11PM and 2AM Blood Glucose Checks

    When William was first diagnosed with type 1 diabetes I was afraid. We were at the doctors office learning how to take care of him. We were there all day long. The taught us how to give shots, how to count carbs, and told us to check him every two hours for the first few weeks. They said that it would get better and he would stabilize. I remember him jumping from 300 down to 50 and them back up again. He was all over the place. Night time checks where every two hours. That was exhausting. I remember thinking that I couldn't wait until we didn't have to do that any more. I also remember fearing that he would not be alive the next time we went to check him.

    Flash forward almost five years. I am still checking William at 11PM and 2AM. We had stopped checking him over night for a while when I read an article about "Dead in bed Syndrome". That is where a diabetic person goes to bed with a normal blood glucose number but never wakes up in the morning. I already feared that William wouldn't wake up in the morning and reading this didn't help. After I read this and having William so low one night that his meter wouldn't read, I knew it was time to do more to keep my boy safe. I have been checking him ever since. With mom going to school full time and me trying to make that as easy I as could on her I assumed the nightly check for the last four years. It is a grueling thing to stay up until 11PM every night go to sleep for three hours and get up at 2AM to check him again. It is amazing to know what the body can get used to. I was exhausted all of the time. William's mother always told me that she didn't understand how I could just lay down in bed and fall asleep so easily. It was pure exhaustion. I never got much help from her with his care when she was going to school. This was true even in the summer when her schedule was much less. I guess that is one good thing that came from her leaving. I get every other week off from having to do these checks. I have started to notice that she is not doing the checks every night. That scares me to know that she doesn't have the same commitment to his care as I do and that the Friend of the Court doesn't seem to care. His doctor even told the custody investigator that he didn't feel the night time checks where necessary but he applauded the effort and above normal care that I gave William and that it was good for his long term wellness.

    Am I over reacting to a perceived problem here? I can not tell you how many times over the last four years that I have gone into Williams bedroom to find him really low or really high at night. It has been too many times I will tell you that. Was all of that time and effort for nothing? Was the exhaustion and time away from his mom for nothing too? Was all of the sleepless nights and days at work where I only got through because of coffee a silly fear that I had? I hope that his really good A1C numbers where worth all of those nights when I didn't sleep. The nights when I had to check him over and over. The nights when I wish someone was there to help. I hope his mom finds it inside herself to put him first. I hope that I am not over reacting to something that doesn't need this much fear. I hope that I get to see my son grow into a man and still have all of his hands and feet, eyesight, kidney function and the ability to have children. If he becomes a man and he is still normal then every night I gave to him will be worth it to me.

See you at 2AM,

His Loving Dad