My life with The Superhero and The Princess: May 2013

Friday, May 17, 2013

2013 Diabetes Blog Week: Day 5 Freaky Friday

Today's Diabetes Blog Week Topic:
Freaky Friday...Just like in the movie, today we’re doing a swap. If you could switch chronic diseases, which one would you choose to deal with instead of diabetes? And while we’re considering other chronic conditions, do you think your participation in the DOC has affected how you treat friends and acquaintances with other medical conditions?

I have been thinking about this since I saw the topic list for this week.

And I have decided that IF I could switch Diabetes with any other chronic illness, I wouldn't!

All chronic illness are crappy.

AND I wouldn't wish Diabetes on any one!

Whomever we made the switch with would be starting from scratch learning about this disease, and that is not a fun place to be.

No, I would just keep the crappy chronic illness we have come to know and love.

Ok, maybe not love, but we KNOW it.

As much as we can anyway.

We know how to manage it most of the time.

We have friends who know it too.

And staying with something familiar rather than trying something new, in this case, is the best place for me/my T1 kiddo to be!
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As far as if the DOC has affected how I treat friends and acquaintances with medical conditions, I definitely think so!

Maybe not just the DOC as just going through a chronic illness in our immediate family.

I think I am definitely more aware and sympathetic to them.

I never compare one disease to another. Or say things like this is worse than that one.

We are all doing the best we can to live life with the chronic diseases we were given.

And supporting each other and being sympathetic towards one another is an ok place to be.

Click here to read more posts from Day 5 of the 2013 D Blog Week.

See you tomorrow!

*Disclaimer: I am a mom of a T1 Diabetic child and a child with Allergies/Asthma. I am NOT a doctor. I just play one in real life. Please do not take anything in this post or any other post on this blog as medical advice. If you have questions or concerns of your own, please seek advice from your doctor.*

Thursday, May 16, 2013

2013 Diabetes Blog Week: Day 4 Accomplishments, Big and Small

Today's Diabetes Blog Week Topic:
We don’t always realize it, but each one of us had come a long way since diabetes first came into our life. It doesn’t matter if it’s been 5 weeks, 5 years or 50 years, you’ve done something outstanding diabetes-wise. So today let’s share the greatest accomplishment you've made in terms of dealing with your (or your loved one’s) diabetes. No accomplishment is too big or too small - think about self-acceptance, something you’ve mastered (pump / exercise / diet / etc.), making a tough care decision (finding a new endo or support group / choosing to use or not use a technology / etc.).

I originally wrote this post in August 2011, when The Superhero went to school for the 2nd year.

This has definitely been one of our biggest accomplishments to date.

School.

After his dx at only 18 months of age, it was hard to imagine how we would handle school. How we would let someone else care for him. Someone else keep him alive.

After the first year, things have been MUCH easier.

I am less stressed. And more "go with the flow".

We have gone through a few nurses, and are about to lose another one, BUT we have an amazing nurse assistant (she is not technically a nurse), who is very well trained on taking care of my kiddo.

I love her.

Anyway, here is my post from 2 school years ago...

It was just over a year ago that The Superhero was first officially heading to pre-school.

Our first day was ROUGH, and that is putting it lightly.

The second day was a little better.

The third day drop off went amazingly well! And he came home alive.

And before I knew it, we had survived the first week of school. We got our 504 in place.

We survived a change of clothes and pretty panties.

We survived a REALLY rough day.

We battled breakfast. And survived.

We even survived a field trip!

We did end up pulling him out after he was in the hospital with a tummy bug in January. I couldn't spend the money for him to not be going.

And after ALL that, I would go through it all again. He LOVES preschool. A lot.

Tomorrow he starts. We have his first day of his second year of pre-k. And this time, I am not nervous. I am not worried. I am super excited and can't wait to take him to school!

The difference? We have been there. And not only that. We have been there with the SAME nurse AND the same teachers. No one new to train. They survived 1/2 year with him last year. And I know they will again.

