Mrs M

Today Maddison and I took in all her "D" supplies to the nurse's office. For those unfamiliar with what we need at school, here are a few of the necessities....

Meter
Strips
Alchol swabs
Syringes
Insulin
Insulin pump book
Glucose tabs
Juice
Tylenol (Maddison has frequent headaches at school)
Rolaids (yep, frequent tummy aches too)
mini water bottles
test control solution for the meter
snacks
carb free snacks
ketone strips
Glucagon

Did I forget anything?

After a quick update with the nurse for our care plan this year, we were off to speak with Maddison's new teacher Mrs. M. Mrs M is an older, very soft spoken and kind lady. Hannah loved her when she had her back in 3rd grade. I think Mrs M is everything Maddison needs to succeed this year and build confidence in the classroom. What a relief!

Then comes the Diabetes talk with the teacher. UGH. I hate having to go over the Diabetes talk. There is so much as parents we want to say. We want teachers to know how our kids should be treated perfectly normal, but at the same time we stress the importance of vigilance in the care routine. We stress the urgency of testing when a low blood sugar is suspected, and the importance of recognizing potential highs. We talk about cognitive function being impaired from highs or lows, illness that isn't simple anymore, and we educate on how Diabetes is always changing. How is that normal to a teacher who has never had to handle all this? The "talk" is a very challenging thing to get right. You want to educate without sounding like the Diabetes police, but you also want the disease to be taken seriously without stressing the teacher out. I wish I knew just the right things to say. I usually end up saying too much.

Even though I feel that Mrs M is very capable and on top of Maddison's needs in the classroom, it is then that hearing myself talk all this talk makes ME feel overwhelmed. I'm used to just doing it, not training someone on how it all needs to be done. When you start to explain Diabetes you again realize how very complicated it really is.

I was surprised to find that our nurse didnt have Maddison down to test until lunchtime, at 11:10a. Thats a problem. If Maddison has breakfast at 6:30am every morning, waiting until that time to check her blood sugar is nearly 5 hours after eating! What is our silly nurse thinking? I guess she thinks if Maddison comes in high for lunch I just start to make a few changes to insulin doses......but where?
9am? 10am? A ratio? Its just not that easy. And....ummmmm.......what if Maddison is high for those 5 hours until lunch? Um.....no, thats not gonna work. The chances of being in range is about 50/50. It was then that I started to stress. Its hard to decide when to test at school! I would LOVE LOVE LOVE to be able to say Maddison can wait until lunch to be tested. Afterall, I dont want her missing valued class time, and we all know if breakfast doesn't turn out right then the rest of the day is typically the same. You cant go into lunch being high from breakfast! So, the nurse agreed to a 9am check ((FOR THE FIRST MONTH) ACK! Does she really think a month is all it takes? A month is all I need to get everything under control? And its going to stay that way? Where is the instructions for this pancreas? I must have been missing them all these years!

Lunch at 11:10.....our nurse had no mention of Maddison needing to return for a blood sugar check anywhere the remaining school day (??????) I guess we wait until she gets home at 3:30pm? Ummmmmm........What? Is this the same nurse that I drove bonkers last year with emails and phone calls? Suddenly Maddison is older and in 3rd grade so Diabetes is behaving? Ideally Maddison is checked 2.5 hours after eating, unless things have been going "predictably" which, isnt often. Dont kids NEED to be checked this often at school to assure they are at their learning potential without highs and lows? Now I'm stressed and my mind starts remembering how difficult back to school is with Diabetes. I'm not sure what will work out best for Maddison. As always, we experiment and adjust accordingly. I hate that part of Diabetes! Just 3 more days!