Friday, December 10, 2010

Our thoughts for everyday

I stumbled across a blog yesterday that pretty much sums everything up for me.  As you read this realize that I do this times 4 in our house.  The Princess and the Pump  (borrowed post with permission)


Do You Know How Lucky You Are?

Do you know how lucky you are?



If you've never had to pierce your child's flesh.

If you've never entered your child's bedroom with baited breath, waiting to know they are alive before you exhale.

If you have - but know that that possibility is remote and highly unlikely. 

If you don't see your child's blood every single day.

If you can feed your child without thinking twice.  

If you don't have to count every morsel that goes into their mouths.

If you can send your child to school without any extra care, notification, preparation.

If you can let your child go off to play at a friends house with any added stress or explanation or directions.


If you can sleep for more than 3 hours at a time.


If the medicine cabinet on your bathroom is still functioning and has just about enough room.


If you don't have a sharps container in your house.


If your pharmacy does not know you well enough to call you by first name.


If you don't have to BEG your insurance company to give you 
enough supplies to keep your child healthy.


If you don't visit a hospital every 3 months.


If you don't worry when your child falls down when playing or falls asleep in the car that he or she is actually passed out from a hypoglycemic episode.


If you don't carry around an enormous amount of medical supplies every where you go.


If you don't know what normal blood sugar is.


If your life has never been divided into before and after.


If you never spent a week in the hospital learning to keep your child alive.


If you don't fear a simple cold or a 24 hour stomach bug.  If you'd never even imagine that it could land you in the ER.


If you don't have to FIGHT so that your child can be like everyone else.


If you don't know what insulin smells like.


If you don't know how to fill a syringe.  

If you don't juggle carb counts, carb rations, ISF's, and IOB information at the same time. 


If you have no idea what any of that means.

If you've never had to hold your child down to give her a shot.  Multiple times a day.  Every day.  

If you've never listened to your child cry and scream, "NO!  Mommy, Don't hurt me."


If you've never had to answer your child when she asked, "Why me?  Why am I different?  Will it ever go away?"


If you don't stare death in the face every day.


If you don't really know anything about Type 1 diabetes.


Do you know how lucky you are?  Do you know how much you take for granted every day?  Do you know how much easier life is without diabetes?


Do you?


Before April 27, 2009 - I didn't.  I had no idea.  I had no idea how lucky I was.  


I had no idea how easy meal times were.  I had no idea how simple it was to get my child a glass of juice or milk.  I had no idea what a "bad cold" or "illness" was REALLY like.  I didn't know anything about carbs.  Or insurance.  Or needles.  Playing, dancing, going to school... it was all so easy.  


I had no idea.  I took so much for granted.


But now....


Now I'm on the other side.  






And do you know how lucky I am?

I know how to fill a syringe.


I know how to give a shot and insert a cannula.


I know how to count carbs and calculate insulin doses.  


I have insulin to give my child.


I have a pharmacy staff that is caring and kind.


I have a top rate children's hospital to treat my child.


I have a closer family.

I have deeper relationships. 


I have enough supplies to keep my child alive and healthy.


I have been humbled by something bigger than me.


I have a school and teachers who love my child and care for her like she's their own.


I have learned to ask for help.


I have learned that I can't do it all.


I have learned to cherish the good days.


I have learned to enjoy the moment.

I have learned how fragile life is.

I have learned how strong I really am.


kudos to Hallie and her little Princess!!

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Our sad day...

