The Good with the bad….

 

As with life in the Diabetes world you have your good days, your funny days, and your not so good days. One thing I have learned in 2+ years of Clifford’s dx with Type 1 diabetes is you cannot dwell on the numbers, it sucks, he’s high, he’s low. The concern in lies figuring out why they happened and move on. The majority of the time you may never be able to pinpoint why they happened. There are 800 different things that affect your blood sugar, and only 3 are within your control (basal, bolus, and carb counting). You can’t take in account for hormones, moods, weather, stress, illness, etc) If you are constantly in worry mode you will stress yourself out beyond belief. So as with life, we must learn to accept the good with the bad. We’ve handled it and moved on, now time to kick more Diabetes butt.

For those of you who may not be familiar with what the above picture is, it is Clifford’s infusion set, this is what gives him insulin all day long. You can see that near the adhesive (white part) it is raised up. The little tiny tube that gives him his insulin (the cannula) is underneath there, when the adhesive raised up it pulled out the cannula causing no insulin to be delivered resulting in a blood sugar of over 400. Thankfully we caught it before ketones had a chance to rear their ugly heads, and it was site change day!

Point to this all is. If you are new to the D world, it may take some time, but try to not get too worked up and learn to take the good with the bad. You will have your moments, and it’s important to not let those moments become you. Not to let the whole issue with Diabetes take over every aspect of your being. Doesn’t Diabetes already take over our lives enough?

Diabetes is a family disease

 

It all begins and ends with family. No matter what when you are faced with a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes it becomes a disease the whole family has. You may not realize it at first with one parent taking on the brunt of the responsibility (In the case of a child being dx’d) But little by little your eyes open up to how much Diabetes affects the whole family.

I can only imagine the fear from Abigale who at 4 years old found her brother passed out from a low blood sugar and came to tell me. She still remembers it to this day and talks about it like it was yesterday. She then had to experience me holding her brother this past month, quickly trying to squirt icing into his mouth to recover from a low blood sugar.

Just today our 4 year old asked if she was supposed to squirt icing into Clifford’s mouth if he were laying down and not talking. She has never been talked to about this, it’s just what she has picked up from living in a family with D.

Eric on two occasions has shown how much he has learned as well. When grocery shopping he asked about the carb count in fruit snacks to make sure Clifford could eat them. And recently I heard them playing and he stopped and asked Clifford “Are you okay, because you’re talking really fast” Which prompted me to have him test himself and low and behold he was in the 60s.

It’s little by little you see how Diabetes affects the entire family. It’s not just a disease that one has to suffer with on their own. In our family we are there helping each other along the way. The way I see the kids caring about how Clifford is feeling, and Eric waiting to eat until Clifford boluses, I can tell as they grow up together it will be a united team in helping to make sure he’s safe and healthy everywhere he goes.

And to go even a step further when you are a member of the DOC (Diabetic Online Community) you have a family there to support and help you at all hours. All around the world, it’s a family disease.

D Victory Day

Ever have that Day in D land where you just rocked bg#’s. Well today was that day for us. After some unfortunate highs the previous two days, 1st day due to a bent tip of the cannula (didn’t find this until changing the site for a scheduled change), took a few hours bug bg’s finally came down. Next day highs, here and there, thought it was bubbles in the tubing, so changed the tubing out, still a bit higher than I liked. Told Clifford, in my gut I just had a feeling we had to change the site. So we changed it AGAIN, and the cannula was bent :/. Overnight well that was no fun. New site was definitely working, however delayed lows from all the activity during the day hit us hard, 73, 57, finally got a 92, 130 at 3am, only for him to wake up at 51! Usually a day starting like that doesn’t seem to work out. However that was not the case, all day long no numbers over 136, and only one other low other than the 51 at wake up and it wasn’t even super low at 67! I would like to say that is a D victory day! Have to celebrate them when you get them. I’m hoping our luck continues to keep on going for the remainder of this site. Here’s hoping delayed lows don’t hit us again tonight. But one things for sure if they do I will be up to catch them…. Where’s the caffeine???

Overnight….

Do you remember that feeling in your stomach as a child afraid of the dark, or monsters in your closet, when night time rolled around? Well that same feeling lives in the stomachs of all D parents when they put their child to sleep at night. Overnights plan and simple SUCK. The fear of the unknown, or nocturnal hypoglycemia. After a scary morning with a low and possible seizure situation with Clifford, night time has become even more unsettling to my tummy!  I made a big step in putting that fear aside last night. He was 104 at 12:30 and well honestly that # can go either way. Typically would treat him up a small amount, but NOPE didn’t want to run the risk of running him high, so I let it ride. But just for a peace of mind I tested an hr later at 1:30 .. Rocking a 154 now, YES! I can sleep easy now at least for another hour and a half for a test at 3am. 130 at 3am, and back to sleep it was for me. Morning rolls around and I did my typical checking to ensure the kid was in fact breathing. Good to go. 79 at breakfast (not too shabby I might add) definitely happy with the night’s turn out, thanking God he woke up once again. Now to a day full of fun, running, playing, being a kid and hopefully good BG#’s until night time rolls around again and I’m and at it, kicking D in the butt.