As for every other school day I am up at 7.
Lucky me, I even get a cup of tea in bed before that.
Quick shower and off downstairs to prepare breakfast,
school snacks and lunch.
For two years now, since Mr T has started grade two, I have stopped going to school at lunch time to check his number (BG) and to give him the needed insulin.
At the teachers initiative, with her help (thanks Lee !), he started doing it all by himself. It was relatively easy, since by then he had been on the pump for 6 months and had adjusted to it well.
Before each meal, Mr T would test his BG, write down that number on a little write / wipe-off tablet, enter that number and the number of carbs of the meal he’s about to have into the pump and then follow the pumps suggestion to deliver the required insulin. Bzzzzz – done!
To cover all the bases I had some spare, non perishable food in the classroom (box of juice, packet of crackers, dried apricots etc) in case he drops a bit of planned food in the dust or something. He was to tell the teacher and she was to give him the substitute food of similar carbs value. You see, I do like my T’s crossed and I’s dotted – hopeless.
Then, one day, Mr T asked if he could choose his food out of the many smaller packets from his lunch box, just like other kids do. Hmmmm, here we go, just as we settled ourselves into the routine and all was working fine, here comes a new challenge.
That’s life – isn’t it ?
I paused for a minute. Saying “No, you can not because you have Diabetes”, was not an option for me. I just do not want him associating Diabetes with “can’t do”. I refuse. I work with it, and around it if necessary.
Let’s see, I’ll pack and label each food separately and Mr T can choose what he want’s.
I extended the little write/wipe-off table to include for 3 foods per meal and Mr T was to do a little bit of maths before entering the total carbs for the meal into the pump. The rest was the same as before.
Mr T was very happy that HE could now decide what he eats for himself and choose the food or two or three, like other kids.
He has achieved the flexibility other kids have AND he became a second grade maths boffin too!