Children with diabetes...1 or 2

[MilkMaid]

Hey I homeschool my 2 dd's..my 12yo, 7th grader was diagnosed with type 1 @ 7yo...just reaching out to others in my similar shoes..they use to attend public school til I got my head screwed on straight & started homeschooling..lol..Love to hear from other moms of diabetic children!

Edited July 20, 2012 by MilkMaid

[Dobela]

http://nikkobetes.com/ is a blog written by the son of a homeschooling friend, He is just entering his teens and has struggled for a long time now with Type 1. If you want to contact the mom, PM me with your information and I will give it to her.

[Ecclecticmum]

Pretty similar situation here :001_smile: Atlas (DD) was diagnosed with Type 1 at 4. My DH's sister has it.

 

She was in preschool at the time, if she had been home, I would of recognized the signs earlier, as it was, I assumed she was run down from preschool, and her brother. She got sick (again thought it was bad flu) and I took her to the hospital.

 

After that, even being told that the Preschool educators had training, they ended up screwing up a number of times (put in ketones strips, recorded the 0.01 reading and didn't do anything :glare::001_huh: If she was 0.01 she would of been comatose...or worse. Yet they didn't do anything. And obviously couldn't see the difference between a blue packet and a pueple packet for that to happen in the first place.

 

Anyhoo at the time we were in the suburbs, I found (after visiting many, many schools) a creative/performing arts type school she would be happy at (she's any extremely creative person, whether it be thinking, dancing, performing, reciting, drawing, instruments etc) and about that time we were looking into buying a house. The house we decided on was rural (about 40 minutes away from her school), I don't drive, DH would have to get her (he's 30 minutes the other way). He has a random schedule (basically 8am-5pm, but flexible hours, so he can go in for trial runs at 2am, or be working till 9pm etc) this would require after school care + a babysitter, her never seeing us, and hubbys 1hr car loop would turn into 2 1/2 hours a day.

 

Plus, the final thing that got me, was the fine print part of her school, after school care, and any "professionals" not related who "Care" for her. They do not have the "rights" to give my daughter her glucagen. If she crashes, they stand, call an ambulance, and just ...wait :001_huh: they don't do anything. Only the paramedics have the right to give it to her, that plus although her school is supposedly educated, I can't see a teacher with 45+ other students keeping an eye on her and making sure she does what she needs to do, and, by rights, they also can't "help" her with anything. She still won't prick her own finger (she'll read the display, get everything ready for you, including the meds) but she won't inject herself or prick her finger, which she would have to do if she went to school.

 

That, plus the decision at the time (18 months ago) that Chaos would not probably ever be ready for going to a public preschool (he's literally what his name states- Chaos.), everytime he entered the classroom when we went to pick Atlas up, he was like a one-man tornado, I think the teachers just got burnout from watching him (we're unsure what he has, I think theres a possibility of being on the spectrum, being very bright in tech/logic/maths, and having SPD, we're hopefully finally going to get a referral soon)

 

So although I intended to homeschool from the beginning I was veto-ed by the whole family, we used the public system, and then because of the unfolded events, we ended up "Accidently" homeschooling.

 

The day-to-days of dealing with diabetes, homeschooling and living life, is quite a challenge. We have lots of ups and downs, learning experiences, and with a child that is consistently going through growth spurts and being food-fussy (perhaps seeing how far she can psuh, knowing she "has" to eat and we can't play the "fine, go to bed hungry" card) is making it difficult at the least to get her average levels to a tolerable level.

 

Adding Chaos into the mix is another ordeal entirely. If we so much as glance at him or head anywhere near him whilst we have any of Atlas' Diabetes stuff in our hands, it sets him off into a meltdown, as he somehow thinks we'll "prick" or "inject" him. Then I spend about 20 minutes (or more) trying to calm down his imaginary "blood" that he thinks he has (even though we haven't gone near him with anything).

 

The worst thing has to be when I have to check her levels for whatever reason, and the meters too cold, and keeps showing me that stupid error. And the fact she's a skinny minny. We're constantly having problems injecting her into "new" places or having site build-ups. She has little to no fat, so we're stuck with a small area in which to work.

 

Ah, the daily dramas of life :lol:

[MilkMaid]

I feel your pain. My girls attended public school & we have never been more happy with any other decision we have made for our kids than homeschooling...especially with diabetes!..Now that my dd is 12yo she is raging through puberty & that is a WHOLE different ball game with diabetes. She is cooperative most of the time about everything...but some days her hormones are on a rampage & being that insulin is a hormone..well one can only imagine the tears & drama that she presents us with. Puberty with diabetes creates such different problems that a person can only learn about & watch for. Nothing you can do to prevent or change it.

Homeschool lifted a weight of my shoulders like I couldve never imagined. I would like to keep in touch with you. I dont know a lot of folks who have diabetic kids so its nice to share stories.

My email is drinkmilk7@gmail.com :001_smile::001_smile: