Nikki's now 11 years old and this is our first year at the Middle School! If you are like me you probably are thinking how much easier it will be when they reach ths age. After all they are old enought to recognize the signs, test on their own and call you with information, well I Took Nikki to the doctors today for her 3 month check up. I don't know about the rest of you but I always feel that this is my report card. So when the doctor starts to look at her log and see's a lot of 3 and 400 numbers I cringe. I use to think when she got older this would get so much easier, WRONG! I think as they get older it gets harder! I am no longer in total control of this (was I ever really), but now I know that I have lost control! I think I lost it the minute she ventured out into the world of the the middle school! Now that she is at the middle school she has actually started to use all that independence that I worked so hard for her to gain!
Now little Miss Nikki thinks she's old enough to bolus and test without checking in, and oh if she forgets to bolus at lunch and waits 2 hours till the number is off the meter, oh well! Yes when they hit the middle school years, they hit the ground running and we are constantly chasing them, did I really think this was going to be easier?
So how do you go about giving them the independence they crave, yet make sure everything is in order and being done the way you need it to be? I don't have the answers, but I am finding that I have to check and double check on blood sugars, look at the meter myself, and review the logs on the meters and pumps myself why? If you haven't figured it out at this age they have learned the magic numbers, yes I'am 120 , I just tested. How is it all those wonderful magic numbers never appear on the meter when I check it.
Well they are after all kids and they are learning the trick of the trade, so we have to work smarter and be more determined to rein them in! But in a nice way.
So I've resorted to telling Nikki I will give her a dime for every 100 number on the meter at the end of the day! Now some may not agree with this method, but I threw it out there as a way to try and approach this in a positive way, after all the goal is for her to "test more often" remember to bolus" and to correct her highs. And lets face it the child in the desk next to her does not have to resort to all this monitoring and testing, so why shouldn't she be rewarded for remembering to test and bolus.
We've been doing this for about a week and I'am down about $5.00. Not bad for more frequent testing, and better numbers! The best $5.00 I ever spent.
This I'am sure is not for everyone and we still monitor and review all of Nikki's numbers, but I have found by getting her to take an interest in the numbers is really helping (she loves money) and the dime for every 100 number on the meter has given her the incentive to remember! Funny how all the sudden she can remember to pull out that meter and test!
I think its brought all the daily testing into a positive light where she now "wants" to test! after all if she tests 10 times a day and half of those numbers are int he 100's she's made .50 cents!
Julie
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