Bomb Threats & Health Threats

When Daniel calls me in the middle of the school day I start to twitch before I even open the phone. Usually it's the typical teenage "can I go to J's house after school" type thing, but I still get nervous. He called a few minutes ago to let me know 2 things. #1, that he was stuck outside for an hour because the school had a bomb threat. #2, that the empandas in his lunch were bad (moldy?!?!) and he couldn't eat them and had already bolused for them.

I wasn't sure what to address first! After a couple of false starts, I was able to put together a sentence. "Are you back inside school?" Yes. Then, "GO TO THE NURSE!" I reminded him that he had extra snacks stashed there. Then he tells me, "No, I ate those a long time ago."

This I did not know. Daniel never said, "hey, you might want to refill my snacks at school." Nor did I get a phone call/email from the nurse's office. And I don't like to complain (OK, I do, but not about them) because they are really very good with Daniel and have helped us so much with his rights in school, tending to the Type 1, and everything associated with diabetes & school. But this is frustrating.

I told Daniel to go to the snack machine and get a snickers, or peanut M&Ms. There's not much he can get from the candy machine because of his celiac, but those would be okay.

He said that the candy machines don't operate until after school lets out.

Then get something from the nurse! They will have something in the teacher's lounge!

I called the nurse's office and found out that Daniel did stop by and got 27 carbs worth of juice. His empanadas were 34 carbs. Pretty close... and he has sugar tabs with him. He also promised to stop by the nurse's office between classes and test again just to make sure he's okay.

I guess I have to put a note on my calendar to remind myself every couple of months to call the nurse & make sure all supplies are there. And remind my son to tell me if he finishes something... but he has a teenage brain so that doesn't always work!

After I hung up with the nurse, and was satisfied that Daniel was well cared for, then I started thinking about the bomb threat. This news comes on the heels of the paper that arrived home in my elementary school child's backpack this week -- that they had a code blue at school because they were informed of police activity in the area.

I live in a lovely neighborhood, a nice part of town. Where the hell do I have to go in this world where my kids can be safe at school? I'm sad about the rising violence, the threats to the kids. It's enough we have to fight these damned diseases to keep our kids alive.



*****addendum******

It's 3 for 3.... got a recorded message from the principal of my daughter's school this afternoon. There was police activity outside the school at dismissal time, were 3 older kids were arrested.

Unbelievable.

Great Falls

Great Falls
Originally uploaded by NaomiPoet

Today was such a gorgeous day. The kids and I went to Great Falls, on the Maryland side of the Potomac River. I put the pictures on my flickr site. After climbing a few gazillion rocks, Daniel felt low so he tested. He was only at 80, but felt like he was dropping so he popped a couple of glucose tabs. The yukky feeling didn't go away, though. Nora & Dominic could have stayed there all day, exploring the many trails and climbing rocks until sunset. But after a picnic lunch and a quick visit to the museum, we packed it up & went home.

Daniel had a wicked headache. He took some advil & had a rest. Afterwards, he felt better.

When Daniel was first diagnosed with diabetes, it was after being misdiagnosed with a sinus infection (the doctor) and a stomach flu (that was my mistake). Now whenever he feels funny I'm always trying to figure out whether it is the diabetes or something else? Or perhaps the diabetes is making something else feel weirder than usual? It's frustrating for him, it's frustrating for me.

We all enjoyed the day, nonetheless. It was a gift to be with the kids, to be in nature, to see the power of the river.

In Synch

Matt picked Daniel up from his sleepover. He came home around 11. I asked him, "Did you have a low this morning? Around 5 a.m.?"

"Yes -- I got up at 4:55 a.m. I was 53 again."

I said, "You woke me up. I popped awake at 5 and knew you were having a low."

He doesn't even have to be in the house. Isn't that weird?

Boomerang!

I'm always tired on Thursdays because Wednesday is my busiest day. Work, the after school rush, karate, yoga. I stay after at yoga to clean the studio and get home late. Sometimes I retain enough relaxation to fall asleep, sometimes I get a second wind from cleaning the studio and driving home so that when I get home at 10:30 or so I need a few minutes to settle back down again. Such was the case this Wednesday. When I got home the house was already quiet. Matt didn't wait up for me this time.

I don't know what it is like for the rest of you out there, but I find that I sleep better when I can fall asleep before my husband does. It's not a snoring thing -- although he does snore when he is congested, but that wasn't the case on Wednesday night. But I was listening to the noises of the world, from close in (his breathing) to the wind barreling through Maryland that night, the ticks and clanks of the heat going through the ducts, the occasional shifts and sighs of children sleeping. My brain would not turn off.

This made Thursday a slogging, cracked-lens kind of day. The end of work couldn't come fast enough, the "finish your homework brush your teeth get to bed" was a top priority for the kids. I wanted to finish the last 2 chapters of a book Daniel had given me to read so he could return it to his school library. Daniel was trying to do some song rearrangement/loading via my laptop onto his ipod. I did remember to pull him away from the computer long enough to give him his Lantus shot. I did not notice that he didn't test his blood sugar before going to bed. Just one of those little omissions that happen over time, the psychic weight of which add up in my head. What am I forgetting today that can lead to consequences tomorrow? Next month?

2:45 a.m. "Mom, I think I'm low." Check. 53. Daniel gets ravenous when he is low, and at the same time unsteady, with clouded thinking. At 3 a.m. he'd rather not attempt gas stove usage, so I made him an omelet, thinking, as I always do, "how will he deal with this when he is grown?"

I logged his blood sugar number in the book and saw then that he didn't have a bed time number written down. I checked the meters. No record. I said, "maybe we would have had an indication that this was coming if you had tested?" He didn't agree, reminding me of middle-of-the-night lows that happen for no reason. Then I remembered.

The new elliptical. Daniel had a good workout last night for the first time in a few weeks, since his gym class ended in January. His blood sugar responded accordingly, at a most inconvenient time! So we live, we learn, and we'll figure out how to prepare for a good night's sleep after exercise. Does anyone out there have any experience with this?