Progress!

One of the downfalls of injecting insulin is that you have to rotate injection sites because the fat breaks down from the insulin.  We have 4 areas of the body that we can inject into: Upper Arms, Upper Thighs, Buttocks, and Stomach. 

From the very beginning, Josh and I agreed instantly that we refuse to consider injecting into her stomach.  Ellee doesn't have enough fat there (which I am VERY jealous of!). I also feel that since that is the only place that you are suppose to put ports when on a pump, I don't want to break that area down any sooner than we have to.  And El threw a fit every time we suggested her butt, so it's always been between Arms and Thighs. Is she had her way, we would only use her arms!

We are constantly asking her to let us try a shot in her butt and she throws a fit and starts bawling at the mention of it!  One of the advantages of the Novo Jr pen that we are using is that they have varying lengths of needles.  Our recent 3 month supply is "Nano" needles - only 5/32" instead of 5/16" of a standard "short needle" syringe!  We bargained with Ellee to allow us to try a shot in the butt once we get the shorter needles.  She was reluctant, but agreed.

Josh had the girls for a few days and sent me a message saying "two nights in a row!" and I knew exactly what he meant!  Tonight after dinner, I dosed the pen and called her into the room.  She knows the routine and when ever possible we inject in the thighs unless we are in public and she has pants on.  I pick my battles and try to let her decide where the injection will be.  If I don't like that area then I suggest we do something else and although it may be reluctant, she's switch sites.  Tonight, when she saw the pen she started to undo her pants so that we could do a thigh.  She stops suddenly and looks at me "why don't we do my butt?!  It doesn't hurt as bad as I thought it would!" 

FINALLY!!!  Progress!!  Another site to alternate between to allow the fat to rebuild to prevent lumps!  It's a step closer to controlling this disease and not letting this disease control us!

One Step Forward

Over the past year and a half, we have learned that when Ellee's sugars are either high or low, it effects her moods.  I have learned the hard way that if she is being difficult or defiant, that we need to stop and check her sugar before I punish her for something that she can't control.

After a severe low about a month ago, as recommended by the doctors, I sat her down and talked to her about how her body felt during that the low.  I explained that when she feels funny like that, she needs to tell us that she doesn't feel good and we need to check her sugar because it's out of whack.  I can't really expect a 5 year old to understand what is going on with their body and why it makes them feel the way it does, but we agree with the doctors that she needs to start recognizing her lows.

Both Ellee and her sister have a habit of coming into my room wanting to sleep in my bed in the middle of the night!  They both have electric blankets now so I know it's not because my bed is warm!  And since our recent move into Grandma & Grandpa's old house, I am more alert when I hear them get up in the middle of the night.  Most of the time I make sure that they find their way back to the bedroom from the bathroom.  The other morning around 4am I heard El get up and she walk into my room.  She has a been known to sleep walk, so I asked her to go in and go potty before she could get in my bed. She did and came back instead of going back to her bed so I asked what was wrong. 

"I can't sleep"
"Why not"
"I don't know, I just can't.  Mommy, I don't feel good, I think I'm high."

When ever we have a reading that is either higher or lower than her range, my mind instantly replays the last meal and I recalculate the carbs to make sure I dosed her correctly.  I didn't think she was high, let alone high enough to make her feel funny, but it would be possible that she was low.  No matter the case, she said that she thinks her sugar is out of whack, so I am up instantly to check.

Sitting at the kitchen table waiting for the meter to beep: 60.  The low end of her range is 90, so she was definitely low.  A quick look around the kitchen for something small that will bring her up fast and I found fruit snacks!  I had mixed feelings as I watched her eat her snack.  The brief thought of what would have happened had she not woke up and said something, but that was quickly overcome by the more optimistic thought that she is finally starting to recognize her lows!  She may not know the difference between being high or low, but I am happy (and thankful) that she is starting to realize that something is wrong and we need to check it!  One step forward in dealing with this unfortunate disease!

How Low?

