I think I can breath again

These last few days have been rough. Those of you that have children with diabetes know exactly what I am talking about....

SCHOOL

there are meeting... with school nurses, teachers, staff, etc.

health plans to come up with...WHEN to test blood sugars, WHERE to test, WHO will count the carbs & administer the insulin, WHAT to do for a low, a high, a Dex that is alarming, etc.

there are supplies to be purchased ...and I don't just mean the 48 Ticonderoga pencils, 4 pink erasers, 3 boxes of crayons, etc. I mean the juice boxes, the glucose tabs, the spare infusion sets, extra meter, insulin, glucagon, etc.

I have been wracking my brain for days making sure that I had everything he could possible need in any situation and that every scenario is covered. Diabetes is fickle. One day is not like the next. We can hope for some patterns that stick so we can make adjustments. But D doesn't work that way. A simple equation doesn't work. It is not "if A, then B and you will get C." I don't know when his morning insulin is going to kick in and take that huge breakfast spike and plummet it . Maybe at 9:30am?? Let's test him then. I feel like I am going in to this blind though I have been doing it for years. When I am with him, I know if I need to test him or if I can just glance at his Dex and see what his blood sugars are doing. I know when I need to feed him or let him ride. I don't know how to write that down for someone else. There are too many factors, too many variables. I want this to be simple. For now we will test and test more than he needs to until we know better what his days will be like. In some ways, D is very complex. In other ways, (when it is behaving), it is merely background noise and easy peasy.

So I haven't been sleeping. My mind is too busy going over all the things I had to make sure of to make school a success for Bryce.

I met with the school nurse and teacher the week before school started. I felt really good about our plan. It isn't ideal (he will still be testing in the office which is so far from his class) but it was the easiest and most logical plan. Where last year I felt the nurse thought I was a crazy D mom, this year I think she understands my goals better and respects my ideas.

Bryce's teacher is AWESOME. Jaden had her for 1st grade a couple years ago so I pushed for Bryce to be in her class. She is very concerned for his well being and is genuinely nice. She even got glucagon trained last year in preparation of Bryce someday being with her. LOVE her!!

Yesterday was the first day of school. I sent the boys off on the bus. I couldn't breathe, my stomach was in knots, I felt like I was going to be sick.

I am not sure why I was feeling this way. I felt good about our plan and the people involved. I guess it is just hard to leave your child's life in others' hands when they don't really know how to handle every situation. Most of all, I wanted Bryce to feel good and have fun.

My husband and I went to the school just a little bit later to deliver the school supplies to the class and diabetes supplies to the office. I talked to the nurse to go over the plan again...she was going to be there this week to get everything settled and people trained (she has like 5 other schools she covers!)

I brought my little one to my mom's house for the day then went back to the school for lunch. In that short time, Bryce's Dex alarmed "High" and he was sent to the office to test (even though I said if he was feeling okay, it could wait but better safe then ??)

When I came back for lunch, Bryce's bg was in range, he was bolused and sent to the cafeteria to eat. Before I left, his teacher and I went out to talk to the people on recess duty. We told them what to look out for, they met Bryce, they offered to carry a sugar source for him, and they will be there EVERYDAY for his recess. I was THRILLED!!

I left feeling such relief at knowing there were so many caring people at the school that were going to watch over my boy.

I headed home with plans to hit the gym with my bit of spare time. Instead, I walked in the door and just about collapsed. Despite the 84 degrees in the house (hotter outside...yes, summer finally showed up here in Oregon!!) I was shivering and wanted a blanket. I couldn't move. I curled up on the couch with my dog and slept (at least tried to). All the stress of the past few days finally caught up with me.

The boys got off the bus super excited to tell us about their day. They love their teachers and can't wait for what this school year will bring. With the first day down, I can breath again!!

Bryce: 1st grader

Jaden: 3rd grader

Diabetes Art Day 2011

This is our second year participating in Diabetes Art Day.

Last year we did this.

This year, we worked with tests strips....lots of test strips.

At the end of the school year, Bryce had us start collect his used test strips in a jelly jar that has overflowed (& it only contains tests from this summer that were done at our house, weren't thrown away, or still laying in various nooks and crannies.) That turned out to be A LOT of test strips.

My submission this year is a photograph of those strips - each one representing a finger poke and a drop of my son's blood....

Just This Summer

Bryce used the strips to write out his JDRF Walk team name...

Bryce's Team: Wipeout Diabetes

Jaden used some strips as a bridge towards reaching a cure...

Bridge to a Cure

Bryce also drew this...

