Diabetes Blog Week - Day Two "One Great Thing"

Riley goes to a small private school that doesn't have a full time nurse. They have a part time nurse's aid. The district nurse comes in on Thursdays. I didn't know any of this before Wednesday, September 21, 2011. And my kids have gone to this school for 9 years.

The school nurse called me on Thursday morning, two days after Riley was diagnosed and had the two of us come into the health office to do a practice run of how it would go on Friday when Riley was back in school. I hadn't even given him an injection yet. My spouse did them at the Diabetes Clinic/Endo's office while we were there in training all day the day before. That nurse did the pre lunch injection that day (Riley preferred a certified medical person that he had never met over his rookie mom) then she suggested I get practicing. I've done almost every injection in that health room since Friday, September 23.

Riley goes in, tests his bg and I do the injection and write the date, bg number and insulin units given on the clipboard. Until April 2. That was the day Riley got furious about some school work he was missing or forgot to do and had to take care of at the last minute. I have no idea why he was so mad, this happens regularly. But, he went upstairs and did his nighttime bg check and Lantus injection by himself. He's been doing it ever since.

Our CDE had told us that by the time we came to the next 3 month appointment which is this Thursday she wanted Riley wearing his Type 1 diabetes stretchy bracelet thing and him to be doing his own injections at school. I told her that was too much. He would certainly wear his stretchy bracelet thing after I ordered the coolest one we could find, but I would still be going to school everyday and monitoring his insulin injections...do you hear what I am saying, there is no one in that health office to make sure everything is ok? Do you realize he has only been Type 1 for a few months? What's the hurry, he will be doing his own injections for the rest of his life? Have you ever done this before? I believe tears were dripping down my face at this point. I believe this because she handed me a box of tissues.

And here we are three months later and this boy who couldn't even look at the needle when we would draw it up in the glass vial, has his diabetes care under his control. Not my control, but his control. That is one Great thing.

I still wish I could give myself the injections for him. Sort of like we were still connected by the umbilical cord. I wish my pancreas could function for both of us. But I am so proud of him.