Sending kids off with friends...

I was thinking today, as my Superhero is off spending the day with Kris and her Sugar Bugs, that sending a D kid off is SO much different than a non-D kiddo.

I know this is no shock to most of you, but let me explain what I am thinking.

If I were sending my non-D kid off with a friend, it would most likely be HER friend. A friend of HER choice.

On the other hand, with my D kid, I tend to choose MY friends for him to spend time with. These are not HIS choice, though he always has a blast with them. Sending him off with a friend of HIS choice would scare me to no end.

I am sure there there will be a day that he wants to choose who he hangs out with. 

Until then, I am SO thankful to have some friends that he loves too.


*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.*

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.*

A Diabetes MeMe for Kids with Diabetes...

(Day 29 of NaBloPoMo)

Well, Heidi from D-Tales has started a Kids With Diabetes MeMe and has tagged me/The Superhero, so here is what The Superhero had to say…

What is your name?

(states name)

How old are you?

4. (holding 3 fingers out, since he is actually 3, where he got 4 from I have NO idea)

When were you diagnosed with diabetes?

The Superhero: No. I don’t know. How old?

Me: You were one.

The Superhero: One. Why?

Do you remember what happened when you were diagnosed or how you felt?

No. No.

Do finger pokes or shots [or site insertions/infusion set changes] hurt?

No. They only hurt sometimes. They hurt sometimes. Just sometimes.


What is a high number?
I don’t know.


What is a low number?
I don’t know.

What does low blood sugar feel like?

Shaky. I was a little shaky.

What’s your favorite way to treat a low?

Cookies.

How do you feel when your blood sugar level is high?

I don’t know.

What’s the best thing about having diabetes?

I don’t know. I just don’t know.

After some coaxing, he says he likes his Diabesee friends.

What’s the worst thing about having diabetes?

I don’t know.

Do you worry much about diabetes?

Yeah. I don’t know why.

If one of your friends were diagnosed with diabetes, what would you say to that friend?

I don’t know.

What’s your favorite food?

I don’t know. I don’t KNOW! Cookies!

What’s your favorite snack?

Cookies.

What’s your favorite low-carb food?

Cheese.

Do you know what a blog is?

No.

Do you know that I blog about diabetes?

No response.

Do you care?

No response.

Why do you think I blog about diabetes?

No response.

What’s your biggest wish?

I don’t know.

Who’s your best friend?

Karen.

Me: Who’s Karen?

The Superhero: I don’t know.

Me. Ok? (LOL!)

What do you like about him/her/them?

Cuz. (does not make sense at all)

What’s your favorite thing to do?

Sports. I like to play Wii Sports.

Do you have a hero?

No.

No heroes at all?

No.

What do you want to be when you grow up?

Uh, 5. I want to be 5.

Who’s your favorite person in the whole wide world?

My Diabesee friends. Cuz I like to play Wii sports on the Wii.

Are you afraid of anything?

No. No, I not afraid of the dark. I was. I not afraid of anything!

Fill in the blank. The Superhero is___________. There is no right or wrong answer.

The Superhero is 5. (huh?)

The Superhero was in a VERY "I don't know" mood.

And now Reyna, tag, you're it! Let's see Joe's answers! :)

The Diabtic Duo, and The Princess

(Day 18 of NaBloPoMo)

The one thing that changed the most when The Superhero was diagnosed with Diabetes was the ability to leave him with just anyone. We no longer could ask ANY family member or friend to keep him. We needed someone who understood how to take care of him and his Diabetes.

Fortunately for us, The Superhero and The Princess have THE BEST NaNa and Pompa EVER. We have also met a few T1 Families who are willing to keep the kids, and one who has done so already. (Thanks Kris!)

We do have a family friend who has offered to watch the kids, and she and her husband will be trained at some point so we can leave the kids there too.


BUT, there are MANY families who have NO ONE. I received an email several weeks ago from a mom in our local support group asking for someone to watch her 6 year old T1 boy on a Friday night so she could go to a concert. I did not respond at first because they do not live in our area directly and I thought someone closer might work better.

Then when there was another plea for help from her, since no one had responded to the first email. I decided this was something we could do, as long as she was willing to bring him to us so our kids could go to bed as normal. (she needed someone from 4pm-2am, roughly)

Well, a few weeks ago we met C. and his mom the day before her concert. The kids hit it off great and I knew it would be ok. C.'s mom dropped him off the next afternoon and left him in our care for the night. We had agreed it would be easiest to just leave him overnight and pick him up in the morning.

So, for one night, we had a flash back to our days of shots and many finger pokes. No CGM and No pump was interesting, but worked out fine. We checked him several times that night and only had to treat a minor low to bump him up a bit.

And the kids LOVED C. The Princess would not leave the boys along for one second. The Superhero talked about C. for days and wants him to spend the night again.

