Today, I made yet another diabetes parenting mistake. We were at lunch with some of Sacha’s friends to celebrate his sixth birthday. It was busy, loud, and my wife and I were trying to be gracious hosts with the kids and other adults, while also keeping an eye on Sacha’s intake of milk, pizza, and birthday cake. Pizza is always a flashpoint for Sacha – he loves it, but it causes elevated blood sugars for prolonged periods – and after weighing a portion and determining the overall carb count, I laboriously typed in a combo bolus. The restaurant was dark, it was hard to see, and I was in the middle of a conversation with another parent.
Five hours later, his blood glucose was 485. I checked his bolus history, and realized that somehow, I’d messed up the combo bolus; it hadn’t gone through.
I reflected this evening on all the mistakes I’d made over the last four years of Sacha’s diabetes. Once, when he was on shots, I mixed up his long acting and rapid acting insulins; that was a six hour hospital stay. Another time, I overdosed him on rapid, and we dealt with it at home. Countless times, I’ve miscounted carbs and wrongly dosed…messed up pump insertions……forgotten to prime…etc.
It’s one thing to make a mistake on yourself. Quite another to make it on your little boy. I looked at his face carefully this evening while explaining that daddy had made a mistake with the insulin pump at lunch…what was going through his mind ? How does a little kid process that kind of thing? What does it do to his sense of trust?
I just found your blog and although I am sure you feel awful for making mistakes, it is a relief. I have made mistakes or have had to stop and go through notes from the doctor so I know what to do. It is a lot of pressure as a parent to get all of this right. We have attended classes and have been educated very well but no one told us we would feel guilty, helpless, and just really sad. Our son was diagnosed two months ago with type 1, he is 14. He is normally a good natured… Read more »