Lying to the nurse

When I first told our Diabetes Nurse Educator that my daughter did not have a nurse at her school, she was quite concerned.

"What will you do in case of an emergency? Who will be trained to monitor your daughter? Who will check her math before she administers her doses of insulin?"

Just to keep things simple I lied. Well, not really. I told her the truth, but I knew I would not be using the solutions I proposed.

There was a public school within walking distance of M's school. There they had a nurse. Our state requires that children in private schools, who have special needs, have access to the services they require. The services are provided by the school district in which the private school resides.

In other words, if Sally's school is in Concord, and Sally has a reading disability, she may obtain services through the Concord school district.

We can discuss whether this law is fair later.

As such, M had legal access to the services provided by the public school that was within walking distance of the private school she attends.

This seemed to satisfy the nurse.

But I was lying. I was never going to have the nurse from the school across the field come serve my daughter, check her math, or anything else. She is too busy, and the whole idea was just complicated.

Here is the truth. The school where I work is exactly one mile from my daughter's school. It is on the same side of the same street! I could RUN there faster than it would take a nurse from another school to disentangle herself from her normal caseload to attend to my daughter.

Another truth is that the people who run my daughter's school are NOT useless idiots. They are quite reasonable and intelligent. In fact, they have been some of the strongest partners in allowing my daughter to manage her diabetes at school.  M's current endocrinologist wonders if going to a school with a nurse might change just how well M manages her care, and not for the better.

M's teacher, a man in his late 50s, had already developed an interest in diabetes. He is what some medical professionals call a "borderline" diabetic. He began researching diabetes, and to monitor his own bg levels. For the first two months of M's diagnosis, her teacher would sit with M, and the two of them would test their blood sugar together. Then together, they would calculate how much insulin she would need to cover her meal.

After those two months, summer came. But by the time summer was over and M entered her first full school year as a diabetic, she was a pro. In addition, she knew she could ask her teacher for help, and he knew what he was talking about.

As far as training, I trained the staff myself. They were attentive, and truly part of the plan to keep M healthy. I never had the hospital fill out the special forms needed to make sure that M's needs were accommodated. No 504 plan, no written instructions directly from the doctor.  I did, however, have to face the slight paling of the group as I described how to administer glucagon.

It took me a year to tell the truth to the nurse. After M had a couple of A1Cs of 6.4 to 7.0, I thought it might be safe to share our secret with her.

She took it well, but she said that she wanted me to continue to hold the nurse up the street in reserve.

I lied to her and said I would.