Thank God for Roses

Today we had plans to see a movie with the Roses, you know, Wendy from Candy Hearts.

I had a work event and had Wendy come join us to help me with the kids. I ended up not having to "work" the event, but we still got to go and enjoy Kung Fu Panda II.

For some reason, when Wendy and I get the kids together SOMETHING always happens. And it usually involves my kids.

Remember the Playdate at the Mall from last year?

There was also the time when I went with Wendy and Heidi to the Children's Museum and we lost The Superhero and The Princess a couple of times EACH. One of those times The Princess was down the hall in a completely different room, doing art, like a big girl, and all by herself. Both Wendy, Heidi, and their kids were life savers at the museum helping me find my wandering children.

Then there was the time we were at a Diabetes potluck with several friends (Wendy and Heidi included, along with several others) and I lost The Superhero. There was a Relay for Life going on at the same time and he thought some other kids were headed over to the splash area, which was near the Relay and LOTS of people. Wendy found him down the sidewalk. He came back and I tested him, he was low. As much as I don't want to lose a kid, I really don't want to lose a Diabetic kid who is low. Not a good situation. Thank God Wendy helped find him and bring him back.


Well, today was no different.Never a dull moment when out and about with The Ripley kids.

We all went and enjoyed our movie. Only a few minor issues as my kids fought over which of Wendy's girls they were going to sit next to. They seriously LOVE her kids.

On the way out of the movie The Superhero and The Princess were "playing" with the Dippin' Dots machine. I grabbed one of The Princess' hands and got her to leave the machine. She started crying, I thought her hand just got stuck and "hurt" in the machine. I kissed her hand and thought all would be better. Then Sugar (Wendy's D kiddo) said she thought she saw red on The Princess' fingers. I put her down and took a closer look. Sure enough, she sliced 2 of her fingers. I have NEVER needed bandaids before when out and about, so I didn't have any. Thank God for Wendy again, for having bandaids in her purse. We bandaged up The Princess' fingers and moved on.

We went to McDonald's for lunch with all the kids. The kids went to play while Wendy and I ordered. The Superhero was 77 prior to playing and I gave him a juice before letting him run off. When I came back with the food a few minutes later, I called the kids over. The Princess came right down and started eating. I heard The Superhero saying he was scared. I looked and he was up HIGH in the play structure. I don't know why he does this to himself because he HATES heights and he hates seeing through the "floor". He was NOT coming down. And I feared a low, since he was 77 and I was not sure he was coming up yet.

We ended up sending Sugar in with his meter to check his blood sugar. We wait, she was checking, when we called up to see what his number was....ERROR 5! You have got to be kidding me! Of all the times to get a darn Error 5! Seriously?!

Before I knew it, Wendy was climbing up the play structure to get The Superhero to come down. And once he was down, and Sugar was down, I found out she did a second check and he was 98. Thank God he wasn't low. Thank God for Sugar testing him. And Thank God for Wendy climbing in and "saving" him! Thank you God, for The Roses.

After that, there was NO more climbing high up. Just lots of running around and enjoying time with friends.

And to end our day, we went to The Superhero's Endo appointment. He has gained 2 pounds, grown 1 inch, and his A1C went from 7.3 to 7.6 this time around. With the crazy highs lately and his current sinus infection, I'll take it!



*Disclaimer: I am a mom of a T1 Diabetic child and a child with ITP/Asthma/Dysphagia. 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.*

Change of plans...

Well, if you read my post this morning, you knew that our plans today included lunch, a movie, and our quarterly endo appointment. Apparently, the kids had other plans in mind. And they were NOT good ones.

After I posted this morning, I gave the kids a bath and got them ready for our day of fun. I decided we would go to Peter Piper Pizza for the lunch buffet and some games. We ended up meeting my mom there and the kids enjoyed themselves.

After we were done I decided to head over to DSW in the same parking lot. I have been on the search for some sandals. And those of you who know me know that I HATE shoe shopping since I wear a size 11-12, usually wide. Anyway, I found some sandals and they are super cute. We were heading to the register to pay for them when the kids started to play with all the belts and socks near the doors. My mom and I kept asking them to stop playing with those things and they just weren't listening.

Then my mom went over to try to get the kids to come stand by us and they both TOOK OFF running through the store. They just kept running and running and running. Anytime we would get near them they would run the other way. I seriously felt like one of those families you see on Super Nanny and I have NEVER been more embarrassed in my entire life. I finally caught up to The Princess and grabbed her by the hand. Then I had to carry her because she refused to walk holding my hand and there was NO way I was letting go.

