It is early morning and I am gently waking my children for school. Neither wants to come out of their warm blanket cocoons or acknowledge the beautiful sunshine that proves morning has arrived. They snuggle even deeper into the blankets until only the tops of their heads remain out in the open.
I gently kiss their foreheads and pause, marveling at how much they seemingly grew overnight.
Then, clicking a lancet and gently turning on the blood sugar meter, I ask what they want for breakfast. The meter reads out two beautiful fasting numbers and I feel calm, knowing that my children are going to start off the day without the mental and physical cloudiness that comes with a high or a low.
"Pancakes?" My youngest daughter grins at me. She knows that mom isn't going to make pancakes. Too hard to digest those fluffy little cakes during a school week.
She tries a second time. "Donuts?" A little giggle follows.
Because even though our family mantra is kids first, diabetes second, I still have to be practical and having a blood sugar of 400+ isn't good for our children or for the school. We will save donuts and pancakes for the weekend when I can check frequently and extend their bolus to cover the slow release of carbs.
With being practical, I am also being a parent. Are donuts and pancakes really good for anyone heading off to school?
My oldest is easier. "Eggs and sausage!", she shouts as she is moving around trying to select the perfect middle school outfit. I remote bolus each of them with our beloved Ping (Pumpy and Pumpster respectively) for 30 carbs to cover a small glass of skim milk and one piece of toast. The eggs and sausage are happily carb-free. One bonus is that they are also loaded with protein which helps to keep the carbs within the milk and toast from digesting too quickly.
There should not be blood sugar spikes at 10:00 a.m., although with type 1 diabetes, anything is possible.
It takes only a few minutes and their food is ready. The girls race to the table and sit down. In a blink, they are done and running around grabbing last minute things for school... water bottles, lunchboxes, homework, snacks, jackets and gym clothes.
After the rush of getting everyone out the door I can't help but think, what is going to happen to their cholesterol?
Sigh. There is no winning in this situation.
High carbs = high stress.
Low carbs = high stress.
Good-Morning Sunshine!
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