Summer + Diabetes = No Fun

Diabetes sucks in the summer.

There's no way around it.

I forgot how much differently things go when school gets out. Or maybe I chose to stuff those memories of summers passed since Betsey was diagnosed.... packing those summers away deep in my head, laying dormant, only to have the feelings of frustration, fear, and the unknown reappear annually when the school bell dismisses the little people for summer break.

Beach days are the hardest - it's easy peasy when we're there, which is all the time, but no matter what we do, it all seems to throw everything for a loop later in the day into the wee hours of the morning. Her blood sugars are OK until about 3 in the afternoon - usually hovering on the low side, even without the pump on--it's the swimming. Has to be. She eats when I tell her to, tests when I remind her (begrudgingly) and for the most part, accommodates my nagging about it. I give her the little finger gesture from the beach if she is not in ear shot and it cues her to hop out of the water and test. Often, she is low when she gets out of the water and hasn't felt it. Not good. Not safe.

Early in the mornings, I test her before I leave to do my morning thing. I sneak in her room, find a finger buried deep in the summer sheets, scoop up some blood and wait as it counts down.... 5...4...3...2...1.... Always low. Every time. 40's, 50's, hovering around low 70's... I've adjusted her basals daily, sometimes a couple times in one day, decreasing insulin for the late night and early morning hours, increasing for afternoon highs... Nothing is working.

The other morning I was out doing my thing. I had tested her before I left, woke her up enough to gulp down a juice to treat the low, put a temporary rate on and felt OK leaving her.

When I got home, Speedo pulled me aside.

Betsey had gotten out of bed when he woke her, but was acting off. He had come downstairs and she appeared on the stairs shortly after, walking one of the marionette puppets she just gotten for her birthday. She was giggly and talking gibberish. He knew she was low. She didn't want to test... she was confused, silly, disoriented. She was in fact low.

After the low was treated and she had eaten something, Speedo discussed it with her, kind of giggling about it with her younger sister because she was acting so goofy.

She didn't remember.

We have clinic next week at Yale - her regular 3 month check up. I'm not even as concerned with the A1c this time as much as I am setting a new plan in action for summer. Everything is so unpredictable, so much more than usual.

And Betsey is not feeling well with the highs and lows. There's no stability in her sweet self - she's up, she's down. Last night before bed she was 488!! Where the heck did that come from??? We had to break out the needle for a shot. She is crabby and ornery a lot of the time, and not able to express why.

Not fun.

We'll see what happens next week when we start doing shots again.....