Maybe I was too quick to call this blog "Three for Today"...because our "Three" has become "Four" and today it has become the reality of its occurence.  Last Monday we took the phone call of Emily being positive for the GAD65 antibody.  So, knowing that she would have the repeat blood test on the 13th I went ahead and had her A1c checked yesterday.  Thinking I would have the results by Friday and ready for Vandy on the 13th.  Well, the results came in today at a bit of a surprise.  Her A1c is elevated but caught at a good time.  It is higher than Jesse and Elizabeth's but not too terribly high.  The consult was sent to Vanderbilt (hopefully they got it done today) and I picked up doctor's orders for Emily to start testing her blood sugar throughout the day in order to get a good look as to what is going on with her numbers.  Stopped at Kroger to pick up 3 cases of capri-suns and 3 packages of pb crackers for low blood sugars.  Delivered to the school.  Educated Emily on how to do diabetes at school and let the nurse know what we needed to do.  Then I headed down to the department of human services.  I know that to get on the children's special services program I must first be denied state health insurance for the kids.  So I went and picked up the paperwork to get this started.  This program will help us with the kids deductibles and copays.  Hoping it won't be too long that the process goes quicker.

But for today will somebody find me a big rock and keep me hidden for just a little bit?

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Tour kick-off is set for tomorrow!


The Middle TN ADA's Tour de Cure kick-off is tomorrow night at the Blackstone Brewery in Nashville!  Our family has been invited to participate in the event since the kids are the youth ambassadors!  Today I received a call from Greg asking if either I or Judge would mind talking about the kids and the diabetes in our home.  I said, "Sure HE will!!" LOL  I can talk but would rather not talk in front of big crowds!  I let him know of the new development in our brood with Emily testing positive for the GAD65.  I thought it may be appropriate to add that in for Judge's "speech" and be able to touch base on how important diabetes research is to not only our family but to others as well.  The monies it will take to fundraise for our Tour de Cure in order to aid in that research endeavor.

Monday, November 29, 2010

So tonight around 4:40 I get a phone call while I was doing dishes and didn't know the phone was ringing.  After I finish I listen to the voicemail and it is Vanderbilt's TrialNet
 study calling with Emily's test results.  That's odd!?!?!?  I always get a letter in the mail, not a phone call.  So I try to call back and I can't find the person who called me in the first place.  Nevermind, I knew the person directing the study.  I emailed her and within 3 min I had the phone call.  Not the results I was expecting though...
Emily tested positive for one of the 3 antibodies.  The GAD65.  Oddly enough all the other kids have been tested and they were all negative!  Yet, I have 2 children on insulin pumps with Type 1 diabetes!!!  Now I have one that is positive for the antibody and all we can do is wait for the 2nd blood draw on the 13th of December.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Turkey day is over...

Now that the turkey is dead and gone...I am so glad!

We had 2 dinners this season.  It was hard to do the carbs for the first dinner b/c there were so many people and hard to keep track of what the kids were eating and drinking.  Jesse snuck a regular root beer bottle (IBC) without me knowing it.  I just shrugged my shoulders and said Oh Well! I will just account for it.  Elizabeth I think had like 3 pieces of pie too.  I kept having people coming up to me and asking if I knew she had a piece of pie double the size of what I told her to get...lol!  Such is life...don't we usually take double dose of something when we know we should only have the small amount??
All is well...

Sunday, November 21, 2010

This is only a test, BBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEPPPPPPPP!!...ok, we are back!

Sorry for the long pause.

So this past week we had an angel deliver a huge blessing to us.  We are constantly running low on supplies at times.  In our mailbox was a box of..........


Isn't that awesome??  This combined with our prescription will help us during the last week and a half of every month that we tend to be running out.

I had to make a call in to the Vanderbilt Pedi Endo late one evening.  Jesse threw up and his blood sugars were borderline hypo.  Not sure what to do with his pump.  Turn it off, take it off??  Thought I would do a 50% decrease on his basal until morning but 50% made it .000 an hour.  what's the point?  So I called the dr.  Awesome doctor I spoke with!!  I actually met her at an ADA expo that I volunteered for in the late summer time.  She talked to me for a bit to reassure my abilities in getting him through the night.  We made a plan on what to do if he stayed borderline hypo and continued to throw up and we made a plan if he dropped to the 40s and 50s.  Either way....we had a plan!  I just loved this doctor!  We have a really good too for our appointments.  In fact, I haven't really come across a bad one at the Pedi department.
What came about of our night, we went from UH OH he has a tummy virus to....Jesse why did you eat so many sausages at dinner!!
HAHA!

