Sometimes, it's just a numbers game

File under: Dumb little things that become serious big things for kids with diabetes...

Mark's substitute nurse called while I was waiting for my oil change. Which was odd, because it was half an hour past lunchtime, when I usually get calls.

She said she bolused Mark at lunchtime, but he just came in to say he didn't eat. Apparently, his Powerade juice pouch popped and ruined his lunch, so he didn't eat (instead, he played on the playground). He was bolused for those carbs--55 of 'em--but hadn't eaten any.

I did the math in my head, but the nurse beat me to it.

"He got the insulin 25 minutes ago--so what should I do?" she asked.

Fast-acting insulin works in 15 minutes--which meant his blood sugar was already dropping. If we didn't replace those carbs immediately, we could have a bad scene on our hands.

I thought quickly. "He's got raisins in his backpack for snack," I said. "That's 33 carbs. And he has extra snacks there with his diabetes supplies--give him a South Beach bar. That should almost cover it--and make sure he eats there in the office with you!" The nurse agreed, and went off in search of the food.

She called back 10 minutes later to report almost all the carbs had been replaced. Mark had a wonderful lunch of peanut butter crackers (16 carbs), a South Beach bar (15 carbs), a juice box (15 carbs) and two glucose tabs (8 carbs).

Healthy and nutritious lunch...eh, not so much. But sometimes, when the insulin is coursing through Mark and the clock is ticking, healthy doesn't matter as much as cramming for carbs and hitting that magic number.

And have I mentioned lately THANK GOD for school nurses???