On Friday we had Nora's three month Endo check-up. I actually enjoy going to these appointments because I love her Endo and making changes and just following up. I am also curious to see how her A1C is going to be. Talk to any caregiver of a diabetic and you find various feelings on A1C's or the dreaded "report card".
Dum..dum..dum...
I KNEW hers was going to be higher than what it was three months ago. First of all it's summer, our schedule; what schedule?!?! We have none!! She's having a growth spurt, eating like crazy and her numbers have been wonky to say the least. I don't normally call her numbers in to the Diabetes Center. I feel comfortable enough in reading her graphs, that I download, to make changes to her bolus rates. I WILL call if she is having serious issues. But I know my daughter better than the on-call nurse and can make her changes.
I also need to give some credit, for my non-freakish reactions to the said A1C results to my mentor. Now, when you first receive your initial diagnosis there are so many things swimming in your head that I don't think I truly realized what an A1C was; let alone what to do about it. So we've had some months under our belt and I'm somewhat understanding things. So I'm talking with my mentor and she starts talking about A1C's. She said she didn't get all upset about the number because you can have a great number because you really have great numbers OR you can have lots of highs and lots of lows which even things out and viola...you have a great number. So I've always kept this in the back of my mind and then I realized it's true.
I remember "fighting" with a NP because she was happy with Nora's A1C but I knew for those three months she had been running both high and low, so it wan't a good indicator. On the other hand, when we religiously use her CGM and I SEE her numbers and graphs and that we are "controlling" her diabetes I get excited to see what her A1C results are. She went down a WHOLE point about a year ago!! And yes, I was excited because I KNEW it was a true reflection of her blood sugar numbers.
But Friday was a different story. She had gone up a few tenths of a point. And I'm okay with that. I really thought it was going to be more. And I'm NOT going to beat myself up because I do the best I can do to be her stand in pancreas. I'm not perfect...I'm a Mom NOT a real pancreas. So we've made changes and we will keep doing what we do. Will it lower her A1C...maybe. If you take anything from this story please know that you if you/your loved one/spouse has a higher A1C it's NOT a reflection of you. You are NOT a failure!! We, as caregivers, do the best we can and that is enough for me.
(and for those of you who are wondering...her A1C was 7.8 which means she runs around 170ish and THAT is good for HER!!)