Elizabeth had a hard night the other night too.  She dropped from 174-80 in a matter of 20 minutes!  Thinking she would continue to drop, I painfully woke her up from her sweet slumber to give her some orange juice and a glucose tab.  Wow a sugar tab for Elizabeth! She was excited to be allowed one of these!  Checked her about 20 minutes later and she was up to 130s....continued to check her every 15 minutes until she was in the 170s and I felt comfortable to go to sleep for the night.  By then it was about 2 in the morning.

And me, well....all I can say is that I have changed my eating habits due to a bad 3 weeks of digestion.  I have since changed to gluten free and dairy free.  At the beginning I thought I was starving until I found my food staples and my way around the gluten free areas.  Still doing alot of research and probably will never be done as new things are continually coming out all the time.  I went to books a million bookstore and found 2 magazines.  I will post links to the magazines when I get back from an errand...

Monday, November 1, 2010

Productive or not...it's still a Manic Monday!

The day started off early.  Had to get two children off to early school hour.  Then took Elizabeth to school.  Called the nurse on our way to the dentist and let her know I would be out of commission for the next two hours.  I also let her know of the "fun" we had on Friday without her in the office...lol!

Jesse came home and said his tubing snapped off at the base by his reservoir today at recess.  The nurse popped a new set in for him, so glad they can take care of these things now.  He also was getting low at school and was excited to say that he ate a pudding!! :)  The little things that make Jesse happy!!

Thursday, October 28, 2010

We are going on a field trip...

Elizabeth's class is going on a field trip next week.  The options for her is either I go with her or the nurse goes.  Regardless, someone still has to cover the school because of Jesse's diabetes and insulin.  So I met with the principal for a minute (literally) and we figured out that I would go to the field trip and Jacob would come along (since I homeschool him and he is 11).  But I had to drive due to the fact that Jacob is not a student and still a minor, he can't ride the bus too.  We will be checking Elizabeth out of school and driving to the pumpkin farm and will meet her class there and then drive her back to the school.  Thankfully they aren't counting her absent either because we get enough of those on our own...lol!  I wonder how she is going to feel about riding with us instead of her friends at school though?  Well, I think this is for the best.
Also, talked to the teacher about the candy issue and hopefully that is resolved.  Elizabeth came home yesterday and said, "I had to drink water today because I was high"!  She sounded excited!  Checked her meter.  And while she wasn't too terribly high it was definitely out of her normal range for that time of day.  What did you eat that was different?  Ummm...just 2 gummy bears.  Just 2, huh?  Well, the rest is history.  I did let them know again today that gummy bears are a no go.  Today she is eating cici's pizza and a cupcake for lunch.  Can't wait to see those numbers.  Curious on how she will handle this pizza.  They did great and only ordered pepparoni and cheese pizzas.  Not as much fat in those pizzas as there is in the sausage ones. 
Tomorrow is Friday! Yea!

Tuesday, October 26, 2010

frustrating...

I know the teachers went through training.  And I know they have each been told the small things that work for each child.  But I don't remember saying don't reward my child with things that the other kids are getting.  That is what happened when they were using cookie cereal to do some kind of project at school.  Instead of Elizabeth getting to eat her baggie of maybe 15 cookie cereals she brought it home instead.  I didn't think anything of this until I found out more this morning about yesterday.  Elizabeth is still growing.  She is not on a "diet".  She is not restricted on anything except for "if" she has a soda it is diet and she can't eat any kind of gummy candies (worms, fish, frogs...).  For whatever reason, they really make her blood sugar go nuts.  Oh and pizza too.  We are trying to figure out which delivery company works best for her blood sugars.  We did learn that papamurphy's pizza sauce burns her lips literally.  I am thinking that it is more acidic than others.
So if you know a diabetic or a diabetic child.  Don't assume they can't eat something just b/c they are diabetic.  We do crave cake, cookies and candy just like everyone else.  We just have extra things we have to do in order to eat them.