Both Jaden and Bryce worked together and came up with this comic strip where "WD" (Wipeout Diabetes) defeats "Diabetes" and hands out "cures for everyone!"

Now that you have seen our submissions, here are a few pics of the kids making their creations...

Drew really just got his paper all wet...but he was cute doing it!

Dumb IOB!!

Yesterday after playing at his friend's house, Bryce came home and was 40. Juice box and some apples, retest was 198 so I bolused him for the apples. About 10 mins later it was dinner time and he was down to 108. That is a 90 point drop in 10 mins!!! For dinner, Bryce ate a TON of pasta, I am sure we underbolused for all those carbs. A little over an hour later, he was 70!! The boys were having Drumstick ice cream cones. I entered the 37 carbs into his Ping and when it factored in his IOB (insulin on board) it told me to give him 0.00u !! I knew that was nuts and it would come back to bite us in the butt but I figured I would just bolus him later. Sure enough, at bedtime, he was 215 but according to his IOB, he still didn't need any more insulin. Of course when we tested him before we went to bed a couple hours later, he was up to 450!! The pasta and ice cream finally caught up (as we knew it would) Ugh!

Now if we had ignored the IOB and bolused him anyhow, we probably would have been fighting lows all night.

You just can't win with D!!

up coming...

Next week, my older two boys and their cousins will be attending a day camp by my in-laws for the week. They will be going horseback riding, canoeing, playing mini golf, go-karts, bumper boats, rock climbing, and swimming, besides running around and playing camp games. Last year, Bryce was able to attend for the first time. I ended up staying the whole week and managing his diabetes from lunch time on because it was easier than having to educate each new nurse that came on throughout the week. It went fine. This year, my husband and I are both heading down to his parent's for the whole week. He will work, I will keep an eye on Bryce's D at camp. I must admit, I am so jealous that my husband's brother and sister-in-law get to just drop off their two kids and head home for a kid-less week. We could really use the time off too but because of D, we won't get to. Will we ever? *sigh*

Wish me luck keeping D in check for this fun activity-filled week!

(I also have my Anatomy & Physiology final next week. Maybe the studying will help keep my mind off of Bryce's numbers!)

Family Triathlon

On Saturday, the Parks & Rec put on their "Party in the Park" that started off with a Family Triathlon. My husband signed up himself and our older two boys. It was such a fun little event with a just a couple laps of swimming, followed by a couple mile bike ride, and finished off with a half mile run. The boys had so much fun in their first "triathlon" (and our youngest spent the whole time crying that he wanted to go too...next year, baby, next year!)

Went into the event high but after all the activity, ended with a beautiful 86 :-)

Big Brother Bolus

We are very fortunate to share a backyard fence with Bryce's best friend.

In fact, a couple weeks ago, our dog knocked down one of the old boards creating a "secret passage" between our two yards. Usually 'the girls' come over to our yard (you know, easier to keep tabs on D that way) but sometimes my boys like to go over there.

Yesterday was one of those days. Bryce went over to play & my oldest was busy reading, so I took my youngest to store with me (my hubby works from home so I can take off like that)

When I got back, my husband told me that both boys were over at our neighbors and were having grilled cheese sandwiches....ok?

He said Jaden went to take care of Bryce....another, ok?

When I called the girls' mom, she put Jaden on the phone to tell me what happened...

He said he tested Bryce and "two pieces of bread was 29 carbs, so I bolused him for that. Then he had some grapes after, which are about 1 carb each, but I didn't bolus him for those cuz I figured he would just run them off anyhow"

I asked him how much insulin he gave him and he told me 1.95u (yep...his I:C is 1:15)

I was speechless. Not only did he bolus him correctly, but he factored in activity levels and let him have a handful of grapes for free!

Did I mention he is only 8 and a half !?!

And here is the best part of it all...Bryce came in to dinner at a perfect 83!

Right on Jaden! I don't think I could have played that better myself!

So proud!

What a great feeling for a Dmom to know that her son will be safe because his big brother gets it.

Busy busy busy and a wrong A1c

Boy the time is just flying! We have been so busy that my head is spinning. I haven't had any time to post, let alone read others' posts. Guess that is a good thing!

However, I have SO MUCH to write about. Like....

- meeting the amazing Wendy Rose and her sweet Candy Heart girls (it was hard to not take Tink home with me ;-)

- becoming the Family Team Chair for the 2011 JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes (which included speaking at the Family Team Kick-off event...and I hate public speaking!!)

-starting a bi-weekly Park Playdate for families with diabetes (next one on 7/14, ask me for details if you are local.)