It was a GREAT sign that THEY emailed ME to set up his 504 meeting this year. I went in and they already had the papers printed from MY revised copy. All we had to do was sign the papers saying we held the meeting. And that was it. Easy peasy this year.

So, to all of you who are sending your little ones to preschool with Diabetes this year, know that YOU can do this. The kids will be OK. And you will too. I promise!

Click here to read more posts from Day 4 of the 2013 D Blog Week.

See you tomorrow!

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

5K's are Bad for you. (ok, not really, keep reading...)

I've always wanted to do a 5K. Ok, maybe not always, but recently I have been wanting to do one! You know, one of those "fun" ones?

Then there was a groupon for the Bubble Run. And Wendy convinced my mom and I to sign up with her. Ok, it didn't take much convincing. We saw how much fun it looked in the pictures and knew we had to do it!

This past Saturday, the 11th was THE day. The day we would run...jog...walk? the 5K. We had super awesome shirts that Wendy decorated. And we were set to have a great time!

And we did!

We walked the whole time and had a blast getting covered in colored bubbles.

And we finished!

We did it!

We (my mom and I) completed our first 5K!

It felt good!

We went home and showered. And then it happened. Our weekend went from FUN to CRAP in an instant.

My mom had chest pain. The kind that landed us in the ER. After a 2nd EKG she was rushed to the cath lab and had a 2 1/2 hour procedure to put a stent in her heart.

And then IT happened. The cardiologist was giving a SUPER detailed and SUPER graphic (including video) explanation of what he had done to her heart. Some may think this is cool. And usually I can handle medical stuff just fine.

BUT, I had an empty stomach. I hadn't had time for lunch. Or hadn't taken the time. I wanted to wait until my mom's procedure was done. So hearing all of this on an empty stomach, made things worse.

I started to feel sick.

I remember thinking that I needed to get to the floor.

To sit.

Just needed to get DOWN lower.

I remember actually saying "I don't feel so good..."

The next thing I know, at least 6 people are above me calling my name.

And I could barely respond. I kept thinking in my head "Ah crap! That means I passed out!".

I felt stupid.

But I couldn't get up. I felt sick.

They ended up getting me onto a gurney and into the ER.

What?!

Yep, I had an unexpected trip to the ER too.

They started an IV with fluids. They ran an EKG, lab work and a CT Scan, as a precaution.

My awesome hubby dropped the kids with our friends for the 2nd time in one day and came down to be with me. He stopped and bought some crackers and was smart enough to grab me a Snickers bar too. The Snickers sounded SO good after not eating for so long.

After about 4 hours or so, I was fine and was released to come home.

My mom spent 2 days in ICU with only a short part of that time in a regular room before going back to ICU.

She was able to be released on Monday.

And she is now home recovering well.

So, now you see why 5K's are bad for you. LOL!

I am sure at some point, we will do another 5K. Maybe not for a while. I would like to skip the ER and ICU parts though! I will make sure I don't skip any meals afterward though!

2013 Diabetes Blog Week: Day 3 Memories

Today's Diabetes Blog Week Topic:
Today we’re going to share our most memorable diabetes day. You can take this anywhere.... your or your loved one's diagnosis, a bad low, a bad high, a big success, any day that you’d like to share.

After a lot of thinking and debating with myself, it was clear that the MOST memorable day in our Diabetes life would have to be July 10, 2008. This of course was the day my Superhero was dx with T1 diabetes at the age of 18 months.

After almost a week of being "sick" and visiting the ER and pediatrician a few times, we arrive at D day, 7.10.08...

Rod went off to work and I had my mom come over so I could shower before his appointment. Before she arrived I was getting The Superhero’s medicine ready with some juice. I could not do it one handed, so I put him on the floor and he almost fell over. He could not stand on his own. He was so weak. All he wanted to do was be held and to sleep. My mom watched him while I showered. When I came out into the living room she and I decided to take him straight to the Children’s Hospital. We knew if we had gone to the Pediatrician again she would have taken one look at The Superhero and sent us there anyway.

