Hi. My little girl is almost 2 years old and it would be nice to have someone else who could help my husband and I take care of her blood sugar monitoring and insulin injections.(Pump not an option just yet - meeting about that when we are in the States in December) Working parents - how do you handle a secondary caregiver? We live in Hong Kong so don't have the novelty of family. I work from home but I have lots of outside meetings. Aside from dealing with emotions I'm curious to know how others handle this. Thanks!
I went through a few caretakers until I found an excellent one that really understood the diabetes care. Have them test hourly and text in the results to you if you want in the beginning to ease your mind and be sure you know the caretaker understands what they are doing. Also have them call for lows. Make sure you have very specific instruction sheets on how to handle her diabetes care. Train them how to give shots. Treat lows, give glucagon, etc.
My 6 year old son was diagnosed almost 3 months ago. 2 weeks after diagnosis we moved to Bangkok, Thailand. If we were still in the states (not living near family) I had a wonderful babysitter that I know would have been more than willing to learn what she needed to in order to care for him.
Here in Thailand we have a nanny/maid from the Philippines (help is very cheap here) and I have trained her how to care for him. She has been testing sugar and giving insulin (with my supervision) for the last 3 weeks. This coming Saturday will be the first evening that she cares for him alone. I will require her to call and verify numbers with me before giving insulin at least the first few times she does it alone. I interviewed over 20 potential helpers and my son was my main concern, I can clean if I need to, I wanted to have continuity in care for my kid if I needed to go out or WANTED a night out. The communication with her and being able to know that she understood was what made me choose her.
Before my son was diagnosed I was not picky about who I left my kids with. As long as I knew that they were cared for, fed, and enjoyed who ever it was. Since diagnosis that all changed and leaving him with anyone takes A LOT of planning and courage on our part as parents to let go and put the responsibility on someone else. I can tell you that being able to have someone else do even one injection a day (whether it is a care taker or your significant other) is a big relief. For me it was communication and a feeling that I had with this particular person. Look around and see who and what is available. You will find someone, you just have to be able to TRUST them.
In addition to the great advice the other ladies have given, it would probably be a good idea for you to prepare meals and snacks and label with the amount of carbs for anytime you are not around. Once you are comfortable with their ability to do the calculation of insulin amount, you can then let than start counting carbs. I also made a spreadsheet of favorite food.
My son was diagnosed when I’ve was 21 months old, so I’ve been where you are. We were very fortunate that we already had a caregiver in place who learned with us, but I’m sure you will find someone. Honestly, family can sometimes be a little judgmental and willing to share their opinions about diabetes care. I think an employee is a bit easier to work with!
The best advice I can give you is to take it easy one yourself. There will always be good days and bad days. Bad days don’t meant you’ve done anything wrong. Diabetes is a complex, dynamic disease!
Thank you for your advice everyone! I have people look at me like I have 7 heads when I tell them I am looking for someone who can also do her injections. Obviously, they have no idea how liberating it can/will be!
Again, I live in Hong Kong so it is a domestic helper - we hired a sweet lady but unfortunately I don't think she will cut the mustard. 2 months of training and guess we don't gel when it comes to the injections & blood sugar monitoring.
I'm a control freak so everything is always measured out, meals & snacks are always planned, 'kits' set aside for lows.
So right, this is such a dynamic disease!!
It will definitely be worth it when you do find someone with whom you gel with and is game to do injections. We moved recently away from a great daycare person and my inlaws who were comfortable doing injections. It took me a few months here to be ready to trust someone but I bit the bullet and asked and now have a great lady. I don't work yet but that's the next step. I first gave her a tester to play with for a week and some info to read. She loved playing with the tester and testing her family before and after meals. Now she texts me Ian's number before meals, then what he eats, and I text her back how much insulin to give. It's nerve racking and I stare at my phone sometimes wondering why she hasn't texted yet and that's where that trust is needed. And I know that if I text her and ask she won't be offended. She's a mom too and totally gets it.
good luck,
oh and we have to be control freaks! When I'm not one his numbers vary more ;)