I check Sam's blood sugar every night, without fail, at 3:00 am. Some nights I may have already checked at 2:00, and he's been low, so I give him a snack, juice (or both) and come back an hour later. Some nights I'll come in at 1:00, others I'll come back at 4:00, but I'm always there at 3:00. I've done this every night (except for a handful when I've been traveling for work) for the last three years. Many people ask me how I do it, how I function without ever getting more than two or three hours of consecutive sleep, ever. I've never once thought about it. Sam is my son. Caring for him is an honor.
It's almost always the same. The alarm on my Blackberry goes off, I get up, walk into the living room, get the PDM and lancet device, plus a small piece of paper towel to blot the blood drop. The next thing I do I cannot avoid. I check to make sure Sam is breathing. All parents will remember doing that for their newborn children. Sam is almost five and I anticipate checking him like this for a long time. Only once I see his chest rise and fall do I gently take his hand (many nights he extends a finger while still asleep), lance his finger (sometimes he'll flinch, but he never wakes), squeeze out a small drop of blood, and test it. Some nights he's high, so I give him a bolus (insulin). Less often he's within range, so I go back to sleep, perhaps to return in another hour. Some nights he's low, so I go into the kitchen and bring back the snack or juice to treat the low. I gently wake him, saying, "Sam? You need to wake up and have some juice." He wakes up, sits up, reaches sleepily for the juice box or crackers, eats and drinks what he needs to (almost dutifully), then goes back to bed. He's asleep immediately almost every night. On nights he doesn't go back to sleep he says, "Your bed?", "Of course," I say, and carry him to sleep with us. On nights he falls back asleep in his bed I go back into my room and go right back to sleep myself. I will be back, in an hour, maybe two. Sam is my son. Caring for him is an honor.
