Thursday, April 28, 2011

Short and Sweet

Just a couple of thoughts to share today....and everyone breaths a sigh of relief because who could really read that much again!! :)

Frist, for those who have asked:  Lexapro, 10mg, is my new 'perk me up' friend.  It's a very low dose but it does the trick to 'take the edge off' and keep me from jumping off said edge!  (and, no, I'm not getting my happy drugs for free by telling you about it...just want to share the happiness if it's something that can help you!)

Bean lost her first tooth yesterday!!  She has been stressed all year about when she'd lose her first tooth since her classmates seems to be losing them left and right.  And trying to explain to a 7 year old that she didn't get her first tooth until she was almost 10 months old so it might take a while never went over well!
She 'pulled' it herself in the bathroom at school..."well, I pushed it down; then pushed it down some more and it just popped out; then I catched it with my hand before it hit the ground, phew!"



Oh, and if you need a reason to have a good cry, head over to Candy Hearts. Such a touching post and song!

And if you need a reason to laugh your a$$ off (and who can't use a laugh today?!), head over to Beta Buddies.  Reyna is in rare form today, sharing a special song just for the DOC.

You'll be glad you did!!!

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

The "Bad" of Yesterday

**Upon reflection about the events of this day, I have edited this post a bit for content.  Just wanted to let you know!**


Just a little reminder that this might get a bit 'colorful'...hours might have passed, but some of what happened yesterday is not resolved and still makes my blood boil just thinking about it.  Oh, and you might want to grab a snack or better yet a drink 'cause it will pretty long.

Consider yourself warned.....

So, the day actually started around midnight.  I had check Bean's BG and was settling into bed...way too late, but whatever!  And Bug started coughing.  Not your little 'cough, cough' and then roll over.  No.  This was a deep, seal barking cough.  And she kept coughing and coughing and coughing.  Now, just so you know, every time Bug gets a cough (a few times in her short 2.75 years of life) she sounds like she has whooping cough but it's just her 'cold cough'...lovely, huh?  So, I get her up and we head down to the couch so she can cough and cry and fuss to her heart's content without waking up Bean.  So a couple of Yo Gabba Gabbas on demand and some cough syrup (Chestal Honey...love the stuff!) later, Bug's ready to go back to bed.
Check Bean's BG again because I'm in the room anyway and we're still trying to get those overnight numbers figured out and then drag my tired behind to bed...way, way too late since it's already morning!

Another BG check at 3:40AM, then the alarm goes off to get me up at 6.  I had my annual (yipee) scheduled for Monday, but it had been rescheduled to Tuesday at 7:10 on Monday morning.  So, this is day two of me having to get up and get ready early in the freakin morning.  I don't particularly care for mornings...no, make that I hate mornings and avoid them at all costs and only get up when I absolutely have to.  And if there's no real reason to 'get ready' then I don't...why waste the sleep?!

The phone rings at 7:15....annual rescheduled again!  So, the day is starting off with me having way too little sleep, even less than the 'normal' way too little, and getting up and getting ready when I didn't have to. Sucks!

Get Bean up...challenging because she's 'soooo tiiirrrred.'  Well, no sh*t, me too...

Get Bug up...poor thing looks like she's been run over.  She coughed so hard in the night that she looks like she has red freckles from the burst capillaries.

Bean to school; Bug to Grandpa's; me to the store to get more Chestal Honey so Grandpa would have it for the day.  Bug was scheduled to hang out with Grandpa  for my morning appt, Bean's lunchtime appt, and my afternoon appt.Cough syrup, check. Syringe to put it in so Bug can take it...um, not so much.  The Pharmacy wasn't open yet and there weren't any med-dispensing devices anywhere in the store.  So I went to the Customer Service desk to see if someone could get into the Pharmacy to get me one of their awesome syringe thingies.  As I'm waiting behing this lovely elderly couple to figure out how to work the buttons on the 'slide your card and pay' machine, I see the Pharmacist leave the Pharmacy with his coffee cup.  Not wanting to chase him down like a crazy person, I figured this was a good sign that someone was at least in there working so it shouldn't be a big deal to get something even if they weren't technically open yet.  I explained to the gal behind the Customer Service desk what I needed and she said that no one had keys to get into the Pharmacy.  I mentioned seeing the Pharmacist and her reply was "I don't even know his name so it's not like I could even page him."  Seriously? This is the person they pick to work behind the Customer Service desk?  At this point I'm loosing my 'nice voice.'  I ask to speak to a manager and she pretty much rolls her eyes and calls one.  I'm waiting....and waiting.  By this time the Pharmacist is walking back with his coffee cup now full of steamy goodness (jealous because I haven't gotten my latte yet) and the oh-so-helpful customer service bitch says, "There he is if you want to just go ask him yourself."  So I did (trying to use my nice voice again) and he happily grabbed me a syringe and I went to pay for the cough syrup.  I decided to exit through the 'other' doors so as to not give into the temptation of making a really snarky comment to the customer service gal.

So, cough syrup is dropped off at Grandpa's and I decide to get my latte and head home for a hour of quiet and maybe the hopes of dozing off a little to make up for my lack of sleep before I need to pick Bean up for her appointment.  Stupid me checks email when I get home and see that the Auction Committee needs some items picked up for the auction on Saturday and I think, 'hey, I could do that between my afternoon appointment and picking up Bean from Drama Club and Bug from Grandpa's.'  I text my friend to get the info needed and find out that she's at the school and I need to get forms/receipts for the donors.  So since I have to pick up Bean for her appointment anyway and I'm obviously not going to be getting any dozing time, I go ahead and head over to the school a bit early.

I get there and I see the nurse through the window of the secretary's office.  Kinda surprised to see her since she's been gone for extended periods throughout the year.  And her position isn't full time or even half time; she's there for a couple of hours Tuesdays and Thursdays.  When she was on a couple of long absences because of family reasons, the sub-nurse chose to be there for the required amount of hours just on Mondays.  So needless to say I don't see her as the primary person responsible for Bean since it's usually a TA or the Secretary that oversees everything.  


