Why We
Need a Cure
Dave
Joffe, Pharmacist, CDE, FACA
Editor
in Chief
Diabetes
In Control.com
Monday night I had the
opportunity to attend the Tampa Bay Bucs – Pittsburg Steelers football
game. I was the medical chaperone for 7 children with Type 1 diabetes.
These kids ranged in age from 8 to 12 years old. Their parents had to drop
them off at the stadium and you could feel the apprehension, as they
realized that their kids would be with people they did not know for the
next 5 hours. Julie Robertson, the Executive Director of our Tampa Bay
JDRF, had gotten tickets for them on the front row in the end zone, and we
were in our seats an hour before the Game.
I spend most of my time
working with adult type 2 patients and yet these parents had entrusted
their children to me for the entire evening.
6 of the children had
pumps and 1 used insulin injections.
After we sat down I took
my son up to get something to eat, no sooner than getting to the
“Checkers” stand, I got a frantic call from Julie, the Executive
Director of our chapter, one of the girls had a glucose of 58 mg/dl and
she had no idea how many glucose tablets to give here. I had to run back
down to the seats and help her.
15 minutes later 3 of the
girls wanted to eat, so I had all of them check their glucose and we
headed up to get some food.
We got the food and then
had to figure the bolus dose. 2 of the girls thought their ratio was 12 to
1 and the third had no idea as her mother does it. We made a couple of
phone calls and we were able to take care of the bolus dose. I made a
decision to only give half the bolus before they ate and then the rest if
they finished their food. One of the girls asked me why and I explained it
as best I could.
I then took the 2 boys
up, one got a diet coke only and the other had an order of nachos and a
sprite. I asked him about checking his glucose and he said “my parents
gave me some Humalog before I left and told me to eat and I would be
okay.”
As the game progressed I
found myself watching the kids more than the game. About half way through
the second quarter I saw one of the girls shivering and a quick check of
her glucose gave a 287 reading. She had shared a large order of fries with
a friend thought she had only ate 15 carbs but the order itself was over
100 carbs. We gave her a couple of units and then her glucose started
dropping.
This continued all
through the game and I couldn’t begin to tell you what happened on the
field. All I know was that I constantly looking at those 7 kids and
wondering, who I should check next.
When the game was over we
had to take the kids back to the drop off spot. By the time 1 of the kids
was picked up we had to give her a couple of glucose tablets to raise her
level.
My son and I walked back
to the car with Julie, the executive director of the JDRF chapter, and the
discussion focused on how hard it was to pay attention to the game while
watching these kids and my son added, “imagine how hard this is for
their parents as they have to do it every day”.
David Joffe is a
Pharmacist and Certified Diabetes Educator.
6 years ago he got involved with JDRFI and is currently Vice
President of the Tampa Bay Chapter. Dave is Editor in Chief of DIABETES IN
CONTROL.Com an Online Newsletter for Medical Professionals. In addition he
manages Diabetes Patients, Trains new insulin pump patients and still
manages to find time to practice pharmacy at Eckerd in Madeira Beach, FL
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