Diabetes is.....

A pain in the ass... There I've said it. I try very hard to be optimistic, and opened minded about everything diabetes throws our way. But every once in a while we have nights like tonight that just leave me wanting to take a break from Diabetes and give Clifford some well deserved vacation time from D!

3 site changes, 1st didn't stick, 2nd he said was hurting him, checked and it looked as if it wasn't sticking right so I pulled it (at bedtime no less), bent cannula with blood in it. Stupid diabetes. Before pulling the site, he was high 289 (no ketones though so thought just a fluke) apparently insulin definitely went through with the bolus we gave because he was 65 30 mins later... Really 65! Ever have one of those moments you just want to go back to bed and start the day all over? Yeah that's diabetes

Diabetes is...

• Confusion
• Exhaustion
• Overwhelming
• Heartbreaking
• Scary
• Impossible
• A moocher
• Nagging
• Never ending
• Overbearing
• Emotional
• Gut wrenching
• Guilt
• Sadness
• Shame

But diabetes is also

• A smile
• A hug
• A kiss
• Compliments
• Friends
• Family
• Love
• Understanding
• Compassion
• Joy
• Strength
• And so much more

Yeah once in awhile you have a bad day like our day today and get pissed off at diabetes. But there's always tomorrow, the sun will be shining, and you're given a chance to start all over. Diabetes never place fair, it never sleeps ( I really wish I had it's energy), and it's just a thorn in your side that won't go away. But like a thorn that causing pain and hurt you tend to get used to it being there. It' will never get any easier, but it will get better.

It's all about the basals....

The last few days have been nothing short of "interesting".... Tuesday evening Clifford has low after low, after low, starting at dinner with a 58 that he didn't feel. We couldn't get him up for anything, ended up having to suspend his pump until he finally got up to 98. At bedtime he was now a nice 105... But to me I expected some rebound highs from the lows that couldn't be brought up. And he got them 316 at 12, then 215 at 3am. At 5:15 I decided to test to see what was going on and he was 432?? Checked ketones 0.4 (okay well now that is not good since there are ketones)... Rechecked at 6:15 he was 319 still 0.4 ketones. Then he woke up at 6:30 saying he didn't feel good at all. We checked 419 0.8 ketones... (now that tells me something isn't right, tried to call his endo, but they told me that no one came in till 7am??? Whatever, after getting off that phone call not even 5-7 mins later he was 535 and 1.2 ketones.

Clifford at this time said you could tell I was serious because I took my robe off, went running for a syringe (on the shelf, don't keep them out anymore b/c of pumping), came in did some quick math, calculated 3.6 for correction via syringe, corrected, and pulled the site. Wish I would have taken a picture of it now. At first glance didn't seem too bad, but a closer look showed it was slighty askew and there was blood in the cannula. (sneaky little sucker, somewhere between 3 and 5 it did this) All was well with a correction shot, and a new site change. Called his doctors and told them I was keeping him home for monitoring. Took until about 3pm for him to get down under 200s but he did, and eventually was 111 for dinner time.

That was our first experience how everything can go downhill fast if the pump is not working properly. As for the title of this post, we're trying to figure out his basals, should it be 0.3 at night or 0.35, or 0.2 during the day or 0.3.. Honestly it's giving me a bit of a headache, but I know once they are figured out it will be smooth sailing... until he grows at least.