Anyway, Nurse says she was just having Secretary pull my phone number so she could call me.    She wanted to talk about the '55 before lunch' issue we had had on Wednesday the 14th. This was a day Nurse wouldn't normally be there anyway, but it was during the time she was out for whatever reason and she was just learning about it today.  I mentioned it here, but to save you from scrolling through that lengthy, BG loggy post, here's the jist:     
      
         Bean checks her BG before recess.  If she's below 120, she's to have her designated Goldfish snack to boost her until lunch.  Her before recess number that day was 124.  I have talked with TA and Secretary many times about having her go ahead and eat all or at least half of the Goldfish if she's close to 120 and even as high as 140 since there have been recessed when Bean has dropped a good 80 points.  That didn't happen.  Bean tested for lunch, 40 minutes later and was at 55.  Now, according to the instructions taped nicely inside her PDM (combo meter and pod controller) case (at the school's request so there was information with Bean at all times and no one would have to looking through the hundreds of forms in the nurse's office) it says, "Anytime below 70, give apple juice. Test in 15 mins to make sure she's going up. Always call me or Ubergeek, with our phone numbers listed."  What did they do?  They let her do her lunch bolus and sent her to back to class to eat.  Great, huh?  Not so much!!  




I moved into the nurse's office to continue the conversation.  I told her that my biggest problem was the fact that Bean's 55 was basically ignored. (I was not using my nice voice at all and was trying really, really hard to not go full on bitch yet.) I told her that it was plainly stated on the info sheet with Bean's PDM what was to happen (juice, retest, call) and that none, NONE of that had happened.  Instead, Bean was given insulin, INSULIN at 55 and sent to eat her lunch.  They trusted low 7 year old to go directly back to her class and figure out on her own that she should eat her applesauce first because she was low and not to decided to take a side trip to the bathroom where she could have passed out!  After a bit more discussion, Nurse wanted to take Bean's PDM around and show everyone individually and remind them of how lows should be handled.  I reminded her that we would be leaving for an appointment soon and that I needed to go talk with the Auction Committee before we left.

So, off I go, down the hall to where my friends (the Auction Committee) are working on things.  I walk in, close the door behind me and tell them I need just a minute.  I then let out a probably louder than it should have been, but who really cared at that point, "F*CKING HELL!!!"  Not a phrase I would usually utter, but I was beyond the point of being able to express myself in a respectable manner!!  Neither one were offended as one of them uses FFS often and the other isn't shy with f-bomb either...they were, however, both immediately concerned and wanted to know what was going on.  It took me a minute, but through the inevitable tears that come when I get upset, I told them what was going on.  They hugged me and one of them was immediately on the phone to start the wheels turning to help 'fix' the problem.

I then went to get Bean from her class and her PDM from Nurse.  I felt I needed to touch base with Secretary about the whole '55 issue' since she had already apologized for it the day it happened and Ubergeek had emailed her about it.  That conversation didn't go nearly as well as I would have liked and it left a really bad taste in my mouth.  Bean and I left the school and I was doing my best to not scream as we walked out the doors.

Onto the CDE appointment and the '
good' of the day.

As you know, that appointment ran long.  We were walking out of that hospital 10 minutes before I needed to be at the other hospital for my afternoon appointment.  Not enough time to drive straight there much less get Ubergeek back to work (he had me pick him up instead of meeting us there) and Bean back to school.  So I called the office to see if I could push my appointment back or if I needed to reschedule (didn't really want to do that because our schedule is way too busy as it is.)  They said I could come in a bit late but that my time would be cut short.  Fine with me.  Onto driving like a bat out of hell.

Get Ubergeek to work and barely slow the car down for him to get out.

Get Bean to school and just about run her inside.  Nurse is still there (miracles never cease) and she asks me if I have a minute to which I reply, no not really.  She then proceeds to start a conversation with me.  (Um, HELLO? Did you hear me?)  She told me she had plans to meet with everyone in ones or twos to go over Bean's care (which really confuses me because even though she's 'the nurse' she's really not the one involved in Bean's care from day to day) and that she wanted me to pick another adult in the building for a backup person for Bean to go to when the TA and Secretary were busy with other students.  Um, WHAT THE F-idy F F?  This honestly made me take a step back because we had to fight tooth and nail at the beginning of the year for anyone other than the nurse to even watch Bean test and dose.  Now she wants me to just pick some random adult to supervise her when TA and Secretary are too busy with other things?  EXCUSE ME?  Too busy to make sure my child gets the life saving care she needs, can't survive without? They now want Bean to wander the halls trying to locate this other adult and hope they are able to be found and are available to help her.  I don't want to imagine the horrible outcome that could have happened on the day she was 55!!!  So, to this ridiculous suggestion I replied, well if that's the case, then let's just have her start testing and dosing in the classroom.  That way she doesn't have to be a distraction to the office staff.  (That last part I made sure to say a bit louder as we were standing in front of Secretary's window.  Yeah, I can be immature like that sometimes!)  Nurse said we'd have to check with Teacher first and I reminded her that Teacher already had experience with D kids from coaching and that it was for that reason Bean was in his class in the first place.  She said she'd check with him.  Lovely.

So, out the door I go.  Drive like a bat out of hell to get to my appointment.  The one where I'm supposed to be getting help dealing with all of the crap that's going on in my life right now; the appointment that had to be made to go along with the prescription that I've been taking (that's helping, btw, and I'm grateful for that).
Thankfully there were no coppers out where I was because I would have gotten a ticket for sure!   I arrived 5 minutes late to my pushed back half an hour appointment.  One nice thing was that it wasn't as expensive as it 'should have been' so at least I saved some money!!

After my appointment I head out to round up auction donations and try to enjoy the 'aloneness' for a little bit.  Ubergeek calls me and tells me he'll be working late to make up some time and that he has to go to the school to finish up the project he's overseeing.  Great, another long-ass day with no help in the evening.  It's been like that for a week now and it's getting old.  Hopefully next week will bring him home at a more normal time because unless those meds are increased, it's not going to be pretty around here.

Girls eat dinner, go to bed early and I sit on the couch and get lost in the TV for a while.  Ubergeek gets home just as I'm deciding to drag my tired self to bed a little early and of course we have to go over the events of the day.  I couldn't go into a lot of details about the shit storm at the school with Bean in the car, so I had to go through it all with him.  Enter more colorful language and more upset tears.

It dumbfounds me that during the last weeks of school, I am having conversations about issues with Nurse that I thought had been under control all year.  (She will be retiring so I am looking forward to having a fresh start next school year.)

 I am pissed off that a school that we love so much, spend countless hours helping out, would treat my daughter like they do sometimes.  Sure, most days they are 'on top of it' but the one day they totally suck at it is the only day she's ever gone low at school.  Ubergeek and I totally agree that if it weren't for the awesome program and the fact that Bean LOVES her school, we'd be gone.  And it wouldn't just suck for Bean that we'd be gone, it would leave a huge hole in the their volunteer force because Ubergeek and I do way above and beyond what a lot of other parents do.

