My son's class went on an excursion to see the play 'Seussical' the musical at the theatre. They left at 9.10am, walking to town, stopping for morning tea at 10.30am and returning by 1.20pm by bus. Lunch, on a normal day of school is at 12.30pm, so it would be delayed by an hour. We were told to pack extra snacks for morning tea because of this. The night before I packed his usual morning tea of fruit and milk, and an extra snack to keep him going until he returned to school for lunch. He woke with a BGL (blood glucose level) of around 10 and I was happy with that. With some glucose before he left for the walk, I was certain that his blood sugars would remain stable throughout the excursion. This sounds simple enough but everything Jason has to eat at school is carb counted to get him through the day. The aim is for him to remain within his target range and avoid hypoing.
I felt apprehensive about the excursion because he was out of his usual routine. Also, the teacher has a lot of children to contend with and there's more chance of something going wrong. I sat Jason down that morning at breakfast and explained the importance of him having to eat everything I put in his snack bag because lunch would be delayed. I'd gone to the office the day before and discussed the excursion with the admin staff member responsible for Jason's diabetes management at school. I wanted Jason's blood sugars to be tested before morning tea and as usual at 12.30pm. I'd covered everything. What could possibly go wrong?
When I picked Jason up from school, I asked him how the play was and he said great. As we walked home he began to explain how he'd had not one but three hypos. Hiding my horror, I asked him how this could be. He then proceeded to tell me that when he tested himself and at 10.30am he was 3.0, so he had a juice from the hypo kit. He said they had only stopped briefly for morning tea and that he hadn't the time to eat any of the remaining snacks he was supposed to. As the play began, he had felt like his blood sugars had dropped again and told his teacher he needed to test himself. Sure enough he was hypoing again. He had another juice and some glucose snakes and went back in to watch the musical. When he got back to school, he told the teacher that he should test himself again as he might be low. That was hypo number three! After listening to him talk about how he'd decided that it was his plan to have the glucose snakes as well as the juice to keep him going through the musical, I phrased him for taking steps to self-manage his diabetes. I then went on to explain what went wrong and why his blood sugars crashed three times that day. I told him that although he'd treated the hypo itself, because he didn't follow up with carbohydrates afterwards, his body had no fuel to keep him going. He hadn't even managed to have his normal morning tea snacks, let alone the extra!
The next step for us today is to communicate with the school admin staff and his teacher about what went wrong. Jason is not like every other child on the excursion. He can't simply miss out on eating because he doesn't have the time. He has to eat a certain amount of carbohydrates to cover the amount of insulin given for that day. I'm only thankful that Jason feels when his blood sugars are dropping or there could have been the real possibility that he could have ended up in the emergency department. I'd describe myself as a calm type 1 parent, organised and maintaining a positive approach to a disease that causes the kind of worry that can make you turn grey over night. I try to balance the randomness of diabetes with routine and a well thought out plan on days like this. Along the way, I try to instill in Jason this sense of routine and how important it is to have a plan in place, to be prepared. Jason is learning how to look after himself and become a little more independent with each passing year because one day he's going to need to do a lot more self-managing. But yesterday I just wished that Jason was like all the other children on the excursion, going to watch a musical without a care in the world. But the thought is fleeting. I'm too busy making sure he gets through each day to have much time for wishful thinking. Instead I'm just grateful that he's okay.
I felt apprehensive about the excursion because he was out of his usual routine. Also, the teacher has a lot of children to contend with and there's more chance of something going wrong. I sat Jason down that morning at breakfast and explained the importance of him having to eat everything I put in his snack bag because lunch would be delayed. I'd gone to the office the day before and discussed the excursion with the admin staff member responsible for Jason's diabetes management at school. I wanted Jason's blood sugars to be tested before morning tea and as usual at 12.30pm. I'd covered everything. What could possibly go wrong?
When I picked Jason up from school, I asked him how the play was and he said great. As we walked home he began to explain how he'd had not one but three hypos. Hiding my horror, I asked him how this could be. He then proceeded to tell me that when he tested himself and at 10.30am he was 3.0, so he had a juice from the hypo kit. He said they had only stopped briefly for morning tea and that he hadn't the time to eat any of the remaining snacks he was supposed to. As the play began, he had felt like his blood sugars had dropped again and told his teacher he needed to test himself. Sure enough he was hypoing again. He had another juice and some glucose snakes and went back in to watch the musical. When he got back to school, he told the teacher that he should test himself again as he might be low. That was hypo number three! After listening to him talk about how he'd decided that it was his plan to have the glucose snakes as well as the juice to keep him going through the musical, I phrased him for taking steps to self-manage his diabetes. I then went on to explain what went wrong and why his blood sugars crashed three times that day. I told him that although he'd treated the hypo itself, because he didn't follow up with carbohydrates afterwards, his body had no fuel to keep him going. He hadn't even managed to have his normal morning tea snacks, let alone the extra!
The next step for us today is to communicate with the school admin staff and his teacher about what went wrong. Jason is not like every other child on the excursion. He can't simply miss out on eating because he doesn't have the time. He has to eat a certain amount of carbohydrates to cover the amount of insulin given for that day. I'm only thankful that Jason feels when his blood sugars are dropping or there could have been the real possibility that he could have ended up in the emergency department. I'd describe myself as a calm type 1 parent, organised and maintaining a positive approach to a disease that causes the kind of worry that can make you turn grey over night. I try to balance the randomness of diabetes with routine and a well thought out plan on days like this. Along the way, I try to instill in Jason this sense of routine and how important it is to have a plan in place, to be prepared. Jason is learning how to look after himself and become a little more independent with each passing year because one day he's going to need to do a lot more self-managing. But yesterday I just wished that Jason was like all the other children on the excursion, going to watch a musical without a care in the world. But the thought is fleeting. I'm too busy making sure he gets through each day to have much time for wishful thinking. Instead I'm just grateful that he's okay.