5th grade: So far, so good!

Rosie has been back in school for nine days now.  I have only received one call from the Clinic Aide, and that was about some missing paperwork that the endo's office hasn't faxed yet. I think it's a record-- usually by this time I've been in to "chat" with the Clinic Aide about some kind of problem at least once!

Rosie has a plastic shoe box with supplies in her homeroom.  She tests in the classroom as needed.  When she changes classrooms for various subjects, she carries glucose with her in her pump belt, and generally can rely on her Dexcom to see if she's going low.  If needed, she can leave the other classrooms and go to the clinic to test.  

She's run a little on the low side nearly every day, which tends to happen at the start of every school year with the changes in routine.  She's been able to treat/test herself and has done really well.  I'm so proud of her!
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Good Day + Bad Site = Bad Night

On Saturday I took four kids to the local splashpad, two of whom are Type 1.   My daughter Rosie, my son (non-d), and our two neighbors-- a girl Rosie's age, and a boy my son's age-- and who is also Type 1.  

It was nice, having another d-kid and sibling with us... not to mention that these kids are all good friends.   Nobody batted an eye when we pulled out two meters and did two finger pokes.  None of the four kids complained when they needed to sit after their snack for a few minutes and allow the d-kids to come up a little (from 84 and 83) before they ran off to play some more.  Any time we go places with non-d kids we have to explain and make a big deal out of testing and waiting... with these four, it was just a normal thing.   It was great!

Unfortunately, last night was not so nice.  I changed Rosie's site after supper, and apparently a wrinkle in the adhesive kept the catheter  from going all the way in.   Coincidentally, we also got ice cream last night, something we rarely do.   Around 11pm she spiked up to 537, complete with vomiting and headache.  A site change, a couple of hours on the couch,  and a 200% basal finally brought her down-- around 3am she was down to 194, and we finally went to bed.   Then, at her 6am check, she was low-- 49.  I don't know if that was from over-correcting the high, or if it was just normal, because the last two days she had also been low around that time.   At any rate, it was a long night that was very short on sleep!
 

Back to School Blues

My kids start back to school on Tuesday.  I know it's cliche, but where did the summer go?  Ugh.

This summer has been good in terms of diabetes-- Rosie's A1C is the lowest it's been in two years.   Rosie has taken charge of counting carbs and doing her own bolus at lunch (with supervision).  She hasn't had any sites ripped out or any pump issues for quite a while now.

School.  ::sigh::  We love the Catholic school that our kids attend, and the only issues we've ever had there involve extra care-- both with Rosie's diabetes and her brother's learning disability.  Both conditions require extra services (read: paperwork and meetings) that the school is required by law to provide, but getting them to provide those services isn't always easy.  My mama bear side tends to come out, and the clinic aide tends to look like a deer in headlights if I bump into her when she wasn't expecting to see me.  Oh well!

I feel like I'm gearing up to do battle again.   I know that going back to the school routine will throw her numbers off for a week or two- it always does.  I also know that every year we have issues with the clinic aide, and every year I can count on multiple phone calls before things are straightened out.  The first month of school is, basically, exhausting for all of us.

So, yeah...the thought of summer ending and sending Rosie back to school makes me kind of sad. Anyone else wishing for a few more weeks of summer?

 

D-eyes

I have always assumed that at some point my kids will need glasses.  I'm nearly blind, myself-- I can only see a few inches in front of my face without glasses or contacts.  Everyone on my side of the family wears contacts or glasses.  My husband has been blessed with much better vision, but even he sometimes needs to wear glasses at night.  So... I figured it was inevitable.

I took both kids to the ophthalmologist today.  Rosie's vision was "on the fence", with the Dr. stating that he won't be surprised if she starts complaining of vision problems within the next six months or so.  If not then, by the time we go back next year, he expects her to need glasses.

The Dr. reminded me how important it is for diabetics to see an ophthalmologist every year.  He compared it to a leaky hose-- he said that diabetes can keep poking tiny holes in a person's eye health  that aren't really noticable until all of the sudden you have a big flood of problems.  He encouraged us to keep up with our visits so that we can catch any issues in the "leak" phase, before they become big problems.

All in all, it was a good visit, and a good reminder: diabetes is always there, always working in the background, and we have to do our best to stay on top of it.