Swine flu has hit CT and we were inundated with it for the past few weeks! Since Speedo and I got back from our delicious trip to Florida, one child after another, sometimes 2 overlapping at a time, have had the Piggy Flu. We had not gotten the vaccine for them (and I hadn't decided whether or not I would....) because I was incorrectly told that because they all had just received their seasonal flu shot, they had to wait 28 days until they got the H1N1 vaccine. This only pertains to the live nasal spray vaccine for seasonal flu - because it is a
"live vaccine."In any event, we aren't getting it now, because we have had our run of on-and-off-again high fevers, a sore throat that radiates to the muscles on the outside of the throat making it nearly impossible to cough without cringing in writhing pain, weird crazy body aches, and a residual cough that lingers (for up to 3 weeks they say!) and sounds like you have a crew of smokers on your hands!
Speedo and I came down with it within 24 hours of each other, just as we were high fiving as all the children were given the OK to go back to school and no one would be home... life would resume.
Shouldn't have high-fived it.
I came down with a fever within 3 hours, Speedo the next night, same thing.
He and I both ended up in "cozies" for about 4 days, on and off the couch, watching oodles of TV (have you seen the stuff on TV during the day?! WHO watches that
cr@p??!) and downing Advil to ward off the random aches that came with it.
It wasn't terrible. On and off fever, a dry hacking cough which eventually turns soupy, a couple aches and pains.... We were pretty tired though. I'd take it over the tummy bug any day though!
It certainly didn't inhibit the appetite, which makes me wonder the real reason it was dubbed swine flu? Day 3 of it, Speedo shuffled his slippered feet into the kitchen and noticed some maple syrup in the pantry and suggested since we have French bread, why not have French Bread French toast - at 11 o'clock in the morning?
Who does that?
So we ate French Bread French Toast and watched some ridiculous talk show about cousins marrying cousins and why they think it's OK. What??
Unfortunately we missed the last 2 weeks of our Ballroom Dancing; one week because of sick little Piggies, and the last because we were the Piggies. I think we're considering private lessons from Laurent (lauRRR-awnt) as he was pretty good, and we picked it up quickly, and... I really, really liked it.
Our puppy Tookie is the only one who escaped Swine Flu and was well, thanks to Dr. Gogo's A+ check up, just in time to celebrate her 1st Birthday! We had party hats and a floppy cake to celebrate her on a year of surviving little people!
Betsey did have it as I somewhat suspected. She fared well, no problems, considering she was in the "high risk" category.
Betsey is rebelling more and more with her diabetes.... making me consider her "high risk" on a whole 'nother level. She's starting to test less as I've given her a little wiggle room with me and reporting back to me during the day. I've let some things go, and come down harder on others. I know it falls on deaf ears when I remind her of the importance of testing before certain activities, and before bed, (this one drives me CrAzY!) and making sure she has what she needs on her way out the door for school or what have you. I am getting used to the eye roll, the trying-to-conceal-sigh, the foot tap.... well, not used to, but its all expected.
It doesn't matter how many times I remind her to do certain things, because right now she is feeling out what she can get away with -with her body- and how far she can go.... Tough to watch I tell ya.
The other day I looked through her meter to get a handle on her numbers throughout the day... One day, she had tested a total of THREE times!! That's it! Normally, it's an average of 10!!!
So yesterday she had to stay after school to make up a math test that she missed when she was out with the flu. This year she is in an advanced math class and it's good for her. It's challenging her and she's working at it. It makes it more fun for her believe it or not.
She asked to walk with her friends when she was done, and if I could pick her up at 3:30. Not a problem. I show up to pick her up where she was supposed to be, her friends are there but said she never showed because of some math test.
Ugh. I hustle over to the school, stop in the office, have them call to the classroom she is supposed to be in. By this time it's about 3:40, well past time for an afternoon snack for her, and I never heard from her for a blood sugar before the test, after school. Nothing. I didn't really think she would, but I hoped. Because I reminded her. Again.
Yes, she was still in the classroom, still taking the test.... I went to the classroom and Betsey had just tested an handed in what was finished on the test... She was 62!
I knew it!
I looked at her teacher to let her know I was a little bit concerned...
"You know that is going to affect her score, right?"
"Well she hasn't finished yet so..."
The teacher said she could finish the test during a free period the next day or whenever, but I was concerned about the length of time it took Betsey to do the test - almost a full hour! The test was given during regular class time.
This conversation lasted less than 2 minutes, Betsey was packed up and ready to go.
She bolted out of the classroom and started crying as soon as we turned the corner.
"I think I just totally failed it!"
I asked her to stop, what was the problem, how long was she low for....what was going on???
So unlike her.
Turns out, she was low probably 10-15 minutes after school, didn't test though. According to the principal, the teacher thought she looked low at the onset of the test and asked if if she should test. Betsey said No.
Betsey said she didn't even know what was on the test...didn't know how to explain to me what was on it... It was hard. Stuff they must have learned when she was out. She was almost mumbling her words. She didn't feel low, though.
I told her that just because she doesn't have the typical symptoms she normally gets, doesn't mean that feeling she's got isn't a low...and that she should stop and test. Like in the water. Betsey doesn't feel a low when she's swimming. That's the danger. She just keeps on going, not feeling the physical effects of the insulin side effect. Not until she gets out and stand up does the weight of her body help enable her to acknowledge the problem. So while she sat in the chair, concentrating so hard on the test, trying to finish in a relatively good time so she could get out and socialize with her friends before I picked her up, she pushed the symptoms she was having aside.
The frustration. The eyes not focusing. The hunger pain. The annoyance of everything including the chair she sat in.
All signs pointing to a low blood sugar.
Ohhh Betsey.
I didn't want to bombard her right there... she was feeling low as it was and nothing sounds good to her ears unless I'm discussing ice cream, brownies, desserts... and even then, she just wants me and anyone else to shut up until she feels better.
Last night we discussed the test. She realized she was low, too low to concentrate, and that is why she did not feel she did well an it took so long.
I didn't delve into why she hadn't stopped to test, or why she didn't test in the first place. If I had asked her to lecture me what I would have said to her, she would have done so verbatim what I would have said.
She knows. She's heard it all before.
I don't know if she was making the test up today during a free period or not.
It's one thing if she doesn't know the material and bombs it the 2nd time, but it's an entirely different story if she bombs it because her blood sugar is off.
....Results to come....
Please sprinkle some patience dust down on me as I am struggling to find it these days... I think I'm running on fumes. I need it for those times when my broken-record voice goes unanswered, and my quiet & gentle reminders aren't so quiet and gentle. I like to have a reserve of the patience dust for the mornings when I know a ketone induced trip to the bathroom -like this morning- that could have been avoided happens. I need extra for the times when an "I told you so" is only going to hurt feelings and not be heard anyway.... I need it for my own piece of mind... I have to fill my patience tank to be able to handle this next phase we seem to be entering .. as a mother of a teenage diabetic girl.
