Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Marathon Monday

Today was the famous 26.2 mile Boston Marathon run.  To those who live around here it's dubbed Marathon Monday.  Each year on this day, Taylar's elementary school holds their very own "Barrathon", named after her school.

This one mile run is enjoyed by all the kids because it means they are out of the classroom, get extra recess, and are rewarded with a popsicle afterwards. Nothing sounds complicated here, does it?  Well, when you have a child with type 1 diabetes, it is.

The last thing I wanted to happen is to have Taylar collapse with a low blood sugar.  It's something that I fear every day.  So the run was scheduled for 1:45pm which is 15 minutes before Taylar's usual 2:00 snack. (No one else has a snack in her class at that time)  The questions I had to ask myself were;
Did she eat all of her lunch?
Should she test before the run?
Should she eat her snack before it?
Save it for after?
Skip the popsicle?
Let her have the popsicle?
Have her test after the run?

Nothing is easy but I have learned how exercise, even just a little bit, can cause Taylar's blood sugar to lower so I had to consider all things.

Now, I know I should have contacted the school nurse this morning before the run but I just didn't want to.  I don't know what it was but I just didn't want to be bothered by this disease this morning and have to talk about how to handle the Barrathon.  This wasn't very responsible of me, however, luckily, the school nurse is wonderful!  She was right on top of things.  She had Taylar do a finger prick test at 1:30 and because she was in her target range she ate her snack.  After the run she had her popsicle too.  When she came home she tested at 199.  A little high after the sugary, red popsicle, but it wasn't in the 200s so I was very happy with that.

This is just an example of how something so minor can become so much more.

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