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Showing posts from 2016

Life before D

Being a parent of an only child has some definite pros and cons. Being that I have no other child and lets be honest, I have very little child experience anyway, I have nothing to compare as to what is normal behavior. Emily has always been highly...okay EXTREMELY emotional. Temper tantrums are usually Oscar worthy and to call her "dramatic" would be downplaying it. I think back a lot about how she was before she was diagnosed though. She was always a happy girl full of curiosity and hardly afraid of anything. She has always been a daredevil and quick to get over bumps and bruises. I often referred to her as my "Rubbermaid" baby for that reason. Overall she was very different before. She has always had a fiery temper on top of all these emotions. I blame her dad for that one. I have seen her clear a table with a single swipe or throw a toy many a day but again it was always a fleeting moment replaced with my happy girl once it was over. Right before she was diagnos

All Day Diabetes

Ever since type 1 diabetes came into our lives 1 year and 4 months ago, there is never a time diabetes is not in my head. When I go to work I spend my day watching numbers, calling the nurse/FASA-insurance company-diabetes supply companies, Dr. offices, reading articles and blogs, watching videos, and trying to soak up any shred of helpful information that might make tomorrow a better day for my daughter. I get jealous of my husband as I know his day if full of work and stress but very little of diabetes. He may watch her numbers here and there but his head is not consumed. I feel like I need to absorb as much as humanly possible so I can understand, so I can face tomorrow with new knowledge. There is so much I do not understand. I still haven't figured out how certain foods are broken down in the body. Fats, carbohydrates....slow carbs, fast carbs, glycemic index, it makes my head hurt. Why the hell can't I figure out how to set a damn temp basal? I mean yes I can do the phys

Light Sleeper

I have never been that person that misses the thunderstorm or didn't hear that noise. I have a curse it's called light sleeping. Since before cupcake was conceived I was always the one that woke up for alarms or noises. It was a very natural thing once cupcake was born that I be the one that responds and reacts to hearing her. Soft crying or noises in her sleep  I am awake like a bugle just went off next to me. So when she was diagnosed it was natural for me to be the one to get up for night time checks. I sleep with the Dexcom next to me and an iPod and alarms are set for one to two hours throughout the entire night even on weekends. There are times I have slept past the alarms and the guilt that takes over me lasts for days. When she came home from the hospital I'll admit that I was so naive to diabetes I did't set my alarms and checks at night. I trusted in the overnight insulin to do its job. Then a few months in we got her a Dexcom. Sleeping without constant worry

5 Minute Intervals

Watching....all day long I watch the screen and inside my head I'm trying to decide the best way to handle what I am watching. Going up going down. Do I call the nurse? If I wait too long she'll be too low but if I call now they will test her and see that her number is fine and send her back to class. Despite my best effort to cram the value of a Dexcom's information down the school nurse's throat she apparently has zero interest of how it can be a invaluable tool. There is no benefit from being "old school" when it comes to diabetes management. I HATE seeing the high number staring back at me. I want to run right over to that school and correct her myself. School has its rules about intervening and are again incredibly stubborn to correct a high blood sugar within a 2 hour rule. I feel helpless just watching it go up knowing how crappy cupcake must feel. I can't even begin to imagine. She's probably thirsty and tired. Her head might hurt. I keep hopin