Diabetic Camp

We got home from Havasupai on a Saturday and then on Monday I left to work as medical staff at a diabetic camp in the San Bernardino Mountains, about an hour drive from my house.  It was a full SEVEN days and it wouldn't have been so bad, had I just not spent 4 days hiking and camping at Havasupai.  I think I was a little camped out.  Fortunately we got to stay in cabins and 2 of my other classmates from fellowship were also there.

As medical staff, we were each assigned a cabin of 13-17 year olds to monitor blood sugars and dose insulin 6 times a day-- before breakfast, before lunch, before dinner, at bedtime, midnight and 3 am.  The rest of the time was free time to spend sleeping, doing activities with your cabin, etc.  It was a fun week, but also exhausting.  We each had to spend one night in the infirmary (our version of the ER) to take care of kids coming in in the middle of the night.  

Normal blood sugar is 70 - 100.  Most of the kids had insulin pumps, which I had zero experience with so I definitely learned a lot that week.  We had to make sugar the kids' blood sugars didn't get so low they had a seizure or went into a coma OR so high they went into a coma.  It can go either way.  My one success of the week was on the last day when a girl in the cafeteria was feeling "low."  Turns out her sugars were in the 30's so I gave her a shot of glucagon, glucose tabs, and juice.  She could have easily had a seizure.  There were a few problems with kids getting dosed insulin and then not getting their food on time due to the long food line.  So I always stood in line with my girls and dosed them just before they got their food.  More work for me, but safer for them.

We also got to do some fun things, like a few hikes, campfires, an overnight campout in the open, and I even got to go canoeing with my cabin.  

BUT... I was super excited to be back in my own bed at the end of the week with a hot shower.