Packing up and Letting Go

Grace's 5th grade class goes on a trip, annually to an Outdoor School. The true old kind of outdoor school, with bunk beds in open cabins that close with flaps, outdoor bathrooms, showers in your bathing suits, mess halls, boat rides on the Chesapeake Bay, working on a farm, walks through the swamp and cooking hotdogs on a beach campfire. It's a tradition that dates backs 40 years. EVERY 5th grader goes on the trip, it's a right of passage to do it.

This week is Grace's week.

And I have been so very excited that she is going, and as a Type 1 D-Mama, sort of dreading it. Well, you know, I have only been planning for it since September, let alone the planning in my head that has gone on since she was in 1st grade. She has an excellent nurse going with her - the sub nurse she has had for 5 years at school. He is an RN in the ICU of a city hospital. If there is anyone to handle anything under pressure, it's him. I trust him with her. I still spent almost two hours at my dining room table with him this past Saturday morning, giving him the lowdown on pump settings, temp basals, carb doses and the like.

I think I am ready.

Grace has been ready since the start of 5th grade.

'Mom, I will be fine.' 'Yes, Mom, it's all going to be OK.' 'Mom, I have going to have a blast.' and as always, she is the one reassuring me, my 10 year old packed into a 35 year old's body, that all will be well.

I've packed it all. All of what someone needs to take care of Grace for five straight days need. We have planned on pump failure, occlusions, extra syringes even though she is on the pump, the name of the nearest hospital and how to get there, the doctor on call for the outdoor school, you name it, we have a plan for it. And just because I have a plan for everything, everything will go splendidly, isn't that how it's supposed to work?!

I have packed:

OmniPods - (7 for 5 days, even though she changes sets every 3 days)
Novolog
Lantus
syringes
glucagon - 2
medical waste containers - 2
Unisolve
SkinTac
SkinPrep
Carb counting book
GlucoLift
extra batteries
alcohol pads
extra lancing device
extra meter that works with Freestyle strips
Freestyle strips
ketone meter and ketone strips
Flexifix tape
Dexcom charger
Dexcom case
clear skins that can tape over the Pod and CGM transmitter should she walk through the swamp

And I still think I forgot stuff.

Then comes the low treatment boxes, one for the nurse's cabin and one for her cabin. Juices, granola bars and fruit snacks.

She will have a blast. She will be safe and well cared for, I know it. She will come back with the same memories that her sisters have of doing this, of going through the right of passage. Collective memory, it's something to behold. 

I have packed it. I have blessed it. I have done everything so she will be ready to take D along for the ride.

Have fun, sweetie.