Monday, August 27, 2007

The first day

Riley's first day had some ups and some downs, literally. His teacher certainly got broken in well on the very first day. I kind of felt sorry for her at one point. She didn't sign up for this when she became a teacher. But, I didn't sign up for it when I became a mom nor did Riley sign up for this when he came into the world. We were all drafted against our will.



Holden called me at around 9:40 AM. It was Riley's snack time and his sugar was 360. Holden had plugged all the numbers in the pump and it suggested a bolus of 1.65 for the sugar and Riley's snack. Thinking this sounded kind of high I asked how much insulin Riley had on board. "None," was his reply.



Being that Riley had just been bolused about 2 hours earlier for breakfast, he should of had some insulin lingering around. And, then it hit me, "I don't remember giving him any insulin this morning." I unhooked his pump to check the line for bubbles, I reconnected him, then, I stuck his pump in his pocket. I never bolused for his cereal.



I really started my child's first day of school off with a bang. I have never forgotten to give him insulin before. I picked the perfect day to do it, didn't I?



I debated about not telling you guys about my screw up, but decided, what the heck? Everyone screws up and I screwed up royally. Maybe this will help some other parent out there to feel better about themselves.



"Well, even though my kid has diabetes, I , at least, don't forget to give them insulin like that poor dumb mother." Hey, I'm glad I could be of help.



Riley has been having some lows lately (but, that's a whole other post), so I told Holden instead of giving 1.65 to give 1.20 units instead.



A little later my mom called to check on Riley. I told her the scoop and she asked when they would check him next. I told her I assumed it would be at lunchtime.



An hour later my cell phone rang, "Hi, Penny, this is Mrs. W, I just called to let you know Riley is OK. I had him check his sugar and it's come down to 218. I'm glad you gave me that timer or I would have forgotten to get him to test again." (When I spoke with his teacher last week I gave her a kitchen timer to use to set after Riley went low to remind her to test again in 15 minutes to see if he'd come up.)



I also instructed her that if he got insulin for a high sugar I wanted him to test again in an hour to make sure it was coming down. But, somehow, I don't know why, I didn't really expect her to do it. But, she did. Riley's sugar had come down a little too much for my taste, but I knew he'd be eating and testing again in a little over an hour, so I hoped he'd be OK.



An hour later my cell phone rang again, "Hi, this is Mrs. W again. I'm so sorry to bother you."



"You're not bothering me at all."



"Well, we were outside on the playground and Riley came up to me and said his sugar felt low and it's 59. We're going to eat lunch in about 20 minutes. Do you just want me to give him a juice box?"



"Yes, give him a juice box and have him check again in 15 minutes to be sure it's coming up."



I had visions of my child sitting on a bench sipping juice while all the other kids ran and played. It broke my heart. I cried the hardest last night when I thought about that happening. And, now, it had happened on the very first day.



About 30 minutes later Holden called me back. Riley's sugar was 125 and he had eaten his lunch. The pump suggested 0.85 units. Not wanting him to go low again, I told him to give 0.70 units.

The rest of the school day went off without a hitch. His snack time sugar after school was 208. Then, he dipped down to 69 at supper. (See what I mean about the lows.)

When I picked Riley up from school yesterday he met me with a big grin on his face. When asked what his favorite part was he , of course, said recess. (Even though he went low while at recess.)

I asked him if when he went low he had to stop playing. He said, "No."

"What? You kept playing?"

"No, but no one else did either. All of us came in at the same time."

So, my vision of him sipping juice while everyone else played was all wrong.

As far as Riley was concerned he had an awesome first day of school. And, at the end of the day, I know that's what really matters is his perception of how things went.

When I woke him this morning I said, "You've got to get up so you can go to school," a huge grin spread across his face again.

He's ready for another day and so am I.

(P.S. First day of school pictures will be forthcoming. Hopefully I will get a new modem today and I can actually post from home.)

6 comments:

Major Bedhead said...

Sounds like he's really liking school.

Don't tell anyone, but I've forgotten to bolus O on more than one occasion. I always feel like a moron when I do that, but I'm human, not a robot, and I make mistakes.

Jonah said...

I've forget a lot if I'm starting out low and then planning to inject afterwards.
I'm glad to read that Riley had a good first day of school.

Kevin said...

Wow.
The amount of effort parents put into caring for their children is just astounding. Don't ever be hard on yourself. You're doing a Great Job.

I was sent to school with a 35mm film canister with 3-4 sugar cubes in them, AND THAT'S ALL. No phone calls, no glucometers, nada.

And so you don't feel bad, there were a few times I remember being called into the Principle's office to find my Mom there and she pulled me into a bathroom to give me the forgotten morning insulin shot. All of this without the faintest idea of what my blood sugar was (this was probably before we even had our own glucometer).

Give yourself a pat on the back, a kid who is happy to go to school is an awesome thing.

Shannon said...

Well I'm glad you did post about forgetting to dose Riley at breakfast because I've done that a few times too during the school year.

Riley sounds like he had a great day and didn't let diabetes get in his way.

Chris said...

Penny, the best thing about Cade's first day was his excitement about the second day.

BTW - When Cade was still on injections, I forgot the morning injection on the day of an Endo meeting (I really did look like a bad diabetes parent). It happens to the best of us.

Carey said...

How was day 2?