Scary Diabetes Day

Chase had a very scary day yesterday.  I received a call from the school nurse at 11:00 am saying that Chase was in the clinic and having a low blood sugar episode.  She said he was really disoriented and confused, crying, and wanting his mom.  I rushed over to the school and found him very distressed and crying in the nurses office.  The nurse said Chase was brought to the clinic by a substitute teacher from PE.

Now let me back up and tell the beginning of the story that I didn't fully understand until speaking with Chase and his teacher over the next few hours.  It turns out, Chase wasn't in PE at the time that he started to feel bad.  He was in World Language (Arabic).  He went to his teacher and told her that he felt really bad and needed to go see the nurse.  She thought he looked okay and so sent him alone to the nurse's office.  Chase was so disoriented from the low blood sugar that he became lost, confused, and was wandering the school.  He ended up out on the playground crying and continuing to wander about.  He says he couldn't see anything and had no idea where he was at the time.  He was really scared.  He began to wander back into the school when a boy from Natalie's class (the 5th graders were at recess on the playground at the time) noticed Chase crying and going back into the school.  He pointed it out to Natalie.  Natalie ran after Chase and asked him what was wrong.  He said "I can't see anything and I don't know where I am."  Natalie took him back outside to the first teacher she found on the playground.  The teacher started asking Chase questions and Chase was speaking nonsense back to him.  Luckily, the teacher knew something was wrong and took him straight to the nurse.  (This is why the nurse assumed he had come straight from the class with that PE teacher.)  

By this time he was really distraught.  His blood sugar was 44.  He was given glucose tablets and then I was called.  The nurses handled everything perfectly thank goodness.  By the time I arrived at the school, his blood sugar was up to 76 but Chase was still severely disoriented and confused and still crying.  He still didn't know where he was or why he was there.  While I was getting him checked out and picking up Avery, I had to continually physically steer him over to Avery's class and then out of the school.  He was so confused and I was scared.  

When we got home, he promptly said his stomach hurt and fell asleep.  I continued to monitor his blood sugar every 30 min. and it remained within normal range.  When he woke up 2 hours later, he ate a little popcorn and then threw up.  Afterwards he has felt fine.  He ate a ton last night without any stomach issues so I don't think he had a virus or anything.  He is back at school today.  

I have spoken with the nurses, Chase's main teacher, and the head of the school to let them know what really happened.  They have spoken with all the other teachers Chase encounters during the day and the kids in Chase's class to let them know to NEVER send him to the nurse alone (even if he seems like he is okay).  The teacher from world language does feel bad about what happened and found Natalie after school to let her know that she didn't realize how bad off Chase was.  She said she would call me, but I haven't heard from her yet.  

It is surprising to me that he continued to be confused and disoriented for a couple of hours after his blood sugar was back to normal.  I am reaching out to Aunt Jill to find out why.  Chase has only been this disoriented from low blood sugar one other time, but it is frightening to see and makes me worry about him even more having to deal with this his entire life.  God sent a little miracle our way by having that boy on the playground see Chase and point him out to Natalie before he went wandering back around the school to have his sugar drop even further and cause him to have a seizure or go unconscious.  We are so grateful.