The Superhero was running towards the register area, so I headed back up that way and acted like I was leaving. He finally came over and I grabbed his hands and dragged both of my kids out of the store. As soon as we were out, I put them both in time out. I was FUMING and was SO mad I wanted to cry. It was the worst feeling EVER.

And due to the shoe store debacle, the movie we were going to see was canceled and NAPS were on the new agenda. This of course did not come without a fight but there was NO WAY I was taking these two to a movie after they acted that way.

After naps we went to the Endo for our quarterly check up. Normally I don't worry about the A1C at all. I usually have a good feeling and at least can feel like I did everything I could, no matter what our report said. This time, I felt different. I really felt like it had gone up and that I should have done more these last few months. So when they told me his A1C was DOWN to 7.3 from 7.4, I was SHOCKED.

And our appointment was even better this time around because we got to hang out with Wendy from Candy Hearts and her girls since Sugar had her quarterly appointment right after ours. It was like a little Diabetes party at the Endo's office.

Then on the way home, some engine lights came on on my car. The car was also vibrating when I was idling at stoplights. Not good. I made a stop at the Toyota dealer on the way home and got a rental car from them. Had to move the car seats with the kids playing around next to me.

And finally made it home after the long day.

REALLY hoping these two go to bed SOON so I can have some ME time tonight.


*Disclaimer: I am a mom of a T1 Diabetic child. 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.*

Here it is, a NAKED pancreas MEME

Reyna over at Beta Buddies started a NAKED MEME and The Superhero and I are going to strip it all off and share with you! I copied Joanne and Hallie's idea and added one last question.

1. What kind on insulin management mode do you use?
We use Apidra in an Animas Ping insulin pump. We also have a Dexcom CGMS, aka Dexie.

2. How often do you inject/change pump sites?
We change pump sites every 3 days, or 4-5 if I forget/am being lazy. We change Dexie sites every 7 days.

3. What type (s) of insulin do you use?
We use Apidra.

4. What are your basal settings ?
12am: 0.050 units
2am: 0.125 units

6:30am: 0.325 units

10am: 0.300 units

12pm: 0.350 units

2pm: 0.325 units

4pm: 0.300 units

6pm: 0.175 units

And on school days at 8:00am (school starts at 8:15) I do a temp basal decrease of –40% for 1 ½ hours.

5. What are your correction factors ?
1:500 at night

1:300 during the day

6. What are your meal ratios ?
Breakfast - 1:30
All other times – 1:65


7. What do you do for activity and/or PE?
Monitor like a crazy person. The Superhero tends to DROP with lots of activity. LOTS of extra carbs are brought EVERY where we go.

8. How do you manage Pizza, Macaroni and Cheese, or any other "difficult to manage" foods?
This varies based on how much he eats of the item. Typically, we can do a combo bolus where we give part of the insulin up from and spread the rest out over several hours.

Peanut Butter and Jelly sandwiches get an 80/20 split for 2 hours, and double the entire sandwich in carbs (usually a total then of 112 carbs)

Pizza usually gets somewhere around a 50/50 or so split over at least 6-8 hours. And we watch CLOSELY. (tacos seem to fit this category too)

9. How do you prefer to manage your logs/data?
I used to write everything down in an awesome chart I made. Then we got Dexie and I stopped. Now I just download the pump before endo appts and make changes as needed based on what I see on Dexie.

I will start logging again any time I think I need to make serious changes to evaluate before changing everything.

10. What's your A1c?
7/08 -10.11 (at diagnosis)

9/08 -8.6

12/08 -8.7

3/09 -8.4 (just started pumping)

6/09 -8.1

9/09 -7.8

12/09 -8.2

3/10 -7.8 (2 months after starting with our Dexcom)

6/10 -7.9

9/10 - 7.4 (Our BEST ever, and 2 months after switching to Apidra)

12/10 - ?

Alright, who else is going to strip it all and blog a naked meme?

Are YOU ready...

for OUR best A1C EVER?

All of our HARD work is definitely paying off!

I know it is not supposed to be a report card, BUT it definitely feels like a HUGE accomplishment...


I am SO happy with that number and definitely feel we owe the AWESOME A1C to our switch in insulin from Novalog to Apidra, and of course to OUR hard work being The Superhero's Pancreas.





7.4!


Woo Hoo!

Feels like we are sitting ducks...

Well, as you may have read in a previous post (How much is too much?), The Princess worries me. I feel like we are sitting ducks waiting for Diabetes to hit her at any moment.

If you read this post, you know we had some blood work done. All of her blood work came back fine. Her A1C at the time was 5.6 (average BG around 110), nothing alarming, but, this is what I read...

