How often late for school...? Teacher Rant

Just wondering how often your T1 either misses school or has to go in late for school? It seems like for us it's about once a month or so that I have to send him in late. Usually it's the same set of circumstances, he will have a bad night including lots of high numbers, keytones, tummy ache ending in a site/insulin change. He is usually at school by 9:00 (school starts at 8:15), so it's not like he's missing a whole morning, but I still feel bad about it.

It doesn't help that this year he has a teacher who admits she "know's nothing about D" and appears to be highly inconvenienced by any interruption in her schedule related to D. She complained to me at the parent-teacher conference about how many interruptions she's had because he felt low or high and needed to check. This is a very small private school and she only has 10 kids in her class, with a fulltime assistant.
Now my son is feeling very embarrassed by D and doesn't want anyone to know he has it, or see him test or bolus or anything?! I can't say for sure that it's because of this teacher, but I can't help feeling that he's picking up on her issue with it.
I have a meeting with the principal this week to see if she can help. Thoughts?

 

Danielle has had excellent attendance since being diagnosed with diabetes in 2007. It very rarely causes her to be late or miss school at all. Maybe she is just lucky.

I think you are right to meet with the Principal about this teacher. She needs to be supportive of your son and his management at school.

So is the reason he is late because you are doing a site change? Is there anyway it can be done earlier in the morning so he is not late?

How often are you checking his bg at night?

 

We haven't missed yet, but whose to say in the future we won't. There r times where I have thought about keeping her because she is exhausted from all the lows through the night. But I think your doing the right thing talking to principal. My school just ask for notes if she is going to be late. They excused her abscense the other day before I even told them where she was going which was to the endo. However there is two older type 1's in our school and I think they have broke the teachers in.

 

DD was dx at 4 so kindergarten was a bit of a bear with illness. Then we started pumping the start of 1st grade. Our pump start was a bit overwhelming with finding the right set and barrier due to adhesive allergy but by mid 1st grade we were well under way. So in the past two years we may have been late just a couple of times due to unexplained waking highs so I had to do a set change. Honestly, I just stay up and try to fight the high. The nasty 300s off she goes. For me the school nurse would monitor just like I would at home. I call the nurse in the AM and request addl testing and pushing water. Then we txt/speak at test times so I know it's coming down. If I'm struggling overnight info a set change then, I don't wait till morning. Honestly, once we switched to away for angle sets we never have a set failure, typically it's time for a change and I tried to stretch it.

 

I think D has caused us to keep him home one morning a few years back. But we have a CGM and we catch highs before they get to the ketone stage.

 

We haven't been late since diagnosis, but I have had to pick Chris up early a couple of days. That was soon after diagnosis and I was probably overly paranoid. I don't think he's missed any full days because of his diabetes, except for doctor's appointments. Our endo is 2 hours away, so it's an all day thing with any appointment.

 

I don't see how being late 1 day a month can be considered excessive. This teacher is a whack job. DD misses that much just for regular appointments with doctors....endos, opthamologist, orthopedic surgeon, etc. etc. We have had lots of teachers who don't have a clue about D, but only one has ever complained about attendance. That stopped quickly when I provided her a list of where DD was every time she missed class. Even in high school, I will let her sleep in if she has had a bad night and the school is very supportive.

 

Every kid is different - some need more time to recover from highs and lows than others do. Your problem is with the teacher. Sounds to me like she needs more training. Even in a private school a D kid needs to be supported in managing their disease. I'd meet with her to review the basics of Type 1.

 

Thanks everyone for the input! I really can't wait to have our meeting because I worry about the emotional damage that may be happening to Christopher with this teacher's bad attitude and ignorance.
This may tie into my other post from this am (True or False) but for some reason my son is extremely prone to keytones. We test for those with the precision blood meter and he almost always has at least a trace of Keytones with a bg of 250+ I do not understand why he gets them so easily but it makes bringing his bg back down so much harder.
Christopher has also had 2 seizures overnight although thankfully the last one was about 4 years ago. This is why he wears his cgm and also why I never do site changes overnight (he drops very rapidly after a set change, and his last seizure was after an overnight set chg).
So whenever we have a bad site overnight, which I guess is pretty often compared to some of you, it can't be done too much earlier, and does get in the way of him getting to school on time.

