Monday, August 27, 2012

In Range....?

Ah, yes, the seemingly ever elusive "in range" that all PWDs and MoCWDs (Moms of Children with Diabetes...but you already knew the CWD part, I'm sure! ) strive for each and every moment of each and every day.

You would think it would be kinda like keeping your car in your lane while driving.  I mean, those dotted lines on the dexcom trend graphs look a lot like lane markers, don't they?

But, no matter how hard we try, those silly BGs just like to ebb and flow out of those parameters.  And that can be extremely frustrating...for the one who has to deal with the actual BGs and for the one who feels it's all riding on their shoulders.

Bean is in third grade.  She's eight and a half.  She's a rockin' CWD who is able to do just about everything on her own, D-wise.  However, she doesn't grasp the whole 'in range' thing...well, she's starting to...and that's OK with me.

There's no need for her to shoulder any more of the D load than she has to.  That's what I'm here for; what Ubergeek's here for.   

She's great about her lows.  She knows what numbers are 'good'...and we are trying to eliminate 'good' and 'bad' from our vocab when it comes to BGs.  She knows when numbers are high.
We are working on her correcting when she's not with us (i.e. at school) since she can already treat a low like a boss.

It's just that I want so much (for her, and kinda for me, too) for those BGs to be more 'in range' than ebbing and flowing.  Yeah, yeah, I know....wake up and join the real world!  That's not gonna happen most of the time.  She has Diabetes and by the sheer nature of the beast, her BGs are going to be up and down more than they are going to be steady.

The hell of it is that now that she's back at school those ebbs and flows can (and do) affect her learning.  That's the part that I think know the teachers just can't grasp...at least not until they've dealt with Bean in the classroom for a significant amount of time. And sometimes even then they don't really understand how truly altered her brain function is when her BGs all over the place!

It frustrates me to no end that Bean's morning learning is skewed because of the breakfast spike.  Sure, we're getting it to not go as high, and it's coming down faster without crashing her, but come on!  That up and down isn't conducive to optimal learning.

It drives me nuts that her afternoon learning is altered due to how her body reacts to lunch.  And it's the same dang lunch every flipping day!  (Why? Because I know she'll eat it, all of it, and that's kinda important!)  Some days her lunch treats her well and she has a little bump and then settles in nicely for the rest of the afternoon.  Some days her lunch treats her poorly and she sky rockets and just stays there for the rest of the afternoon. (We don't have her correct at school until 2 hours post meal, and she doesn't always realize she needs to correct...which is why we're working on that aspect of her D care).  Some days her lunch is sneaky and sends her plummeting just an hour after she's eaten and trying to learn while you are low is pretty dang hard.

So, if Bean is to actually supposed to be able to learn while she's at school (and isn't that the whole point?!?) she's in a rather precarious catch 22.  I know she's able to do a pretty dang good job whens she's slightly out of range, but there are times when her BGs aren't even close to that range and she'll still be expected to be learning.

Yes, she has a 504 Plan.  Yes, it gives parameters for testing, but I can't really extend that to the entire school day.  It's just not possible (well, it's possible, just highly improbable for a growing kiddo) to be in range for the entire school day.  

And don't even get me started on homework!  There's the after school snack and dinner to factor in...ugh!!

If only I could figure out how to squeeze all the learning into her brain during those hours minutes (at least that's how it feels!) she's in range, no matter what time of the day or night it is.  Oh, and don't even mention homeschooling to me....yes, it works for a lot of families and I'm a huge supporter of those who choose to go that route, but you might as well send me off to the loony bin and Bean to anger management classes! ;)



Just the normal 'it's Monday and my brain already feels like it's about to explode' kind of thoughts running through my mind today.  (shaking head back and forth, rolling eyes, and sighing deeply)

Maybe a nap would help...if I could only trust Bug to not burn the house down!! ;)

3 comments:

  1. I saw a 37 and a 331 today. Ah yeah....

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  2. (((HUGS))) I felt this way time and again about Joe. So used to people not getting it that I don't even really talk about it anymore. Sad, yep. Apathetic? Uh-Huh.

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  3. Well, you can protect her by taking blood sugar before all the very important tests and only allow her to take the test if in a certain range; we did this for the State testing only and for midterms. There are scientific studies and articles that prove this... you can print them out and use them when setting out academic provisions in your 504 Plan. In our case, her diabetes seemed to effect her most the first few years after diagnosis, scholastically. Then I believe her brain just adjusted to the ebb and flow of blood sugars and unless very high or very low, her grades have not been effected. I think and hope things will get better in a few years as it has for us. In the meantime, print out all the scientific evidence you can get your hands on and make sure the teachers understand. No, that won't be easy, but you can do it.

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