Thursday, May 13, 2010

When you should listen to those little voices in your head

We interrupt Diabetes Week to bring you the following post that can only be filed under "what the CRAP?" So today was gym day. That's when I take Elise to the local rec centre where she can run, jump, and play with all the other free-range children. There's a bounce house, tricycles, gymnastics mats, and all sorts of goodies to play with. Then I get to sit on my butt for 90 minutes while she is having fun. It's a win-win. I test her BG at snack time... 10:30. She's 129. Wonderful, especially considering she woke up at 268 this morning. She gets her 15g snack and off she goes. I keep a very watchful eye, for reasons you will read about tomorrow. I start getting ready to leave around 11:30. I wanted to check her to make sure the NPH hasn't peaked. I clean her finger, shunk (thanks Karen!), 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... aaaaaand 377. WHAT THE CRAP??? I look at the meter. Shake it. Turn it upside down even. And still the 377 mocks me. "There's no way" I tell myself, "did I miss a low?" One of the many voices in my head (let's call him Harold) tells me to check her again. But I'm in a hurry to leave, so I don't. During the 5 minute drive home, I pass a McDonald's. Their fries are calling to me, so I make a quick detour (yes, yes... I know. Leave me alone, I'm pregnant). As soon as I get the bag, Elise starts whining, "fries? Fries? Hungry!" She's actually starting to have a meltdown, so I quickly drive home. When I get there, one of the many other voices (let's call him Lenny) tells me I should really re-check her. This time I listen (Lenny has more pull than Harold). I clean her finger, shunk. 5... 4... 3... 2... 1... aaaaaand 57! WHAT THE CRAP??? How does she drop 320 in less than 30 minutes? Wha' happened? Why didn't I listen to Harold? Her finger was clean... what did I do wrong? As you can probably tell, this is the first time I've ever experienced something like this. And the worst thing of all, I ignored my daughter's pleas for food because I thought her BG was high. UGH... Worst. Mom. Ever. The only thing I could have done worse, is gone by that 377 and given her a correction. That would have been most excellent (please read that last sentence with a large helping of sarcasm). I will never ignore Harold or Lenny again.


  1. Wow! But you know what....I still think you're fantastic!

    Your insane day makes me think I'm normal.

    What a blessing (!!!) that you did not correct!

  2. So how many minutes passed? Like 15-20 minutes between tests.

    What. The. Heck!

    I wonder what it would have been if you rechecked right away. My logical side seems to think she was never that high.

    But stupid diabetes isn't

  3. It is a what the crap kind of day! Addison's BG 2 hrs after breakfast (expected to be normal to high) ...38 with NO signs of being low! So glad your instincts kept you from correcting!!

  4. Thats what I call a Holey Moley Moment. Jacob just recently did one of those... I think our lapse time was all of 45 minutes... went from 386 to 48 in 45 minutes. AND we DID re-test the 386! So I KNOW it really happened.
    Ducking Fiabetes!
    You are a FANTASTIC mom, Joanne.. dont you ever let yourself tell you otherwise! =)

  5. @ Meri - the time between test was 24 minutes to be exact.

  6. Don't you hate that??
    That has happened to us too.

    One a good note... Harold and Lenny seem fun :)

  7. I'm with Meri. I'm wondering whether it was actually that high and what it would have been if you had retested her immediately. There have been times when I have cleaned Jack's fingers, tested and then gotten a suprisingly high reading like that. I've immediately retested and then gotten a reading in the normal range.

    On the other hand...I've seen him drop super fast like that too.

    Some days, there's just no making sense of diabetes!

  8. Oh man - I am so glad you did not correct! What the heck? XOXOX

  9. Oh yes, we've been there. My vote is meter error or even something on the fingers still. I just about had my non-D daughter diagnosed with a false (change that - a few false) readings. I'm still not sure what it was. I was ready to throw the meter out, but at the end of the day, I decided we didn't clean her hands as well as I had thought - but who knows?

    These will likely remain unsolved mysteries. I hope today is less, "what the crap?"

  10. I hate crap like that. Joe used to plummet like that in the mornings between breakfast and his morning snack - was hard. Now that he is a little older - not so much.

  11. Oh my gosh, it is absolutely not your fault!!!! Clearly the meter was way off, but how were you supposed to know it. It's happened to me too - my meter once gave me a reading of 14. Luckily, I knew if my blood sugar was 14 I would have some kind of symptoms (or be passed out!!), so I retested and was actually around 100. So don't beat yourself up for a stupid meter error!


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