I am beat
Scott Benner
It was about 10 pm last night when I first thought, “something is not right” regarding Arden BG. She shouldn’t have been so out of range (high), it was well past dinner but I thought maybe her mac & cheese was taking a second shot at her BG so I gave her more insulin and waited. During this wait I watch the season finale of ‘True Blood’, I picked that show because I felt a bit like a vampire sneaking into Arden’s room to take her blood. Please don’t tell Kelly that I watched it as she is in Switzerland on business and I’m quite sure that she’ll be miffed that she hasn’t seen it and I have. Anyway, I went back after the show and checked Ards again and all looked like it was going well (she was coming down). Later (after watching Sports Center) Ards DexCom CGM beeped and I thought for sure she was falling but when I checked, her BG was on the rise again - so more insulin. I thought, “this was it for sure... I’ll just watch Entourage, check her again and I’m off to sleep”. After Entourage (oh Vince why have you taken the junkie’s path) a heard another beep - still her BG hadn’t moved. I was too tired to be annoyed... I gave more insulin when I should have been thinking, “bad infusion site” but the site had been perfect for at least the last day so... I don’t know, it just didn’t occur to me. Now it’s a bit after 4 am and her BG is falling, not a lot but just enough that I thought that this was over and I passed out reasonably sure that when I got up at 7 all would be well. I don’t think I fell to sleep until about 4:30 and WHAMO did 7 come fast but still I was energetic because today is the day that I’m going to talk to Arden’s class about type I and she was very excited. I woke Cole and reached for Arden’s CGM... Her BG was over 350... Then the horrid feeling that I screwed up and should have swapped her infusion site nine hours ago hits me like a slab of concrete to the chest. She’s been getting minimal insulin for nine hours and that just breaks my heart. So I swap the pod and give a giant bolus with the intention of catching the fall with breakfast in an hour or so... but the fall doesn’t come. 8am, more insulin - 9am, more insulin, is this site bad too, no can’t be... but just in case I give her next insulin by syringe. Another hour and nothing - then I speak with Cathy at CHOP and she says to push even more fluids. Maybe Arden is dehydrated so the insulin isn’t having it’s full effect. Arden picks up the pace on the water drinking that I had her doing and we finally started to see results so I kept my appointment to speak to Arden’s class. With Arden in tow we were off. Her BG was falling nicely during my chat with the kids and at one point we had to test her - she needed something to eat. I spent another 30 minutes in the nurse’s office getting Arden stable, I did so just in time for recess... I signed Ards into school, went over the last 10 hours of BGs with the nurses and came home where I am now writing about the day with white flashes before my eyes because I am so tired. Can’t really close my eyes now or I’ll miss the nurse’s calls. Sorry for the run-on sentences and general lack of English writing rules being observed - I really am beat. That is Arden’s Day... and apparently it’s mine too. Please consider making a donation to Arden’s 2010 JDRF walk at this link.