Back to School

Well, it's that time of year, back to school time. This is a first for us, as Kortnie is still in the "newly diagnosed" stage. Last fall when she was dx'd and in the hospital for a week, I was nervous to send her back to school but I took comfort in the fact that she was only in Kindergarten and only going to school for a 1/2 day, 8am-1045am. She didn't have to do any checks (unless she felt the need) or shots at school. Now this year is a whole different ball game. She's in 1st grade and at school 8am-2:20pm. She is also on the pump now and that's supposed to make things easier right? I fretted all summer long, thinking too much, worrying too much, letting to many "what if" situations run through my head. Kortnie is the only diabetic child in her school, the teachers and staff have tried to be accomodating to her, but I really think they just don't get it. They are making efforts and I am trying to be patient and to tell myself that we'll get it down eventually, but I'm also frustrated on the inside. Here's a breakdown of what's happened so far.



August 10, the day before school started, I went down to the school and met with the school "nurse" and the school district nurse. The actual school nurse is not a nurse at all actually, this already makes me nervous. These 2 ladies are nice, don't get me wrong, I'd totally be comfortable with them cleaning a cut or helping my kid with a bloody nose, but T1D is a life threatning condition. It my kids LIFE in their hands. How am I supposed to just trust them with her LIFE? Maybe my biggest problem is that I can't let go. Well, anyways, we talked about how we'd like to handle things, about hypo and hyper glycemia signals in Kortnie, about how much Kortnie actually can do for her ownself. I went home feeling okay about the situation.



August 11, a Wednesday, the first day of school. Oh man, can we say nervous? Okay mom you're gonna be okay, Kortnie's going to be okay, just breathe. I dropped them off, came home and putted around the house for a bit. I went down to the school at lunchtime and Kortnie came to the nurse's office to check her BG and get her bolus. She has her BG monitor with her at all times, in the classroom and such so that she can check her BG whenever she wants to, but we all decieded for bolus at lunch time she'll come to the nurses's office 5 minutes before lunch. So, she comes down, checks her BG, I give her a bolus for lunch while the nurse watches, and she goes on her way, her BG was just right a 130 that day. Awesome! I feel okay about this.



August 12, Thursday, 2nd day of school, I went down at lunch time again and this time the nurse gives the bolus while I look over her shoulder, everything is okay. Great!



Augst 13, Friday, 3rd day of school, I show up at lunch time, this time I've typed up a few pages, instructions on what to do if she's high, what to do if she's low, the bolus steps on the pump, signs of hypo and hyperglycemia, emergency numbers for me, the hubby, Kortnie's grandma and uncle, a family friend and our doctors. I made a folder for the nurse and the teacher, they were appreciative of this. The district nurse was there that day as well, Kortnie came down for her bolus and check, all is well, the nurse did just fine. She told me that she feels she can do it by herself now, so I don't have to come down on Monday. Ooooooooooookay, I think I can handle that. We'll see.

August 16, Monday, 4th day of school. Everything seemed to okay, no phone calls no complaints from Kortnie. YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

August 17, Tuesday, I get a phone call, we are out of test strips, (my fault for not checking before she left for school and Kortnie's fault for not telling me she used the last one.) Okay we can handle this, there are more test strips in Kortnie's classroom. Nurse says okay, no more phone calls so I figure all is well. Well Kortnie got home and her BG was HIGH, over 300! What the Heck? So she starts crying and tells me this story. "We went to my teachers class to get the new strips and the nurse said let's just get a couple out, and I told her we need to change the chip but she said we didn't have to and she wouldn't listen to me" Okay Kortnie it was a mistake, I'll tell the nurse tomorrow about changing out the chip and I'll get it fixed.

August 18, Wednesday, I took the kids to school, explained about changing the chip when you change test strips. Everything will be okay. So after school Kortnie comes home, I asked her, "how did lunch go". She says, "well we got to the cafeteria and I asked my teacher 'teacher don't I have to go to the nurse's office' and teacher said, 'oh yeah, I forgot, go on over there' (WHAT!?!?!?!) so I went over to the nurse's and the nurse said, 'I called you in your class and your teacher didn't answer' (why didn't you go look for her nurse?) I know I told teacher her phone was ringing and she said, 'let it go to message'" UGH, well that's a big fail! Now she was late getting to lunch, took her extra long to eat and she didn't get very much recess. The whole point of going to the nurses's office 5 minutes before lunch is so her recess doesn't get reduced because of diabetes.

August 19, Thursday, a phone call at lunch time, The battery in the meter is dead. Okay, you have new batteries in the nurse's office, "oh I do, oh here they are silly me" UGH!!!!!!!!! Then another call, I can't figure out how to change the battery, it isn't working. Oh brother, here I come, I got down there changed it out, gave her a bolus and she was late to lunch again. Man oh man, at this point I am thinking to myself "maybe I should homeschool her untill she is old enough to do all this on her own." My husband laughed at me and said there was no way I could do that. Kortnie and I butt heads on just about everything, she'd probably never learn a thing. He told me to be patient. Okay, I will try.

August 20, Friday, she's low at lunch in the 50's, they told her to just eat her lunch no bolus. Oh gosh, hello, I have it outlined in the packet on what to do if she's low. Give her 15 or 20 carbs, no bolus and recheck, they didn't do that, just had her eat her whole lunch 65 carbs, no bolus and never bothered to check her again!

August 23, Monday, I go talk to the nurse, tell her she needs to follow the outlined instructions in Kortnie's packet. She says okay, the BG's have been good at lunch time, no issues this week...yet. (at least no issues at school), her morning and after school BG's have been high, need to readjust her basals, we'll be doing midnight and 4am checks the next couple of days.

I am at a loss with school, I feel scared or angry all the time. I'm trying to be patient, but THIS IS HER LIFE! At least this week has been okay, but if things get crazy again, I tell you, I willl be going down to that school and getting in some faces. They are supposed to be schedualing a training seminar with our diabetes educator, I better look into if they have that schedualed yet, I'm sure that will help make things better. Thanks for reading and being patient with my ranting!

Well, I haven't done very well about keeping this blog updated. I do have another blog that is more about our family life. But, I do enjoy reading the other D-blogs out there so I thought I should be more consistent about keeping this blog about Kortnie's Diabetes updated. I've learned alot and felt alot of comradarie from reading the other blogs in the Diabetes community so I want to put some stuff out there too. Maybe someone will stumble upon this and connect with our family and get something out of it.

Kortnie has had diabetes 9 months and 1 week and 6 days now. We like to say that we've gotten the hang of it, and maybe for the most part we have. It's become a part of our lives, but we try so hard not to let it run our lives. Kortnie got on the pump at the end of May and it's been a blessing. For the most part her BG's have been pretty on the mark. She still has some highs and lows, most of the highs are because she needs a site change or because we over corrected a low.

She just went back to school and is in first grade now. Last year when she was dx'd she was in Kindergarten and only went to school for a 1/2 day so she didnt' need to check or take a shot or bolus while there. This year on the other hand she is having to check at lunchtime and bolus. We've chosen to pack her lunch each day so I can include an exact carb count. We're in the 2nd week of school and we've had few challenges already, but that's another post.

So that's a little more about us and I really mean it when I say I want to keep this blog updated more often so look for some new posts soon!