After Monday's successful first day of standardized testing, I relaxed a bit about the whole thing. My child was happy, the day went smoothly. Tuesday was great too. Everything was going to be just fine.
Then there was Wednesday. At 9:40, I got the phone call. "Hi Mrs. Osborne." I could tell from the tone of the nurse's voice this wasn't going to be good. "She's 357." "Crap," I eloquently responded.
"OK," I said, "we'll obviously correct it. Then she needs to wait to take the rest of today's test until she's under 300, I think. She must be a little fuzzy-headed."
The correction was given and I was put on hold while the nurse went to talk to the principal to confirm how this would be handled. Based on my several conversations with him in the preceeding weeks, I was certain she could wait to finish the test when her blood sugar came down.
"She can make up the rest of today's test next week," was the response. Puzzled, I was put on the phone with the principal, who had somehow made the assumption that her blood sugar wouldn't come back down for hours. "I hope it will come down within the hour," I explained. Finally we agreed that my daughter would hang out in the nurse's office until she was under 300. I spoke with my daughter, who was upset by the whole incident, but agreed in the end that the plan was ok.
Twenty minutes later, I got the next call. She was down to 310. She'd was working on her second large water bottle and was jogging in place. "Check again in 10 minutes," I said. "I bet she'll be good."
"She's 257, " was the next call.
"Great! Send her up quick before she drops to 50," I replied. The nurse, who blessedly gets both diabetes and my sense of humor, laughed.
In the end she balanced out to a nice 108 by lunchtime and stayed in range the rest of the day.
Why was she 357 in the first place? Why did it have to happen on test day? What did other visitors to the nurse's office think when they saw her in there jogging and chugging water? I don't have answers to any of these questions. Did we handle this the best way we could think of? Did it work out in the end? Did we manage to maintain a sense of humor about the whole thing? Absolutely.
Hi, Pam,
ReplyDeleteI guess it's these unpredicted moments that make the 504 Plan such a useful necessity.
I remember you saying you're watching American Idol this year. On one of the vote-off nights, they had last year's runner up Crystal Bowersox sing - she has diabetes. Wasn't sure if you knew that, but it had come up last year as she'd been hospitalized during the season and so it was referenced periodically - everyone cheered when she commented on being in her best health and admired her perseverance without drawing attention to herself. I remember you liked one of the Jonas Brothers because he has diabetes and thought you might appreciate another musical celebrity figure.
Hope those assessments are over soon, Michelle