Pod alarm during field trip

Diabetes Technology Insulin Pumps
1

Kennedy had an alarm while away from school at a field trip, towards then end thankfully.

the teachers had her replace the pod, and she had to miss the last 15 minutes of the field trip, which apparently was the mission critical time to appear in the right photos with the popular kids which would have put her over the top on her instagram followers.

She was just devastated to miss that photo session, BECAUSE< she had been having low's late mornings and her BS on her dex was actually 120 and dropping, loosing the pod may have actually prevented her from getting low!!

But it was mainly a control issue, lack of control, and being told what to do by the teachers who actually don't know squat about her diabetes.

Another diabetic at school was injured this week, got low during class, felt nauseated, ran to the bathroom to vomit, then proceeded to pass out, have a concussion and a serious head lac, and the school is really on edge.

So the interesting thing is now that kennedy has all of this beeping and alarming for various reasons, her friends have seen the dex LOW, and are getting worried about her!! I told her just to explain questions as they come up, but she just HATES to be singled out!

How should I handle this with the school? I'd like her to be able to have a little more decision ability now that she is getting the hang of self management a bit more. If she wants to wait 1 hour after a pod failure because her bs is 120 and dropping, I'd like her to be able to do that.

How does everyone else deal with field trips?

I'd love to hear from you adult pwd's about how I can help kennedy deal with frustrations about her diabetes at school?? Advice PLEASE?

2

I didn't handle my teenage years very well, even without diabetes, so I'm not sure how to tell teenagers how to deal with frustration, in general, at school.

As far as teachers go, doesn't her 504 plan specify who is supposed to be doing what regarding her Pod? I can't speak to the frustration, but I imagine there might be less anxiety if teachers were given specific instructions about how Kennedy should be dealing with her beeping pod and blood sugar control. As a teacher myself, I know I don't have much authority to dictate to a student how to handle their 504 specified treatment plan. I've seen a few 504 plans over the years and none have specified any role for myself.

Best of luck!!

3

Hi Natalie,

I’m a teacher with Type 1, so I have a slightly different perspective. How old is your daughter? If she’s 7 she shouldn’t have the autonomy a 17 year-old would. She needs to handle things in a discrete manner. I want a Dexcom G4, but I wouldn’t have the display in a visible place. If the Dexcom were hidden, she could have removed the pod & continued with just the reminder beep telling her to set up another one.

With best wishes

Belinda

4

Something to think about, as a child the amount of time from activities I missed due to MDI routines was quite large. So things have very much improved, IMHO...

5

The school will follow to the letter what the 504 says to dodge any liability. Get with your Doc and see if they can modify 504 order to give your daughter a little more freedom. Our doc wouldn’t due to liability reasons of their own

Best wishes

6

so sorry kennedy had a bad experience on her field trip, I agree with you kennedy is responsible and certainly old enough to handle decision making. jacob has a similar experience where he was over a new friends house and had an occlusion alarm about an hour after getting there he wanted me to pick him up right away because he didnt have a replacement on him, meanwhile he was planning on sledding for an hour and would have been fine without the pod on we had a doc apt afew days later and she agreed an hour is fine depending on the situation. we tried to make this a new situation, learn from it thing, he was devastated at first, but these are new friends and they know about his D and they are supportive in a need to know not over interested way. poor kennedy with everyone over her shoulder how is she going to grow and own this. jacob never wanted a dex just for the reason of it beeping all the time another gadget and constant reminder, they are so great for many reasons esp in the field trip situation she knew exactly where she was and going so she knew she was safe! can she turn the tone down, it is so hard to draw the line with sharing your diabetes and having your privacy...i would definitely make her 504 extremely specific to enable kennedy to be part of the plan, as you said she knows more about her D than anyone at school, i feel if you enable them, compliment them and most importantly compliment and engage them about all nonD parts of their life more than their D this will make them feel their D is not so big and manageable. ( we know it is big and sometimes hard to manage, they do to but i think it is important to be positive!) jacob skipped his field trip last year to six flags because they were going to go to the water park and he just didnt want to deal with his pod falling off or having his pod seen! he broke down at the last minute and i let him stay home with me, he had a great day and was happy with HIS decision, he really doesnt like crowds or amusement parks anyways. I hope things get better for you and kennedy this really is a fragile age for their development as a person and laying the groundwork for a healthy (physically and mentally) diabetic. best wishes! amy

by the way for us anyway once high school starts, kennedy will own her diabetes, jacob just stops in at the nurse for privacy to test and bolus but if we said it was ok to do so in the lunch room it would be fine. there are occasional days when he is running late and doesnt stop at the nurse and just boluses in the caf. the nurse doesnt know, i am ok with this as long as it is a rare situation, this is life, this is jacob's diabetes and his time to learn for his 'mistakes'. luckily for me his mistakes are few and far between!