I cried yesterday about D and I haven't done that in a while.  It's so totally unfair and it so totally sucks that something like a stupid pancreas can make such an enormous impact on our lives.  It beats us up, drags us down, kicks us while we're there, and leaves us to try to pick up the pieces...taking people we thought were there to support us with it.

D can SUCK IT!!


Oh, hey....in case you forgot...Bean's A1C was 8.8 yesterday...down a whole point!  WOO-FRICKIN-HOO!!!  Just had to leave you with a 'good' after dumping that huge pile of crap on your computer!!! ;)

Thanks for letting me vent....I know you all 'get it' and for that I am forever thankful to have found you!!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The "Good" of Today

Today has been a roller coaster of 'good' and 'bad.'  No, that doesn't even come close....'good' and 'pile of sh*t.'  Yep, that's closer.

Tonight I will share the 'good' as I am still trying to formulate how to share the bad without completely offending my mother (love you!!) with some choice words that would be completely called for in the situation, but none-the-less not really the best way to convey the story for all to read.

So...on to the GOOD...

Bean had her appointment with her superturboaffengeil (that would be 'totally super monkey cool' in German) CDE (certified diabetes educator) today.  We haven't had the pleasure of hanging out with her since Bean started using the Omnipod in October.  So, since we had done a 6 week check with her NP (nurse practitioner) we decided to do the 'three month' appointment with her CDE.

This gal is the most animated talker you have ever met.  She's from Texas...need I say more?  We tend to spend the appointment in 'chat' mode and somehow we always get to the reason for the appointment in a nice casual way.

We went over Bean's log.  We talked about the dreaded 'almond butter toast and milk' combination.  Her suggestion was that it could be 'morning insulin resistance' or simply God's sarcastic sense of humor!  (Do you see why I love her?)  She gave some suggestions if we ever wanted to dare try said combo again.  We then moved on to the overnight basal tweaking that I've been doing since our appointment with the NP.  We've decided to continue the larger amount until 9PM instead of decreasing at 7PM to see if we can ward off those 10-11PM spikes Bean has been having.  If that doesn't seem to do the trick, we're going to adjust her dinner insulin:carb ratio.  Little steps since Bean deals in such small amounts of insulin and seems to be quite sensitive.

We had mentioned a few times that we also needed to do an A1C.  It was getting past 'our time' with her and we had bounced here and there in our conversations but never made it to the A1C test....partly because we were talking so much, partly because the CDE technically can't do the test and we needed to grab someone to do it.

Anyway...Bean lanced and the said available tech sucked up the blood in the little tube thingy and the five minute count down began.  We stared gathering our things and she asked if we wanted her to text us the result.  I said sure; Ubergeek said no way, we are waiting!  So, we continued talking in the hallway as we all periodically glanced at the countdown on the machine.

10-9-8-7-6-5-4...the CDE ran over and covered the display. She made us all guess and then gave us a hint that it was two of the same number. 8.8!!!!  Woo-freakin-Hoo!!!!!  OK, to some of you that might not be a 'woo-freakin-hoo' number, but that is an entire whole point DOWN from Bean's A1C at the end of January.  We (um, try me, myself, and I) have been working my a** off trying to get Bean's numbers more in range.  It's been a very slow process...I'm talking adjusting ratios by 1 carb at a time for a week to see how things go then doing another carb and so on for weeks and weeks and weeks. Then add the overnight basal tweaking that took weeks and weeks.  It has been a crazy 90 or so days of trying this and trying that and IT PAID OFF!!!!

WOO-FREAKIN-HOO!!!!!


So, that was an hour and a half of my day...the 'good' hour and a half of my day.  Oh, how I wish it was a longer part of my day, but being able to share it with you has made it a bit longer.  8.8, seriously, 8.8!
That makes the carb counting, ratio tweaking, basal bumbing, more night checks, and all that other ridiculous pancreatic-ness worth it.  Not saying I wouldn't love to have my sleep back, but keeping Bean in range more and thus improving the quality of her health and life is a dang fine reward if you ask me!!



The plan is to share tomorrow about the 'bad' part of my day tomorrow.  I'm not promising it will be all that 'mother-friendly' so maybe you should just wait for the phone call version, Mother!! ;)

Monday, April 25, 2011

Random Thoughts

Thought I'd share a few random thoughts today....my brain is rather fried after this weekend so the ability to put together more than a sentence or two at a time is beyond possible! :)

Easter Sunday was FABULOUS!!  All four services were packed and God moved in amazing ways.  Being able a part of the worship team was amazing.  It's been a while since I've sung on stage (Christmas, in fact) and it was so great to a part of such an amazing team. 
Thankfully my throat held out and only started really burning towards the middle of the last service.  Enter full on sinus drainage and swollen glands by the time we arrived at my in-laws for dinner.  Needless to say, as soon as the girls were in bed last night, so was I!!

Bean's BG numbers were interesting yesterday.  Not a whole lot of edible Easter goodies to wreak havoc, just some random numbers.  Plus, we did a pod change right before dinner and she was a bit low and my brain dead self didn't dose correctly for dinner...so evening numbers were off, but thankfully back under control overnight!

Bean is having 'hot lunch' today at school....something she rarely does because she's quite the picky eater plus it's nearly impossible to SWAG the carb count for the catered meals.  (Yes, I said catered.  Bean goes to a charter school that doesn't have the regular school lunch program.)  Last time she had 'this' lunch, her BG sky rocketed, so I upped the carb count for today's lunch and we'll see what happens!!

I'll leave you with one last thought....there was one line in one of the songs that we sang yesterday that 'hit me' during one of the services.  "You're above anything thrown my way."  Anything...including diabetes...God is above.  He knows what's going on; nothing is a surprise to Him.  I can go to Him with anything that's thrown at me and He can help me get over it, deal with it, walk through it, and learn from it.  He can do the same for you, too!!


Friday, April 22, 2011

It's been a day...make that three!

Bean is sick.  She has a cold...the yucky stuffy nose, sore throat 'thing' that is going around her school.

We erred on the side of caution on Wednesday keeping her home; not wanting her to push it and get really sick.  Wednesday night she spiked to 475 (seriously!?!) and it took three corrections through out the evening and night to get her down to 166 at 4am.  Needless to say, not a great night of sleep for either one of us!!

