WifeMomPancreas

I need them to prop my eyelids open.  WARNING: I am writing on a post-night shift hangover so who knows what I will say.  I don’t usually work night shifts anymore in my new job in IT, but a couple of times a year when we are upgrading or installing a new application we have to round at the hospitals and this month is one of those times.  I have a couple more night shifts coming up in the next few weeks and I am dreading them.  But, there is one good thing about working the night shift now .  I got to sleep today (for a few hours anyway) without worrying about Medium and what his blood sugars were doing while he was sleeping, because he was at school.  It was wonderful (well, as wonderful as sleeping during the day after you’ve been up for over 24 hours can be).  I mean, I still worried about him last night while he was sleeping and I was working, especially since Brian (my husband) kinda overdosed him on his Novolog at dinner.  Not really his fault.  The basketball team had their end of season party at a pizza place that had no nutritional information available.  So Brian just had to make his best guess at the carb count in a slice of pizza.  I mean, cheese pizza at one place is probably pretty much the same as cheese pizza at another place, right?  Sure, if the crusts are the same, and if one sauce doesn’t have a lot more sugar in it than another, and if the serving sizes are the same…….you can see what a pain it is and how easily it might be to give your child a little too much insulin at a meal. Which is apparently what happened because about an hour and a half after dinner his BG was 56.  Oops.  Thank God, Medium likes to eat.  He is always more than happy to eat the peanut butter crackers or applesauce that we are constantly throwing at him when he is low, even at 3:00 in the morning.  God I love that kid.

Because I worked last night I was asleep this morning before he got up and didn’t get a chance to remind him that he has Chess Club after school today.  This is the first time since diagnosis that he will be staying after school for something and I want him to check his BG right after school so that if he is low he can get a snack from his stash in the nurses office.  The nurse leaves around 4:00 and I am afraid that if he feels low at 4:15 he won’t have access to his glucometer and snacks.  So I am thinking to myself, no biggie, I will just call my new BFF, the school nurse, and explain this to her and she will take care of it.  Here is how it actually went down.

ring….ring…..ring…..

SCHOOL: “Hello.”

ME:  “Oh, hi, this is Medium’s mom, I was just calling to talk to Carrie.”

SCHOOL: “She’s not here today, but there is a substitute nurse, would you like to talk to her?”

ME:  (in my head) “No, no I would not.  I would like to talk to my new BFF, Carrie.  The one who has spent hours going over Medium’s diabetes plan with me, the one with whom I have exchanged countless emails and phone calls with about his BG’s, the one who has lessened my fears, seen me cry and even cried with me.  No I do not want to talk to the substitute nurse.  That’s the thing about BFF’s, THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE!

ME: (out loud) “Sure!”

SUBSTITUTE NURSE: “Hi, this is Carol.”

ME: (in my head) “Hi Carol, you don’t know me, but my child’s life has been in your hands all day and now I am going to ask you to go above and beyond your school day duties and make sure my son is ok after school, too.  How do you like them apples?”

ME: (out loud) “Hi, I am Medium’s mom and I forgot to remind that he has chess club after school and that he should come check his BG right after school and have snack if he needs it, because I don’t know what time you leave and I don’t want him to go low and then not be able to get to his snacks.”

SUBSTITUTE NURSE: “Okay.  I leave at 4:00.  His BG was 114 at 2:30 and we gave him a 25 carb snack.”

ME: “Oh, well then maybe he won’t need to check, but I just never know these days, you know, he is newly diagnosed and he can be all over the place with his sugars and since I didn’t get to talk to him this morning…..”

SUBSTITUTE NURSE: (cutting me off) “So do you want him to come check or not?”

ME: “Yes, have him check, please.  Thank you.”

Needless to say, Substitute nurse is NOT my new BFF.  And, needless to say, I will be parked right outside the school doors during Chess Club, just in case Medium needs me because I can’t trust that substitute nurse got it right.  Because that is my job, as his mother…..and his pancreas.