Rollercoaster

Not The Attack's...but could be...

So come a little closer

There is something I can tell yeah

You are such a roller coaster

- Bleachers "Rollercoaster"

Sure the song is about a girl (or a guy - if that's what you like), but it sort of represents life with diabetes.  It's a rollercoaster.  Up and down.  Peaks and valleys.

I have a greeting for the few people in my office that I like and have a sense of humor.  It's a middle finger salute.  My way of saying..."Hey, you're number one in my book!"  With diabetes, some days I just want to stick out my finger in the angriest of ways.  I try not to hate...but I HATE this disease.

This morning The Attack woke up and jumped into bed with me.  We had an early morning cat nap before I needed to get up and get ready.  While in bed, we got a call from Nana (his Grandmother on the other side).  She was asking if he wanted a little DD for breakfast.  He wanted a bagel...I said no.  Not so much because I am from New York and have massive disdain for the rolls that pass for bagels at DD, but because I knew his BG would go through the roof with a bagel...  "Why don't you get a bacon, egg and cheese on an English Muffin?" I asked. "That sounds good.  That's what I'll have."

I immediately grabbed the Kindle and looked up the carb count for the sandwich.  32g.  Seemed a little high, but then again it is Dunkin Donuts.  He also wanted milk (12g) and a squeezy yogurt (10 g).  54 g. for breakfast.  Not great, but not terrible.  I pre-bolused  him for 25 min. (the regular breakfast routine so that the "bell curve" works in reverse for us).  He was at 200 when I bolused him...about 160 or so when I left for work around 7:30am.

I drove to work, listening to Howard Stern as I normally do...when I began noticing alerts on my watch (we have Pebble Watches linked to Dexcom Follow).  Before I knew it, his BG was 150 double arrows down, 125 double arrows down, 100 double arrows down...then 78 double arrows down.

I called Missy to see if she saw this.  Thankfully she was still at home, as The Attack had already left with his Uncle for Theater...  She rushed over to the school (less than .5 miles from the house) and treated.

The PDM was 62 when checking and his CGM bottomed out around 48...with over 5 units of insulin on board.  The Attack didn't start feeling the drop until juice box #2.  60 g of uncovered carbs later and he was out of the woods.

His 8 1/2 year old body sustained the impact of his BG bottoming out.  He was shaky, sweaty, out of sorts...and now had to start his school day.

This all comes on the heels of a 504 meeting at his school with the Principal, his Teacher and the School Nurse.  The Principal was receptive to what we were looking for - except she did reference someone as "severely diabetic" (which aggravates me - you either are or you aren't). The Teacher is fantastic and goes out of her way to be helpful.  The Nurse...just doesn't get it. Comments like "I don't think the CGM helps him.  He needs to be able to feel his highs and lows." piss me off.  He's 8 1/2.  He doesn't know his body well enough yet.  If we have the technology to make his life easier, we should do everything in our power to use it.  He doesn't need to learn a life lesson...he needs to live!

He's now at 302 on the CGM.

Diabetes sucks.  It's a battle every minute of every day and it is exhausting.  It is a rollercoaster and I just want to take The Attack and the rest of the family off of it...but we can't.

This is our 24/7.