Tuesday begins ...

Tuesday begins
With super dad packing up boys
Driving them all to school
Mom slowly drags herself
Out of bed
And off to work I go

Busy, busy day in office
But find 5 minutes
To call grandparents
Ask to babysit
Tomorrow night
Dad and I want to see “Les Mis”
Yes?
Hooray!  Come by around 5:00
 
Busy, busy day continues
It’s already 4:00?!
Quickly pack up
Need to pick up boys at school

Racing to elevator
Cellphone vibrates in pocket
Hmmm, school nurse
Can’t be good news
What?! What?!
Did I just hear that?
Ben has no insulin left in his pump
Nothing at all?  Zero?
Nothing at all
By the way, Ben is over 400
I’ll be there in 20 minutes

Push elevator button 2 more times
Useless
Run downstairs instead
Shuffle feet quickly
Across icy parking lot
Slide straight into car door
BANG!  OUCH!
 
Now drive off wondering
How did that happened?
Where did all Ben’s insulin go?
Coughing, coughing for days
Can’t keep blood sugars down
Needed more and more insulin
Never used so much insulin before

Pull into school parking lot
Less icy here
Must have used lots of salt
Safely arrive in nurse’s office
Without another BANG

Nurse hands me brown paper bag
Pull out reservoir
Pull out tubing
Pull out IV prep
Chat about diabetes camp
Prime pump
Pinch cheeks
Stab
OUCH!
Sorry!

Nurse politely suggests
Recheck Ben
104 now
What?! What?!
Lowest number in days
OK boys, let’s get home

Safely make it back to car, again
Drive home
Boys chatting
Tomorrow is Ben’s first play
Tomorrow Abu and Grampy coming to sit
Dad and I get to see “Les Mis”

Finally home
Boys blanket kitchen table with backpacks and books
Please make room for a plate and fork
Garren with headphones
Ben lying down on bench
Ben crying about homework
“I hate math!”

Open frig
Leftover rice
Scramble eggs
Frozen peas
Worry Ben needs to eat ASAP
Was 400 then 100 … too fast

As I nuke peas
Watch “Les Mis” concert on iPad
Sing
Certain I sound as great as Fontine
Ben whines
Maybe not

Assemble dinner plates
Suggest Ben check BG now
Finish crying about horrible division worksheet
Check
37 flashes on screen
Mom, I am Patrice Bergeron
Places face in folded hands
Sobs
Eats 3 glucose tabs
Set kitchen timer for 15 minutes
And put dinner plates back on kitchen counter

Waiting
Listening
iPad still playing
“Do you hear the people sing?
Singing the songs of angry men”
With face buried in his arms
Ben pounds the table
Then declares
“I wish I could drag diabetes out of my body
And then with a with a big fat knife stab it to death”
Startled
WOW!
Violent
Then reconsider
I wish that too

Wait some more
Ben continues quietly pound the table with fist
Need to distract
“You know who would appreciate your murderous diabetes ways?”
Nick Jonas
He is singing right now
Bring iPad over
We wonder if he is hiding a pump under his fancy costume
We wonder if he checked his BG before he got on stage
We both decide 150 would be a good number
We watch him sing
Eponine is dying
Ben says, “Sooooo sad … but so beautiful.”

Buzz ... Buzz ... Buzz
Kitchen alarm
Time to recheck
115
Yeah!
Time to eat

Place cold dinner plates on kitchen table
Garren finally takes headphones off
Asks what we are listening to
Ben digs into his plate ravenously
Walk to sink
Start scrubbing pans
Listen to more songs about french revolution
Remember Ben’s comment
So sad but so beautiful
He is exactly right
Just like Nick Jonas
So sad but so beautiful
Just like my baby, Ben
 
Lost in thought
Suddenly, more fist pounding on table
Startled
I turn
“Mom!  I hate math!”

 

If you made it this far … thanks for reading!   My very first “poem” (note the quotes) was inspired by Sharon Creech’s book, Love that Dog.  Ms. Creech please  forgive me.  I know it’s horrible … but it sure was fun to write.