Summer programming

I'm not even calling this post "summer camp" because that alludes to a full day scenario - which I did not seriously contemplate for my daughter this year - not because she could not have handled it emotionally, but because we did not know how any of them would deal with her diabetes. Exercise, food, swimming, heat, OH MY! Last year, when K's brother's did a local "outdoorsy" camp that ran five full days a week, we considered it for her. But despite being the most expensive camp in town, it had no nurse and no way to deal with diabetes. I had a lengthy conversation with one of the camp managers - whose own husband has T1d, so she knew all about it - and how unequipped their (pricey, did I mention that) camp was to deal with it. It was not close enough for me to repeatedly visit to check and dose her, and I'd be constantly worried about the non-stop activity affecting her blood sugar.

So, earlier this year, when the brochure for the annual local educational foundation's summer enrichment program came out, we said "that's it!" It's a four morning a week program at a nearby elementary school, the boys can also take various classes their interested in and we won't have to stress. A couple weeks ago, I reached out to the program to let them know I'd need to meet with the nurse and teacher before the first day. The director was very nice and said they only had a "health clerk" on site but she'd reach out to the director of health services about how insulin dosing would work and get back to me. (Background on this issue: CA Nurses have litigated this issue and the courts are currently on their side - only nurses can provide insulin. Health clerks can check blood sugar and provide necessary sugar or emergency glucagon shot but cannot lower blood sugar or dose for food - even via insulin pump. An older child could do this herself, but we're not remotely close to that.)

So I got a call today from the director of the summer enrichment program saying that there is no nurse on staff this summer so someone else (ME) would have to come to campus to correct her blood sugar and dose her for snack. (This is a private program [ie, we pay for it] so it's not held to same public school standards.) For some reason, I just lost it. I was crying on the phone with a woman I've never met. I've cried at least two times since and I'll probably cry before I'm done typing this. It's not the end of the world if I have to go deal with diabetes every day mid-morning; this is one reason I don't work - so I can be the on-call parent, and the school is a mile from our house. But it's more the point of it all. I thought this would be a seamless experience. The inability for someone to correct her BG and dose for one snack we pack (and for which we count the carbs of) reminds me how hard summers are going to be until we trust her doing everything herself. It reminds us of how big T1d is, even though she can do everything other kids do. She is such an independent child and I want her to have the camp experiences my sons have; she already hasn't. Additionally, K does better when I'm not around her setting dealing with her diabetes. Anytime I went to her school for that reason, we had conflict and it was disruptive. Running away from me was a common occurrence.

Once I was composed, I wrote to the director of the program and the director of health services and encouraged them to find an adult volunteer to dose our child (teacher, class aid, principal...) (the law allows for this), or have the health clerk do it (why can't she be the volunteer?) since there are no nurses available, or, worse case scenario, my eleven year old son can dose her. I also need to check with the DOC (diabetes online community) for how other families deal with this. I know I'm not alone, but we haven't had to deal with it before!!!

Promise to update end result.