I have a student (freshman in high school) whose blood sugars tend to run high. It's not unusual to see her in the 300s at the beginning of the day. I can usually get her down to low to mid 200s by the time she goes home. It's rare for me to see her go below 200.
She came in stating that her blood sugar was 600+ this morning and she feels kind of rotten right now. Blood sugar check shows 523 with mega-elevated urine ketones.
Have her cover with insulin. Start socking the water to her. Call mom. Mom says "We need to check her every 2 hours. Have her drink lots of water, maybe she can walk in the gym for a bit. What do you think?" I said "I think you need to come get your kid. She needs to not be here with elevated ketones and a 500 + blood sugar for at least 4 hours now." Meanwhile, the student is in absolute tears, feeling like she gets blamed every time this happens and that she's been trying so hard to manage her diabetes. She has anxiety to begin with, and I know yesterday was not a good day for her (we had an uneventful lockdown drill that sent her over the edge and she had to go home).
Have you ever let a child with a 500+ blood sugar stay in school? I feel kind of dumb even asking that, but maybe I'm overreacting? At what point does this become an ER visit? I don't have permission to speak with the Diabetes Center about this student, which I just realized. I'll talk to mom and get that rectified.
