Woman, Independent Parent, Artist, Advocate, Artifical Pancreas.... and EVERYTHING in between.

I am blessed to be parenting two beautiful girls, ages eight and eleven. My youngest nearly lost her life at age six (August 2010) to diabetic ketoacidosis: an often fatal consequences of undiagnosed type 1 diabetes. This is OUR journey: raw and sometimes, uncensored.

Thank you for visiting wishing good health and a cooperative pancreas to you and yours.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Night Time Glucose Testing

Last night, Rowan complained at bedtime about an ear-ache. She hadn't said anything about it all day long, and it certainly didn't prevent her from playing outside in the neighbourhood for hours, so I took the information, and mentally filed it for later examination. But sure enough, within an hour of her being asleep, she began screaming and crying out in her sleep.

I've done this ear infection thing with my kids often enough to know that it does indeed hurt more at bedtime, because when they lay down, there's more pressure on the inner ear. So when I put her older sister to bed in the top bunk, I decided to spare myself the extra effort later on, and lug my sleeping diabetic beauty into my bed.

Hours later, I crept into my room surrounded by darkness, to test her glucose levels one last time before going to bed. Now I've heard that some kids are able to be 'finger-poked' in their sleep... and it took a while for us to figure out what works for us. The times that I have tried doing it in her sleep, she woke up in 'fight or flight' and believe me... she was fighting. I couldn't keep control of her flailing little arm, and the blood sample smeared everywhere. So last night, I'm at the side of my bed, with a soft closet light on, setting up the meter and preparing to test her. I know she knows I'm there. We both know what's coming.

I reach under the blankets and pull out her itty-bitty little hand, and she pulls it back under the blankets. I stroke her hair away from her forehead, and whisper to her that I'm here for her # and need her finger back please. Her eyes remain closed, and her face tightens into a grimace when the lancet goes into the side of her finger. But she was warned, and there is no struggle, no smeared blood everywhere, no hysterically crying child. She was 8.2.... which meant one thing: she wouldn't make it through the night without going hypoglycemic on me. I set my alarm clock for four hours later, only to repeat the entire process at 4am, followed by one of our infamous 'diabetic midnight picnics' in bed.

And we survive another day.... only to repeat this six times over.... minimum. We visit the doctor today... sure enough, she has the beginning of another ear infection. I'm wondering how sugar-reduced antibiotics taste... knowing I'll be informed in a couple of hours when I present her with her first dose.

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