Locked


On the first day of outdoor gym, after running increasingly fast sprints for half an hour, my daughter's blood sugar was low.  She grabbed a friend and went to tell the teacher.  The teacher, apparently a man of few words, pointed to my daughter's friend and said in what my daughter describes as a deep, gruff voice, "You. Take her to the nurse."

So off they went, to the door from which they had exited the building.  Locked.

They tried the 2 other doors on that side of the building.

Locked.

As they debated whether to go back to the gym class (a couple of hundred yards away) or to go to the building's front door which has an intercom system (maybe a bit closer but out of sight of the gym class), someone discovered them trying to get in and opened a door.

Yesterday there was more running outside and, despite an interim round of insulin adjusting, another low. 

"You. Take her to the nurse."

"Is the door unlocked?"

"Go to the front."

They were buzzed in.  Ten minutes later, still in the nurse's office, my daughter heard the bell ring.  She was still wearing her gym clothes and all of her belongings were still in the locker room which, they had been told, was locked when nobody was in it.  The nurse walked her to the gym (her bg was still 60) where the locker room was, indeed, locked. 

As my daughter wondered what her next move should be, the gym teacher of few words appeared . Unlocking the door, he asked,  "You wear a pump?"

"Yes and a dexcom- it's a continuous glucose monitor."

"Does it go to your phone?"  (Wait- what?  Does this guy speak my language, however succinctly?)

"No but my new one will."

"My niece has that."

"Cool.  Thanks for unlocking the door."

Gym blood sugar management may take a while to sort out and there are probably more impeding locks to contend with.  But at least we've learned that the gym teacher of few words gets it.  Even if he's a little brusque about it.



3 comments:

  1. My tiny pwd just asked me what I was reading, and I explained it to her. At the part about being locked out of the school she exclaimed, "You are telling me a scary story with your mouth!" and at the end, "Tell me that story again about the big girl and her diabetes." Thank you for writing this for us to read.

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    Replies
    1. Your tiny PWD sounds adorable. Thanks for reading!

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  2. As a teacher's aide, I have opened the outside door for many children going to the school nurse, as I watch them make their way up the long hall toward the nurse station I try to alert the nurse with a quick phone call. Most teachers are sensitive to a sick child and will put the needs of the child first.

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