I am thankful we were able to give C's mom a much needed night off. I am sure we will be doing it again sometime.

Here is a picture of what we are calling "The Diabetic Due & The Princess" (playing Wii)

If I had a "normal" child...

(Day 5 of NaBloPoMo)


I would not have to worry about dropping him off at school.

I would not have to worry about how EVERYTHING he eats is going to affect him.

I would not have to worry every time The Superhero goes swimming.

I would not have to worry if my baby will come home from school ALIVE.

I would not have to worry about him waking up every morning.

I would not have to worry about him running, jumping, playing, skipping, etc.

I would not have to worry every time he is crying, throwing a fit, or acting out.

I would not have to worry if he falls asleep in the car unexpectedly.

I would not have to worry if he says his tummy hurts.

I would not have to worry if he doesn't want to eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, or his snack.

I would not have to worry about leaving him with friends/family for a few hours or overnight.

I would not have to worry about anything other than what "normal" moms worry about.

BUT

I would not have met SO many WONDERFUL moms/dads. I would miss out on some of the BEST friendships I have EVER known in my life.

I would not have the INSTANT family. There are MANY D Moms I have NEVER met in real life, but we have such a strong connection and an instant bond to each other. It is really amazing.

One email/FB message, one Christmas card in the mail, or a phone call from a D Mom (thanks for the chat JoAnne!) can make you feel so connected. They all feel like friends I have known my entire life, yet it has only been a short time.


And the fact is, we do not live a "normal" life. I cannot go through one day, one hour, one minute without some sort of worry about what Diabetes is doing to my little man. The highs, the lows, the in between.


And while life in Italy would be awesome, I am really trying my hardest to enjoy my time in Holland.


(Disclaimer: This does NOT mean I REALLY want to come live in Italy, it is a metaphor people!)

2 Years Ago Today (7/10/08)

Sometimes it feels like just yesterday when we made the decision to take The Superhero into the ER instead of the doctors office.

He had been SICK for days and no one could figure out what was wrong with him. Even the ER docs tested for other things before actually checking his BG.

Once they did, there was no turning back.

Our lives were flipped upside down in a whirlwind that would be our stay in the PICU and Peds room over the next several days. Our diabetes education consisted of about an hour each day with an educator. Then we were sent home to manage this beast on our own.

We became carb counting, insulin calculating, finger checking, shot giving, sugar forcing parents to our then 18 1/2 month old toddler.

We have gone through the many steps of having a child with a chronic, life threatening illness. Emotionally, this last two years has definitely been a roller coaster. We have had lots of good days and plenty of bad days.

This disease has brought LOTS of mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion. BUT it has also given us MANY, MANY, MANY close friends we would have NEVER met without this disease being in our lives. The people we have met virtually, have become instant friends.

We have ONE, HUGE common bond, the fact that we are keeping our children alive 24/7. And, we do this together. And those of us that live near each other, love to party together too!

Diabetes has brought a few trips to the hospital (October 2009 and February 2010), LOTS of finger pokes, and LOW blood sugar days.

We also have celebrations with our new found friends. We exchange cards at Christmas, have a secret Santa exchange and share HUGS for Hug a Diabetic Day.

So, even though I did not plan to go to Holland, I am enjoying the company while we are here.

Lots of love on our 2 year Diaversary to all of my AWESOME D Mama (and Dad) friends!


***Side Note: Here is The Superhero's Diagnosis story and the post from our 1 year Diaversary***

Fun play date at the mall (mostly fun anyway)

Yesterday, we met up with Wendy and her girls at a local (sort of) mall that has a decent sized play area and a full size carousel.

Before Wendy got there, because I was EARLY, the kids and I went over to some ride on toys. I got out my 75 cents and was getting the kids in. Another kid got in before I could get The Princess in and I had to ask him to get out. It was only a 2 seater and both of my kids were GOING to ride since I was paying for it. He eventually got out and I started the ride for my kids. THEN the boy's mom came over and WENT OFF. She was so mad that I would talk to her kid "that way" and he was only "3 years old and we don't talk to him like that". Needless to say, I was not a happy mommy. I did nothing wrong. If it were my kid getting in the way of paying customers, I would be fine with another parent asking my kid to move. I was very polite to this kid so I don't know what she thinks I should have said. I am not sure exactly what I said back to her because it is all a blur now, but I did let her know that my son was 3 years old and I would definitely ask him to move if he were in the way! I was FUMING!

My kids had their ride and then we walked away! As fast as I could! :)

Then we met with Wendy. We all ate our lunch and then walked over to the play area.

Cute picture of The Superhero with all the girls...

The kids played. I kept an eye on The Superhero's Dexie, since he tends to drop while playing. With each check, he had decent numbers. I had to keep a close eye on the Princess as well because she kept escaping the play area. At one point I brought her over and she was eating a snack in my lap.