Don't these look good?  Half of my house would say yes, and half would say no.  There is a little diddy that is sung on Noggin "No, I don't like candy corn.  No, I don't like candy corn...  Check it out! LOL  I can remember this song being done every halloween since the kids were tiny.  I could have made these last night if I had some candy corn in the house.  I made chocolate muffins and blueberry muffins for bfast this morning.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Two in a row...

Not sure how this happened...but last night both of the kids were 91 before eating dinner and then this morning they woke up with the number of 83!  Good numbers, sure not complaining at all about that.  Just odd for it to happen.  Elizabeth wasn't even awake this morning when Jesse tested and last night they both tested at separate times too.
I have a friend of mine that when her son get a blood sugar reading of 100 they call it hitting the lottery.  So he gets $1 bill.  I think this is a really cool game to play with the kids! 
The kids are both in strong honeymoons so we have the majority of their numbers are within the normal range.  We do get a few stray low numbers but not to the point where they are symptomatic.  And of course we deal with the stubborn highs too.  You know the ones.  The kind where you do everything possible to bring them down and they won't budge.  Until you start heading to the ER, miraculously they get back in the normal range and the ketones go away too.  Yes, we have had this happen!  Went all the way to Vanderbilt with high ketones and high BGs with Elizabeth Anne.  Get there and she has a low in the waiting room.  Have to get D50 on board and the ketones were nowhere to be seen! Grrr...
Have a blessed Friday!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

My personal history on the insulin pump

Thought I could show you how far the insulin pumps have come from the beginning...
Here is the first pump:

As you will...pumps did change over the years.  Not only in size but in function too.  This first insulin pump delivered both glucagon and insulin.  The pumps on the market do not deliver glucagon (at least that I have heard about).  We have a separate injectable for emergency use of glucagon.  Glucagon is used for low blood sugar that you are unable to get higher on your own or if you cannot swallow.
Here is another good picture to show the changes that were made every few years...
ImageI found this picture on the dlife website...Ok now getting to what my first pump looked like.  I am glad i came in when the pumps were somewhat stylish. 
ImageNow mine was the one on the left.  Except I think it was just black.  This is the one the insurance company rented each day for me.  Then they got smart and just bought one.  A daily rental fee then was $100/day.  The next pump wasn't "that" much different but it was new and mine to keep.
Could you imagine wearing that back pack compared to this pager sized pump!  What was neat about the 508 was that it had a remote that went on my keychain.  I was able to give myself my meal bolus and never had to pull the pump out.

I wore this pump from 2000 until 2005 I think.  I had a new doctor and he did more with the Animas company and ordered a new pump for me.  Here is the next pump.  I called it the dinosaur the last 1 1/2 years I wore it. 2005-2009.
Ugh...I hated this pump!!!  As SOON as my insurance allowed me to get a new pump I switched to Cozmo!! I loved my cozmo!!  It was green
about 6 weeks after having the cozmo I received a letter saying that they would no longer be pump business.  I definitely did not want to stay with a company that was bailing out.  I called Minimed (back to my original 2 pumps) and they had an offer for me.  I could send my cozmo in and get a $500 credit toward my new pump and then sign up to take surveys every quarter for a year and get credited $250 each time to pay for my pump.  Obviously I got a refurbished one so the warranty is only for 2 years and not the typical 4. So I have the option to get a new pump next spring!!  At first the thought of having a pink pump sounded really cool.  But now when I look at it, it looks like chewed up bubble gum! LOL
There you have...this is my history on the insulin pump...and a few earlier models thrown in for a visual history too! 
Here are pictures of the kids' pumps:
Anyway I couldn't find a good blue picture of Jesse's pump but here is what it looks like and you can see the color in there too..
Here is Elizabeth's Animas Ping in pink
Now her pink color is really cool looking!  I love the shiny tone...

Hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Today we mourn...

A diabetic group that I am a member of that the main focus is on children.  One of the families across a big pond lost their daughter last night due to a severe low blood sugar.  There is a syndrome called "Dead In Bed" and apparently it occurs after the child goes to bed at night.