Thursday she stayed home in the morning, with possible plans to send her after lunch...something about dying eggs that just couldn't be missed! ;)  Well, when she tested for lunch, she was at 53 (again...seriously!?!) and she seemed genuinely surprised by the number.  She has always been able to feel her lows and when I asked her how she was feeling, she said 'Fine. Not like I'm at 53!'  ???  So, since her lunch was already in front of her, I had her eat her applesauce first to get her BG up.  We tested again 14 minutes later and she was at 46 (SERIOUSLY!?!).  She's never not come up from a low so I was a bit concerned to say the least.  Break out the Juicy Juice!  Test again in five minutes this time and she was at 70...thank God!  Three more minutes and she was at 155 (Ubergeek had been called at this point and he wanted another number.)  So, no going to school in the afternoon just in case her BG's continued being stupid!

And now it's Friday....and she's home again.  This time it was her choice and I wasn't going to fight it.  She's still quite stuffy and her throat was really bothering her when she woke up...well, barely opened her eyes to ask if she could stay home.  She had another low this morning just before 9 (53..what is it with that number, seriously!?!).  She had gone back to sleep after I checked her at 7:15 (after she asked to stay home) and she was at 226.  I did give her a little correction (not the full suggested amount) because she tends to start climbing if she waits to have breakfast.  Didn't mess around this time...went straight for the Juicy Juice!  Up she went, just like usual, to a nice 126 in 17 minutes.

Oh, and did I mention that she had a pod alarm Tuesday at school then Wednesday at home and Thursday at home?  And did I mention that Bean and Bug aren't the best at 'playing nicely' for long periods of time so it's been fun filled days of sibling bliss?  And did I mention that Ubergeek is helping with a project at Bean's school (super awesome, but still) so he's not only been at work all day, but has gone straight to school and has had to be there until after 11 Wednesday and Thursday nights and will be there again tonight.  UGH!!

I did get  a nice reprieve Thursday since Bug was already scheduled to be with Grandpa and he was kind enough to keep her even though I was just going to be home with sick Bean.  I was able to take a morning nap and get an uninterrupted shower.  That was a huge help!

But, we are stuck in crazyville again today and I'm just about ready to sign the citizenship papers!!

I'm hoping I don't get hit with the cold at all, or at least until after Sunday, because I'm singing for all four Easter services!  Kinda hard to do with a stuffy nose and sore throat!!!

Time for some hot tea and rest on the couch for me....Bug's down for her nap and Bean is enjoying "Megamind" on demand for the millionth time.  :)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Knocked O-verrr!

We've been watching more than our fair share of 'Despicable Me' around our house.  It seems like the girls get stuck on a couple of movies and they get watched to death.  Thankfully, 'Despicable Me' is one that I enjoy watching (or at least hearing in the background!) so I don't mind that it's on the frequently requested list.

One of my favorite parts of the movie is when the girls convince Gru to take them to Super Silly Fun Land and then get him to let them play for the stuffed unicorn. ('It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!!')  As we all know, those amusement park games are set up to be nearly impossible to win. The girls try and try, even hitting the elusive space ship, but alas, not knocking it over.  Then, it's Gru's turn.  He pulls out a handy dandy weapon (really need to get me one of those coats!) and destroys the entire game and the little space ship crumbles to pieces.  He then proclaims, with a sly grin, "KNOCKED O-VERRR!"  Love it!!

I feel like D can be that stupid little space ship sometimes.  No matter how well you aim, you miss it.  Even if you do hit it, it won't fall over.  You have the carb count spot on, you are confident in the ratios, basal rates have been spot on....BUT those BGs just aren't what they are supposed to be.

We have this issue with a certain food combination at the moment.

Bean eats an almond butter sandwich, sans crust (she's never liked peanut butter, even in cookies ~ what's wrong with her!?!), applesauce, and milk every day for lunch at school.  It treats her great.  Sure, she heads into the low 200s (sometimes high 200s, but not so much anymore with her current ratios) by the time she tests for her after school snack, but part of that is her uncovered cheese that she has when her class is having their snack.

Well, on the weekends, she sometimes wants a similar combination for breakfast: almond butter toast and milk; no applesauce, so you'd think it wouldn't spike her at all.  Well, you'd be wrong!  We have consistently seen spikes well into the 300s and even low 400s at times!!  What the (enter appropriate word here, depending on how high the number is!)?!?! Seriously?

How in the world does her body react pretty well to this meal for lunch but totally spiral out of control when she has it for breakfast?  Stupid spaceship!!

It's at these times I wish I had Gru's coat and I could whip out a high powered D weapon and blast the whole 'game' that we are forced to play each day with this crappy disease away!

"KNOCKED O-VERRR!!!"

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

More Product Recalls ~ Smith & Nephew

I came across this article last night as I was reading through some articles on my MSNBC app...what is it about going to bed early that seems to end up with me reading things instead of sleeping?!?  In this case, I'm glad I did!  Safety trumps more sleep always!

Smith & Nephew is doing a voluntary recall on several of their products: REMOVE, UNI-SOLVE, SKIN-PREP, PERI-PREP, and NO-STING SKIN-PREP.  The specific lot numbers are listed here.

The lot numbers are not terribly obvious on the packaging...they are imprinted on the bottom edge of the actual wipes.  It took me a bit to find them...I'm sure the slight panic attack wasn't helpful!!

Thankfully the wipes we have are not part of the recall.  PLEASE take a minute to check your wipes if you use any of the listed products!


Here are the links, again, just in case you missed them in the post:
article:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42651858/ns/health-infectious_diseases/
list of product codes and lot numbers:  http://www.smithdrug.com/ddf/recalls/remove_wipes.pdf

Saturday, April 16, 2011

A 'Perfect World'

We've been on what seems to be an never ending adjustment since Bean's appointment at the end of January.  She sees a Nurse Practitioner...there's no pediatric endo in our area and so far we've done just fine without one. (Granted there is an endo at the clinic we go to, so if the need ever arises there's one available.)

We started by adjusting insulin to carb ratios, going down by one carb each week to see how that affected Bean's numbers.  That went pretty well and we settled into a nice groove.

We scheduled a six week follow up instead of waiting three months since we were going to be 'playing around' with things.  At that appointment (mid-March) we adjusted the timing of the ratios from one ratio for breakfast thru afternoon snack and another for dinner and bedtime to one ratio for breakfast thru lunch and the other for afternoon snack thru bedtime to see if we could get Bean's afternoon spike to lessen.

