A Little Fear Can Be A Good Thing

I usually drop my daughter at her summer music program after helping make her lunch and gather her belongings for the day.

Last Friday I had to leave the house early and so she chose to walk the few blocks to the program rather than arriving half an hour before her first class and having to wait around.   No big deal, I thought, and a great opportunity to be independent.  When I left, she was eating breakfast, and her lunch was made.  She had half an hour until she had to leave, plenty of time to get her stuff together and get out of the house. 

She texted me before 9 to let me know she'd arrived at her destination and we continued on with our busy days.

Then at 11, my phone buzzed.  Surreptitiously taking it out of my pocket for a glance, I saw this:

'I'm such an idiot I don't have the meter.'

Meanwhile the Dexcom sensor had breathed its last at 9 the night before and we'd decided a free day would be okay before replacing it.

The next text read:  'I felt low so I drank my one juice and now I'm eating and I'm gonna do like half my lunch and then I'm going to the store to buy a coke or something in case I'm low again.'

Fifteen minutes away and responsible for a group of 7 children until 12:15, and then expected to stay where I was until at least 1:30, I texted back,

'Sounds good.'

As it tuned out, she did absolutely the right thing with the lack of tools at hand.  The low or low-ish she treated was likely real.  When she bolused for lunch she factored in the amount of dancing she expected to do during the show rehearsal.  As the afternoon wore on she thought often about how she was feeling. She realized, should she need it, that in addition to the soda she had purchased she had access to candy usually awarded as prizes for the daily trivia contest. When she got home her blood sugar was 79. 

With some significant inconvenience to myself and others I could have left what I was doing to get a meter to her.  Instead I let her wing it until her program was over for the day.  Was it the safest plan?  No.  If I had it to do over again would I bail her out?  I don't know. But when she got home, she said this:

'That was scary being without the meter.  I don't think I'll forget it again.' 

Sometimes a little fear can teach a very important lesson.






via Adventures in Diabetes Parenting