My little spitfire diabetic was absent today, and no wonder: yesterday her blood sugar ranged from 400+ to 60 in a matter of hours. Apparently she told her mom that her dad (they have joint custody) gave her that night's insulin, when in fact he hadn't, as the mom found out the next morning. At her morning check, her blood sugar was 260-something, and she felt ill; her ketones were off the charts. We called mom, who, to my relief, actually answered and came, and explained the insulin issue that happened last night. She said she was just off the phone from their doctor, and gave my diabetic her specified dose. An hour later, her teacher called to say her blood sugar was 60. And this was a totally normal Monday for this girl.
I don't understand how she can get any work done when she's feeling crappy all the time, and her blood sugar is flying all over the place. Her teacher said her work is suffering: in a recent test my diabetic was the only student in the class to not score in the "green" category. :( I'm not really sure what to do about the situation, and I don't understand why her mom won't realize that she's the parent and the diabetic is the child - someone needs to take responsibility and it probably isn't going to be the 8 year old. No one seems to care about the fact that there are serious long term complications of uncontrolled diabetes that this girl is headed for if things don't change.
On a lighter note, a first grade teacher relayed to me an incident during recess in which she overheard several students discussing the existence of Jesus. One pointed to the sky, and said he's up there; then another said, "Jesus died of lupus." You really never know what will come out of the mouths of children.
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Does spitfire go to diabetes camp in the summer? She might enjoy that support. I think the YMCA offers these camps with extensive scholarships for those who can't afford to pay. Also, spitfire is not old enough to know how to adjust her insulin based on her sugars, and when she needs insulin. Maybe make a chart where she can write down her blood glucose level (and maybe how much insulin was given), and give her a sticker every time she does this. Give stickers at 10, 20, 50, & 100 stickers, etc.
ReplyDeleteAlso, how do you feel about their endocrinologist? Does she need better basal regulation, either through more lantus or through an insulin pump? In my experience the varying basal rates of the insulin pump help regulate the insulin much better than lantus and humalog/ novalog. You could always give the family general info about an insulin pump to discuss w/ their endocrinologist if spitfire doesn't already have a pump.
Re: camp - excellent thought that I will look into. As far as positive rewards, this 8 year old thinks she's way above stickers. I offerred her some play time on my iPod touch for being good the other week and her disappointed response: "You don't have Angry Birds?"
ReplyDeleteI know they are working on the lantus thing. She used to have a pump, but she would play with the settings so as to garner attention from the school nurse...Like the time she somehow managed to get her blood sugar down to 28. For now, I just do what I can to manage it at school, which is unfortunately a small part of her life. Thanks for your input!