School starts today around here and I'm excited but nervous. Going back to school with diabetes means a lot more than shopping for new Trapper Keepers.
We've had two meetings with Benny's teacher so far. She's never had a child with diabetes in her class or used an insulin pump, so there's quite a lot to talk about. I have every confidence in her; my daughter had this teacher for first grade and she's top notch. But diabetes changes everything.
North Carolina is one of only a handful of states that allows diabetes care in the classroom. Details of the law here. Children don't have to go the nurse's office for blood sugar checks, injections or pump boluses. It's great because they don't miss any class time, but it puts a lot of responsibility on the child and their classroom teacher.
The biggest difference for us this year will be the lack of assistance in the classroom. In our district, Kindergarten classes have a full time assistant, first grade classes don't. However, after our first meeting this summer – when she found out how much attention Benny's diabetes will really need – his teacher asked for a floating assistant to help with blood sugar checks in class.
Love that we have the Animas Ping this year – that means Benny's meter is also a remote control for the pump. Giving insulin will be much more discreet – no more taking the pump out every time.
Our back-to-school diabetes preps were featured in a newspaper column last year – you can read that here. We've done pretty much the same thing this time around. Benny knows more, he's working on counting carbs so he can buy lunch at school (yikes!), and the staff is more familiar with him and the whole routine.
Even so.
Pack the juice box. Write down the lunch carbs. Make sure the front office supplies are set. Keep the cell phone on. Deep breaths.
This gets easier, right?
It will. The prep work will never change, not until we get a cure, but it does get easier. You’ll know what to expect, and as your son gets older and takes more responsibility, there is less burden on staff, but the safeguards still need to be in place. I am grateful I live in a state that recognizes the need for protection in school for our kids.
Jacky mom to an eigth grader and college sophomore, both T1D.
Ps-If you get the carb counts from the cafeteria, look them over carefully, we’ve had more than one Incident of supposed 75g carb mashed potato, and the subsequent low bg with lots of insulin on board. Doesn’t happen often, but wanted to let you know about it if you do allow him to buy lunch a few times this year-Good Luck!
Yes, for sure it gets easier. This was our 3rd year doing the back to school thing(2nd if you don’t count back to school after dx, which was just a few days after the first day of school, so yeah, I count it). Anyway, deep breaths, that’s how I get through it. 🙂