It is 3:42 a.m..
One of the baby monitors located next to my head bleeps out a loud sounding alarm.
"ZEEEEEEEEEEEP!"
My head feels like a million pounds and while my heart immediately races, I have zero energy to push off the covers and get out of the bed.
"ZEEEEEEEEEEEP!"
One second more and I know I must move. The cool air hits with full force as I struggle to stand and I am instantly awake. Grabbing the latern from the hallway mini-fridge, I open oldest daughter's bedroom door.
Not knowing which child had the alarm, I reach under her warm blankets in search of a hidden Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) to check for rising or lowering arrows or a warning of hypoglycemia.
Her CGM reads out a blood glucose of 117 and I quickly check the trend line.... smooth as can be. As I put it back, I know I have woken her. She sighs heavily and pulls the covers back up. I feel saddened that she doesn't get a full night of rest and I quietly kiss her before leaving the room.
One room over, youngest daughter has been restless. Bed covers are scattered all over the floor. I know this is not a good sign and quickly move the lantern closer to see her CGM. The warning reads out and I push "Ok" to see the number... 44 and two arrows pointing downward.
Without hesitating, I grab her blood sugar meter and click the lancing device down on her finger. She is still and only makes a motion after she hears the meter beep that it is done. "71".
Unsure of which number to accept, I grab a juice box from the hallway mini-fridge and gently prod youngest daughter into drinking the 15 carbs. Without opening her eyes, she does in a single gulp. She tries to pull the covers up but I am not done. I still need to re-test and put away her CGM into the pump pouch under her PJs. She cries a bit because she is exhausted and just wants to sleep.
I am even more saddened to think that this intrusion is causing both of my daughters to lose sleep.
A few minutes later and youngest daughter is left with a gentle kiss to sleep again. As I go back into my bedroom and crawl back into my still warm covers, the clock reads out 4:16 a.m.
In a half an hour, I potentially saved a life (once again).
In the morning, I will not speak of it to anyone because no one (outside of our type 1 diabetes world) would ever understand.
In the evening, I will try to encourage my two daughters to go to bed early because while they do not remember what happens in the middle of the night, I do.
Catching blood sugars is exhausting.
2 comments:
All too familiar, except no CGM here. I test several times after Lance goes to sleep in order to catch these.
Rose Ann,
The CGM is nice to have but often, especially in youngest daughter, not always spot on. I would still be up with my lantern without it. Just knowing we are in this together, sure helps:)
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