Type I

This week has been delightfully busy with bee stings, possibly broken bones, and nosebleeds up the wazoo. Monday morning came the most exciting news of all though: I now have a diabetic. For some reason, until now, I had been one of only two of us ten nurses that didn't have a diabetic, at least not one I had to check daily. Personally, I think the insane happenings at my school all year long have been karma for not drawing the diabetic card; I also believe I do have diabetics at my schools that just haven't been diagnosed, but I digress. This kid is an insulin-dependent diabetic, a 3rd grader on an insulin pump but too young to take care of himself alone. Nurses - not health clerks -are the only employees that can give insulin, which generally means at the lunch hour - ranging 11-1 - most school nurses are running around their various schools making sure all their diabetics are covered. This is what happened in my case: this boy is not at any of my schools but at the school he is at, his nurse is now having to cover too many diabetics at the same time, so I took over at the site closest to me. Confusing, right? I think to the outside world it sounds like an incredible waste of time and money, but if you understand the implications of diabetes and blood sugars you may get it. 

Anyway, now every day at 11:15 I head over to "the other side of the tracks" (across the freeway) to check on this little guy. Besides the fact that I get a stretch break, I really appreciate getting a glimpse of what life is like at the better performing schools, what the parents are like, and how they run things over at other schools. More than that though, I'm so glad to finally have the relationship with a student that most everyone else gets to have all year long. You get close quickly with your diabetic kids, and while I don't eat lunch with him, like several nurses do with their young diabetics, it is something special to have a kid looking forward to seeing you every day. It means someone cares that you show up to work.