At this appointment there was also the discussion of adjusting Bean's overnight basal...something I didn't want to do because we had just gotten to the point of not having to give her a snack in the middle of the night to keep her from taking a nose dive before breakfast.  I was happy with doing corrections...well, not happy, but they were way easier than convincing a sleeping kiddo to eat/drink something and Bean sleeps hard!

What our NP told us was that in a 'perfect world' Bean should be getting half of her insulin from her basals and half from her boluses.  Bean was around 25% for basal and 75% for bolus.

Well, in the weeks following that appointment, I have been playing around with her overnight basals.  It was a tough decision (a) because I had been so adamant about NOT changing them at the appointment (and to our NP's credit she was OK with that...love that about her!) and (b) I was afraid of Bean crashing at night because she had been so much more sensitive to corrections at night than during the day.  But, I started
playing and after about two weeks we seem to be in a nice groove.

So, we have an appointment week after next with our CDE (love her, too!) and we'll be doing Bean's A1C.  From the numbers I have, it should down significantly from January due to all of the adjusting we've been doing. (I have to be cautious though because I don't want to be disappointed.  Any decrease, even if just a smidge, will be great!)  Plus, her basal/bolus ratio is looking closer to 40/60 and we've even had a day or two of almost 50/50.

A Perfect World?  I don't think it exists, but if we can visit from time to time I'm all for it!!


Just out of curiosity...does your CWD get close to that 50/50 balance of basal/bolus?

Thursday, April 14, 2011

"Mine turn?"

A couple of other D'moms (Diapeepees and My Sweetest Boy) have shared today about how younger siblings are affected by D, so I thought I'd share a little bit, too....(look at me, linking to other blogs!!)

Bug (2 and a bit more than a half years old at the moment) is four and a half years younger than Bean, to the day.  They share birthdays/half-birthdays.  Kinda cool I think and they do, too.  Bug is your typical little sister...wants to do everything her big sister is doing whether it's appropriate or not.

Brushing her hair ~ Super, one less thing for me to do.

Writing with pencils ~ OK, fine; just don't go running around the house with it.

Cutting with scissors ~ Yikes! but she's actually pretty good with them, so every once in a while I let her.

D stuff ~ Um, no thanks! One T1 is plenty at the moment.


I'll share a few little stories that still bring a smile to my face, so hopefully they will for you, too:

  About a week after Bean was dx, we ventured out to our normal Tuesday at the park with friends.  I hadn't told any of them yet and was planning to that day but that didn't happen. So, we waited until we were in the car to test.  Bean was ready for something to eat and since we were going to be eating lunch as soon as we got home I decided to let her have something to eat right then and go ahead and add it in to her lunch shot.  She was doing 'leg for lunch' so she hiked up her pants for her shot.  One, two, three, inject; one, two, three, four, five, pull out needle.  Bean started eating and I was packing everything away when I hear, "Mama, mine turn now?" and look over to see that Bug had her pant leg all rolled up waiting for her shot!  She wasn't quite 2 yet!  I told her no, that she didn't need a shot but she could have a snack.  She was visibly disappointed, but said, "OK, just a snack."

  Bug has also turned just about everything in the play doctor's kit into something D related.  The shot is obvious.  She would put it up to her arm, count one, two, three and push the plunger then count one, two, three, four, five and pull it away.  The thermometer is also a shot, but it was always used in the leg like Bean's insulin pen.  It also pulled dual duty as a lancing device for BG tests.

  Bug turns just about every bag and purse (and there are tons of them around this house!) into a 'kit' which is what we call Bean's diabetes supply bag.  She'll even get mortally offended some days if you dare call her little backpack a diaper bag.  "No, Mama, that's my KIT!"

  The most recent was this past Saturday.  We went by the coffee stand (skinny, decaf, 3pump vanilla latte, please!) on our way to the morning's activities and that means a cookie for Bug and she knows it very well.  It was a tradition started with Bean, though she doesn't get them often now because of school more than because of D since our coffee stand stops are usually when Bean's not with us.  Granted, when Bean is with us, I let her have a little piece, too and cover accordingly.  So, anyway...we are waiting for our yummy goodness to be handed through the window and Bug shouts from the backseat "I LOVE GRAMS!"  What?!?!  Ubergeek and I look at each other trying to figure out if we heard her right.  We both ask, "you love what?"  "GRAMS! I LOVE GRAMS!"  Then it dawns on me....every time Bean eats, she asks me "how many grams" so she can plug it into her PDM so she can bolus.  So I ask Bug if this is what she means and in her best two and a half year old 'wow, mom you are so slow' voice she replies, "Yes, I LOVE GRAMS, like Bean (uses her real name, of course) gets to eat!"

Gotta love it!!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Where did THOSE numbers come from?

For the past few weeks Bean's numbers have been really pretty good.  Sure a random high and low, but for the most part in range-ish  and good daily averages.  I even had the audacity to say out loud 'we are rocking these daytime numbers!'  Nighttime has been a process for the past three weeks or so, but we're getting close to figure those numbers out, too.

Enter Tuesday....(and Wednesday)

Breakfast (7:30am), a fabulous 108.

Before recess (10:52am), a not terrible 233.  A little higher than she's been running, but whatever.

Before lunch (11:37am), 220.  Um, what?!  Only a 13 point drop?  Bean drops anywhere from 40-90 points at recess, depending on the activity level and temperature.  But never, never only 13!
 Of course her PDM (Personal Diabetes Manager) that controls her pod gives her a correction with her meal bolus, so all should be 'good' for the afternoon, right?  Wrong!

Snack, 299 (2:47pm).  Hello? Seriously?!  Again, correction with meal coverage.

Quick check to see how she's doing since she has a tendency to drop fast when she has a 'big' correction with her snack, (4:54pm), 290.  Odd, but it is time for a pod change, so maybe it's just done working!
Do the pod change...stupid thing alarms as soon as the cannula is inserted.  Lovely!  Insert screams and cries of 'I hate it when it does that' from Bean. (She tends towards the dramatic side anyway, increase that tons when she's high!)
Do another pod change...thank God, no alarm this time!

Before dinner (5:40pm) 306...OK so she's up a tab but that pod change was kinda stressful.  So yet another correction with her meal dose, plus an extra 0.75u that we do with every new pod...that's just what works for us.

Time to read and she's having trouble focusing...can we say 'high?'  Test (6:42pm), 397.  Oh Dear God!  Now, if you take a bit a look, that's only a 91 point jump and hour after dinner, so not too bad, but the NUMBER?!?  We 'do' nothing for a correction since it's only been an hour.