We finished getting everything ready and headed out. We called my dad and Rod on the way to let them know we were headed to the ER. My dad picked up Rod on his way down there. My mom was driving and I kept peeking in the back seat to make sure The Superhero was still breathing while he slept. As soon as we got there we were taken in to a room in the ER. The doctor came in and asked the routine questions. It seemed as though they thought he had swallowed something. He was taken for x-rays of his throat. Nothing. They tried a steroid breathing treatment. Nothing. No change in him at all. During this whole week I had been researching online and knew his symptoms could mean Diabetes, but I thought there was no way. I mentioned this to the ER doctor and they went ahead and checked his blood sugar.

I sat on the ER bed with my baby in my arms as the meter read 598. I immediately started to sob like a baby. I remember hearing my mom ask if it could be that high for any other reason. The doctor assured us there would be no reason for his blood sugar to be that high than Type 1 Diabetes. We were told he was going to be admitted immediately and would be taken to the PICU.

One of the doctors from the Endocrine team came to visit us while we were still in the ER. He explained a little to us about The Superhero being in DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). He told us the IV team would be coming in to insert an IV into The Superhero ASAP because he was severely dehydrated.

After his IV was in and the room in the PICU was ready, we were moved to our room. During his time in ICU he had 2 more IV’s inserted and began to have his finger poked every hour for blood sugar checks.

And so began our T1 journey!

Other memories that made my top list...

Memories of the tiny straw

The Superhero's first day of school

Memories of D Meet Ups

Our D experience at the Children's Museum

Click here to read more posts from Day 3 of the 2013 D Blog Week.

See you tomorrow!

Tuesday, May 14, 2013

2013 Diabetes Blog Week: Day 2 We, The Undersigned...

Today's Diabetes Blog Week Topic:
We, The Undersigned...Recently various petitions have been circulating the Diabetes Online Community, so today let’s pretend to write our own. Tell us who you would write the petition to – a person, an organization, even an object (animate or inanimate) - get creative!! What are you trying to change and what have you experienced that makes you want this change?

Today, today I want to petition the body of people with T1 Diabetes to make a change.

Of course some easy answers would be for the pancreas to begin working properly again or even for a cure!

Today, that is not what my petition is about.

This petition is about carbohydrates and bodies of people with T1 Diabetes.

I mean, why the discrimination?

Why does the body have to treat carbs differently.

Some are fast acting, some are slow absorbing, and some are in the middle somewhere.

I need them to be treated the same.

I need the composition of all foods to be treated the same.

Carb absorption shouldn't be based on the amount of fat or having to subtract fiber.

Life with T1 would be SO much easier and less stressful if I wasn't having to chase high blood sugars due to eating some pizza before bed. Stupid fat slowing the absorbtion!

Therefore, I petition that all carbs be treated equally.

We, the undersigned petition the bodies of people with T1 Diabetes to treat all carbohydrates equally.

If only...

Click here to read more posts from Day 2 of the 2013 D Blog Week.

See you tomorrow!

Monday, May 13, 2013

2013 Diabetes Blog Week: Day 1 Share and Don't Share

Pre-post Note: I know I haven't blogged in like, forever. At least until last week's More Than A DMom post. Then I saw a link to Diabetes Blog Week and I am hoping it will be just what I need to get back into the swing of blogging. I miss it and I miss all of you!

Today's Diabetes Blog Week Topic:
Share and Don't Share...Often our health care team only sees us for about 15 minutes several times a year, and they might not have a sense of what our lives are really like. Today, let’s pretend our medical team is reading our blogs. What do you wish they could see about your and/or your loved one's daily life with diabetes? On the other hand, what do you hope they don't see?

Dear Dr. Dajani,

First I want to say, thank you.

Thank you for being an amazing doctor and relating to us on a real life level.

... for never judging when you find out that The Superhero's pump sites sometimes go without being changed for 4, 5, 6, and occasionally 7 days!

... for trusting that I know what I am doing and can care for him.

... for giving me the confidence in making changes.

... for believing in me as the mother of a T1 Child.