I mourn for this family and the loss of their sweet daughter and I pray even harder for the cure of diabetes.

Sweet beginnings...

I wondered if Jesse being on the pump it would make Elizabeth feel better about her pump.  Not that she felt bad about it...but it makes her that much closer to Jesse.  Just a dab more of super glue!  Since May, they both have blood sugar contests.  Nothing criticizing at all.  Just a simple, "I beat you!" and they laugh it off and start eating. 
Well, this morning Jesse started to help Elizabeth get her breakfast ready and even went to great lengths and found her meter so she could test before being reminded by me.  For some reason, Jesse was on the ball this morning!! 

We had alot of leftover pumpkin pancakes from today so the kids asked to eat some in the morning.  I think I went overboard when I made them last night (Monday night).  Sorry, getting my day/night mixed up since it is 1 in the morning now.

Monday, October 18, 2010

A brand new kind of day...

I am so glad I woke up earlier today!  I had forgotten that 2 of the kids had to be at school an hour earlier for a before school program.  Also, grateful that I made an Apple Oatmeal in the crockpot to cook overnight for the kids!! 

Jesse was all set!  He put his carbs in this morning and off he went to school!  An hour later I had to drive Elizabeth Anne to school because I had doctor's orders to turn in to the school nurse. 

Hoping Jesse's set stays in the rest of the day.  I saw it was peeling slightly but it was still intact.  Just in case, I let the nurse know of the possibility of a set change.  As I am walking to Jesse's class to drop off a bottle of sugar tabs Elizabeth Anne finds me again and said her pump was making noises.  Sure enough she needed a reprime!  I asked her to go see the nurse to do this while I take care of Jesse.  I don't think the nurse understood what she came in there for because she told her to go find me. 
Jesse is good to go!

Elizabeth and I head to the bathroom to go reprime her pump and her set is half hanging out.  Not having one in my purse I knew we would have to get the extra from the nurse's office.  We had to wait though as she was busy.  We get in and get the new set going and do a reprime.  I decided to go ahead and walk her to the classroom...its the little things that make us happy.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Our Pumps and Sets...

Guess I should have said what pumps we are on now...


Elizabeth Anne is sporting a pink Animas Ping


Jesse is sporting his super awesome blue Minimed Revel 523


I am now wearing a pink "thought-it-was-cute-at-the-time" Minimed 722.




I only say that b/c my pink looks likes chewed up bubble gum. Now Elizabeth Anne's pink is like a hot pink! Its really stylish!




We all wear the same infusion sets too. I change mine up sometimes but normally stick to our Insets I like the colors too!! I also wear quickset and Mio's

I will try and take a picture of the three of us tomorrow with our pumps!


eta: found a great oatmeal recipe site!!

Jones history...


My first blog post on here will be an introduction about our day to day triumphs in our family. We don't have an ordinary family but I look at us as being extraordinary. The children are doing things by leaps and bounds. And we just sit back and take it all within stride.

 
Judge and I married in November of 1995. Mutually deciding that we wanted to wait to have children, I started on the depo shot. I took only 2 shots (6 months worth) and thought that I was not healthy. I started out being only 100lbs. Granted some more meat on my bones would not have hurt me but gaining 65lbs within the first 1 1/2 months was not the way to do this. I did not realize that this form of birth control would cause me to put on that much weight so fast!! With the rapid onset of extra padding I acquired came Type 2 diabetes. My mom has diabetes too, and my grandmother, and my dad, and my aunt and who knows who else?? They all are Type 2 too.

