Back to School - Our Lunch Time Dilemma

So we've been back to school here for just about a month now. And we've had plenty of changes...new teacher, new school, new responsibilities! This year, Charlotte is taking on a lot more in terms of her T1 care. She no longer has a "para" assigned to her to help with her T1 care as she has in the past. 

Admittedly, I was a little worried about the lack of a para at first, but I've found that it actually is working out quite nicely. Charlotte's teacher this year was already familiar with T1 since she's had students with it in the past...and while every T1 kiddo may not manage in exactly the same way, it was nice to know that she was at least knowledgeable about the basics! Once we met with her teacher and I was able to put my mind a little more at ease, my main concern was focused on lunchtime. Lunchtime is the time of day that Charlotte really needs to function most independently. Our plan for lunch this year is for her to check in the classroom immediately before leaving for the lunch room. She boluses after her meal (which is different from our practices at home - where we bolus pre-meal) just in case something unforeseen happens to her lunch causing her to not be able to eat it and I'm not there to replace those carbs (or at least wouldn't be able to do it quickly and easily). Once she's finished eating she calls me from her phone (which we've had written into her medical plan this year) while she's still in the cafeteria. We go through what her blood glucose was at the pre-meal check, how many carbs she's eaten, and how much insulin she should bolus and I give let her know to give it or to adjust the amount based on the million and one factors I know may be impacting her BG at that time (hormones, growth spurt, fat content in the lunch, crazy BGs the night before or that morning, etc). She let's the lunch room monitor (who has been trained by the school nurse) know the instructions and I speak with her if needed...and she boluses the insulin with supervision. It all seemed easy enough...but she's only 9 and would she really remember to call!!! 

So this is where my Pinterest addiction paid off....it's where I came across these adorable printable lunchbox love notes that I've been sending with her each day as a visual reminder to "call me to do your insulin"! 

These cute little notes are strategically tucked on top of her lunch in her lunch box every morning! On the back of the note I print out all of her carb information for the food that's been packed that day, a spot for her to jot in her blood glucose before lunch, and all sorts of "extra" information. 

It's been a work in progress over the first few weeks. As we've settled into the school year, we've tweaked down her desired range and made a few other changes.

Our new little note card system has worked very well for us so far! She's been happy to have all the carbs counted out and added for her so that as long as she eats everything she can quickly "do her insulin" and get out to the playground! And I think she enjoys having her "note" from mom (despite what it's all about)...she never knows what kooky way I'll describe the day (marvelous monday, wacky wednesday, etc) or what silly message I might include other than the standard "call me".

Diabetes in the "Wild"

This past Sunday morning, hubby and I decided to take our girls for a special breakfast. Despite the stolen hour of sleep, we woke up "early" (for me anyway) and took the girls to Cafe du Monde for some delicious beignets (fried dough sprinkled with powdered sugar -- the yummy goodness in my blog title photo)...and a Mocha Au Lait for me! For those that might be wondering -- yes, Charlotte can and does eat beignets...powdered sugar and all! They're a "special treat" so it's not something we indulge in often, but we've learned to SWAG the insulin bolus pretty accurately...an awesome accomplishment if I do say so myself!

Pic from a Cafe du Monde breakfast with the cousins in May 2011

Occasional weekend breakfasts at Cafe du Monde are something our family has done since I was just a wee one...and a tradition Jay and I have continued with our girls! These trips are usually pretty uneventful...but this one was a little different. As we were paying for our breakfast another young family enter the cafe...I immediately noticed that one of their children was wearing a 2010 JDRF Walk to Cure shirt. Of course, I quietly pointed it out to my family...I'm pretty certain that at that point Charlotte began to internally groan at me, but she managed to tolerate my excitement from this "D in the Wild" experience without any outwards signs of annoyance. In true D-mama fashion, I also did a quick scan of each family member for obvious signs of D (a pump or visible meter case) but with no success...so I "let it go" figuring that their D-connection was maybe just a friend of this boy. 

We continued along on our way, taking our food and choosing a table. We sat down, Charlotte checked, we SWAG'd her bolus and started eating without another thought....until that family sat down at the table kitty-corner to us. When they sat down, I could see in my peripheral vision that the mom and daughter were involved in an exchange all to familiar to Charlotte and I. I saw the little black case pulled from the mom's purse and out came the glucose meter and lancet...the "shunk" and "beep" followed quickly! I tried hard not to be too obvious as I watched this interaction...although hubby would tell you I wasn't very successful. I noticed that there was bit of discussion and then a quiet scramble as mom went to take a peek at the boxes of beignet mix and then searched on her phone what I have to imagine was an app like Calorie King for the carb count for the beignets. At that point I wanted to leap from my chair, introduce myself and share our beignet SWAG information with them...it took a tremendous amount of restraint for me not to do it -- but I didn't. I wanted to start up a conversation with them....ask them if they lived near us, how old their daughter is, when she was diagnosed, what type of insulin she was using, what their biggest D challenges are, etc...but I knew I would just end up embarrassing Charlotte (and quite possibly this other little girl). So I just sat back with my family, enjoyed my breakfast, and thought how seemingly ironic (but incredibly wonderful) it was to have this "Diabetes in the Wild" experience in a place full of such sugar-coated goodness!