A Day in the Life of Sara

Here is a little insight into Sara's day as a Type 1 Diabetic

7:00a Dad wakes the kids and the family gathers for family worship

7:45a Sara figures out what she wants for breakfast. We do a carb count, check her glucose, do the math and give her her first injection of the day.

8:00a Sara is usually eating breakfast. She needs to eat about 10-15 minutes after her injection. That usually gives her enough time to make whatever she has chosen to eat that day. Lately her breakfast of choice has been vanilla yogurt, granola, and scrambled eggs. Sometimes she has an english muffin with her eggs.  A couple times a week she will add juice, but that really spikes her numbers before lunch and it's really not worth having to take extra insulin.

9:00a school starts. If she's not feeling well we may go lighter on the book work. The last couple of weeks she has been able to complete most of her schoolwork.

10:15a Snack time. In an ideal world, she really needs to have 2 hours between meals and snacks to have the insulin properly working. While we are at home, it is fairly easy to stick to that. Most of her snacks during school are 10g or less. We don't have to cover those 10g with insulin, so they are "free" carbs.

12:15p Lunch time is soon so Sara needs to plan her lunch. We do another carb count, check her glucose, do the math and do her second injection of the day.

12:30p Lunch. This varies from day to day. She really likes grilled ham and cheese with pineapple on the side. Sometimes Strawberries. Or maybe cucumbers with Ranch. 

After lunch she likes to run around outside. We have to keep an eye on her glucose numbers. Moderate activity can cause those numbers to go down very quickly. So we have a chart that helps us keep those numbers in a healthy range. Depending on the length of activity and what her glucose is at the beginning of said activity, she needs to eat so many carbs. So before she goes out, we do another glucose check. Then when she comes back in we do another. If she is in target, we are happy. If she is high, we know that activity doesn't always mean her numbers will come down immediately. Sometimes there is a delayed reaction. So we'll test again in an hour or so. If her numbers are low, we have another chart to direct us what to do to bring her back up to target. If she is below 70 we treat with 15g of fast acting sugar like 2 packs of smarties and retest in 15-30 minutes. If she is low, but above 70, we can give her a 15g snack such as a granola bar. It doesn't need to be fast acting, but something to bring her back up to a not-so-low number. I have an alarm set for 3p so she can have a snack as needed to hold her until dinner.

5:45p Dinner will be soon. Once again we measure out her meal, carb count, check glucose, do the math and give her the 3rd injection of the day. When she is finished we begin to gather at the table. By the time we sent and pray over the food, the 15 minutes have passed and she can eat.

8:30p Time for her long-acting insulin injection. This one burns a little. A trick one of the nurse taught us is to numb the area with ice. That seems to help quite a bit. Once again we will do a glucose check. If her numbers are high we may give her 1/2 of a correction dose. if they are low, she needs to have a hard carb snack. Usually a few crackers or some nuts. 

2:00a Daniel's phone alarm goes off. Upstairs we go to check her glucose again. Usually it is in a safe range and we just go back to bed. A few times it has been too high and we have had to give 1/2 a correction dose. We also have had a low we had to treat. A pack or two of Smarties (15g fast acting sugar) and sit up for about 30 minutes and then retest. Go to bed if it is ok, or give a bit more sugar if it is still low. There have been a few times when we have gotten up again at 4a to check again. 

This is just a small snapshot of her day. It doesn't take into consideration the emotion, the frustration, the tiredness, days of sickness, days out of the house, fellowshipping with friends, church, or any of the other variables that life will throw at us. What works one day, does not work the next or the next. This disease doesn't sleep and neither can we. Every day we have to be on our game. No resting or taking it easy. This her life and if we are neglectful in her care, the price will be big. We aren't willing to take that risk. with our precious daughter.