those darn test strips

I was sitting in the parking lot today of the school that my son attends for speech classes when my mom texted me that my diabetic daughter was crying and desperately wanting pretzels. I said "have you checked her?!, you need to check her first!"

She texted back that she had tried but wasn't successful. She couldn't get enough blood on the test strip to get an accurate reading.

We texted back and forth a few moments as I tried to advise her. My son was due to be out of his class in fifteen minutes and I couldn't leave, so I just had to guide her through cell phone.

I finally called her to see what the situation was.

Earlier that day, I had had to leave in a hurry to get my other daughter to school first and then my son. I had checked my sweetie's blood sugar levels and she was over 300. So I gave her 1/2 a unit to bring her levels back down and then told my mom to just feed her upto 15 grams. until I got back. I said a cup of milk and an egg would be fine.

well, after I left, my sweetie was too involved in computer games and didn't want to eat. So my mom had decided to wait to feed her.

Now almost an hour later, my sweetie was crying and wanting to eat. which to us parents of diabetic children usually means "CHECK blood sugar levels!!!"

So when my mom answered the phone, I could hear my sweetie in the background crying. My mom said that she had tried testing her twice and still couldn't get enough blood on the test strip.

Now I was beginning to panic. My mom kept saying "She's just hungry". I thought "no.no.no. she is dropping! TEST HER!!!"

My mom asks if I can come home. NO! now what??????

I suddenly think of our Godsend. The neighbors that God purposefully gave us when he knew that down the road we would need them. The mom that has a type 1 diabetic son and type 1 diabetic husband. The advocates and activity providers for diabetic families.

I tell my mom, "Give her smarties NOW! just in case. and I will call our neighbor to come over and help.

My mom finally agrees and thank goodness, the neighbor answers her phone. As other times, I have gotten her machine. She says she will go over right now and help.

Praise God. Praise God. Praise God. and a big Halleluiah!

I get a new text from my mom...Do we have any more test strips?

Oh my goodness.

yes, in the garage, in the pink box, above the toys, on the shelf.

The neighbor also had trouble. She finally decided that the gadget that puts the little hole in your finger needed to be adjusted.

She adjusted.

success.

216.

216 after a roll of smarties and some pretzels.

My educated guess is that she was dropping below 100 because after all of that and a roll of smarties she was 216.

crisis over and now she can eat lunch.

a moment of silence again.

big sigh of relief

by now I had walked over to get my son.

I had been receiving status updates on my phone and trying to quickly text back more directions as I was walking. I thought how the other mothers waiting to pick up their kids had no idea how serious my frantic textings were. They probably thought I was just chatting as they do. As most moms do that don't have diabetic children to worry about left at home in someone else's care.

Crisis was now over. She was 216. A reasonable number.

Of course last night a friend that was type 2 diabetic was telling me how excited she was that her numbers had dropped from 150 to 105. I don't completely understand type 2 diabetes, but thought "you just don't even know! we still go from 406 to 70 in 24 hours!"

so 216. we're good again.

My original plan before all of this was that I wanted to treat us to In & out burger on the way home.

Now I felt confident that we could take the time. and enjoy.

and take a deep breath.