Need help for a newly diagnosed type 1

[Hills12]

Hi Everyone,
I have never used a forum before, so if I make mistakes, please excuse me! My granddaughter who is 9 has just been diagnosed with type 1, and as much as she is coping ok with it, we have just come across a problem at school. When she went back to school after having a week in hospital and a week at home, 5 teachers were trained to give her injections. We have had no problems at all with this, until last week, when her levels at lunchtime were high 21.9. She was "given" her insulin but when she came home, I checked her levels as usual, and they were 23.8 ! In my mind this level should have been lower than her lunchtime one and my granddaughter told me that the teacher didn't give her the insulin correctly, and she tried to tell her but she wouldn't listen ! It seems that she only gave her half the correct amount ! I have spoken to the teacher, but she is certain that she gave the correct amount, and said that my granddaughter was lying to me, and that how could I think she could have done it wrong as she is "highly trained " to give insulin !! As far as I have been told, she has had training by our diabetic nurse who went into school.
My question is ... Can I refuse her to give my granddaughter her insulin again, as we have no faith in her ?

 

[frob 123]

hi thats bad news you got do somthing is the bloods high only school time.

 

[azure]

Hi Everyone,
I have never used a forum before, so if I make mistakes, please excuse me! My granddaughter who is 9 has just been diagnosed with type 1, and as much as she is coping ok with it, we have just come across a problem at school. When she went back to school after having a week in hospital and a week at home, 5 teachers were trained to give her injections. We have had no problems at all with this, until last week, when her levels at lunchtime were high 21.9. She was "given" her insulin but when she came home, I checked her levels as usual, and they were 23.8 ! In my mind this level should have been lower than her lunchtime one and my granddaughter told me that the teacher didn't give her the insulin correctly, and she tried to tell her but she wouldn't listen ! It seems that she only gave her half the correct amount ! I have spoken to the teacher, but she is certain that she gave the correct amount, and said that my granddaughter was lying to me, and that how could I think she could have done it wrong as she is "highly trained " to give insulin !! As far as I have been told, she has had training by our diabetic nurse who went into school.
My question is ... Can I refuse her to give my granddaughter her insulin again, as we have no faith in her ?

Did your granddaughter explain what made her think she'd only been given half the insulin she should have had? She must have had a pretty strong reason for thinking that.

Was this a teacher who hadn't given her her insulin before?

 

[Natalie1974]

Just wondering what kind of insulin pen she has...if she has one of the newer novopens you would be able to see the last dose given along with the duration. While I understand this doesn't help now...it's worth bearing in mind for the future.
Also...is it possible she could've had sweets or something like that...but didn't want to tell you?

 

[Hills12]

Yes she did. She thinks that the teacher did not push the button that releases the insulin. The teacher did push the needle into her arm, but she started counting to 10 before she pushed the button, and my granddaughter kept telling her but she didn't listen ! Eventually she did push the button, but my granddaughter thinks she perhaps only had half of the insulin. I am really worried that when they go back to school, this teacher will do this again, as she will not listen to me or my husband ! She is convinced she did it right !

 

[Hills12]

Hi Natalie, She has a Novo Echo pen, which should record the last amount, but for some reason it doesn't ! Plus they keep that one at school, and they way things are with them, they would make life very difficult if I asked to see it !! I don't think she could have got hold of sweets as the school is very health conscious and does not allow like that !

 

[azure]

I'm not sure what kind of pen your granddaughter has, but on mine if I only partly pressed the button, the pen would stop on a number that wasn't '0' so I could see that even if I'd then put the lid back on and put the pen back in its case.

 

[noblehead]

We have had no problems at all with this, until last week, when her levels at lunchtime were high 21.9. She was "given" her insulin but when she came home, I checked her levels as usual, and they were 23.8 ! In my mind this level should have been lower than her lunchtime one

Not necessarily @Hills12, unless there was a correction dose included with her lunch-time insulin then her bg levels would stay much the same.

 

[azure]

Hi Natalie, She has a Novo Echo pen, which should record the last amount, but for some reason it doesn't ! Plus they keep that one at school, and they way things are with them, they would make life very difficult if I asked to see it !! I don't think she could have got hold of sweets as the school is very health conscious and does not allow like that !

If you and your granddaughter's parents aren't happy about the care she's receiving at school, you can certainly ask to speak to the school.

I'm not sure why she has a different pen that she keeps at school?

There are many reasons for high blood sugars, so perhaps it could have been one of those, but your granddaughter was anxious about the injection because she thought the teacher did it wrong, and then the high confirmed that in her mind. It must be a worry for her as she's still young.

 

[Hills12]

Is a real worry for her, and us, she and her brother and sister live with us, and as she has not long been diagnosed with type 1 everything is a worry, and her levels have been quite stable, they have never been that high since she left hospital, so it is a real worry ! I know she has no faith in this particular teacher as she doesn't listen even to adults ! If I put it in writing to school that I don't want this teacher administering the insulin again, then I am really hoping they will take our wishes to heart.

 

[Hills12]

Hi Noblehead, love the name.
Yes a correction should have been administered along with the food insulin, she should of had 11 in total, but I can't see that she had that much and her levels to go even higher !

