Monday, November 14, 2005

Get DOWN! No! Get UP!

It's a not so fun rollercoaster ride (I normally LOVE rollercoasters lol) Guess this is the life of being diabetic. Poor Carrie is getting slammed physically. Thing is...I should've known last night's dinner would send her skyrocketing. We decided to have some fun and ran to get Arby sandwiches for everyone. When I was first pregnant with Danielle it sent my BS off the roof...so why not Carrie's? It didn't help that she was high to start with either. Here's how it went...

Predinner...236 give her Humalog (H..fast acting insulin)
2 hrs later & bedtime...348, give her H and her Lantus
1hr later...317
1.5hrs after that...184

I see she's coming down and am ok with that number although it's not great. Head into bed. This morning she woke to a 162 and I gave her the H. We upped her H in the morning and I'd never given it to her on a school day. She's running late and I make her stuff a pudding cup down her throat...hand her a slim jim and a individ pack of cheez-its and push her out the door. I'm now yelling instructions out the door...eat those on the bus! I sent her a indi pack of cookies for her bus home snack (not sure if she has to stay after so wanted the higher carbed snack).

Fast forward to 10:30 this AM. School nurse's aide calls...Carrie's here with an upset stomach and feeling shaky. (lunch is in half an hour) I've tested and her sugar is 125 so that's fine. I explain that she's RARELY that low so she might be experiencing low symptoms at that number. I talk to Carrie and find out she didn't eat her crackers on the bus. I'm really not sure what to do. Because I'm not sure if she's still heading downward numberwise I tell the aide to have her eat at least half her crackers and then proceed for lunch testing.

Lunchtime rolls around. Aide calls again. She ate her COOKIES and is now 102. HUH? OK so she was heading downward when she didn't feel so hot. It's good she recognized the symptoms. :o) Technically she's suppose to get a tiny dose of H if she's above 100 but I'm not sure if she's heading downward still or not. I instruct the aid to skip the H and send her to lunch. Test 2hrs after lunch and call me...I'll let her know if she needs to give a correction shot or not.

Phone rings at 11:30...Carrie is testing out at 178 now. Should I give her the lunch dosage of H based on those numbers. UGH! I'm not even sure what I'm doing. What am I suppose to tell her? I ask her to let Carrie go another hour, then test again...we'll correct after that if need to. I'm so use to the highs I'm scared to let her get low now. I hope I'm doing right. Guess I could call the JC and ask.

Dealing with myself with D, I've seen it as mathematical...no brainer. Numbers high...fix it one way or the other. Numbers low...EAT! With Carrie it's not such an easy call. It'd be different if she was home (and I was SO tempted to run to school and bring her home!). I'm not sure if school makes it harder for me because I'm not there. She doesn't have immediate access to everything...although the school nurse is only down the hall and can be there in 30secs. Or I'm afraid that Carrie isn't going to realize what's going on and ignore it, even though she's proven she can. Maybe it's all of the above.

My mind is still racing..trying to rationalize if what I did was right or not. What to do if 12:30 numbers are X or above, X or below. How long before she'll be home to test and eat again. If I should have her test anymore at school today. I'm making myself dizzy!

One second I'm looking forward to Carrie's appt at the JC and the dietician on Wednesday. Other times I've dreading it. The unknown is the problem. Will it make things easier or harder? What are they going to do? Will they know answers to my zillions of questions?

I need to go to the grocery store, also have to pick up some meds at the Rx. I don't want to leave and be gone when Carrie gets off the bus. It's like having all little kids again (no babysitters) and having to be home for the kindergarten bus.

Late afternoon update...She was 190 and will have 3hrs until she can have anything to eat. I told her to leave her at that. Now I wonder if I should've had her given a smidgen of H to correct it. Oh well, guess we'll see how she is when she gets home. At least she's reporting she feels much better. Poor kid.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

I hate when they are not HERE so I can fix the problem. I hope things get better.

Melanie said...

My dad got type 1 diabetes when he was in his 30's ... uncommon, I know, but he did. I don't remember him having such back and forth numbers when trying to first get it under control, but I was under 10 then, so, who knows?! I hope you're able to get some answers at the appt.