Living with and caring for Type 1 diabetes is a 24 hour 7 day a week commitment.
Many people, especially people that are following this blog, are learning that people with Type 1 diabetes must test themselves many, many times a day. They test in the morning, late morning, afternoon, late afternoon, evening, late evening, and what may come as a surprise to most of you is they also test through the night. Now of course, my 5 year old son does not wake up to test himself in the middle of the night, it is me, the mom, that does all the late nite testing.
My son gets tested two hours after his bedtime snack. He is already sleeping at this point, so after 19 months of testing, I have it down to a science. I grab my tiny flashlight, get the meter and poker ready to go, gently take his hand from under the covers, then quickly and quietly prick his finger, test the blood, and slink out of the room into the light so I can see the number properly.
If his number is where I expect it to be, I know he is good until I go to bed two hours later, and really that’s for my piece of mind. When I go to bed I want to know where his number is so I can cut down on the surprises in the middle of the night.
If his number is not where I expect it to be, it can either be too high or too low, then I have to make a decision and do something. If his number is too high, I can correct with insulin. Now that he is wearing an insulin pump (future blog explanation coming) giving insulin while he is sleeping is easy, much easier than giving a shot to a sleeping 5 year old.
If his number is too low, I have to make a decision of how many carbs to try to feed this sleeping little boy. If he’s not too low, I can usually get away with putting a glucose tab in his mouth while whispering in his ear, “Chew baby, chew baby,” and by some miracle he will begin chewing and finally swallow the glucose tab.
If his number is really low, I have to get him to drink a special glucose drink, that brings his sugar up fast. That involves a little more work. I have to call his dad up, to help me hoist up my sleeping son, and while I am holding him, I put the straw in his mouth while whispering in his ear, “Drink baby, drink baby,” and by the same miracle he begins to drink.
All of these situations require me to test him again in 30 minutes. So, now my baby has another 30 minutes to rest before I slink back into the room, flashlight and meter in hand to see whether his sugar is doing want I want, going down if the number was high, and going up if the number was low.
Grant it, my son does not officially wake up during these tests and ‘snacks’, but seriously who can rest when someone is pulling at your fingers or shoving sugar in your mouth.
Just to give a time frame, it is now about 10:30pm in this nightly dance, and my son would have been tested a minimum of one time, but more likely three times, and mind you, he is sleeping. He does have to get up for Kindergarten the next day. He is a busy boy, and having Type 1 diabetes is not going to stop that.
He will get tested again around 3:00am, give or take, to see how the numbers are holding. If it is a good night, the number is right where we want it, and everyone can rest a little more until morning. If the number is too high or too low, the same things starts again. Insulin to make the number come down, sugar to make the number go up.
There is a joke in this house that the only difference between say 3:20pm and 3:20am is that it is dark outside for one of the 3:20s.
Type 1 diabetes never sleeps. The people that care for it, or live with it, get some rest in between, but the next glucose check is right around the corner regardless of whether it is day or night.