 
It took us another 3 years to get pregnant with our first son, Jacob. The pregnancy started out ok, then came the shots and all the doctor appointments. I remember going to 3-4 doctor offices within one appointment day. I was later put on bedrest due to pre-term labor and was soon taking nearly 1200 units of insulin a day due to the insulin resistancy I was experiencing. Jacob came into this wonderful world at 35 weeks in February of 1999. I remember just a few hours before he was born we were watching the news and it was the same day that President Clinton was acquitted. He was such a delightful baby, good natured and neat! He didn't like to be dirty at all!! :)



We thought we would wait until he was in Kindergarten before trying for another baby. 11 months after Jacob was born we welcomed in our home Emily Rose. During Emily's pregnancy we started using an insulin pump to help keep up with the growing insulin needs that occurred in Jacob's pregnancy. Emily was born nearly 8 weeks early. The pre-term labor came upon us around week 13. Her whole pregnancy was very hectic. We used an at home uterine monitor to help us know when we should "really" be heading down to the hospital. It was neat because as I was laying down with the belt monitors around my stomach for a bit I then transmitted the results to a company called Matria in Atlanta. Shortly after a nurse would call me and let me know what to do or not to do. They were also contracted to take care of my diabetes too. I started out pumping with a Minimed 507c. The insurance company rented it for me on a daily basis at $100/day. After about a month they decided to buy it for me but got the 508 model instead. Life was good...and it kept getting easier. Two babies!! Emily was born in January of 2000 (my Millenium baby!!). She was nearly 8 weeks early. I had the fantasy that everything would work out great! After all, girls potty train earlier than boys. So, when Jacob turns 2 and Emily is 1 we will potty train them at the same time! LOL I couldn't laugh any harder as I think about this now! The reality was that they potty trained at different times but they trained all in one day and on their own. Jacob was 3 years and 2 months old and Emily was 2 months before turning 3. These two did alot together and were each others best friends! They looked just like twins and were/are often mistaken and such. Later in the year 2000 we experienced a miscarriage of twins. We were about 9 weeks along. As this happened we were devastated but felt that some things are just meant to be. We were waiting in these curtained holding areas at the hospital awaiting surgery and could overhear other patients talking. One such patient was about 21 years old and was having a complete hysterectomy due to an abundance of cysts in her reproductive areas. We knew that we would still be able to have children some day and felt badly for this unmarried woman who would never experience such joy as childbirth. Kind of put things in perspective for us. Later the next year we were expecting again. Another boy that we named Jesse (pronounced "Jess"). Jesse was born in April of 2002, at 36 weeks, and came a few days before daddy's 40th birthday. We often joke that Jesse was his birthday present!!

 
And yes, soon after this Elizabeth Anne was born in December of 2003! Her pregnancy was pretty difficult. I went to L&D at the beginning of December and was told I would have to stay there until she was born. I went into labor several times over the next few weeks. I kept busy though with crocheting and scrapbooking. I have a page that I made for my hospital door that has a tag with a number on it. The number corresponded with the gestation week I made it to. The last tag that is on the page is 35. I was allowed to go home for Christmas but to be back on the 29th for my amniocentesis to see if she had lung maturity for an early induction. The morning of the 29th I went into labor again and instead of stopping it they let me go ahead and have her. Shortly after 7 in the evening in a room full of family and friends Elizabeth Anne was born weighing 8lbs! The biggest baby yet! Jacob and Emily were 7 1/2 lbs and Jesse was 7lbs 15oz. After Elizabeth Anne was born we were told not to have any more children...to count our many healthy blessings. As hard as that was, we agreed.

 
Now that we have all of the children's pregnancies covered we can move on to other events that occured which led up to where we are now. All the children were relatively healthy. Jacob and Emily had RAD or asthma. Emily outgrew this but Jacob's stayed.


When Elizabeth Anne was 8 weeks old she was hit hard by the rotovirus bug. She was weighing nearly 12lbs I believe. She went into the hospital with bad bouts of diarrhea and throwing up. She lost weight to below her birth weight in no time. We stayed in the hospital several days and then were released as she was doing much better!! A few days passed and we were readmitted again for the same issues.