I looked up and saw The Superhero CRYING like never before, in the middle of the play area. I put The Princess down and closed her snack while my little boy ran over to me. He was inconsolable. His nose started bleeding. Checked Dexie and it said something in the 80's with double arrows DOWN. I do a quick finger check and he was 79! DOUBLE ARROWS DOWN. Mind you, he was in the low 200's not minutes before! He is in complete meltdown mode. He refused the juice I opened.Threw himself on the floor. I put the juice down for second, picked him up, and offered the juice again. He refused! I mentioned marshmallows and he gobbled them up. I am SO thankful Wendy was there with me, another parent who "gets it". I did not worry about weird looks from parents around me because she was there, I felt comfortable taking care of my screaming, sweating, melt down mode T1 Diabetic 3 year old boy!

Then another parent comes over and explains that The Superhero and another little girl were going in the tunnel in opposite directions and ended up hitting faces, her forehead and his NOSE. (not sure if this is what really happened or not, The Superhero was so upset he could not explain it to me) He was in so much pain. His nose was a little puffy at first, but once we got the bleeding to stop he was fine. He ate his marshmallows and was working on coming up.

All of this is happening at the SAME time that the mall security officer was telling us the play area was closing and we needed to leave. I waited a few minutes while The Superhero's BG was coming back up. Then we looked up and had to FIND The Princess. She had wandered off, again! Wendy asked the mall security officer what to do about a lost child since she could not find her. He had NO IDEA WHAT TO DO! Seriously? He told Wendy to "look harder". Really? That's it I guess, just look harder and find the 1 year old little girl amongst the chaos that came from kicking everyone out of the play area! Really? Wow!

Thank God she was found rather quickly after that. She was out the opening and following other families. I am so thankful I had Wendy there too, or I might have gone crazy!

We also had to deal with a kid who refused to share the "Nemo"' fish with Wendy's girls. His mom finally came over and got him off. Then the mom let him walk around the play area eating his pretzel. And we dealt with kids who would NOT move off of the ride on toys again. Wendy was trying to pay for her kids to ride the ice cream truck and had to force these other kids off!

All I can say is, I am SO glad our kids were SO well behaved and NOT like these other kids!

We went and had some gelato before riding the carousel. The Superhero picked his gelato based on color, of course it had to be green. So he had mint and little Maya picked based on color too, white, so she had Butter Pecan. Must be a 3 year old thing. The other kids picked. We ate. Then a group trip to the potty before the carousel and long drive home.

At the end of it all, we still had a GREAT time and will definitely make the trip across town again.Although, next time, I can do without crazy parents, mean kids, bloody noses, DROPPING blood sugar, missing children, and clueless mall security officers!

Seriously, THE BEST PARTY EVER!!!

I have been lucky enough to meet D mom Megann in the past when she visited AZ. She lives in Idaho but has family here in AZ. So, when she comes to visit, we like to plan some sort of get together.

This time around, we decided to include a few other D blogging moms. Donna was gracious enough to invite us all to her house and we had the BEST party EVER! And I am not joking! I have NEVER felt so comfortable to just let my kids play and run around.

I felt like everyone watched out for all the kids, not just their own. We all had small kids, so everyone REALLY GETS IT! It was AMAZING.


We started at Donna's house with playtime before dinner, then we ate dinner, more playing, we went to the park for some pictures, and OF COURSE, some dessert! Enjoy...

The whole group!

D- Moms, From Left to Right: Danielle, Tracy(me), Megann (with Libby), Donna, and Kris

Seriously, I think the kids (and adults) would have stayed FOREVER! We left there around 9pm. It was THE BEST gathering EVER. (in case you didn't get that already!)

I CANNOT wait to do it again! Thanks Donna (and Brian) for hosting! The Superhero keeps saying "I can't wait to play with my Diabesee friends again!"

Diabetes Blog Week - Day 6 Diabetes Snapshots

Here is our life with Diabetes since just before The Superhero was diagnosed until now...


Just days before he was diagnosed. You can see how skinny he is by looking at his neck and face.

Diagnosis pictures...(and yep, that is an IV in his neck, and both arms )

The Superhero still likes to be a normal kid, making cookies with his Pompa

And of course, that means tasting the dough

He LOVES to eat cupcakes

He can have ice cream and diet coke for breakfast if he wants to (at Disneyland only!)

1 Year Diaversary Celebration. We took him to his FIRST movie, EVER. (to see Up) He enjoyed the diet coke and popcorn treat.

When things don't work out quite right, due to stomach bugs we end up in the hospital. We have been back 2x since dx almost 2 years ago.

October 2009

February 2010

We are SO lucky to have some of the best technology available for The Superhero.

Lots of supplies (a little messy at the time of this picture, it has since been cleaned out)

And some of the BEST friends we could EVER ask for!

Here is The Superhero with part of our Secret Santa gift.

Our local support group.