Just because sometimes she gets her HIGHS and LOWs mixed up does not mean you can ignore her.
Just because she does not insist you check her blood sugar does not mean she did not tell you.
We are very, very lucky...usually, Cara is very in-tuned to what her body is telling her. Sometimes she gets her highs and lows a little confused, sometimes she cry's wolf about a low because she wants a snack and sometimes she takes a round about way to tell you that she is low but for the most part that kid is dead on!
When she was first diagnosed we would always ask her "how do you feel?" when we did blood sugar checks or we would play the high or low game ( guess your number). I'm not sure if this helped her realize and make correlations to how she felt and her blood sugar levels but I have no problem taking a little credit for that :) But honestly I really think that even without our little games Cara would have been great at telling us about highs and lows. I do know many, many children to no fault of their own or their parents who are unable to feel and tell someone when they are going low.
You would think as good as Cara is at telling us how she feels people would start listening to this kid. I find myself over and over again telling people if she says she is low or tells you she feels weird TEST HER!! My husband is the worst especially when it just does not make any sense that she would be low. But HELLO we are talking about T1 when in the HELL does it make sense? But he is not the only one!
On Sunday we had my nephew's birthday party to go to and in good old Nicole fashion I still needed to get a gift. On our way to the store we picked up Kailyn who was out with friends and then we ran to the store to get the gift. We left Kailyn in the car to watch Cara and the kids. When we got back, we started to back out of the parking space and Cara says "mom I'm low" Immediately I threw the diabetic bag (that is what we call the bag we have all Cara's supplies in) at Kay and said test her. "Mom, she is fine" Kailyn tells me. "No, she said she is low and we test her when she says she is low!" and of course 5 seconds later...3.2mmols. She is low. I turned to Kailyn and asked how long has she been telling you that she was low? Kay was trying to tell me Cara just started when Connor chimed in with the truth. As soon as I left the car Cara told Kailyn she was low and she just ignored her, told her to wait until mom and dad come back, don't worry your fine. Luckily we were not in the store for longer then 5 mins top or who knows how long Cara would have been telling Kailyn she was low until she actually took the time to check her.
Bottom line: NO MATTER WHAT, WHEN A TYPE 1 SAYS THEY ARE LOW...CHECK THEM!!
And the icing on the cake we had no fast acting carbs on us to correct the low. JUST GREAT!! what is this try and stress out Nicole day?
While in the chaos of getting everyone and myself ready for my nephews birthday party I asked my husband to pack the diabetic bag...this is usually my job, however we were running late and still needed to get a gift (story above explained this fact) So he pack everything that we needed BUT he forgot or he actually took out all our fast acting carbs because we were just going to my parents house for cake and ice cream...so no need for fast acting carbs...right? WRONG. He figured all we would need is insulin and a meter. Great, so after ignoring Cara, throwing the diabetic bag at Kailyn, testing Cara, finding out she is low, we have nothing to give her because someone (my husband) cleaned out the bag.
Thank goodness I hoard fast acting carbs everywhere! I had a juice box in my purse.
Bottom Line #2: NO MATTER HOW LONG YOU "THINK" YOU WILL BE AWAY FROM HOME ALWAYS HAVE ALL T1 SUPPLIES THAT YOU NEED TO KEEP YOUR T1 ALIVE.
12 comments:
oh man...this hits us too.. Emily (5 yr old T1) is at school 2x a week, I found out that she had been telling the teachers she was feeling funny (shaky) and they had been telling her to eat something from her lunch...then when I come check her at lunch, her numbers were sky high... had to get them trained to check her when she says that...you need to test..that's the only way to know what's going on!! you have to listen to whatever she is saying. totally agree with this post! :)
Tracy
Yep...I think these are perhaps the two most life-saving lessons for people to "get" right off the bat when a loved one is diagnosed with type 1 Nicole.
Bummer on her having to wait 5 minutes and so glad about the juice box!!!
I agree...with both. My husband has t1d and the funny thing is it's usually him who says things like, it's fine we'll be there in a minute...or crackers are the same as glucose tabs. So, now I pack the bag and he checks whenever Isaac says or I feel uneasy as I've come to notice those looks, that blah face that says, "I'm low" long before he even says anything.
Glad it all turned out fine :)
It's always best to be prepared! After being in several situations where I didn't have some kind of fast-acting carb, I finally learned to always carry juice or glucose tabs after driving home and having to pull over at a fast food place and asking the lady in front of me if I could go in front of her because I'm type 1 and needed a coke NOW. Not a good feeling! Glad you had juice on hand. :)
oh no! I woulda flipped out too!
Glad everything ended well!
It hard isnt it, even relying on people who are around t1d ALL the time. The responsiblity usually falls to one person! good job storing carbs in your purse :)
I'm so glad that everything turned out ok. Scary situation!
Sometimes my husband will say the same thing. I admit I've said it too, but usually after I know her numbers and what she's eaten vs. time frame.
I can only imagine the distress of what to say to your older daughter, must've been hard not to scream at her. In my house I'm the primary caretaker, as I'm sure you are, so that poses a problem when I need help at times. Sometimes I think that after 9 years, they'd get it, but that's why my blog is 'Such Is Life'....sigh.
So, so true! Sweets does not recognize her lows - or highs - yet... I think we're making some progress. We still have times when she's acting up or acting weird and it takes awhile before we realize it's bg related. You think we'd get it by now...
We had to this conversation with a teacher last year... fun times!
We also taught Sugar Boy to recognize his lows (and highs) by talking to him about what he feels when we get an out of range number. :) It's amazing how smart our kiddos are! That, and it sounds like you and I are lucky to have little ones that ACTUALLY FEEL their lows... I know a lot of kids their age just can't.
I loved this post... two great lessons, indeed.
PS - I hope you gave your hubby hell! :)
When you least expect it, expect it! Jack's been low immediately after eating a meal and before receiving any insulin. We've learned to trust him whenever he says he feels low, even if it seems like odd timing. And like you, we stash carbs everywhere! Good post! Good reminders!
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