This is a glucagon emergency kit.

A glucagon kit is an emergency kit for diabetics’ extreme lows. A low so extreme he/she is unconscious. We have never had to use one of these. I hope and pray we will never have to use one in the future.

Inside the kit is a mixture of concentrated glucose. If/when Luke’s blood sugar goes so low he loses consciousness, we pull this out of his medical bag and administer the injection into his thigh. It should bring his blood sugar up within 15 minutes or so.

Lilly has a great webpage that explains what it is in more depth, as well as how to use it. I like to give a quick run-through with anyone who has Luke in his/her care for a long period of time, but it’s always helpful (to them and to me) if they read through this, as well.

I also just recently discovered that Lilly has an app. This app is full of information on the Glucagon. There are three features I’m particularly fond of that I’ll highlight below.

The first feature does my organizing-loving heart good. The “Manage My Kits” feature allows you to keep track of your glucagon kits- where they are & when they expire. It also allows you to set an alarm for a month before, two weeks before and every day the week before it expires. Right now, we only have two. I’ve recently realized I would really like to get at least one more to keep in my own bag, just in case Luke’s falls out of his medical bag and he doesn’t realize it. (NOT that it’s happened before or anything… ahem.)

Another feature I love is the “Practice and Prepare” feature. It takes you through the emergency steps on a virtual glucagon kit. You “mix up the solution.” You “inject the solution into someone.” You even “wipe everything down with an alcohol wipe.” If you aren’t comfortable doing that, you can also choose to watch a tutorial.

And the last feature I love is the emergency instructions that you can pull up during a true emergency if you can’t remember the steps.

I added this free app (which you can get for an Apple phone or an Android phone) to the home screen on my phone. I’d like to think I will remember what to do, but it’s there just in case. And hopefully I will never, ever have to use either the app or the emergency kit.