An E-book and
online resource for
parents of children with
Juvenile Diabetes
My Child Has Diabetes
Live a Normal Life
So Your Child Has Diabetes:
A Step By Step Plan For You and Your Child
(by Russell Turner)
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So Your Child Has Diabetes
Table of Contents
Chapters:
- The Dreaded Diagnosis
- The Day They Turn You Loose
- Regiment, We're In The Army Now!
- "Daddy, Can I Sleep Over Grandma's?"
- School
- "Daddy, I Don't Want To Take Any More Shots"
- Real Low Blood Sugar Levels
- When Do I Take My Child to the Emergency Room?
- "I Feel Different from Everyone Else"
- Be Prepared for Emotional Times
- "An Apple or a Coma Those Are Your Choices"
- Your Other Children
- And Now A Word from Kari
- Let's Take A Vacation
- The Wrap Up
We are offering this ebook in two different formats for your convenience.
You may read it online here, or download it to your computer in a PDF format.
If you find this book helpful, please consider a donation. Fifty percent (50%) of your donation will go toward Diabetes Research and finding a cure. The rest will be used to help pay the costs associated with running this site and to continue to reach out to other parents who are just starting down this difficult path.
God bless you and your families.
Sincerely,
Russell Turner
Chapter Seven: Real Low Blood Sugar Levels
I'll warn you now. At some point no matter how careful you are about diet, blood tests, and insulin injections your child's blood sugar level will go low. You come back from your scheduled doctor visits and your child's A1C has been 7. You have done everything right! You're going to get a reading in the 50's, or 40's, or even the 30's. Kari woke me up around 3:00am one morning. She says to me "daddy I have a headache". Okay, no big deal we've dealt with headaches before. I told her to go get an aspirin while I start to drag myself out of bed.
On my way to her room I stopped in the bathroom to get her a glass of water. Spread out on the bathroom floor is a thousand aspirins. My old friend panic starts to stir. "Stay calm" I tell myself as I go into her room. She's kind of whimpering because her head hurts a lot. I try to hand her an aspirin and the glass of water. She turns in the wrong direction, away from me and toward the wall, reaches out and is upset because she can't find the aspirin. Okay, she's still half-asleep. I call her name and she turns back towards me.
Now I notice her eyes are completely unfocused, she doesn't have a clue where she is and is generally in Neverland. Panic is really starting to make a nuisance of itself now. "Let's check her blood" I decide. Remember it's 3 o'clock in the morning I'm not at my sterling best. I walk her into the kitchen and hand her the meter. She has no more idea what's in her hand or what to do with it than the man in the moon. She had been responsible for checking her own blood for months. I hadn't touched the meter in all that time.
Here's some advice, stay in practice with everything pertaining to your child's diabetes.
You never know when you will have to do something for them. I fumble around and I finally get a reading, it's 38! How did this happen? I grab some glucose tablets and hand them to her. "Eat these". As you can see I don't catch on very fast. She has no idea where her mouth is or even how to open it. Remember that cake frosting stuff I told you to buy. Now is when you'll be glad you have it. Ours sat in the medicine cabinet for almost a year. I run and grab it, rip off the top, stick the nozzle between her cheek and teeth, and start to squeeze. The effect was very fast. In about ten minuets she was completely lucid and her headache was gone. She could talk to me and she knew where she was.
About ten minuets after that the vomiting started. They don't tell you that a side effect of that fast a blood sugar rise is nausea. That lasted for quite awhile but I could deal with that. I had my baby back. To this day Kari has no recollection of this little episode. The moral of this story is, you guessed it, be prepared. Your child's symptoms may be different. Your doctor can give you a list of possibilities. My point is there isn't always an obvious reason for it. Nor does it always happen during business hours. Prepare for it.
Next
Chapter Eight: When Do I Take My Child to the Emergency Room?
Legal StatementThe Book "So Your Child Has Diabetes" A Step by Step Plan for You and Your Child , is Copyright © 2004 by Russell A. Turner. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any other means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior written permission of the copyright holders. This book is supplied for information purposes only and, as experienced in this subject matter as the contributors are, the material herein does not constitute professional medical advice. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information with regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold with the understanding that the publisher and contributors are not engaged in rendering medical, psychological, or other professional advice. If medical or other professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional should be sought. The reader is advised to consult with an appropriately qualified medical professional before making any medical decision. The publisher and contributors do not accept any responsibility for any liabilities resulting from decisions made by the purchasers of this book.
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