Thursday, March 13, 2008

My Little Never Ending Science Experiment......

I've loved science from as far back as I can remember. For Christmas I would ask for chemistry sets, biology kits, microscopes, etc. I suppose that's why I ended up with a degree in Animal Science. In college I loved the lab....doing all the experiments.....all the hands-on!! But one thing that was really trying was when the experiment didn't work as I hypothesized. My prediction would be wrong, and I would have to start over and see where I went wrong.

Ahhhhhh......that's my life now. I have a little blond haired science experiment. I see the scientific method being played out over and over again as I try to answer the questions: How will this insulin affect his body at this time? What will this particular carbohydrate do to the amount of glucose floating around his little blood stream?

I then seek to gather information and observe: Well, lets see, the last 3-4 nights this is what the insulin did or didn't do. This is what he ate, this is was his activity level was, this is how much basal insulin he was on.

Then from those observations I seek to come up with a hypothesis and prediction: Based on my observations, this amount of insulin should cause this blond little boy to react this way, so I will try this amount of insulin based on what I've seen, and it should produce the desired "magic range" results.

I then proceed with the EXPERIMENT.....(for that's what it truly is!!!)......I test my hypothesis, I see if my predictions are correct. I give that insulin dose and anxiously wait for the outcome. I observe the subjects demeanor, activity level.....I ask often "How do you feel, Bud?"...."Are you feeling o.k.?".....I am so hopeful that this time I've come up with the right hypothesis. That my predictions on the outcome will be just right. So we hold our breath and wait....for......

The Results: CRUD!!!! HE'S WHAT? That can't be right.....561!!! WHAT? But he's just playing like normal....he's not comatose, he's not ANYTHING.....BUT.......he's 561!!!! (Why does that number make my heart sick!?.......probably because I just knew for sure I had done my research, followed my experiment procedure to a "T"....and to get such results!!)

So just as in any good scientific lab I'll start over.....I'll try again, do my research, my observations, perform my "experiments" and hope they give me the desired results. Next time.....maybe....possibly......we'll hit the "magic range"!!!

1 comment:

Donna said...

Lynnea - It is definitely a trial-and-error game, isn't it? You are experimenting all the time. Sometimes you get the desired result; sometimes you don't.

You would think JJ would be acting weird or something with a BG of 561. It's amazing what our bodies can tolerate. When I was 16, I had my appendix removed & once after surgery when they checked my BG, it was 701. The nurse came bursting in my hospital room all frantic & making sure I was okay. I felt fine; I was just sitting there watching TV. Also, some friends of our's son was diagnosed when he was about 9. His BG was 1260. That blew my mind! How could someone handle that? But they got him down & he's now a football player in college a state away.

Even though those experiments don't work every time, sometimes they do. And those are happy times. You'll have those days, I'm sure.

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