-mentoring 2 new families (this always makes me sad but glad I can be there for them)

-starting my pre-reqs for nursing school (I am taking an online anatomy & physiology class right now. I have my first midterm tonight...taking a little mind break from studying to write this)

-taking trips to my in-laws (their property is a wonderland for the kids...besides the treehouse, zipline, teepee, play structure, & dome climber, it is full of lizards, newts, & snakes for the boys to hunt and catch!)

-swimming (my oldest is on the swim team again-with his cousin this time, and my younger two are in lessons right after...Bryce even has his T1 friend in his class!)

-we are off to go on a camping trip pretty soon so getting all prepared for that!

Whew! I am tired just listing all that....and that is just a small part of what we've been up to!

Overall, D has been in the background though we have had a couple times where Dex says WTF...

Bryce had his endo appointment yesterday. They were super busy and training a new front desk person. It seemed we waited forever to get called back. My boys found everything they could to pull out and throw around the tiny room...driving me more insane by the minute. By the time the doctor came in, I was already at my wit's end. He said our numbers the past week looked great (they were for the most part) then the a1c came in.... 8.8! WHAT?!?! We haven't had an a1c that high in years! I KNEW that wasn't right. The doctor agreed with me and said we could do a lab draw or just retest. Since I didn't want to put Bryce through the lab, I just had them retest on their other a1c machine...it came back at 7.8. Much more likely...it was lower than a few months ago, as I expected. But it makes me wonder how accurate ANY of the a1cs we've gotten are. As usual, our endo did not recommend any changes but okayed all the tweaks I wanted to make. By the time we got out of the office, I was fried. Glad we won't be back for a few months, hopefully by then the a1c machine will be fixed!

Ok, so I need to study for my midterm now...

Hope you all are having a great summer.

Good Friday 6/24

These past couple weeks have been so crazy busy!!

With the end of the school year, came all the parties and celebrations along with it. SOOOO much fun!! The Kindergartners did their music program....so cute! There were awards assemblies. Both Bryce and Jaden were awarded the "Writing Achievement Award" for their class as well as a couple other awards (my boys LOVE to write!! The are always making books and wishing to get them published) The school had a fun End of School Year Party, complete with a DJ and raffle prizes. On the last day, we took the boys to John's Incredible Pizza Company where they rode some rides, played games, and won prizes. Whew!

We had a great Father's Day celebrating my amazing husband who is truly the most incredible dad! (though I spent the first part of the day meeting the amazing Wendy from Candy Hearts and her girls, along with Heidi, Chasiti, and Bonnie...will post on that later)

We just finished our first week of summer vacation. The sun came out (at least for one day).

I started an Anatomy & Physiology class (The greatest thing is that it is an online class so I can sit on my backyard swing and listen to the lecture! AND I don't have to go to a lab and endure the smell of cadavers!)

So here are a few pics of our GOOD things from the past TWO weeks....

Jaden and Bryce on the FIRST day of school...

and on the LAST day of school.....

(yes, Bryce is wearing the shirt the Jaden wore on the first day!)

Bryce on the FIRST day of Kindergarten...

Bryce on the LAST day of Kindergarten...

Jaden's FIRST day of 2nd grade....

Jaden's LAST day of 2nd grade....

End of School Year Party. Bunch of Kinders in the field...

Bryce and his friends being silly...

FATHER'S DAY...we surprised Daddy by putting his presents on the grill for him to find...

My Sweetest Boy and his Amazing Daddy....

Bryce's best friend lives in the house around the corner. He and his brothers were over there playing, which drove our little dog crazy... until he found a loose board and was able to get to them. We soon found out that all the kids can fit through this small hole. Now the kids have a "secret passage" into each others' yard. too bad they are moving in a few week :-(

What good things has your week(s) brought??

??? Nightmares!

During our crazy lows yesterday and last night, Dex was giving ???s....Thanks Dex!!! I decided to put in a new sensor in hopes that we would not have to be testing him ALL.NIGHT.LONG. When I finished my post last night and retested, he was 118 (finally!!) I left his pump off since I knew I would be doing the start up bgs soon after. Of course he was at 304 and 298 at that point. I entered them into Dex who responded with ???. GREAT! So I stopped and restarted the sensor. A couple hours later he was 157. Dex took the 2 start up bgs and I went to sleep. He woke up this morning at 104 and Dex seemed to be working for the previous couple hours...until then of course when he flashed me his ??? again. UGH! Hope we can get Dex in line cuz after yesterday, I want to see those arrows!!!! (Plus I only have 1 sensor left...better call Dexcom now!)

It was a LONG night for sure. I don't know how many times I tested him but I found a LOT of test strips in my bed when I woke up!!

