - remove sensor needle, find another spot on his little butt to replace sensor needle. Give the kid and extra hour on the Wii because that needle is HUGE.
That's a normal day and, though it may seem it, I'm not complaining. It's what I have to do to have that little boy in my life. I got it. I get it and life is good.
Chase is back in school. Now that we have 2 years under our belt, making the transition back is getting easier each year. I feel truly blessed to have the full support of the staff at Solheim. They get it. They got it right away.
Getting people to understand type 1 is not easy. Either I get a deer in the headlights look when I describe what it takes to keep my kid healthy, happy and alive. Or I get the wave of the hand and an "It can't be that bad" comment or look. I'd rather have a deer in the headlights look because then I know they get it.
A few years ago I had a "wave of the hand" friend watch Chase for a couple days. After the first day she met me a the door and said, "I had no idea managing diabetes was so hard!" Part of me felt good to know that she finally got it. The other part of me wanted to ask, "What took you so long?".
I'm not sure why some get it and some don't. Maybe because when you see a child with type 1 you don't see a sick kid. They look just like any other kid.
Or, maybe you've never been around what a "normal" day looks like:
7:00 am - Grab glucometer, test strips and lancet. Pull back covers, grab foot, poke big toe for morning glucose reading. Do one of the following - treat high blood sugar on insulin pump (and wonder why he went so high during the night), wake sleepy child and force feed fruit snacks to treat low (and wonder why he went so low during the night), or tell sleepy child to wake up and get ready for school (always a good way to start the day).
7:15 am - Count amount of carbs in breakfast and give him insulin with the pump. Hope to heck that he eats everything otherwise he will have a low blood sugar later.
8:15 - Drop him off at school. Say a little prayer to God to watch over over your son. Wonder if watching him walk away from you is ever going to get easier.
8:45 - Arrive at work. Place cell phone on your desk just in case the school calls. Take that phone with you at all times - except into the bathroom because you learned a $150 lesson when he was in kindergarten that cell phones are not waterproof and that you don't need it with you at ALL times.
9:30/10 - Snack time at school. Have faith that your child is giving himself insulin for his morning snack.
11:30 - Have faith that his blood is being tested before lunch and that lows or highs are being treated correctly.
11:45 - Have faith that he is giving himself insulin for his lunch and that he eats all his lunch.
Noon-3:05 - Have faith that highs or lows are being caught and treated.
3:05 - Happy to have your little boy back in your care!!
3:20 - Keep nagging kid to give himself insulin for all the food he is inhaling after school.
5:30 - Test blood before supper. Treat high blood sugar or feed kid supper immediately if low. Count carbs eaten and give insulin accordingly.
7:00 - Nag kid to treat himself for any snacks.
8:00 - Test blood before bed - treat high with insulin and/or feed him a bedtime snack. Count carbs & give insulin.
Every three days - remove insulin infusion site, refill pump, poke kid in the butt with the infusion needle.
Every six days - remove sensor needle, find another spot on his little butt to replace sensor needle. Give the kid and extra hour on the Wii because that needle is HUGE.
That's a normal day and, though it may seem it, I'm not complaining. It's what I have to do to have that little boy in my life. I got it. I get it and life is good.
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