Sucker punched by D

Just when I think I'm doing the diabetes thing pretty well, it turns around and kicks me in the teeth. I've heard other parents talk about this before, and have even experienced it to a degree, but nothing, NOTHING scared me like today did.

Elise and I were out for a walk after her afternoon snack. She woke up with a BG of 130, which is pretty good. I gave her 6g of carbs, which is enough to hold her until dinner time. About a third of the way around the neighbourhood, Elise asked to be picked up (I had been carrying her off and on throughout the walk). When I did, I noticed she was a bit... er, floppy, for lack of a better word. Her head seemed to be lolling all over the place and she was whimpering.

Let me say something here. I always, ALWAYS, bring my emergency bag with a meter, glucagon, apple juice and my cell phone. Today, I didn't. Lesson learned. I was about 15 houses away from my own, so I started to run with her in my arms. NO easy task with a 24 pound toddler in your arms, and walking a crazy 42 pound dog.

I get her home and check her BG. Yikes, 47! I cut up and weigh about 8g (of carbs) of banana. History has shown me that it will be more than enough to get her BG up. The reason we use banana is because she has never really liked juice and the few times we've tried; she's refused it. Plus banana ALWAYS does the trick (I'm sensing some sort of pattern with the always here...).

When she finished the banana, she starts screaming like I have never heard her before. Not when they put the IV in her arm in the ER a few weeks ago. Not when she fell 1/3 of the way down our stairs. The noise the was coming out of her will haunt me... I never want to hear it again. She was absolutely wailing. I checked her BG 15 minutes later... 52. I had to put her down to get her some more banana, and she started walking away, looking like she was drunk. I gave her 7g more for the total 15g, and when I tested her 15 minutes after that... 57. What the *insert expletive* is going on here? All the other lows she's had, we never have a problem getting her BG up.

Since my experience with this situation is limited, I decided to call the endo, because I am absolutely panicking. It's now dinner time, and I can't get her BG up, and she is still screaming like she is dying (has anyone else with small kids with D heard this cry? I get shivers every time I think about it). In the meantime, I decided to try the juice, which to my shock, she drinks!

The endo helps calm me down, and when I re-check, Elise is now at 150. But she is still wailing away. The endo told me that it sometimes takes awhile for the brain to feel the effect of the sugar, and that's probably why she was still crying, even though she was in range.

Since she got 30g of carbs during this experience, I expected her BG to rebound high at bedtime, but it wasn't too bad at 298.

This may sound like no big deal to people, but it was a hard, scary thing for me to deal with... especially by myself. I think if my husband was around at the time, it wouldn't have been so hard. I hope I never have to hear that cry again.