You want me to do WHAT?

I have some personal issues to attend to this weekend so I told my son that I will need his help.  He will have to do his own night testing on Friday and possibly Saturday nights. He looked at me like I was insane.

"You want me to do what????"

I told him that because of things going on over the weekend, I was not sure that I would be able to test him Friday night and possibly even on Saturday. It would really help me out if he would set his alarm and take over the testing for those nights.

I continued to get the "deer in the headlights" look. I reminded him that when he goes to his father's he does his own testing...and he lives.  I reminded him that I NEVER ask him to do his own testing. For almost 12 years I have gotten up throughout the night to check on him.  I was just asking for a small bit of help in a special situation. He begrudgingly agreed.

I wondered what will happen when he is older. My son does not wake for lows. He only wakes to highs that have reached a point of ketones or dramatically increased urine output.  In other words, he sleeps through 99% of his out of range readings overnight.

In speaking to a health care professional recently, he suggested that my son should already be doing his own night testing. I thought he was insane. My son is only 14. He needs his sleep. I have had broken rest for more years than my son has been alive. Its just part of my life now.

I know that not everyone does night time testing. I do. I always have. Its part of our diabetes care. One day my son will make his own choice about testing but until he is of age, Mom will make that decision.  This means that I will test him at night. I will ask him to test when life will not allow me to do it and before he leaves my home (in another three or more years), I will work to get him testing on his own at night.  Until then, well we will muddle through.