Thanks again!
~Candy

 

Trace ketones really aren't something to worry about

 

You know, last year DS1 missed very little school because of D. We didn't have a lot of hard mornings and he didn't have a lot of lows/highs at school. This year, for whatever reason, we've been all over the place and DS has been late at least twice this year for D related reasons. It is just much harder to manage this year. Same kid, same mom, same school, just changing circumstances!

So in other words, it is not out of the ordinary at all to need to miss school for D. It happens. It would be fantastic to try to avoid doing that and I AM trying as hard as I can, but sometimes D just gets tricky!

I think you should try to talk to the teacher and get her to understand how hard you guys are trying. It should not be an embarrassment for your son who is absolutely doing nothing wrong and at the very least the teacher should understand this and NOT contribute to something he feels badly about!

I would start having a conversation and trying to win the teacher to your side. Hopefully all she needs is a little education!

 

My daughter ends up missing first period once or twice a year. Always after a really bad night. Her school starts at 7:20 and just letting her sleep an extra hour makes it so she can function the rest of the day. I'd rather she miss than be there in a daze and not comprehend anything that's going on. At least if she's tardy she can make up the work.

It's not often but it has happened. I'd rather she miss one period than keep her out the whole day when it's not needed. In middle school they started much later so it never happened.

 

I wouldn't worry about trace ketones at all - they are normal and often expected after not eating all night. I also don't check every time Emma goes over 250 or I'd be checking ALL.THE.FREAKIN.TIME.

When we do site changes, we have to reduce the basal because Emma goes low. More specifically, she goes low from new insulin (not so much from a site change). We try to do it AFTER a meal, so she gets the meal dose on old insulin instead of new, and we reduce the basal 40% for 3 hours and that usually helps.

 

Maybe it is because she is on MDI but I almost never check for ketones and don't even think about them as an issue ever. It seems many people DO worry about them and have a lot of concern about them. So maybe I am doing something wrong but they just have never been an issue. If Danielle's bg is high, I give her a correction and it usually comes down.

 

I can't remember the last time he was late or missed school.

 

I think you need to have a meeting with the teacher and maybe the principal about accommodations for him and just D in general so the teacher will be a little more comfortable with it and understanding.

I strongly believe that going to D camp can help with this kind of thing a lot. I started going to Sweeney when I was 7 and was SO helpful. It can help kids with their D care but it also just helps them realize that other people have it too and it's okay to be diabetic. JSYK Sweeney is having a one week session this winter and it might be just what your son needs.

 

Thank you, Nancy. This is very good advice, I will try this next time!

 

I also found that Isaac used to have ketones more often before we switched to the steel cannula's, it seems he was sensitive to the cannula of the other types of sites. He had pump bumps all the time from the other type and it seemed he had decreased insulin absorption due to inflammation. At least that is what the CDE speculated, once we switched to the sure-t's he actually had a decrease in insulin needs for a while.
Anyhow, just another perspective.

For your primary question, Isaac has just started kinder this year, he hasn't missed any school or been late so far. However, I do notice that we need a lot of extra time to get ready in the mornings if he had higher than normal BG's the night before. This is especially tough as I am not a morning person

Hope your meeting with the principal goes well and the teacher can get on board to be more positive and proactive for your son.

 

I think my child would be late every morning if she had to be there by 8..15!!
She hardly ever misses any school though for any reason. I hope the teacher becomes more supportive after a talk with her.

 

I'd say maybe once or twice a year, and it's because she's usually wiped out from the night before. School starts at 7:30, so she is generally in by 8:30-9. So, she just needs a little more time to get started. We don't worry too much about trace ketones, if it is around 0.8 and she is still high, I will will keep her back and monitor her.

I'd talk to the principal and explain what's happening and then sit down and talk to the teacher. Explain exactly what is happening. Give her materials to read if necessary. Also let her know that your son is picking up on her queues and it is impacting his diabetes care.

I'd have to bite my tongue on the "inconvenienced" comment. Seriously? You are inconvenienced by diabetes? How about my kid who has to live with this the rest of his life and has to put up with people like you saying it's an interruption, an inconvenience. I guess I'd say as nicely (yet firmly) as possible that her comments were seriously out of line.