Close one???

When Jimmy was first diagnosed, my sister, Julie, found a book called, The Challenge of Childhood Diabetes, by Laura Plunkett. Being the angel she is, she read it cover to cover to try to understand what the challenge ahead of us entailed. After she finished, she gave it to me. Cover to cover I read it and completely related to each chapter. It was eye opening, informative, and oh so emotional. When her son started the pump, Laura tried the insertion site on herself. I did too, but I hadn't remembered that she did until after our not so close "close one" this morning.

In the book, Laura described laying in her bed with her diabetic son. She was reading and I think her son had fallen asleep - when all of a sudden the bed was shaking. Earthquake? what was happening? She quickly realized that her son was having a seizure due to extremely low blood sugar. If I remember correctly (and I'll have to re-read the chapter to refresh my memory) she had to administer the Glucagon.

FYI: the glucagon is kind of like the equivalent of an epi pen for anaphylactic shock due to a severe allergic reaction. But for diabetics, the glucagon is for if Jimmy were to have a hypoglycemic emergency - where his blood sugar would drop so low and he'd become unconscious and unresponsive, and maybe even have a seizure - that's when I'd prepare the glucagon syringe, and give him the injection directly into the muscle of his thigh (all of his insulin pump sites and shots have been subcutaneous, meaning just under the skin.) To see a video on how to administer the glucagon, watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgXqL2zYlIE&feature=related It explains what we'd have to do in an emergency.

So, back to our "close one." Jimmy had a bit of a low blood sugar reading at 4 a.m., for which Jim woke him up to have him dring some orange juice. All was ok. We all went back to sleep. Time passed, and at exactly 6:58 a.m. I awoke to the sound of a shaking, banging, rattling noise coming from Jimmy's room. Sheer panic ran through me. I knew in my soul that he was having a hypoglycemic emergency. And mentally prepared in my mind how I was going to administer the glucagon. I was ready.

But first, let me set up the scene: Jimmy has bunk beds, but instead of a ladder, it has actual stairs to the top bunk. Here's the pictureLuckily, I remembered that he slept in the bottom bunk last night (he alternates). I thought, thank God, if he had fallen out of bed, he couldn't have fallen far, or down the steps. It's amazing what runs through your brain in the 30 seconds leading up to arriving to your supposed emergency. So I shot out of bed and bolted into his room. Can you see how bottom bunk has drawers that pull out from under it? He had pulled out one of the drawers completly and was, for some reason, head first under the bottom bunk, where the drawer should have been. WHY???? No hypoglecemic emergency at all!!!! He was looking for "bluey!!!" Huge sigh of relief could be heard through out my house!!!

Let me explain what "bluey" is... Jenna had a pink baby blanket (which she still has a piece of saved in a special place.) When she was a baby, there was a song about "Bluey the blue, blue blanket" which of course we changed to "Pinky the pink, pink blanket" for her. To this day, she'll pull out her piece of pinky and remember the good old days!! lol! Well, when Jimmy came along, his blue blanket became known as "Bluey". Bluey is a boy, and its favorite color is green. It's just about his best buddy in the world and they even get into trouble sometimes!! It cures cuts, scrapes, hurt feelings, and most importantly, helps him sleep. He was just about done with bluey at 5, but when he was diagnosed with diabetes, bluey was resurrected and given the highest status again. It never leaves the house, but he's like Linus from Charlie Brown with it... never far from his side at home!!!

So, at 6:58 this morning, he must have reached for bluey and couldn't find him. In my disbelief, I said, "Jimmy, what on earth are you doing?????" He said in his cutest little boy voice, "I can't find Bluey, I think it must have fallen down here." (in between the bed and the wall, hence him removing the drawer, and diving under the bed to look for it. Which explains the racket I heard that woke me up!!!!!)

So, what I thought was a hypoglecemic emergency was not even CLOSE to a "close one!!!!!" Thank heavens.

I'm going to watch the glucagon video now so I'm certain to be ready if there ever is a true "close one!!!"
Peace,
June