Off to bed and we test again just to see what's going on (7:42pm), 465. Crap, Crap, Crap! A few other choice words run through my head.  We go ahead and give her another correction because her PDM accounts for what's still on board and it's obviously not doing it's job at the moment!

Check at 9:15pm, 295....Thank You God!  It's about time that insulin kicked in!

My bedtime...or at least when I go upstairs! (10:40pm) 231.  Nice; I can handle that.  On a 'normal' night, I'd be loving that number....great place for her to be starting for the overnight slow drop.

I set the alarm to check her at 1:30, but Bug decides to wake up pissed about her stuffy nose shortly before 1, so while I was up I went ahead and checked Bean (12:59am), 172.  Again, on a normal night, I'd be loving that number....nice drop from the 10:30-11 check I usually do; still room to drop safely until breakfast.  (for example, over night Monday she was at 234 at 11, 170 at 2, then 108 at 7:30...nice numbers for us!)
Since she had had a significant amount of insulin I knew there was no way I could skip the 4am check.  So, alarm set and back to sleep for a bit.

4:02am, 65. ARGH!  What happened to that nice slow drop?  Why must her body 'store up' the insulin and then react to it hours later...or at least that's what it seems to do sometimes?  Bean's awake enough to want to know her number and then rattles off a buffet of food she'd like to have.  Um, no.  Five Wheat Thins, 2 oz milk will be just fine.  (Had she not been 'awake' I would have just gone with the milk since it doesn't spike her like juice does and I don't like to use juice at night unless she's super low.)

Back to bed and Ubergeek is awake...'where was she?'  A few choice words are utter sleepily and then he asks me to check her again in 15 minutes...something we generally don't do because she always comes up.
So, I start reading some blogs on my phone (gotta love those DOC friends in other time zones!) to fill the time.
Check at 4:27, 115.  I decide to cover her snack so she doesn't sky rocket, and extend it over 2 hours so she doesn't drop again.  Back to sleep for me.

Before breakfast (7:08am), 198. Yuck...that's not where she should be.  But, whatever!  At least it's a 'good' number that doesn't start with a 3 or 4!!

Before recess (10:55am), 124. OK?  Now, Bean knows that she's supposed to have her little bag of goldfish if she's below 120 before recess so she doesn't go low and we've had talks about when she's 'close' to that number to go ahead and eat them just to be on the safe side.  I've also had this conversation with those who help monitor her tests at school.  For whatever reason no goldfish were eaten.

Before lunch (11:38am), 55!  Why couldn't today be the day she only drops 13 points!?!?!?
  She tells me when I pick her up that she just dosed for lunch and went straight to her room to eat. (They eat in their classroom and hers is right across the hall from the nurse's office.)  Um, what?  It's well known and it's plainly written in the little cheat sheet that's in her PDM that if she's below 70 she needs an apple juice.  No frickin' idea what happened there.  (Trust me, I wanted to call the school as soon as I got home, but Ubergeek asked me to wait...I tend towards the dramatic, too, so probably a good call!)

Snack (3:46pm), 154.  Now THAT'S more like it!!


It just boggles my mind sometimes where Bean's numbers come from.  Nothing 'out of the ordinary' food-wise all day, truly the same breakfast and lunch she always has and a dinner that doesn't ever give her 'trouble'; no changes in the school schedule.  We've never had a pod act like that when it's ready to be changed and generally don't have one that needs so much help to kick in.  Just one of those days that makes you scratch your head and realize that for all of those days you got it 'right' there will always be days when it just doesn't work!

Maddening!!


Thanks for bearing with my log....just needed to get it all out so I could move past it!!

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Bean's Diagnosis, part two

...and the story continues...if you haven't read the first part, click here

We arrive at the hospital and check in through the ER.

Bean has gotten over, mostly, the fact that we are not going to be going to the birthday party and since she's feeling fine, she's eager to start watching a movie on her little DVD player.  She tolerated them putting in an IV to start fluids and insisted on a bandaid for her finger when they poked it.  (She was in the 300s on their meter. Don't remember the exact number and honestly don't care because it was less than what we had seen at home.)

Ubergeek and I start the process of explaining to person after person after person "what brought us in today" and try to wrap our heads around what is going on.  After being in the ER for about four hours, we're told that Bean will be headed up to a Children's Hospital room for the night and that a Nurse Practitioner would be there in the morning to go over all the information we needed.  Um, OK...we had already figured out what was going on, but none of the nurses or doctors had actually said the words.  So, Ubergeek asked point blank, "so this is diabetes?" and the reply was "there's nothing else it could be."  And there you have it.

So, up a few floors and into a room and the calm before the storm settles over us for a few minutes.

A lot of the first few hours in the room are a blur...I know they gave Been insulin, I know they brought her food, I know she had a bandaid on several fingers.

What I do remember is our night-shift nurse.  He was a short, solid Russian fellow (think gymnast) who had the most amazing bedside manner with Bean and with us.  He was quiet when he came in, as gentle as possible with finger pokes, and closed the door quietly when he left.  He talked to Bean to let her know what he was doing; talked to us to help us process a bit of what was going on; and said something to us in the wee hours of the morning that echoes in my head often.  He told us that we were beginning a life long journey with diabetes and the sooner we made friends with it, the easier it would be because is much easier to carry a friend than an enemy.

Then and there, that's what I did.  I knew I didn't like it, in fact I hated it, but I couldn't go into this journey like that.  It wouldn't do me any good, surely wouldn't do Bean any good.  I could fight it, but wouldn't win; I could curse it, but it wouldn't go away; I could scream and yell and ask 'why' a thousand times, but D can't hear and the 'why' will never be answered.

Sunday was insane.  The Nurse Practitioner came in just after 8am....hello?!?! we haven't slept all night and you think we're up for some serious learning that early in the morning?  We had barely started eating breakfast.  But, in she came with her wagon full of D stuff.

Almost three hours later, we take a break.  Seriously, three hours.

Bean got to ride around on some of the bikes they had available on the floor and hung out in the craft room for a while.  It being Sunday, and there only being one or two other patients that were toddlers, she had the run of the place.

Back came the wagon and NP for more.  We practiced shots, heard about Glucagon, went over how much insulin to give for what amount of carbs and blood sugar range.  It was mind-numbing, but we listened and did our best to take it all in.

Bean was so not happy about the shots.  She pulled her 'I'm not ready.  I need a break' crap that she does when she has to take any medication.  It just about broke me when I had to explain to her that it makes no difference if she's 'ready' and there's no time for 'breaks' with this.  If she wants to eat, she has to have the shot.  Ugh!