When we were at Childrens' after Ellee was diagnosed, one of the things they had to teach us was how to administer Glucagon in the case she goes unresponsive during an extreme Hypo.  I'm not sure how their bodies actually act during an unresponsive state, but I picture convulsions and something like a seizure.  And the thought of having to hold her still enough to get the extremely large needle of the Glucagon while she is shaking scares the crap out of me.  Every once in a while, Josh or I are asked (or we ask ourselves) how low does she have to get to go unresponsive? This is the first thing we asked the nurse in the hospital.  Like many things in the world of T1D, there is no clear cut answer - unfortunately.  Everybody's body is different. 

Last night, I found out the hard way that El can go as low as 35 without being unresponsive. (Her ideal range is 90-180.)  I do not like lows, but I also don't like her being high.  We have not had a hypo in the past two months since she fractured her wrist and after the consistent highs and a horrible A1C a few weeks ago, this is a positive sign that her body is functioning and reacting to the new NovoLog that were we switched to. 

Yesterday was Ellee's follow up appointment for her fractured wrist and Dr. P cleared her of all restrictions do to her gaining back full range of motion!  I can't explain how painful these last two weeks were for her to not be able to play on the slide or monkey bars!  After meeting with Dr. P, we went eye glass shopping and ordered her a new pair of glasses!  Then off to school.

After Ellee got off the bus, I took the girls to the grocery store to help decide what to make for dinner.  They didn't care about dinner but asked for a banana for a breakfast, but it quickly turned into a beg to have them for their afternoon snack.  While I was cooking dinner, they had their snack.  I did check Ellee before and she was around 100 (yay!).  Since she was on the low end, I ad it to her dinner shot.  The girls played after dinner while I cleaned the kitchen. When they started fighting and getting cranky, I decided it was bath time.  

When I declared bath time, Ellee actually fought me about it by throwing a fit and refusing.  It was unlike her which ticked me off so voices were raised and I told her she can go straight to bed.  I walked away to get the bath started for Dani and El followed us up. When I told her to get undressed and get in, she started whining that she wanted a drink.  I was about to lose it when she said she didn't want water but took a drink anyways and complained, but it dawned on me... HER SUGAR!  I was certain that she couldn't be low, but maybe she was really high.  When I came back into the bathroom with her meter, she was in the bathtub and obviously had no energy to do anything.  When her meter beeped with 35 on the screen, it was an instant panic.  We were at Daddy's house so I did a mad dash downstairs, frantically looked for something for her to ingest, then back up the stairs. It was a relief to see her coming back to life as she drank the juice.  At that point, the main goal is to keep her from going any lower and going unresponsive.

Lesson for Mom: check her when she starts getting mouthy, overly whinny, or defiant.  Lesson for Ellee: when you don't feel good like that, tell me that you don't feel good so that I can check your sugar.  We had a talk after she got her jammies on about how she felt and how that was an indication that her sugar wasn't right.  We've been a T1D family for 19 months and we all have so much that we still need to learn.

Touching Video

BiG Blue Test


Watch this video, it came across my Facebook the other day. I found it very touching to see how people with T1D do not put their life on hold because of all the extra steps we have to go through on a daily basis.  I couldn't help but tear up at the end when they go back through and show everyone with their finger in the air.  It reminds me of little Ellee's fingers... All the little scars from testing. And to think that she is only a year and a half into this and has a life time ahead of her.

Doctor Appointments

After the horrible incident we had with Dr O (to whom we were referred to by our Pedi) I decided that I should followed my original gut feeling to go to OIO.  We were able to get Dr. P to see her (since we had already gone to another doctor) and I honestly can't say enough good things about this guy!  He was wonderful, very personable, explained very clearly what happened, and even spelled out a game plan for us.  None of which the other doctor did.  We were disappointed to learn that even though Ellee doesn't have to wear the brace anymore, she still can not participate in "rough activities", including soccer, the playground, & gym.   Major bummer. =(  It's hard to get a 5 year old to stay off a playground, even harder when she doesn't have a brace on to remind her of why she can't!

Soccer season is over, for all of the 3 weeks that Ellee got to participate in!  Both girls have been talking about dancing.  This fall, a lady has opened a dance studio in town that offers ballet.  I spoke with her last week about starting the girls and we decided to start them on Monday to see how they like it!  I completely forgot about Ellee's Endo appointment Monday afternoon but hoped that we could get back in time for it.