Fast forward a few years and I was really sick. I wasn't taking care of my diabetes like I should have been. I felt busy and overwhelmed with 4 children and not able to find the time I needed to take care my health. I had some seizures and high blood sugar that was not budging. I was transferred to a specialized hospital and was told I had Todd's Paralysis and it would subside in a few days. In the mean time they said I did not have a stroke b/c my MRI came back clear. I was transferred back home again to a rehabilitation floor to help me regain motion on my right side. The only affected side. I could walk with help from someone who had a belt around my waist at first until I started to gain more strength. Right now I can't remember how long I was there but I think it was about 2 weeks. I went and saw a new neurologist who repeated the MRI, which came back clear. Without explanation as to what happened. This neurologist said the first one was probably done too soon and the second done after a stroke had cleared up. She said by definition I had a left CVA stroke. My primary care doctor said the same thing and that I had moved from being a Type 2 diabetic to a Type 1. My levels dropped for my c-peptide. Funny as they tend to change alot. I say I am a Type 1.5 though. And I think Vanderbilt has me down for this too. As I have the traits of Type 1 but I have the insulin resistance of a Type 2. Things did improve over time. I think it was 6-9 months before everything returned to normal for me. To this day though, my right side gets a little weak when my blood sugars go haywire.


When Elizabeth Anne was 2 1/2 , she woke up one morning and about 20 minutes later fell right back to sleep. Odd for her to do this. I let her sleep but she was hard to wake up. I got her up by getting her in the bath. I knew she must have been hungry so we gave her a biscuit to eat while she was in the bath and she just shook like a leaf! For whatever reason, I decided to check her blood sugar and it was pretty high. Waited a bit and it kept climbing higher. I called the pediatrician's office and soon we were on our way. While the doctor was on hold with Vanderbilt she said if she has ketones she is going. Well, she did. And again we were on our way. We had an endo team meet us in the ER. They had a room set up for her and she was to start on insulin right away. Then out of nowhere her blood sugar dropped to 50 and she was shaking again! They said that we would wait to start her on insulin for fears that she would drop too low. We took her home that night and kept an eye on her. She had 6 month appointments with the pedi endo at Vanderbilt. Seems that for a few weeks she would display symptoms and then they would go away. When she was 5, the diabetes popped its ugly head in again. She kept climbing higher and higher one night in the 400s. She started on insulin in the early morning of July 29th of 2009. Had an appointment that morning and the rest is history. She took 4 shots a day for a few months and then was on an insulin pump by October. Now at nearly 7 years old, she is still on the slender side but she is doing incredibly well!! No problems, we just take things as they come!! And over this past year, boy did they come! Jesse (who I always knew would have diabetes, call it intuition...I don't know!) was sick with the croup, pneumonia and strep within 2 weeks last spring. In May his blood sugar was doing the same thing, it kept climbing. He was diagnosed on May 7th of this year. On the 3rd day after diagnosis he was doing all of his shots on his own!! He was taking the 4 shots that Elizabeth did (3 Novolog and 1 Lantus). As of 2 weeks ago, he is now pumping his insulin!! Jesse has come along pretty fast and is doing his bolus of meal insulin on his own too! So proud of him.


So there you have it!! There are THREE of us with diabetes in our house!! How do we do it?? We just deal with it and move on. We don't let it hold us back at all. Jesse has taken up cycling in the past year and has taken this sport by storm. He has a professional children's bicycle. He rode in the 2010 Middle Tennessee ADA's Tour de Cure for 30 miles! 30 miles at the age of 8!! Then this past Labor Day he rode 60 miles!! This was his first metric century ride! He is training to ride 100 miles in next year's Tour de Cure....which, by the way, Jesse and Elizabeth Anne are the Youth Ambassadors for the ride. We are just getting are team up and going for the May 21st ride...if you would like join us and ride for a cure please do!! Tour de Cure 2011 Pedal Pumpers


Tomorrow is Jesse's first day going to school with his insulin pump on his side. He wears his infusion set in his belly, so does Elizabeth Anne. They are so slim that this placement seems to work well for them. We could use their backside but as experimented on Elizabeth Anne, they come out easily when ripping down your pants when you are in a hurry to go potty! To me it just isn't very sanitary. As they get older and get some more meat on their bones I am sure we will be able to rotate them even more.