Limited Sanity

When is “enough” actually enough? How much of a paper trail or examples of poor parenting does one need before it’s considered enough to bother a lawyer about?

I’m referring to the HCBM (high conflict baby mama) of course. This diabetic journey with our 8 year old has been a whirlwind. Research, doctors visits, more research, and basically you’ve got yourself an 8 year old walking experiment. The only issue we’ve been consistently running in to is routine care. Kiddo’s not “neglected” in the sense that she’s left to fend for herself, but when it comes to being consistent with her care, her dosage, her meals, her supplies… nothing is ever the same.

Just last night, she was dropped off to us for our Tuesday – Saturday morning time. It’s not our normal schedule, but since her mother wanted her this weekend during our normal time, we agreed to this weekday schedule instead for the time being. At least that way we can be sure that meals, dosage, and homework are all handled.

On more than one occasion, she’s been dropped off after having a carb-loaded snack and high rising numbers. Like last night. Her mother didn’t check her diabetic bag to ensure all supplies were good to go. Which meant kiddo went to school yesterday without any snacks or low blood sugar options. After remaining low from 3:30 til almost 5pm, she snacked on pretzels given to her by someone at her after school program. Only problem is no one checked carbs, leading her to eat way more than she needed, and left us chasing high numbers all night long. She was dropped off shortly after 5pm and you can clearly see below where she was low for an extended period of time, followed by excessive highs. At dinner time, around 6:15, we dosed for her carbs PLUS an extra unit to help bring her down, and waited a total of 35 mins before eating, no sign the insulin kicked in yet, but kiddo is starving. Her numbers barely budged, but makes me wonder how high she would have gotten had we not stopped it. The 7:22 calibration was done because after the dinner bolus plus a little extra, the numbers didn’t budge, leading us to think maybe she was actually higher than originally thought. Yep, 300+. The gap between 9 and 11 is when we changed out her sensor before bed so it was good to go in the morning, so no readings for 2+ hours. The 10:58 urgent low was a false reading due to an ice pack on her arm to help alleviate injection pain and she actually read at 112 with a finger poke, but we had to wait for the sensor to kick in and accept a calibration.

Her highs throughout the night could also be false readings. When she woke up this morning, her monitor said 180 something, but a finger poke was 122, perfect before breakfast and school. All in all, we’re taking this as we dosed properly for dinner and the little extra, but because her numbers were so high, it took awhile longer for them to come down. We knew something was up before even doing a manual check because the poor kid was running to the bathroom every 10 mins and drinking a ton of water. Gee, thanks HCBM for paying close attention. I’m just happy we have her til Saturday morning and can hopefully keep it under control.

Another issue that popped up last night was kiddo was missing her new medical ID bracelet she was just given. D ordered a special one with a QR code on the back that when scanned, it brings up kiddo’s photo, medical information, her insulin to carb ratios, how to do corrective measures and contact information. Great to have in case she is in the care of someone not well versed in diabetes or just doesn’t know what they’re doing. Kiddo told us that mom asked her if there was a GPS tracker in her bracelet, which there isn’t. Shortly after that… the bracelet went missing. Now I’m not accusing HCBM of throwing it away, but it DOES make sense if she thought there was a GPS tracker in there. She’s paranoid we might find out what she’s actually up to or how often kiddo isn’t with her. Fucking idiot. If there was a tracker, we’d be able to find the stupid bracelet. Maybe we SHOULD get a tracker… hm… 🤔🤔🤔

So I guess back to my original question… when is “enough” really enough? How many more times do we have to go through her mom forgetting supplies or her entire diabetic bag? How long do we let the roller coaster of blood sugar levels go crazy? Do we wait until she’s literally in the hospital with Diabetic Ketoacidosis? Or with Kidney Failure? Or other organ failure? I understand the financial ramifications of contacting D’s attorney with this information, but also… do we have enough to make it “worth it?” Kiddo is always worth every sacrifice we make, but is this in her best interest? I’d love to speak with someone well versed in this area that won’t charge an arm and a leg for just simple advice.

Until next time…