I usually dread going to the Endo.  I think it's because T1D only progressively gets worse, never better, and the appointments only seem to remind me that it's all downhill.  A positive is that our Endo lets us make our own judgment calls, especially if she is consistently high or has more than one or two lows, we can adjust without having to play phone tag with them.  We have had our hands slapped for making an adjustment we didn't know we weren't suppose to make! 

Monday we had our first afternoon appointment which works out better because Ellee doesn't miss as much school.  She was only missing 2 hours, as opposed to 3-4.  Josh and I have been discussing her numbers ever since she started school, soccer, & broke her wrist.  We have had so many factors thrown together all at once that we really had no idea what the cause is to figure out how to bring her down.  We knew that the only logical thing to do was to adjust her insulin to carb ratio and see where that goes. 

There was a new Diabetes Nurse Educator that came in and spoke with us and went over all the factors that we need to look at.  I couldn't help but notice the medical alert bracelet she wore on her wrist.  When we got done, I asked if she was new to the office/Childrens Hospital Network.  I normally don't ask things like that, but I was very impressed with her professionalism and her knowledge, and most importantly - her understanding.  She explained that she just started with Childrens after working at OSU for many years, and has been T1D since the age of 3!  As much as I'd like to find an Endo that is local, I am more than happy to make the drive to Dublin and Columbus for that reason - their employees have first hand knowledge of what we are going through, and that makes all the difference in the world to us!  The compassion and understanding outweigh all of the textbook knowledge when it comes to dealing with the T1 Monster. 

The outcome of everything is that we are going to adjust her insulin:carb ratio and see what happens from there.  We already accepted the fact that we *know* that Ellee is coming out of her honeymoon period so it was easier to take when the doctor mentioned it.  It was 4:15 when we got out of the office and even if I rushed home, it would be hard to make it in time for ballet class, so I called and explained and we agreed to start next week.  I am already seeing a change in Ellee's numbers and will know even more once I see the school nurse's log on Friday.  I am so anxious to see how dance class goes next Monday!

Broken Arm

One of the last things I expected at 6:30pm on a Sunday night was to getting a phone call that my daughter broke her arm and is being taken to the hospital.  I know how I was with a sprained wrist in school and with a broken leg a few years ago, and I felt like my kids weren't old enough to go through this yet!  I'm not ready to go through this yet! 

While playing with her cousin at her Uncle's house, she tripped over a ball and put her hands down to break her fall.  In the process, the impact on her wrists "buckled" the large bone in her right wrist.  Urgent Care did x-rays and sent her home in a splint for her Pediatrician to make the call on whether in needs a cast or not.  The next day the Pedi referred us to an Ortho.  My mistake was going with that referral instead of going to the Ortho who worked on my leg. I did NOT like this doctor.  I was impressed that I could understand his English, but he lacked people skills, especially child skills.  Although his prognosis is better than I expected - 3 weeks in a brace/splint sure beats 6 weeks in a cast!  I did break Ellee's heart to hear that she couldn't play on the playground, and especially no monkey bars! 


The first week and a half break from soccer didn't bother her much, but now she's ready to get back out there and play!  She has done good about not kicking the ball in the house, but the other day she wanted to play so bad that she was kicking around in the kitchen!  Her break from soccer couldn't come at a worse time, she was doing so good and really getting into playing! 

Stepping Up!

A few years ago, Grandma & Grandpa found these little open-faced kayaks that were for kids up to 8 years old!  They were the cutest things and since we lived on the lake and Mommy likes to kayak, how great would it be to get the girls out in their own little boats?!  To teach Ellee how to control this new contraption, Grandma put her in it in the pool and showed her what to do.  The pool and the kayak were just about a great match in size to give her enough room to maneuver and get the hang of it. 

The girls and I have gone out on the lake a few times this year, and even once on a river.  Ellee gets in her little red kayak while Dani helps me paddle mine.  We have a rope tied to the back of mine in case El gets tired, she can hold on for a little bit! It comes in handy when we get to the areas of the lake that go out towards the "open zones" of the lake where the wake is a little too rough for her to paddle against on her own.

