Why Our House Runs This Way....

Something wonderful happened at 3:00 a.m. last night.

Oldest daughter woke up to the sound of her CGM bleeping a warning for a high blood sugar.  Quietly and without a fuss, she flipped on her zebra lamp, blinked her eyes and read the Dexcom alarm of HIGH BLOOD SUGAR; 434 mg/dl.

Troubleshooting like the t1d pro that she has become, she flipped over her One Touch Ping mete, inserted a strip and re-tested to find a comparable 427 mg/dl.

Reaching for her Animas insulin pump, she felt her tubing slide underneath her leg with the infusion site dangling from the end and not attached to her body.  Thinking back, she remembered the tape loosening after her bedtime shower and hoping that once dry, it would adhere again.  It did not.

Without further analyzing, she tugged open her bed-side stand and pulled out her secret stash of brightly colored pink Inset 30s and Skin Tac wipes.  In seconds, she had expertly inserted a new site.  She then re-primed her pump, attached the tubing to the infusion set and gave herself a hefty bolus before going back to sleep.

All of this occurred while my husband and I lay sound asleep just down the hall.

She did it because she is aware of our own sleep deprivation.  A few weeks ago, from changing many basal rate overnight settings, she noticed that I fell asleep in the mid-afternoon.  Being the gentle heart that she is, she asked if she could do anything for me while I took my nap.  I told her no and that a nap was just what I needed.

She listened to that.  Somehow it stuck as  Mom needs a nap.

Our history with t1d is different than most.  For some families, their kids with t1d may have been doing this sort of thing for years, waking, taking care of themselves and going back to bed without bothering mom or dad.  This might be old news and nothing to blink twice at.

In our family, this is not the case.

We were the ones that made a conscious decision from the beginning to let our kids be kids.  The Naturally Sweet Dad and I took the burden of care upon our shoulders and made a point of minimally involving the girls.  It took years before they picked up testers and checked on their own.  Much longer until they were ready to learn how to do an infusion set change.  Even now, the bulk of the site changes rest with mom.  I plan them, prepare them and try to be as gentle as I can.  While I want my kids to know how to do something, I don't expect them to take on the full-time responsibility.

Why our house runs this way?  We live and breathe kids first, diabetes second.  Maybe by doing so, we can keep the exhaustion of chronic care at bay for as long as possible from our children.

Even with tonight's 'wonderful something', I am still not ready for oldest (or youngest) to shoulder that burden of management, especially during overnight hours.  Childhood is precious and in just a few short years, they will truly be on their own in college and in careers.  I am beyond pleased that she CAN do this but in no way do I expect her to HAVE to do this.  Not now.  Not yet.

Today, I plan to hug her after school and then if I can, encourage her to take a little rest.

 She needs a nap too.