1st for Alex

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bev

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Hi all,
This afternoon I let Alex go to the local park with his friend ( it is about 300 yards from our house) - WITHOUT ME IN TOW! His friend called out of the blue and I thought 'why not'?

He was allowed out for an hour and a quarter. I rang him after 40 minutes and he was hypo - well he was 3 - not huge but low. He was in the middle of treating himself and said he would test again in 10 minutes. Anyway, i rang after 20 minutes and he had forgotten to test. I waited whilst he tested and he was 3.1 - so treated again.

My question is : Should I be a bit stricter on how he deals with hypo's and if so, what can I do to encourage him to re-test without him feeling I am nagging him! I dont want to invade his space - but i need to know he will remember to re-test etc!

I want to get the balance right between letting him be independant and taking responsibility for his diabetes.

Any advice welcome!🙂Bev
 
bev said:
Hi all,
This afternoon I let Alex go to the local park with his friend ( it is about 300 yards from our house) - WITHOUT ME IN TOW! His friend called out of the blue and I thought 'why not'?

He was allowed out for an hour and a quarter. I rang him after 40 minutes and he was hypo - well he was 3 - not huge but low. He was in the middle of treating himself and said he would test again in 10 minutes. Anyway, i rang after 20 minutes and he had forgotten to test. I waited whilst he tested and he was 3.1 - so treated again.

My question is : Should I be a bit stricter on how he deals with hypo's and if so, what can I do to encourage him to re-test without him feeling I am nagging him! I dont want to invade his space - but i need to know he will remember to re-test etc!

I want to get the balance right between letting him be independant and taking responsibility for his diabetes.

Any advice welcome!🙂Bev
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dont phone 'text' first then he can always pretend infront of mates that its not his mum xxxx
 
CAn you get him to set an alarm on his mobile to remind him to test? No doubt he got distracted and forgot, but an alarm would remind him and he might get into the habit. But you're his mum and mum knows best!🙂
 
Hi Bev,

not sure how medtronic works, but on my meter if ive tested low, it alarms in 15 mins and i retest. Can that be set up on the meter you use? Im not sure if thats an aviva thing or a pump thing in my case?
 
Hi Bev,

What I would suggest is that he gets to know he will need to retest (that said, it's something I've never done) but it should be up to his judgement. He's a wise lad so I reckon he'll make the right decision. The trick to handing over the baton as far as diabetes control goes is to do it little by little. Start with the basic stuff and then move onto the more complex stuff. Try and get him doing it all for himself before he disappears off to uni or flies the nest.

Tom
 
I sympathise Bev. My son, at 13, is often out playing with his friends and he sometimes forgets to test blood or to bolus for a snack. Also he eats at his friends houses sometimes and it is not easy to carb count the food. I do find it frustrating. It is trying to find that balance between good blood sugars and him having as normal a life as possible.

I use pump alarms and text messages to help. 🙂

Sometimes I do feel like a nag but it is hard to know where to draw the line. :confused:
 
Bev,

My friend's T1 son forgets to test. He also has virtually no hypo awareness and has to walk home from school with a friend as it's uphill.

His parents and brother just text him to ask what his BG is and if he has forgotten to test he does one and texts the answer. Perhaps you could try that approach Bev?
 
Yeah, I would agree. Send a text message, but maybe have a pre decided agreement that he needs to text back within a certain length of time, if not, he will get a phone call! The more he goes out alone, and the more often he deals with things himself the more he will learn his own systems for things too. But I'm sure it's good for him to know that you're just on the other end of the phone!
 
Munjeeta said:
Yeah, I would agree. Send a text message, but maybe have a pre decided agreement that he needs to text back within a certain length of time, if not, he will get a phone call! The more he goes out alone, and the more often he deals with things himself the more he will learn his own systems for things too. But I'm sure it's good for him to know that you're just on the other end of the phone!
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Thanks everyone!🙂

Munjeeta - where have you been? I have missed your posts! Glad your back with us.🙂

Tracy - where have you been? Missed you too!

Mand - where you have been? Missed your pumping posts!🙂Bev
 
Yes. Back! 🙂 Been getting a little bogged down with it all for a while but my head is once again back above water (strongly linked to the fact it is half term this week I feel 🙂) I hope you're well. And Alex too!
 
i think the trick is to let Alex do as much as possible for himself. Text messages and alrms on the phone are a good idea.

Alex is a sensible bright lad, and I'm sure he knows what he has to do. I think part of our jobs as parents is to teach our children to lead indpendent lives, the hard part is often letting go.
 
Hi Bev

Why not ask Alex. He is generally a sensible lad isn't he, well he seems it from what you say, so I'm pretty sure he will understand how big a deal it is to go and play without you being there so you need to between you come up with a compromise. If he likes the idea of texting say you will try it, if that doesn't work try something else.

Re the treating hypos maybe because he is playing and is on his own (without you) he may need a bit more than normal? What does he had for a hypo? Maybe up it a bit or maybe even put on a temp basal before he goes out and see what happens.

This is all trial and error and you are a braver woman than me, I take my hat off to you. 🙂
 
Hi Adrienne,

He was on a temp basal already. The problem was that he had a hypo and i rang him in the middle of it. I reminded him to re-test after 10 mins - but then after half an hour i realised he would probably forget! So i rang and he had forgotten - so he re-tested and he was 3 (i think) - so had another treatment. Its just that if they are playing - they do forget to do these things and i wont know if he had the 1st hypo - so dont know to remind him - if you see what i mean?

He is normally sensible - but when with friends i think most children forget these sort of things dont they? Anyway, i had a chat with him this morning and he said he will ring me if ever hypo and then i can ring him back to remind him after 10 minutes or so. I dont like him going out to play without me there - but his life wouldnt be normal if he didnt and i want to make things as 'normal' as possible so he doesnt feel the odd one out!

He went bowling with a young lady tonight! (Hannah was with her friend - both 18 and its her friends little sister also aged 11). He coped quite well and even carb counted a burger and chips meal and did a dual wave. Didnt work too well as he was 12 at the 2 hour check - but at least he tried and I think he felt very grown up!

I do understand how scary it is to 'let go' of them - but it has to be done😱😱😱. J is also very sensible and i know she will be fine when she starts to spread her wings!🙂Bev x
 
Great stuff, Alex is brilliant isn't he, very good about this. I would do the phoning as well actually.

Ooo a girl and bowling and eating eh !!
 
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