We've been very busy the last month and haven't had time to go out on the lake.  But a family reunion at G&G L's house was the perfect opportunity to get them out and allow others the chance to give it a try!  After lunch I went to take El & my cousin's daughter B out to putt around the channel.  After getting El in her kayak, I started getting B into the other little red one.  As I lowered her down, she kept telling me that her feet were getting really wet as she stood on the seat getting ready to sit down.  Conclusion:  Only a small 8 year old can use it!  So we put B in a big kayak to see how she would do.  B did great in the large one (which I worried was too wide for her) and El struggled in the little one.  With the way she was whining, I thought that maybe her sugar was low and she was having a hypo.

We get back to shore, changed her clothes, and take a little break.  Later on we try it again, this time, I want to see how she does in a big kayak.  What do you know, the little fish took to it like water!  Conclusion: the little red ones have a weight limit of 45-50 pounds.  The problem with El & B both in big kayaks is that there wasn't one for me to go out there with them!  We did have a canoe that some others were out in, so they followed them around to make sure they were okay!

The great thing about family reunions is that others get a chance to try new stuff!  My 2nd cousin's kids wanted to try it!  While E & B were out, I had T & M sit in the little ones in the yard and I showed them how to paddle.  Since T is at least 8, I had put him in his own, and even though M is the same age as El (5), I had her ride with me.  T did a great job and was even able to paddle through the lily pads! M tried her heart out and really enjoyed trying to race her brother!  Poor thing didn't really have the arm strength to control the boat by herself and hold the paddle up, but she will in another year or two!

Despite the weather being a little on the chilly side on Sunday, we had a great time!  I love when kids get outdoors and learn new things that engages them with nature!  And I am so proud of Ellee for being able to handle a bigger kayak like it's nothing!

The Pen

Our first full week of school is finishing up!  The past two weeks have been extremely busy with a new routine of school AND playing soccer, but we survived! Ellee is still relatively excited about school, she likes her teacher, loves recess & art class, and isn't giving the nurse any problems (that are in her control anyways)!  She got her glasses a week ago and tells me that she's wearing them during class and the one day wore them out to recess.  I will admit that the glasses are a battle I'm not willing to fight right now, at least not until we get everything squared away with the T1D! 


Mrs. M (the nurse) & I had a second T1D meeting on Wednesday morning to "refine" the game plan now that we can see where we are lacking clear definition.  *giggle* That is funny because its an oxymoron in itself, any one who deals with T1D knows that there are no set rules in this game: you have to be able to learn fast, go with the flow, and have a fast reaction time to stay in the game.  After this meeting, I am more confident and my nerves eased!  We have a game plan worked out, we now have a "school set" and "home set" which makes things so much easier! 

Ellee starting school has forced me into the transition of "The Pen".  It's not that I was against it, I'm just  reluctant to change! ;o)    I am loving the NovoLog Pen Jr! So far have only found one down side to it - exposed needle in the caps after use (hoping that once I get a small bag for the used ones that this won't bother me any more).  I also found that there are two different sizes of needles, so I need to do research to make sure I get the smallest ones next time I order!

In the process of getting extra stuff to leave at school, I found something interesting in with the new meter!  I Not only did I get the meter on sale, but there was also something in there about only paying $15 for test strips.  I asked the pharmacist about it, and she said they should be able to honor it!  YAY!!!  I also found that they are now selling silicone covers and cute cases for the meters, which Ellee loved the idea of being able to turn it from black into a cute pink!  I'm also hoping that she'll love the cute pink flower case I have picked out!

Our first soccer game in the morning, so wish us luck!!! 

First Day of School

We did it!  We survived it!   Lunch packed in her froggy lunch box and afternoon snack in her backpack. Ellee taking her time eating two bowls of cereal and Dani refusing to get dressed put me in a little bit of a fluster to get out the door, but I though we were doing good time-wise!

