Thursday, January 26, 2012

Superstitions and the 2 AM check



Grace has an overnight BG check, courtesy of me. It's always at 2 AM.

She checks when she goes to bed at 8 PM (or at least when she heads upstairs), then I check again at 10 PM, then I basically let her ride (pending of course, HI or LO blood sugars) until 2 AM. Then I check her when I wake up at 5:30 AM, and when she wakes at 7 AM.

Lately, my internal clock has been waking, every single night, at 1:38 AM. And, can I tell you something, I don't get up and check her. I know, I am AWAKE at 1:38 AM and I don't get up to check her. I lay there and wait until 2 AM. That's some sick stuff there, a therapist's dream!

Why don't I?

Cause there are certain things I will not do when it comes to diabetes care. And they have nothing to do with standards of care, or what my CDE or Endo says. They are totally discriminatory and random. They are called superstitions and I do not mess with them. Ever.

Here are my D superstitions:

1. I check her at precisely 2 AM when all is going well. Not at 1:38 AM, not at 1:54 AM, not at 2:07 AM. Yep, right at 2 AM. Gary Scheiner, our CDE, gets a kick out of this apparently, because when he downloads our data from her OmniPod PDM, he says 'You really stick with that 2 AM, don't you?!' with a smirk on his face. Because literally, the blood sugar data is all one big glob of dots, precisely all at 2 AM. And think, I'm not even OCD!

2. I only change her lancet once a day, in the morning. (Comments suggesting I am a bad mother for only changing once a day will be deleted. I don't wanna hear it.) But, if she has a string of really in-range blood sugars, I won't change it. I think I am jinxing the D-goddesses. If she has a really bad string of out-of-range blood sugars, I change it more often. I am completely convinced that it's the lancet's fault.

3. I won't write in her log book when her next Pod change is. Nope. That jinxes it so that her Pod will alarm. I KNOW this, as it's happened and happened and happened. I learned my lesson. No predicting when I will change the Pod. Got it world, got the message. Change the Pod when the PDM alerts me to, whenever that may be.

4. I close my eyes when I check ketones. Because we all know that's the way you get the ketone meter to read 0.0. Don't you do this? What, you don't? I suggest you try it, cause when I close my eyes and wish really hard, most of the time we get 0.0. I do remember once at Grace's school when I kept my eyes wide open and even counted down with the ketone meter, and we got 0.3. See, I should have closed my eyes.

I know you have them, D Mamas, D Papas and my fellow readers with D.

What are YOUR superstitions when it comes to D care???

13 comments:

Marla said...

Just wanted to say Hi and tell you that my little girl (10) started on omnipod 5 weeks ago. Before that I read your posts about the ugly/impractical bag sent with the pod. I immediately ordered the bag of your dreams and we're loving it!! If you have to deal with diabetes there has to be an upside somewhere. Cute bags & purses are the upside!

Regarding your post, I'm trying to think and I don't have a single diabetes superstition!!! Oh well. Maybe I should get some!

The DL said...

I love that you have superstitions! hahha I honestly don't realy have any...I guess I always check right before I fall asleep and right when I wake up...

Also you are not a bad mom for changing her lancet once a day...I change mine literally like once a week and so far so good lol.

Redhead Living said...

I don't have any superstitions but I check my daughter at 12:30 and 3:30 every night (which started when she began podding)...can't wait to get back to the 2 A.M. check.

And I have to admit, I also only change the lancet once a day! Shame on me! :)

Julie L said...

My main superstition is not to say that things are going well because that just invites trouble. I did it once and that was enough!

Joanne said...

As someone who has many quirks and superstitions, when it comes to D...alas I have none. Weird.

One thing that might count is that I have stopped being so cavalier when mentioning/blogging about good BGs... it seems to jinx it when I do.

Amanda said...

I don't know if I have any superstitions, now I'm going to really have to think about it. I check my daughter at 8:30p, 10:30p, 2:30a and 6:30a. We use a Multi-Clix and I think we change it like once a month :-)

Jess said...

i LOVE this! the only superstition i can think of right now is that when i've having a stellar bg day, i say nothing! don't want to jinx it!

you know, the first rule of fight club... ;)

Sara said...

Joanne and Jess have it right, never blog about good numbers :)

Alexis Nicole said...

I love this!!

I will snap a pic of a good dex graph, post a fb status but never blog it. I've learned that's a NO NO.

Ummm others? Idk....maybe I'm superstitious about superstitions?

Bennet said...

"And think, I'm not even OCD!"

Your testimony as witness above not withstanding.

LY/MI

Tracy1918 said...

Cute post! I have a 2am obsession as well! And as for changing the lancets? We are horrible! But working in it! : )

victoria said...

Oh my goodness, I cannot believe you only change her lancets once a day?! TOTALLY KIDDING! As an adult PWD, I will (embarrassingly and shamefully) admit I only change them when it takes three or four tries to get a drop of blood. I don't really have superstitions, but if I wake up in the middle of the night low, I don't always check because I don't wake up till I'm really, really low. Knowing the number makes me freak out and I end up overcorrecting. Better to treat and test once I'm coming up. I know, I know... ridiculous logic.

Nicole said...

hahaha great post! love it :) I will usually lie in that bed until that alarm goes off telling me it is time to check unless it is KILLING me not knowing what her number is. Sometimes like today it kills me when I don't have a clue what her numbers are...control issue much!! I guess we all have our thing.