4:18am, this morning... I was enveloped by the warmth entrapped by the bedding, my eyes crusted closed. "Get up...check the time" is what my mind was telling my body. It was prodding, trying to remind the slumbering, resting, not-wanting-to-get-up me to go check on Joe's blood sugar. I had corrected him for a 265 at 2am.
My mind chimed in yet again, "I wonder if I would hear him if he had a seizure?" I tossed. Somehow I then pictured Joe on the ice, during a game. He was seizing in his gear, in the offensive zone. A coach was kneeling by him. I ran out. Immediately the Glucagon was readied and dispensed into one of his deltoids (the easiest place for me to access the padded-up Joe). I then checked a number and yelled for someone to call 911.
I then woke up.
One eye opened, one shut, I stumbled into Joe's room. The glucometer was readied clumsily; test strips dropped, lancet fumbled for as his Delica is easily missed by my tired eyes ... it blends in with the navy blue finish of his chest of dresser drawers. Joe is nestled into his bedding, just as I was in mine minutes prior. I uncovered him just enough to expose a hand. In his sleep, he pulled it from me. He frequently "fights" the night-time checks in his sleep; his body recoils from the disruption of his slumber. The first poke was a no-go. As Joe withdrew his hand, the blood bubble was smeared and subsequently lost. Instead of re-squeezing the finger to form another blood bubble, I go for the sure thing. I poked again. He pulled his hand away. "Buddy, I am just doing a check" was whispered by me in hopes of ending the battle. While he remained sleeping, his hand steadied in cooperation. 5-4-3-2-1. A 104 was obtained. A sugar was dispensed to head off a further drop to a sleeping Joe.
I am now up for the day.
A day-in-the-life of caring for my child with type 1 diabetes during the night.
15 COMMENTS:
Ugh, those 4 am checks suck! There's no going back to sleep after that. We're right there with you. We've had way too many nearly-morning checks lately.
Just an fyi....I get a little thrill when I see a blog post from you on Facebook! I miss you way too much when you go silent!
I admire the Lady, Mom, Sister, Daughter and Wife you are. You wear many different hats all with style and grace. I love you sweetheart. Mom
perfectly described my friend. I've had many an arm wrestling match with Emma at 4am too...the wee hours of the morning like that are so quiet....:o(
Getting out of bed. How I struggle...That's why my husband takes most nights...I do most of the rest, so it's fair...
I watched a video by a JDRF guy (Aaron Kowalski, I think) who said that when he was a kid, and his brother had diabetes, they slept on a bunk bed together so that he would wake up if the bed shook if his brother had a seizure.
When my brother had his big grand mal status epilepticus seizure (about eight years ago, related to an earlier TBI), and my mother walked into his room in the morning to wake him up, it was pretty silent (I walked in later while he was still seizing- he seized for at least twenty minutes). But he was sleeping just on a thin mattress on the floor- there was no bedframe to shake or anything like that, and the mattress was enough to muffle sound, and he himself was not making much sound. He was arched back and his limbs (and eyes) were jerking kind of rhythmically.
It sucks that that's what you dream about.
I had the same thoughts this morning. Virginia's been so high at night that I slept with my restless kicking girl in her cramped bottom bunk two nights ago. I was not a pretty sight the morning after that. Then last night she was riding low, and I was worried. Don't you think there's a perverse silver lining from feeling the preciousness of life all the time? We treasure our children and each other more than we ever would otherwise. Lame consolation prize.
You are a great, great mom. I can hear you whispering to Joe, like I do to Virginia. "Just checking. Keep sleeping." Thanks for putting words to our worry nights. I wonder if satellites in outer space can see all of the D-mom night lights burning.
Reyna! I know the feeling-I was heading off a 70 about that time! Mary Claire always pulls back, instinct I guess?
Sorry for the icky dream, sometimes they are TOO real. : (
Miss you, girl! Hugs, Holly
Why does diabetes stalk us even in our sleep?
See, this is where we differ. I SO would have gone back to bed. Even if I couldn't fallback asleep I would snuggle down and ignore as many more minutes as I possibly could ;)
Ellie pulls back as well, but will b&tch slap me (arm coming ate so fast) when I threaten to poke a toe ;)
Hope one day Joe won't fight the overnight checks.... that eventually he will sleep through them. And hope you can train yourself to go back to sleep for a couple of more hours. I know for some, that might be impossible. But keep trying. Maybe hypnosis... there are tapes that are useful.
man we've been having a rough go at night checks lately, the morning seems to reveal a bloody battle of where the perfect blood bubble was smeared repeatedly as Isaac pulled away his hand and yelled, "NO! Stop!!"
somedays this job stinks, thank goodness for sunny mornings, sunshine and a kick butt kick boxing class!
Oh, yeah...love the 'pull away' in the middle of the night. Like it isn't hard enough as it is, we have to fight for a finger with our sleeping kiddos!!
Thankfully Bean tends to pull away while I'm still getting into position and has only smeared the bubble a few times....great, tonight she'll do it for sure!! ;)
The super sick thing is that after 10 years of type 1 and more than that of chronic immune disorders requiring hospitalizations, and temporary steroid induced diabetes before my type 1 diagnosis, I'm so used to being poked and prodded by nurses and mom. I learned to sleep through not only BG checks but blood draws and IV starts when I'm in the hospital. It's about that which one learns to adapt. Will it ever seem normal or "right" to have someone in my room at 3 or 4 am to check BG levels, or to do it myself, until a cure is found? No, but such is MY NORMAL, and OUR NORMAL as dFamily.
Ugh, drives me crazy when Ally pulls her finger away and smears the drop of blood. Thankful that you were only dreaming about the seizure, I don't like it when my mind goes there.
I hear you too - and the "talking" to them in their sleep does steady the hand (or at least they stop pulling so hard). I'm glad for the most part Patience cooperates and sleeps right through. The part I hate most is the "ok, i'm awake... now what" part. -MT
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