A1c level of 5.6 - 5.9%: The individual level of mean blood glucose has exceeded the normal upper limit of the assay range, indicating an abnormality in the expected normal human range. While this level is not recognized by the ADA as diagnostic of diabetes, it does signal a level that may be indicative of impaired glucose tolerance (IGT) and/or pre-diabetes. Anyone with an A1c in this range should seek medical attention to determine the cause of the elevation in mean blood glucose.

Now, with her age, I think an average of 110 is probably OK, BUT she has many signs of Diabetes looming. And they are not going away or getting better!

She drinks A TON of water (or whatever drink is around).

She takes a cup of water to bed with her EVERY night, and throws an absolute fit if you take it away from her.

She wakes up with a FULL diaper, and then pees on the potty a ton too.

She will DOWN a drink like it is going out of style! (Example: The Superhero had a LOW blood sugar at the mall a few weeks ago and refused to drink the juice I had opened. The Princess saw it on the table and sucked the whole thing down in seconds.)

She is CRANKY. She cries off and on a lot, and it is getting increasingly more so. She even cries when dropped off at church, or any time away from me. Which could be her age, or at least partly. They did tell me today at church that it took them a while to get her calmed down today.


THEN, last night, the kids and I were having another picnic on the floor and The Princess wanted her Sprite (we had McDonald's, I know, healthy.) She sat there and SUCKED IT DOWN in matter of a few minutes. It seemed a little odd to me. I waited a few minutes and then checked her blood sugar, just out of curiosity.

First reading was 169. Hmmmm...re-check (thinking there MUST have been sugar on the finger or something). Recheck was 171!

So now, I am MORE worried than before. Her BG did come down to 88 by the next time I checked her about 1 1/2 hours later. But, I still cannot help but worry.

She had her MMR last month, and now I am a worried, nervous wreck that D is looming like a ticking time bomb that will go off at any moment. I am constantly thinking that the next virus she gets will be "the one" that sends us down another diagnosis path.

I know if it happens, we will deal with it. But, I would much rather NOT deal with it. And I know logically we WILL NOT miss the diagnosis, but the irrational part of me feels like I would.


This morning The Superhero told me he wants The Princess to have Diabetes, so she can be like him. It was so sweet. I think that would be the only good thing about her being diagnosed.


Please keep her in your prayers. I would like to pray that she not get diagnosed, but if she does get diagnosed someday, I pray that God gives me(and the Daddy) the strength to make it through the challenges that lie ahead.

A SUPER sized post

I feel like SO many things have been going on and I have not been very good at updating everyone!


So, here it is, a SUPER sized post to update you all on what has been going on around here.

1) School's OUT for the summer! Ok, so I only get 4 weeks off, 3 weeks now and 1 in July (I scheduled it this way), BUT I am enjoying my time off as much as I can. I go back to work on Monday and have LOTS to get ready for next school year. I will be teaching 5th grade math and the school has never been grade level specific before, so we have LOTS to get done.


And, I know, it is weird that I am a teacher who works in the summer. But honestly, I don't mind. We are not a local school district. We are a charter school run by K12, a corporation. So, it is a little different for us. And I am ok with it. I LOVE my job enough that it does not bother me one bit. I still get some time off and then get to prepare for the upcoming school year.


2) Quarterly Endo visit. We had The Superhero's quarterly endo visit on the 1st of this month. We were super excited to see Dr. D at her NEW office. She was as great as always and I was happy to see that one of the nurses we liked from the old office followed Dr. D to her new office. We discussed The Superhero's tummy aches (he complains A LOT), starting pre-school, Dexcom (LOVE), and of course my report card, aka the A1C. I am happy to report that our A1C only went up from 7.8 to 7.9! I am SO happy because I was expecting a little higher.


3) Blood Work. It has been a year since The Superhero had his annual blood work done and that means getting it repeated. We needed all of his annual labs done which included celiac, which is good since he complains of these tummy aches so often now. And since The Princess has started showing some signs of Diabetes as well (excessive thirst, peeing through diapers, crankiness), I asked to have some blood work done for her too. And our Endo is SO awesome that she ordered the testing for us. SO my mom and I took both kids to a "kid friendly" lab to get the work done. I was very pleased with the lab techs this time. There were two of them to help with both kids. The Superhero sat still for them, but CRIED the whole time. He kept telling me "Mommy, I don't like this! Make them STOP!". It was awful! But, he held still and it was over quickly.

The Princess on the other hand, I thought she was going to hyperventilate! She cried SO much it was crazy! It does not help that they always have a hard time finding her veins. The first tech got two vials of blood out of the first arm. The second tech got the other vials out of the other arm. So, she ended up needing 2 pokes. After they were both done, the second tech (who was much more personable) offered both kids a miniature doughnut. I don't think they get a lot of kids in there and this was from their break room. :) It was SO nice of him to offer and my kids enjoyed their doughnuts a lot! The Superhero talked about his blood work and the doughnut all day!

