Diabetes Blog Week... Day 4, 5, 6 & 7

I have to navigate a little from the flo of Diabetes blog week. Those that visit often will understand. The problem is this post... this one right here... is post number 98. If I continue daily with the planned topics... I will blog right past the big 100th post.



I can't have that... then I would miss the fun.



To fix my little delema... I decided to finish out the rest of the weeks topics with a bang.



All in one shot. Yes, this is number 98... what in the world am I going to do with number 99?




Well... 99 will be saved for an emergency vent until I figure out what to do with 100.

I will do my best to make this short and sweet like me... bahahahaha :)

To carb or not to carb... I LOVE me some carbs! Don't you?

Justin ate carbs before D came along... why should I completely cut them out now? We say that more than ANYTHING... we want our children to feel normal. We don't want them left out. Well I don't know about where your from, but around here... kids DO eat McDonald once in a while.


Whats wrong with that? OOOOOOH! I know.... NOT.A.DAMN.THING!

So to carb or not to carb... there is no question.

Let's get moving... Justin is pretty active. I think thats great. Diabetes or not... we SHOULD all take a little time out to Shred :) Right ladies?

I do however load the carbs before we do certain things such as swimming. One hour of water play will get you an ugly number on the ol' meter (as in todays 41... down from 260). But I don't have to tell any of you that... cuz you know.

Diabetes snapshots... No caption needed.

Dream a little dream... If Justin could swallow a magic pill and make all this go away... one could only dream of such a thing for sure. What would I do?

Breathe... Cry... Sleep (oh would I sleep)... Burn our D supplies... Eat pizza and pasta for three weeks straight... Sleep... Scream at the top of my lungs... Jump up and down... Dance... YOU NAME IT... what WOULDN'T I DO?... Did I mention Sleep?

Dare I dream of the day?

Well thats it for me ladies... I will be stalking all of your blogs throughout the rest of the week.

Happy Diabetes blog week!!!

Diabetes Blog Week... Day 3

My biggest supporters...


Wowza... where do I begin?


Anthony( the hubbs)~ I have always been strong (emotionally). Something knocks me down... I stand up... brush off and move on. That's just what I've learned to do. But when Justin was diagnosed... I LOST IT.

SERIOUSLY.LOST.IT

I was a mess. I don't even know if the word mess is enough to describe my shattered being. I would literally look at Justin and cry... for months.

But there he was... standing strong and assuring me that it would be okay. And he continued to do so even when I would yell back that IT WOULD NOT!

I don't think I thanked him for that... I don't think I tell him that I am grateful for his strength when mine escaped me... I don't think I have thanked him for propping me up until the numbness left my body and I could stand on my own again.

Thank you pumpkin... I would be a crazy mess without you.

C (our school nurse). This is the best school nurse E.V.E.R!!!! Really, no one could ever convince me otherwise. She handles everything this spaz of a mom throws at her and then some. I trust her judgement. She is the reason I don't worry about him while he is at school. My life would be so much harder without her.

Thank you C... for making my life a little less stressed.

Ah! Now to the ladies who brushed me off (my friends). To the ONLY positive part of this journey.

THANK YOU

Thank you for your encouragement... your support... your tears... your friendship.
Thank you for helping me see that I am not alone. Alone in my fears... my struggles... my dark circles ;)
Thank you for your understanding.
Thank you for lifting me up.
Thank you for accepting me into your world with open arms.
You have given me the courage to look forward... and HOPE.

I love you all
DNQ... of course!

Diabetes Blog Week... Day 2

Making the low go... don't forget to check out Karen's blog for a list of all the blogs participating in the Diabetes Blog Week.

Lets see... to answer this question I might have to empty out my purse or rummage through the center console of my car to check out the secret stash.

hmmm ~ peanut butter crackers... laffy taffy... oh! there's a juicy juice in there (no wonder my purse is so heavy). Of course I have a stash of glucose tabs... fruit snacks... fruit roll ups and one pink starburst.

We are apparently not to picky when it comes to "perking up" our numbers when we are on the go :)

When we are home... Justin goes straight for the COOKIES!! I think we should let them indulge when they can. Why not? After all, they got the crappy end of the stick in all this.

For those overnight lows... I like to use V8 splash. I have found that it doesn't make Justin crash like the Juicy Juice does. I use to try and feed him, but it was way to hard to keep him awake (chewing while sleeping is a talent for sure :)

Sooo that's the "low" down on lows at our house :)

Happy Tuesday!!!

Diabetes Blog Week... Day 1

In case you don't know... Karen organized this entire Diabetes blog week. Today's topic is "A day in the life . . . with diabetes". So here it is~ a day in the life with us...