Another Empty Juice Box...

I am waiting to retest after yet ANOTHER low tonight. What a weird day it has been...

Bryce's 2pm pre-recess bg was 147...excellent! No snack cuz there would be birthday treats in class in 20 mins. Of course this meant a BIG juice box and HUGE frosted sprinkled cupcake.

SWAG'ed it at 45 carbs (the juice was 24g) Dex said 120 flat arrow. He got 3.0u of insulin.

After the treats, the kids went out to play with bubbles. I went to the office to fax something. About 10 mins later, Bryce comes in cuz Dex buzzed 'LOW Under 90'. Couldn't see how that was possible with all the fast sugars coursing through his body. BG test was 125. The school day was almost over so I just took him home.

Not much later, the kids were playing at our neighbor's house and Dex buzzed again. I tested him, 57!!!! I popped a couple rolls of Smarties in his mouth, few mins later had cheese and crackers. Never "felt" low.

Dinner time-68...had him just eat. Eventually bolused him for only his hamburger bun (not for his bananas or milk)

We then went to the school's end of the year party. He wanted some popcorn so we tested him, expecting the burger to have kicked in and a rebound high but instead saw a 67. He ate cookies, popcorn, etc. no bolus. When we got home and got the boys in bed, he was 152 (good, right?).

(Did I mention it was a set change day? Usually that means he is running high...never low! Anyhow, changed his set out and put him to bed. OH, AND Dex was giving me ??? the WHOLE TIME. Put in a new sensor too.)

An hour and a half later, he was 49!!!! WTF?? Juice bumped him to 90... gave him a Gogurt figuring that should do the trick.

20 mins later...71!

He has had NO insulin since 5:30pm and has eaten a TON of carbs.

Well, he will be sleeping with us tonight! Gave him some cereal and unplugged his pump too.

Recheck..... he is now up to 118. Will need to do the 2 start up bgs for Dex pretty soon so it looks like I won't be sleeping yet. Hoping this craziness is behind us though.

Jump Hooping

Bryce asked if he could do a vlog. I asked him what he wanted to talk about and he asked "Does it have to be about diabetes?" I said, "no" and this is what he came up with.....

ok, he really went on for a good 15 mins including running all over the backyard but figured, I could cut most of that out ;-)

Field Day

Today was Field Day at school.

A day when the kids go outside and play games. Races, relays, you name it, they do it. For most people, especially the kids, this is something to look forward to. But I was dreading it.

Why?

Well if you ask that, then you do not have a child with Type 1!

See, physical activity lowers blood sugars...usually. Sometimes it may raise them. Or it may do nothing. Since I can't predict what Bryce's body will do, I had to decide if I should just have the teacher keep an eye on him (along with the 20+ other kindergartners), pop in and test him a few times, or just hang out with the class the whole time. I had to take my three year old along with me and figured I would decide what to do when we got there. We ended up staying the whole time. Not because I was worried about Bryce and his diabetes (His numbers were great the whole time.) We stayed because it was so fun!!!

It's too bad they couldn't have Field Days more often. :-)

the kids had to put on XXXL tshirts and shorts then balance a ball on a plunger while trying to keep the clothes on....hilarious fun!

Drew played with his tractor on the grass when he wasn't picking daisies.

My oldest and his 2nd grade class doing potato sack races.

Kinders Noodle Toss

Gutter Ball...using teamwork to get the ball into the bucket with the gutter pieces.

Another fun game with his best buddy.

and when it was all over.....

My 3 year old was so tired after his brother's field day, that he fell asleep in this weird position on the chair and slept for like an hour or so!!

Mmm, Evil Doughnuts!

Yesterday was National Doughnut Day (...or something like that.) Anyhow, it meant FREE doughnuts at Krispy Kreme! Whoohooo!

So fascinating to watch the donuts being made

SWAGing for cookies and creme doughnut (40g?)

could he have picked a sweeter doughnut??

sprinkles!!

Happy boys after yummy doughnuts!

What wasn't so happy was his bgs! It is amazing what a little (ok, not so little) doughnut can do to his numbers. He soared into the 400s and stayed there for hours! Apparently I didn't SWAG high enough and the temp basal I put in wasn't long enough. EVIL DOUGHNUT! Of course he came crashing down after dinner and we had to battle some lows. Was it worth it? I think he would say Yes. Next time, I will not let the evil doughnut get the best of us....I won't be so conservative on my SWAGing and I will run a bigger temp basal for a longer period. Always a learning experience. :-)

(btw... I prefer the spelling DONUT, but know that Krispy Kreme makes DOUGHNUTS. tomAYto, toMAHto. )