... for never making me feel like his A1C is my report card, even if I still make myself feel that way!

... for never judging highs.

... for understanding that LIFE happens and can cause Diabetes to be "ignored" for a short time.

... for always being available.

... for understanding that Diabetes doesn't play by "the rules".

... for supporting me when The Superhero has been in the hospital and the ER staff didn't know what to do with us.

... for being the most amazing and supportive endo we could ever imagine.

... for making me feel like there is nothing I can't share with you!

And that brings me to the topic of today's post.

There is honestly nothing our awesome doc doesn't know about our day to day life.

I feel like we hide nothing.

She sees our good, our bad, and our ugly.

She has heard about the times we have "forgotten" to take D supplies with us. We always manage to make things work, so in the end it is fine.

She has heard about the times we over or under-bolused for food. We always manage to make things work, so in the end it is fine.

She has heard about the times we have forgotten to bolus completely! We always manage to fix it, make things work, and in the end it is fine! :-)

Hopefully, The Superhero will stick with our awesome endo until he is too old to do so! Which, lucky for us, is well into adulthood!

Click here to read more posts from Day 1 of the 2013 D Blog Week.

See you tomorrow!

Friday, May 10, 2013

More Than A D Mom

May 2004

I became a teacher.

I had my first teaching job before I even finished school.

Long-term sub for a teacher moving out of state.

5th grade, unruly class.

I honestly loved this job.

Life was good.

October 9, 2005.

I became a wife.

Being a teacher, a wife and managing a house became my life.

Life was good.

December 21, 2006.

I became a mommy.

I became a full time work-at-home teacher.

Being a work-at-home teacher, wife and mom became my life.

I loved this life.

Life was great!

July 10, 2008.

I became a D Mom (aka Diabetes mama).

Being a Diabetes mama became my life.

This life consumed me.

I was not in love with it.

Life was different.

It became a life of blood sugars

...of insulin

...of chasing a toddler to give him shots

...of pump sites

...of counting carbs

...of constantly have numbers float around in my head

...of second guessing my decisions

...of panicking if my cell phone wasn't nearby

...of sleepless nights, every night, FOREVER.

It became a life of going through the motions just to survive each day.

And to keep my Superhero alive.

After a few years and another baby (aka, The Princess) it was time to do something for ME.

I needed more than being a teacher.

I needed more than being a wife.

I needed more than being a mom.

I especially needed more than being a D Mom.

I have no idea who I was before Diabetes.

Before babies.

Before marriage.

That person, that woman, is long gone.

But it was time that I needed to find something for ME that could show me who I am.

Who I could be.

Or at least who part of me could be.

Being a teacher, a wife, a mom and especially a D Mom wasn't going away.

It wasn't until my husband's grandmother passed away, and I inherited her sewing machine, that I finally had found something for ME.

It started simple with pajama pants for my kids and pillow case dresses for The Princess.

Then it evolved into some quilting.

And now I am constantly challenging myself with new projects.

I have made burp cloths, chenille baby blankets, car seat canopies, nursing covers, tote bags, and duffle bags.

It turns out that I am actually creative (that is SO hard for me to say about myself!).

I even started my own little online store.

Sewing is my time.

Even though I make most of my projects for other people, it is MY time.

My therapy.

My kid free, husband free, DIABETES free, ME time.

And life with Diabetes never goes away.

And sometimes my ME time gets interrupted.

But I am able to go to it when I need a break.

When I need to breathe.

Even if just for a few minutes. Or a few hours.

The rest of the time can be filled with life.

Including life with Diabetes.

Diabetes doesn't just go away. And focusing on me time doesn't always happen. (Hello, cell phone within arms reach!)

Sometimes D just needs the attention. And usually I am ok with that.

But, it is important to have something to escape to.

Once in a while.

When I need to be "More than a D Mom".

Because I am more than that. Right?

*** This post is one of more than a week long series of posts titled "More than a D Mom". Here are the other Mamas who have already shared their posts... Hallie, Meri, Lora, Wendy, and make sure to check out Donna tomorrow! ***