 

[Hills12]

Hi Fob123, usually it is only at school, she is not having a happy time at school, it's always been the same, she has a lot of emotional problems, due to her parents, that's why her and her sister and brother live with us. There is not much sympathy towards children with emotional problems, and still live with family, they fall through the net ! Anyway this is just another thing for her to battle !!

 

[noblehead]

Hi Noblehead, love the name.
Yes a correction should have been administered along with the food insulin, she should of had 11 in total, but I can't see that she had that much and her levels to go even higher !

Maybe the correction dose wasn't given, are the teaching staff aware and trained in working out and giving correction doses, maybe worth checking with the school just to be sure.

 

[Daibell]

Hi and welcome. I wonder whether it would be better if your daughter kept the pen if the risk of loss is low and can bring it home and give it to the teacher as needed/ That way you will know what the last number of shots was with the Echo pen. That way you don't need to run two cartridges each with a life of only 4 weeks. Is there any reason why your daughter doesn't do her own injections?

 

[TorqPenderloin]

Is there any reason why your daughter doesn't do her own injections?

This.

If your family is questioning how other people are administering these injections then perhaps it's time to start teaching your granddaughter to perform her own injections (with one of these teachers watching of course)?

This disease is far from predictable and I don't think it's fair to accuse the teacher without any concrete proof. What if your daughter ate some candy/sweets and didn't want you to know about out? That would quickly explain the situation?

I'm not saying that the teacher isn't at fault, but it doesn't sound like you know enough information to place blame on her. Either way, sounds like it's time to start teaching your granddaughter to manage things on her own.

 

[Natalie1974]

Just as a thought...to put all your minds at rest...maybe you could visit the school at lunchtime to oversee her injection with this teacher. I can understand the teacher being defensive and I'm sure she's truly mortified at the thought that she may have caused your granddaughter any harm...but by overseeing it...both you and your granddaughter can be reassured that she is using the right technique.
A couple more possibilities to rule out would be whether the pen is being stored correctly...i.e. In the fridge...or at room temperature...and not for instance...on or by a radiator. It may also be wise to obtain another pen where the pen records the last dose given...it could be that the pen is faulty if this function isn't working correctly...this will also serve as a double check for both your granddaughter and her teacher.

 

[NinaB73]

I must admit and I'm almost not sure whether to say this.....but encourage your granddaughter to inject herself! She will feel much more in control and am sure by the sounds of things will do a much better job of it herself! I know it is early days so that may just be too daunting! I was seven when I was diagnosed and injected fairly quickly (with a bribe or two! filled my money box!) It sounds like your granddaughter is already realising when it is wrong so she may feel better if she does it herself! Teachers are rarely wrong (!) In my experience! YOU know best and you need to make sure this is not a regular occurrence as your granddaughter will be feeling pretty ill at school with sugars that high and that's just not fair, she has enough to deal with! Good luck and stick to your guns!

 

[Natalie1974]

I must admit and I'm almost not sure whether to say this.....but encourage your granddaughter to inject herself! She will feel much more in control and am sure by the sounds of things will do a much better job of it herself! I know it is early days so that may just be too daunting! I was seven when I was diagnosed and injected fairly quickly (with a bribe or two! filled my money box!) It sounds like your granddaughter is already realising when it is wrong so she may feel better if she does it herself! Teachers are rarely wrong (!) In my experience! YOU know best and you need to make sure this is not a regular occurrence as your granddaughter will be feeling pretty ill at school with sugars that high and that's just not fair, she has enough to deal with! Good luck and stick to your guns!

I can understand your apprehension is suggesting this...I was diagnosed at age 26 so not really an issue...and can't really relate but I think you're right that she will feel much more in control.

 

[conniecar]

Hi. I was diagnosed aged 7 but within a month or so had moved on from practising on oranges to myself I work in a secondary school and even though there are trained first aiders, there's still a misconception that if someone is low they need insulin and vice versa. I agree that your granddaughter could try a supervised jab, maybe with you and the teacher watching for a bit? Also...this might not be relevant but my nurse has set my meter to add a correction dose for stress in the middle of the day, as stress pushes up your sugars. My tests are a bit stuck on a high at lunch, but that's when I'm busiest at work and stressed. Maybe she's anxious about this teacher or other kids ( used to be stressful for me at school .) Good luck

 

[Hills12]

Thank you everyone for your thoughts. I know the pen is being stored correctly, and as far as I know it is working correctly, as this did not happen the day before. My granddaughter has some emotional problems and is struggling at school, she has already got an underactive thyroid, hyper mobility, strep virus, and suffers from migraines, so her now having type 1 is just the latest in a long line of things she has to cope with ! The strange thing is that she will do her blood sugar check and work out "some" of her carbs and inject herself at home, but she refuses to do her injection at school ! We have all tried to persuade her but she is digging her heels in. My main reason for my distrust of this particular teacher is that she doesn't listen to adults, so I don't think she would listen to my granddaughter. I don't want to feel this way, and for her first week back at school, I went in every lunch time to supervise and all was fine, but before and since this episode her levels have been reasonable, no where near that high. I am just so pleased that it is half term this coming week.