Shoes are on, all bags are accounted for, morning dose of insulin administered, so out the door we go!  As soon as I snapped this quick picture of Ellee in the drive way, I was surprised by the noise I heard... THE BUS!  I could have swore that we were leaving early enough to get pictures down at the bus stop. Did I waste too much time fighting with Dani to get dressed? Nope, it was a cruel joke for the bus driver to play on me to be 10 minutes early!  A brief panic mode and after running half way down the road, I realized that he will wait a few seconds for us.  That would be one heck of a memory though - missing the bus on our first day of school!   

After Ellee got on the bus, I bent down to take pictures of it driving away and Dani squeezes in between me in the camera "Mommy, I take the pictures!" She sat on my knee and I let her look through the view finder as I snapped the shutter.  We start to walk back to the house so that I can take Dani to Grandma's and I can head into work.  I took a deep breath and thought aloud "Ellee is headed off to school!"  I then heard little sniffles and looked down to see that my words made Dani realize that she wasn't going to have her buddy with her today so she was upset!  Seeing her cry made me cry!
 

I know that kids starting kindergarten and being on their own is the first step in their journey of independence that we parents try so hard to prepare our kids for.  I, under other circumstances, wouldn't have been so emotional.  Happy and excited - yes, scared and worried - no.  But this was different.  The hardest part for me was trusting some one else to take care of her T1D. At 16 months post-diagnosis, this is her first day with out either one of her 4 grandparents or Josh or I.  This is truly a HUGE day for her!  I am very excited, but with worry still being in the back of my mind.

Around 10:50, I received a call from the school.  Mrs. M was on the other end and very cheery.  She just called to tell me what her BS level was for lunch and said that Ellee excitedly showed her what she had packed and her froggy lunch box!  Such a relief to hear that she's in a good mood! 

I couldn't wait to get the girls from Grandma's and to hear how the day went!  "How was school, Ellee?"  "Mom, they have the coolest playground!"  It's hard to tell how that first day really went, but the fact that she was in a such a good mood and excited about *something* is good enough for me! 

All Day Kindergarten

I have to say that my warm, fuzzy feeling about sending Ellee to this school dropped after the uncoordinated effort to get everyone together for a "diabetes meeting" before school started.  We *finally* had our meeting, but it was the day before school and afterwords I was not 100% comfortable.  I'm sure that any parent who has a child with a disability feels that no one understand what they are going through or knows how to care for the child like they do.  We decided to go with this school because they have a full time nurse and have had several T1D kids over the years, so I think that made me a little too confident.

I think part of MY problem is that I try to downplay everything that we have to do to control the T1D.  I try to make it a little detour to the normal routine rather than make it a completely different route. That is all fine and well for me to do because I am the one who answers to the doctor. As I age, I am more into scientific experiments, the "lets this a try and analyze the results to see if it works."  What I failed to take into account is the fact that the school can not take the liability of risky moves like this.  I realized this half way through our meeting on Wednesday.  The more all of this dawned on me, the more I could kick myself for not putting myself into a different mind set for her action/emergency plan.  That in turns angers me because I wanted to have this meeting weeks before school started so that we had time to train and work out the kinks. 

After I talk to Ellee tonight to see how things went, I think that a follow up meeting may be in order.  I do owe them an apology for my previous mindset and come up with a new action plan.  A new plan with will accommodate their policy of having a set guideline with proper documentation.  By the end of the first day, I have spoke with the nurse twice.  Either of which were bad calls, but certain things were not made clear.  I do have to say that I felt so much better after the first phone call when she said that Ellee just left her office happy as can be and showing off her lunch and lunch bag!  I can not describe the relief that brings me to hear that!

I wonder if she realizes how important today is.  Yes, it's a big day that every child goes through. But not every child has had to spend every day of the last 16 months with some one who has had specific medical training to take care of them.  There are 6 of us who are trained to take care of her and this is the first time she has been able to go some where with out one of us.  I am excited because I know she needs this independence, but as a mom, I'm a nervous mother hen!

I can't wait to talk to her tonight to get her views of today!

Glasses

Friday was our big day for Ellee to get her eyes dilated to see what her prescription for glasses will be.  It was a disaster, to say the least, but over all, I'm fairly happy with the results.  Doctor visits are not fun to begin with, but even more true when you have a child in the middle of a Severe Hypo.  At least we got a break between the drops and exam to let her eyes dilate so that we could get food in her and get her brought back up to a functioning blood sugar level.