The NP scheduled an appointment for later in the week at her clinic and went on her merry way.  She would have one of the hospital nutritionist come in and then we would be free to go.
So, the waiting began.  I curled up on the 'bed' in the room and tried to dose for a bit while Ubergeek took Bean back to the craft room.  He came back in, by himself, a little while later, looking broken.  He told me that Bean had asked him if she had diabetes.  Hello?!  She had been in the room with us the whole time, hearing what the NP had to say; she had had finger pokes to test her blood sugar and insulin shots.  But somehow it hadn't registered to her almost six and a half year old brain what was going on.  He explained to her that yes, she did and she cried.  Not a lot, but she cried.  Then she moved on.

Armed with a backpack full of D stuff and a chart of insulin doses, we headed home.

Brains foggy, eyes blurry, emotions all over the place starting on this lifelong journey with our new 'friend.'

Monday, April 11, 2011

Thank You, DOC ... you help make D 'good'

Just a quick post to say "thanks!!!" to everyone for their warm welcome.  I am truly overwhelmed and honored to be a part of such an amazing group.  I look forward to building friendships, gaining and offering support, and just hanging out with all of you awesome D-moms, CWD and PWD.  Just knowing that you are all out there living the D life makes it a bit easier!

  I remember having a conversation with Bean about a week or so after her dx, trying to comfort her as she was sobbing at bedtime.  She had done her 'regular' prayer and then asked if she could do a 'special' prayer to ask God to take away her diabetes.  We, of course, prayed because nothing is impossible with Him and sometimes we have not because we ask not.

  After the prayer and after I gained a bit of my composure back, I tried to explain to her as best I could that we had to be OK if God didn't take her diabetes away.  We had to trust that He had a plan and a purpose because that's something He's promised us.  I reminded her of the verse about how He works all things together for good for those who love and trust in Him.  She wanted to know how diabetes was good. (Insert knife into heart and twist! God, help me!)  So, I started telling her about the friends she has made because of D that we might never have met.  She has two new playmates, one a year younger who has T1 and her sister a year older, who are totally fun to hang out with.  And she has a teenager friend (pretty cool for a 6 1/2 year old!) who not only has T1 and can help her with D like I won't ever be able to, she has a HORSE that Bean gets to learn how to ride.  And that never would have happened without D!

  We both agreed that those were some pretty 'good' things.  I also went on to explain that God might even use her to help someone else who is diagnosed with diabetes in the future and that's another way He will make it good because she would be a blessing to others.  She thought that was pretty cool because she has such a tender heart and is always looking out for others and wants to help.

  So, she settled in her bed and drifted off to sleep and I went downstairs and cried some more!  It was a much needed release of holding it together for a week or so.  And as I cried, He reminded me of my words, the words He had given me, to share with Bean to bring her comfort and comforted me with them.


OK...so much for the 'quick post.'  That 'diarrhea' of the mouth that I've been reading about on some other blogs must be contagious!! ;)

Bean's Diagnosis, part one

It was a beautiful Saturday in June 2010.  The 5th to be exact. We had been enjoying a relaxing day and during Bug's nap, Bean was getting ready for a birthday party.

It had been an interesting week.

Ubergeek and I had escaped together for Memorial Day Weekend, leaving Bean (6 and almost a half) and Bug (two) with his parents for their first overnight together.  We returned Monday evening to two worn out Grandparents and two girls who were happy to see us, but didn't want Grandma and Grandpa to leave!

Tuesday brought a dentist appointment for Bean.  They had her step on the scale; odd I thought for the dentist, but whatever.  She was down 4 pounds...more than 10% of her weight.  Yes, she's on the petite end of the gene pool; always hanging out between the 5th and 10th percentile since birth.  Ubergeek had commented a week or so ago that he thought she was looking thin, but I dismissed it with the 'she must have spurted up before chunking up like she usually does.'

The rest of the week brought endless water bottle fill ups ~ something both Bean and I were kinda proud of since drinking water had been something she had been struggling with at Kindergarten and something she needs to be doing because of a bladder condition.  She was going through about 80 ounces a day.

It also brought endless hunger.  It was like she was a teenage boy in football training.  She had breakfast, she was still hungry.  She had a snack, she was still hungry.  She had lunch, she was still hungry.  She had a snack, she was still hungry.  She had another snack, she was still hungry.  Get the picture?

And then there were the constant trips to the bathroom.  Not totally out of the ordinary since Bean is a 'frequent goer' because of her bladder condition, but it was over the top even for her.  And with that, the overflowing pull-ups at night creating the need for washing sheets everyday.  By Saturday, that was getting old!

Back to Saturday...Bug was napping, Bean was 'party prepping' and I was venting to Ubergeek about the sheets washing and eating and drinking.  He put that together with the weight loss and said, "that's classic diabetes."  Now, before you go assuming he's a doctor, he's not...but he likes to say that he plays one as a dad.  He's a recovering germ-a-phobe and thus is one of those people who knows way too much about medical stuff.  He suggested, well kinda insisted, that we have Bean pee on a strip...back to that bladder condition!  The strips are primarily to detect an infection, but they also just happen to have a square to detect glucose.

So, off to the bathroom to pee in a cup; something Bean actually enjoys doing, so it wasn't a big deal.  We waited the designated time and holy cow!  Urine glucose levels were showing in the 600-1000 range.  Not Good!  Next, we decide to test her blood glucose level with Ubergeek's meter.  No, he doesn't have diabetes, but type 2 runs in his family, so he has a meter just in case...trust me, it's not that odd if you know him! :)

So, finger poke (ouch!), blood on the strip, and wait.....570.  Not Good!  Not good at all and now we're in 'what the hell are we supposed to do now' mode.

I call Bean's pediatrician's office...thankfully they have hours on Saturdays and it actually during those hours when we called!  I had to leave a message for the nurse.  Not what I wanted to do, but they are pretty good about quick call backs, so I did it.

Five minutes pass.

Ten minutes pass.

Nothing.

Ubergeek is starting to move into 'freak out' mode while I'm still relatively calm for some odd reason....it's usually the other way around.  He insists I call Bean's urologist.  I, of course, get the answering service.  After explaining what was going on, she said she would have our doctor call us.  He did in about two minutes.  He told us that we needed to get Bean to the hospital as things could take a turn for the worse quickly with a situation like ours.  He also said that he would call our ped's office and have them call us immediately.

