Good to go

In the past, new situations would require a more detailed explanation of T1D. My daughter has type 1 diabetes. “Here is what you should be aware of; here is what to do if she is high or low; here are the supplies; here is how to use glucagon; here is what she may need help with.”

Now that V is fully capable of handling all aspects of her diabetes care, things are different. One week before babysitting camp, I tried emailing who I thought was the right contact  to give them a heads up about V. I never got a reply and things got too busy for me to follow up. So on the day of drop off, I introduced myself to camp counselor and said this: “Just so you are aware, V has type 1 diabetes. She has all of the supplies with her and she knows what to do, she is completely independent in her care. She has her phone on her, she needs to keep it to call us if she has any questions or needs help. Please feel free to call us if you have any questions or concerns. Otherwise, she’s good to go.” The counselor asked if V had snacks for low blood sugar and I assured her that she had plenty. And that was that.

Today was back to school day. I prepared V’s supplies for health office. I like to take a minimalist approach, pack only the necessities, and refill as needed. As she is flying mostly solo, she only visits the health office if she’s unwell or runs out of supplies unexpectedly, and she always carries a glucagon and glucose tabs in her backpack.

Back up supplies, snacks and fast acting sugars will do. All fits in a relatively small box. Not pictured are a vial of back up insulin, string cheese and a couple of back up frozen gluten free meals, that go straight from our fridge/freezer to the one in health office. No letter, no flow charts, no detailed explanations.

When we arrived to school, we learned that there was a new nurse. I found her by the front gate, introduced myself and asked her where to drop off supplies. “I am V’s mom. She has type one diabetes and celiac. She’s completely independent in her care.” The nurse asked me if V was “the one with the pump” and told me she’s heard great things about her. And that a wonderful health tech who was there last year is going be there every day except Monday. Alright, this makes for a good start! I told her I’ll have V drop by and introduce herself at some point.

And that was that.

Off to 7th and 4th grades they go. One is fake smiling. The other one is completely honest about his lack of enthusiasm. 

P.S. After V reads this post, I’m sure she can comment on how annoyed she was with the school not informing the new math teacher about her T1D, and her having to spend 10-15 minutes explaining it to her. She can also tell you how stupid diabeetus completely refused to cooperate and she fought highs all day long for no good reason. And we can also talk about our ongoing struggle of getting V to wake up to CGM alarms in the middle of the night, as it makes sleepovers more challenging.

But aside from that, she knows what to do. She’s good to go.

Milestones

***Two months. It’s been two months since my last post. I’ve been meaning to write about this or about that, but ultimately life got in the way. I think it’s my longest break between posts. I don’t know how to feel about it. I miss more regular blogging but it’s still not happening for whatever reason.

***Braces, round two. No one is excited about it. Between restrictions that come with braces (no hard or chewy foods, among other things) and restrictions that come with Celiac, V gets, well, more food restrictions. And pain and suffering. Because braces are painful and annoying. Yay…Nope.

Enjoying final corn on the cob before braces.

***1:5. This is V’s shiny new daytime insulin to carb ratio. To translate from diabetes to real world, this means that for every 5 g. of carbs V needs to give 1 unit of insulin. It is a LOT of insulin. It used to be around 1:15 back in the day. This means a few things. One, she is receiving much higher insulin dosages with a much smaller margin for error. If we overestimate the carbs, she is at a much higher risk of a bad low. If we underestimate, her BG can shoot through the roof. Both happened. We are learning to adapt and deal with it. Secondly, we are going through insulin like water. At V’s next Endo appointment will need to address changing the Rx to increase the amount because running out of insulin is about the worst nightmare anyone with diabetes can experience. Thirdly, the pods are only lasting about two days. They can last up to three, if they don’t fall off or run out of insulin. A pod can hold a maximum of 200 units. She usually burns through about that much in a couple of days now. Again, to put it in perspective, in the beginning we used to fill it up with about 75-80 units and it would last three days with some insulin to spare. Fourth, this means that unless the food is truly carb-free, such as meats and cheese, she needs to cover it with insulin. There is no more such thing is a little bite of this or a little bite of that. There is no more not needing to bolus for low carb foods that are 5 g. of carbs or less. Got carbs? Better break out some insulin.

Why so much insulin now? In one word, puberty. Raging hormones, growth, changes. And it may get worse before gets better. And speaking of worse…

***Highest A1C since diagnosis. It is what it is. And it is not really all that bad of a number. Still, it’s higher than desired. Why? In one word, puberty. We increase insulin dosages, things stabilize for a few days, and then V starts going up again. Up up up she goes and we can’t seem to catch up. But then she’ll have random days of lows, lows, lows. It’s hard to find patterns. Sometimes there are no patterns. So, FU puberty.

***Babysitter, officially. She’s 12. She got her CPR/First Aid Certification. She attended babysitting camp. I helped her draft her very first real resume. She has been helping out with neighbors’ kids for quite a while, and now she is ready for bigger parent helper/babysitting jobs.