Night Shift

At least he piled up the juice boxes neatly.

The above is the scene that greeted me, as I went in to wake him a few weeks ago.

'Joe, the juices are not for snacking on.'

'I was low in the middle of the night.'

'Three times?!'

'Yes.'

Over the years, people have asked me ... 'When will Joe start taking care of his diabetes during the night?'  These people are well intentioned.  I've been pretty adamant that Joe sleep when he can.  Diabetes keeps him up enough.  He wakes, at times, when he is poked.  He wakes, at times, when I am cramming a juice straw into his mouth.  He wakes, at times, to the beeps from a pump failure.

He is a growing teenager.   His energies should be focused on school, sports, friends, video games....and other teenager-y things.  He needs his sleep for typical growth and development.  I have slept with the CGM by my bedside, nightly, for years.  It alarms, I wake, I take care of what needs taking care of.

On the three-juice-low-night, Dave checked Joe prior to bed ... and accidentally left the CGM in Joe's room.  While I found it reassuring that the alarm woke the sleeps-like-the-dead-Joe, I will still cover the night shift.  I know, one day ... soon enough, he will need to manage that, as well.  For now, it will continue to be me.

More on on our day-in-the-life of nights.