A brand new year with new challenges

 Going to do this a second time...

Emily's diagnosis came as a big surprise to us in December.  An even bigger surprise was the fact that she was pumping 9 days after diagnosis!!

Her purple pump really is the most beautiful pump I have ever seen!  Not sure if I will order this for myself.  But I really do like it.  I am thinking of going "clear" for my next one in April.  We shall see though.

She has taken to the pump really well.  No more shots is the main thing.  Emily and shots did not mix very well with her.  But they didn't stop her either.

I think one thing that I would love for people to walk away thinking about is that Emily's diabetes is so different from her brother Jesse's.  Both of their diabetes is way different from Elizabeth Anne's diabetes.  And I know this may be alot for most people to understand but all three of their diabetes is WAY different from someone else's aunt that had 2 toes and 4 fingers due to complications from diabetes.  I hear this so much from people.   Not as much anymore as I did when it was just me with my diabetes or when it was just one child.  Now that we have 3 children the amazement that people have usually takes over before they can speak about their family history of diabetes. :)

We are a blessed family.  And while I do get overwhelmed at times, it isn't that often.  We really have a great thing going on here and its true that God doesn't give you more than you can handle.  And we are handling things very well here.

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!!

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?

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.

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.

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...

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...