I was off the phone with him for maybe a minute when the ped's office called.  Their advice was the same:  get to the hospital quickly and it might be a good idea to pack an overnight bag because we'd most  likely be admitted.

So, instead of 'party prepping' we started 'hospital prepping.'  Not Fun!  I packed Bean's bag while Ubergeek called his parents to let them know they would be hosting Bug for the day, night, and not sure how long. Thank goodness the previous weekend had gone well!! :)  I didn't, however even think about packing a bag for Ubergeek and me...shows you how clearly I was thinking!

In the car and off we went.....

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Dream a Little Dream of 'D'

It's by no means the first dream I've had about 'D' since Bean's diagnosis last June and I know it won't be the last, but I thought I'd share this one none-the-less.

It happened between the 4am check and when Bean woke up shortly after 7.  I've been adjusting her overnight basals for the past two weeks. Trying this dose, with a correction; that dose without  a correction; this dose again without a correction; that dose with reduced corrections; and now a combination of this dose AND that dose, usually without a correction.

But not last night.  Last night she just wasn't coming down like she had been.  I corrected her at 10pm, not quite the full amount because she had been coming down on her own overnight, but she was up there (315 to be exact) and Ubergeek and I agreed we should correct her.  Well, at 11, she was only down to 310.  Seriously?!  I didn't 'do' anything since it had only been an hour and set by alarm for 1am (oh, goodie).  At 1, she was down to 262.  Not great, but I was OK with leaving her there since she had been coming down on her own the past few nights.  Set alarm for 4 (fabulous).  At 4 she was back up to 282...seriously?!  So, obviously she wasn't reacting like she has been, so I decide to correct.  I felt OK about doing the full amount since her BG obviously wasn't cooperating and since I knew she'd be up around 7 anyway.

So, back to sleep I went....enter the Dream. (oh, yeah, that's what this post is supposed to be about!)

  Bean is at school.  She's with her class in the library and her teacher is reading a book.  I'm there volunteering and happen to walk through the library.  I make eye contact with Bean and notice she is looking out of it.  I ask her how she's feeling and she says "fine" at first, but then says "not so good."  So I say what I say about a million times a day "give me a number."  She does and it's 919.  Holy Crap!  I have her wash her hands (in the library no less!) and she tests again.  819.  Better, but still Holy Crap!   We proceed to correct at an outrageous number, like 100 units, and go on our merry way.


Now, let me point out some insanities about this dream...not all of them maybe obvious :)
  1. There isn't a library at Bean's school at the moment, much less a place to wash her hands there.
  2. We don't have a meter that would read 819, much less 919.
  3. It takes about 8 days or more for Bean to go through 100 units.

I'm sure my subconscious was still obsessing about Bean staying high and I'm sure I was second guessing myself about giving her the full correction.  This was a pretty 'tame' dream by D standards, so I didn't wake up freaked out...OK, I did, but not terribly! And not enough to get up and check on her.

Isn't it enough that D seems to rule our days.  Can't it see fit to leave my dreams alone since there's such a small amount of sleep going on anyway?!

Oh, Bean woke up at 7:08 and since we didn't need to be up yet I suggested she go back to bed. (Hey, I was tired and wasn't thinking straight enough to have her test first!)  She came back in about 20 minutes later..."Mom, I feel low!"  Great!  Make me feel like crap already!  "Give me a number" (first of many times that will be said today!)  Beep (blood had made it to the strip)  Beep, Beep (number on the screen) I'm thinking, 'whoa, that beep beep came fast, she is  low. lovely!'  "Mom, I'm 53."  Crap! (ok, not what I really thought, but whatever!)  Ubergeek pulls a juice box out of his backpack that's by the bed...wasn't even aware he was awake!  Bean sucks it down it 5 seconds flat and then goes back to bed to relax for a while.

I lay there making mental notes about reducing corrections and fiddling with basals and try to drift back to non-D dreamland for a little while longer!  It is Sunday morning and that mean Ubergeek is on breakfast duty so I can get ready for church in peace. :)

Thursday, April 7, 2011

Another alarm? Seriously?!

OK, so there's something you should know right off the bat.

My favorite word right now is 'seriously.'

It's a word that can be used in just about any situation:

The girls are doing the exact opposite of what they should be doing  "Seriously?!"

The laundry didn't make it into the dryer and there's no clean underwear  "Seriously?!"

The car won't start, again "Seriously?!?!"

I've filled up my coffee card without realizing it and get a free latte'  "Seriously!"

I get a text from the school secretary "Disarming pod. Beeping"  "SERIOUSLY?!?!"

This is the second time in two weeks I've been at the school, left, only to have to go back to change a pod.  (Bean uses the OmniPod insulin pump.)  This is the sixth, count them: one, two, three, four, five, six! seriously! the sixth pod that has alarmed in the past twenty seven days.  That's one each week and this week there's been two; one of which was at 4:30 in the morning.  Seriously?!

So, back to school I go.  Old pod off, new pod on...thankfully there was enough insulin the vial she had with her.  Pod change day was supposed to be tomorrow and we were going to start a new vial...guess that will wait, let's hope, three days.  Seriously!

I wouldn't trade the OmniPod for the MDI (multiple daily injections) Bean used to do.  There's a freedom that came with the pod that was amazing. Her numbers are better...it's been a process and still is a process, but they are better.  Although she was able to do her own injections with a pen, it's way easier for her to push the buttons on the PDM (Personal Diabetes Manager that controls the pod).  Plus, with the situation at her school (another post for another time! don't get me started on it now, seriously!) it allows for me to not have to be there for her lunch and snack doses.  That was challenging for the first couple of months of school with a crazy two year old.  Seriously!

So, I'll be calling OmniPod yet again to report the alarm code.  I don't mind talking to them.  Everyone is always quite pleasant to talk to.  But, seriously, I'm getting tired of talking to them this often!

Seriously!

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Let's do this thing!

I have no idea what I'm doing.

OK, that might not be the best way to start off this blog, but at least it's honest!

I've been reading awesome blogs in the DOC (diabetes online community) for a few months.  They have been a comfort, a help, an amazing resource, and a part of my day that I look forward to.  I've included links to a few of them on the side so you can enjoy them, too. I'll add more as time allows.   My husband, Ã¼bergeek, has been encouraging me for months to write about Bean and D (type 1 diabetes) and I'm finally doing it.

My hope is that this blog can be a place where I can share honestly about all the ups, downs, and sideways of our life now that D has joined it.

It's a work in progress, so bear with me.

Remember, I have no idea what I'm doing! :)