Today is Monday morning. I am EXHAUSTED because I have not had a full nights sleep in over 7 months. Why? Well because my diabetic child tends to drop A LOT in the middle of the night. Were talking he could be 250 at bedtime and 60 at 1 am. This terrifies me. The many what ifs. What if he goes low and doesn't wake up? What if I sleep through my 1:00am alarm? What if I go in his room one morning and its too late?


On most nights I get lucky. Lucky is when I get to go to sleep at 1 am without setting my alarm to go off in another two hours. Last night was one of those unlucky nights... at 7:30 the night before his bg was 52. Justin was thrilled because he got ice cream... ice cream always raises his numbers- but not last night. An hour later at 8:30 he was 80. My heart sank because I knew what the night may have in store for me. So I treat again... this time with a nice size banana drizzled with sugar free Hershey's syrup and whip cream. Justin loves that!

The 1 am alarm rings... he's 72; after 8 oz of juice(18 carbs) I set my alarm for 3 am.
The alarm sounds again... the meter now reads 78. I decide that 4oz(9 carbs) of juice should be fine because at this point... he had his insulin more than 7 hours ago.

The alarm rings at 6 am. It is now time to start my day... I am standing in the kitchen trying to function. I start putting lunches and snacks together... 1/2 of peanut butter and jelly sandwich for his first snack... this must be clipped to his math folder so that he doesn't forget it when he leaves for AGP. Forgetting this would not be good... believe me... we know what happens when it is not eaten.


Then there is snack two... neatly packed in a hard container so it doesn't get crushed and zipped in the front pocket of his book bag so that his teacher can find it if Justin is not back to class before they leave for specials... he must eat this before any such P.E.- not doing so would not be good... believe me... we know!



At 6:20am I wake him up. He is not thrilled because he too has been disturbed multiple times over low bg and he has not had a good nights rest in a few days either. That is not how it should be for my 9 year old growing boy.



He still drags himself out of bed and slithers to the kitchen... all this to poke his finger and check his bg for the 3rd time this morning (because 1 am and 3 am wasn't enough).
You would think that after all that juice his bg would be high... NOT.SO.MUCH! It rings in at a low 51. There goes the what ifs... What if I didn't give him any juice at 3 am?

He has to decide what he wants for breakfast so that I know how much insulin to give him.

All this before 6:30am.

By 7:10 am we are piled in the car and on our way to school/work. You see, I had to go back to work this year because the cost of medications and the hidden expense at the grocery store caused by Diabetes have been making things a bit tough at our house. I decided to substitute teach because I needed the flexibility for doctors appointments, school field trips, to make sure I was available when changes needed to be made and also to make sure I would be home for him in the afternoon. At this point his care is out of my hands. I have entrusted my child's life in the hands of his teachers and a wonderful school nurse for the next eight hours. Do I worry? Sure I do. But we must move forward and trust that he will remain safe.

Justin has to check his bg two times while at school. We catch several lows that way... even after snacks.

Let's jump ahead... It is now 4:00. The kids have convinced me to take them to the pool. Before we can leave we must check bg level. It's 105. Good, but not going swimming good. Justin eats 2 cookies (18 carbs)... not that he minds :) and we head out.

An hour later he is getting cranky. Everyone around me is thinking he's a total B.R.A.T.
But I know better. I know what's going on. D is lurking.

Once again we check... 50. He eats a couple glucose tabs and we start to gather our things to head home. It's almost time for dinner anyways.

Dinner has passed and Justin is in the shower. He told me he wants to go to bed early because he's tired. I know he is. I wish I didn't have to wake him up two times last night. But that's the nature of the beast. The beast we live our lives with everyday.

Justin will check his bg at least one more time tonight. With any luck... We will get "lucky" and at 1am... We will BOTH get to sleep.


Because tomorrow... we get to do it all over again.

Karen over at Bitter-Sweet had an idea to have a "Diabetes Blog Week". Meaning each day of the week... we blog about the suggested topic. I think this a great way for us to learn some new ideas. Will every idea work for everyone... nope!! BUT maybe we will find something great along the way. Diabetes blog week starts Monday... you can learn more about it and the topics here.

Karen also compiled a list of every blog that plans on participating... you can find that here.

So hop on over to Karen's blog and sign up... I look forward to learning from you.

HAPPY BLOGGING!!

I got a package today...

Today when I came home from work... there was a package waiting for me. I immediately got excited because I knew it had come from the SUPER SWEET MERI and her 100 Days of me contest:).

Just keep in mind that I.NEVER.WIN.ANYTHING! So that makes me double excited... here is the official pic of me and my winnings. BTW: The daily organizer will come in handy when we start pumping... I hear that I have LOTS of logging to do.
Thanks Meri (and Ryan for picking my name ;)
I love them and will think of you whenever I use them...

Sending you some LUV via the tattoo's Justin gave me :)

OH! BTW: This is post 93 for me... the pressure is on for me to make 100 a fun one.

ANY SUGGESTIONS???