Monday, April 13, 2009

Oh What Do you Do With Expired Glucagon?

YOU PLAY WITH IT!

So I was reading on a fellow Type 1 mom's blog (HERE) about a month or so ago. Her daughter Kacey's glucagon had expired. This prompted me to check Sydney's glucagon expiration date.

Definition of glucagon: A hormone that raises the blood glucose level. When someone with diabetes has a very low blood glucose level, a glucagon injection can help raise the blood glucose quickly. It is like a diabetic's life insurance. You hope you don't have to use it but you are glad you have it if needed. You would use this if a person's blood sugar is so low that they are unresponsive. They can't eat or drink anything to bring sugar levels up. This shot tells the liver to release all the body's stored glucose to quickly bring up sugar levels so, obviously, you don't want this to be expired. Ok on with my story...

Well, sure enough, Syd's was expired. We ordered some more and it came a couple of weeks ago. We still had our 2 old glucagon kits. We wondered what to do with them. Loren had a brilliant idea that we should play with them! Great idea! We hated to just throw them out...at $85 a piece, we had to do something with them. We decided to go with Loren's fun idea. We quickly made a diabetic Orange-Sydney...see below.

~Preparing to create our diabetic Orange Sydney.


~Presenting Sydney and Orange Sydney!


~~Oh no Orange Sydney is unresponsive...her blood sugar is low.


~Get the glucagon. She needs this shot! We must save her.


~Sydney preparing to inject Orange Sydney with the life saving glucagon!


~Sorry it's upside down! Syd and dad injecting in the thigh.


~Oh whew the glucagon worked...see that smile?


~ Sydney says, "Welcome back Orange Sydney."


~My goofy husband pretending to cradle the orange Sydney who made a full recovery from her dangerously low blood sugar. :-)
~The End!
The girls had a great time with this activity!! I suppose next year when our new glucagon expires, we will make diabetic apple Sydney or something similar. :-)

13 comments:

Wortham Family said...

That is so funny, you guys are so creative. I hope i can be as good and possitive as you guys are when nephi grows up and i have to teach him how to do things with his little arm, you guys are teaching me allot. Thank you. you guys are awesome, and your girls are just precious :)

Erin said...

You are so creative. I think you should write children's books. You should just make books out of these cute reenactments. Glad that Orange Sydney is doing well.

Jennifer said...

I have a few expired kits & I was thinking that I might use them to show people (friends, family members, etc) how to use it using the expired ones. I think I will now let Courntey create a "Orange Courntey" to use. Great idea. Your girls are adorable. I love your blog.

Jill said...

GREAT IDEA!!! Practice....Thats exactly what we were told to do with them so when/if the case ever arose that we'd need them then we'd know what to do and be prepared to give it. It's a bigger needle and so it's a little intimidating. We haven't tried it yet but I may just have to use that idea! Thanks :D

periwinkle4 said...

that is so smart, really, and so cute. I love the pic of Loren cradling orange Sydney. I'm glad for you that it expired without your having to use it too - even with the high price.

Rachel said...

LOL too funny! Love the pictures :)

Micah and Jen said...

what a fun idea. You really know how to make something difficult into something fun. You are such a fun mom!

michaelstubbs said...

I want to stab and orange. How come you never call us over to torture fruit?

tiburon said...

Ethan would dig that! I will keep it in mind the next time ours expires!

Michelle said...

I bet that was so fun for sydney to get to be the one doing the poking for once! What a fun way to get some practice!

Jill said...

What a fun family activity! I'm totally doing some blog catching up, but I have to say your girls singing the 'cuppycake' song was some of the cutest videos I've ever seen! They are truly precious!

The Lane Family said...

What a cute post and way to do something fun with the glucagon. Maybe Sydney will become a doctor with injection skills!!

Dawn said...

I ditto the earlier post that said you should write children's books. You would be great at it.