Some of The Superhero's blood work has come back and was normal. (just the cholesterol, kidney's, and something else, but not the celiac yet) I will do another post once we get all of his results and the results from The Princess' testing.


4) The Dentist. I braved the dentist with both kids, by myself. I usually take my mom with me so I can hand off one kid while the other is being cleaned. She was out of town this time, so I had no choice but to do it alone. The kids were great! The Princess' teeth look great. We need to work on getting rid of her binky, but other than that, she is great! The Superhero looks ok too, but he does have one cavity already that will need to be filled the next time we go in. He was very excited to get a new toothbrush. And I think even more excited that it was GREEN!


5) The potty. The Princess has recently started showing interest in the potty. She tells me in her non-verbal way that she needs to potty. And she has ACTUALLY gone several times now! I made the decision to capitalize on her interest and bought her some panties and some pull ups. We tried the panty thing today, she had MANY accidents. I put a pull up on for the afternoon and we did better. I think I am going to give it a few days of taking her in regularly before completely switching to the panties. BUT I am still in shock that at 19 months old, she is pottying like a BIG girl!

The only problem now is that when I give her an M&M for pottying, The Superhero thinks he needs one when he potties. I had to tell him that when he was learning we gave him his candy then. And now that she is learning, it is her turn to get the candy. It is not working so well. We will see how this goes.

All the HARD work being a pancreas

has PAID OFF!

WOO HOO!

As you may have read in my post from last night, we had The Superhero's quarterly endo appointment this morning. I was a little off on his last A1C, it was 8.2.

I am SO HAPPY to report that his current A1C is 7.8!

Dr. D. was impressed that we could get such an awesome number with The Superhero only being 3 years old and the fact that we don't really see too many lows. I attribute much of our success at being a pancreas to Dexie. We got Dexie in January and I am SO in love! (I will do a post on Dexcom soon, I have been getting LOTS of questions. :) )

He has not gained weight in the last 3 months and has grown a little. We will keep an eye on this, but I am sure he is fine. He had that tummy bug last month that I am sure did not help.

Overall, a GREAT appointment! I can't wait to see our endo at her new office in June. :)

Endo Visit

Yesterday was The Superhero’s 3-month visit to the endocrinologist. Our last A1C was 7.8, and it took A LOT to get it there! We had been hovering in the mid 8’s for months. 8.4, 8.5, 8.6, then 8.3.


My husband and I decided we REALLY wanted to get down into the 7’s. So we worked REALLY hard and adjusted like crazy and checked fingers like crazy, and it paid off! We got down to 7.8 in September!


Then we were hit with a major growth spurt, illness that sent The Superhero to the hospital, a trip to Disneyland with HIGH numbers. I KNEW our A1C would not be as good. I was just hoping to not make it to the mid 8’s this time.


We get called back at the endo yesterday. The nurse does the routine stuff. Poke finger for A1C test, put it in the machine, weigh The Superhero, measure The Superhero, check The Superhero’s blood pressure (his LEAST favorite part, he would much rather give blood, weird kid).


We go into the exam room and get visits from our pump start nurse, J. and our favorite nutritionist, A.. We had not seen A. since The Superhero was diagnosed 1 ½ years ago, and I was pregnant with The Princess. She was excited to see how much he had grown and to get to meet The Princess.


A. was the person who I connected with the most when he was diagnosed. She helped keep me sane in the hospital and even after we left. There were times I would call her on her cell phone to talk about carbs, insulin, etc. She is an amazing person and it was really nice to see her yesterday.


Then the Doctor came in. And to say we LOVE Dr. D. would be an understatement! We originally had a different endo in the same office, which we liked, but did not have a personal connection with. Then we heard a ton of good things about this Dr. D and decided we wanted to switch. I knew she had kids of her own that were around my kids’ ages. I knew she would at least understand the 2-year-old issues we were dealing with.


In June, we made the switch! I am SO happy we did! I love her. I feel like I can just talk to her about anything.


So, Dr. D. came in and told us how great we were doing. She said The Superhero had grown a whole inch in the last 3 months and wondered how in the world we could keep his A1C at 8.2! I was surprisingly happy to hear 8.2 and not a higher number. And knowing how much he had grown helped me to accept the number as well.


Of course, I would like it back in the upper 7’s, I also know that we lost enough sleep, made enough changes, and did everything we could as his human pancreas to keep his blood sugar as in range as possible.


I am going to do whatever I can in the next 3 months to get him back in the 7’s. We will see if it happens.


So, no more getting sick, no growing, no Diabetes taking control of his BG’s and we might get there!