Every new school year, or start of a new calendar year, I have good intentions to record our family history somehow, yet my thousands of pictures on the iphone are really the only consistent documentation. Nonetheless, I’ll give it a go again this school year.
First- to address the Streaker. I’ve worked in several different elementary schools within my county. Each building has its own vibe, made up by the neighborhoods that it serves and the faculty and staff that work there. One of my schools has a high energy atmosphere based on the components listed above. There is never a dull day at this school. We started this year off with a woman running frantically into the front office, within the first week, demanding to run back and check on a child that she knew was wounded, bleeding, and in need of her help at our school. We have many eyes on children as they enter the school. No staff saw a bleeding or wounded child enter the building. Our principal was able to contain her in his office, get a copy of her ID and keep her from leaving until the police arrived. Turns out she’s a regular. The police escorted her out of the school and allowed her to drive herself home.
So, where’s the streaking part? She turned up a few days later in a swim and tennis neighborhood, streaking. To be fair it was a hot day, and all the kids were now in school…maybe she just wanted a quick dip in the pool?
The 504 plans: I have sat in many meetings these past two weeks where I was part of a committee determining 504 eligibility and getting plans in place for children at school. This is my first school year sitting at the same table, but now as a parent with a child who has health needs of his own. I’ve always advocated for children, but now I feel that role more deeply, as my child is one of the children who needs accommodations. It scares me a little as I learn of new and growing illnesses in childhood. Why are so many children being diagnosed with life-threatening allergies? Are there environmental triggers, is it because of genetically modified foods, why so many autoimmune conditions? I empathize with parents who must entrust a school system to keep their child alive during the day. This statement may seem extreme, but it’s really not. Not when you are made aware of the medical needs of so many children.
Finally, the lows. Aislin is cheering again for her third year. Her first year of cheering, I was one of the coaches. That was a tough job. I wish I could say that I enjoyed every moment of being out there with my daughter, and watching her do something that I loved doing at one time in my life. But, honestly, I was working at three different elementary schools, commuting 30 minutes each way, and had a spouse who commuted, worked and traveled, and a son who was playing baseball at the time. I did not enjoy it. It was one more thing that stressed me out. Coaching 6-7 year olds after they’ve been in school all day, and after I’ve been in meetings or putting children through batteries of psychoeducational testing, felt like herding cats.
This year, at the first practice I was approached and told that because they had so many cheerleaders, they wanted to create at third squad, rather than two big squads. They asked if I’d coach again. I hate to say no. If I can find a way to say yes to most things, I’ll say yes. I deliberated on it for an hour. I just couldn’t say yes. Aislin’s cheer practice time, twice a week for two hours, is my time with Blaine. He’s not playing football, and that was my planned time to go to the jogging track with him. I can’t leave him home for two hours and I definitely was not going to make him sit at Aislin’s practice for two hours while I coached.
I know Aislin would have loved for me to coach, but now is not the time.
Sometimes with diabetes it’s hard to have set plans and I’m learning to be okay with that. Yesterday was Aislin’s practice. I came home and made sure everyone did homework, had snacks, took the dogs out and were ready to go. I had told Blaine that we would be doing the track while she practiced. I knew he wasn’t thrilled, but he was going along with it.
As soon as we got in the car he said he felt low. He checked. He was 39. This is only the second time we’ve seen a number in 30s register on his monitor. While trying to park in the madhouse of a parking lot, I was also trying to keep a close eye on Blaine to make sure he had a juice, granola bar and sugar tablets. We got Aislin safely to her practice and decided to get our groceries first. The plan had been, walk, groceries, unload groceries at home and then get Aislin. We obviously had to adjust that plan.
We went through Kroger gathering what we needed. Blaine seemed completely fine. We got everything home and quickly unloaded and then rushed back to the track. I estimated that we could still get in a mile and a half before practice ended. As we were stepping on the track to start a very fast paced walk, we decided to do a quick BG check. He was 79. Forget it. There was no way we were going to force a bunch of juice just so we could exercise. We decided to head back to the car, have some more juice and then just watch the rest of Aislin’s practice.
I know that watching a cheer practice was the last thing Blaine wanted to do, and honestly, my heart was set on getting in a few miles for my exercise. But, this is life. I know that right now I’m modeling for Blaine how to handle these things. I tried very hard not to appear frustrated or disappointed, but Blaine still apologized to me. I told him it wasn’t his fault in anyway. These things happen. We deal with them and move on. There will be other days for me to get my walks in, just as there will be other days that he’s about to go and do something important, but he’ll have to take a few minutes to get his BG back on track. We’re learning to cope, and maybe learning to be a little more flexible with life than we would have learned to be otherwise, had diabetes never entered our family.
No comments:
Post a Comment