Once she started functioning, the exam went better.  As she was going through describing the pictures on the wall as the doctor flipped the lenses in front of her eyes, it was almost like a light coming on and getting brighter!  Once Dr. D dialed in her prescription, the excitement in Ellee's voice rose excitedly as she confidently called out the pictures because she could see them clearly... without straining to make them out! 

The results were better than I thought they would be: 1.50 in one eye, 1.25 in the other. I don't know why, but I expected them to be up over 2, but very thankful!  The best news: the diabetes has yet to effect her eyes!  As odd as it sounds, it's comforting to know that she would have needed glasses had she not gotten the T1D due to genetics. Because T1D is forever, the longer we can go without complications from it, the better.

The bad side of the visit... picking out glasses.  We literally tried on every single pair of kids glasses twice, plus a few they pulled from the back and even some petite women frames.  I was disappointed beyond belief and almost in tears at the thought of putting so much money into something that we didn't like.  Ellee picked out a pair that she liked, but I did not, and her only reasoning is because they were pink.  I made the decision to run over to another optical store to look for frames, but with El & Dani plus 2 other kids in tow (don't ask because I was not happy about it) going across the mall was no easy, simple, or fast task.  At my wits end, completely frustrated, and 4 kids complaining that they were hungry, I decided to call it a day and get the one pair of glasses that I liked (even though El didn't).  With school starting in less than a week, I knew I needed to get a pair on order to get them in right away.  I decided it would be easier and I wouldn't be so stressed if I got her a pair now, then I can take my time looking at other stores for a pair that we both agree on.  Probably not the smartest decision, but I admit that I do not do well under stress.

These are the frames I picked out, but we ordered them in a "gunmetal gray".  And even though that looks like a smile, she was really ticked and throwing a fit!

Soccer - Take 2!

Ellee played soccer a few years ago, shortly after she turned 3.  Looking back it was probably wasn't one of my brightest ideas, but she wanted to play so I figured what would it hurt for her to try it?  Yeah, 3 is a little too young!  She also asked to play last year, but she was a newly diagnosed diabetic and with the things that Josh and I were going through, we decided not to let her play.

She asked to play again this year, and I was more than happy to give it a second shot!  She has matured and grown so much in the past two years that I believe that soccer would be a great thing for her! We signed up at the end of July and she loved telling every one that she "is going to play soccer next year!".  No hunny, *this* year!  We did some how talk the neighbor boy into playing too so I think that helped fuel her excitement about playing!

Long story short... a girl that I grew up with called and asked me to help her coach a team!  I was more than ecstatic and we came to a quick agreement on a few things and it was all set up!  Unfortunately, it was very short notice... less than a week!  Quick studying, very rough game plan for practice structures, and wish for the best & hope it's not a complete disaster!

As a coach, I have to say that our first practice was very interesting!  With 11 kids ages 4-6, I don't know why I would have expected anything different!  The kids absolutely love the "Kick the Coach" game (although Coach Ryan wasn't so sure about it)!  From playing this game, I got a chance to watch Ellee to see how she was doing.  I see that I need to work with her on both dribbling and kicking, but I know that at this age, it just takes practice and patience to get it down!  El cracks me up, while playing "kick the coach", she came after me, but would wait till she got within a few feet of me before kicking it!  Once she gets the proper kicking technique down, that girl will have one heck of a powerful kick!!!

Now for the diabetes part of playing soccer:  we have to watch for signs of Lows. The hot weather and exercise makes your body use the glucose in your blood at a very fast rate.  She did wonderful last night!   She actively participated in the whole practice, never complained about being hot of thirsty, and at the end of it was even laughing & having a good time!  This is a huge relieve to see because some of the warning signs of a low are that she gets whiny and doesn't want to do anything.  She even went out and was riding her bike around Grandma & Grandpa's drive way after wards while waiting for dinner! However, when we checked her sugar before eating, she was down to 77 (we try to keep it about 90).  I see it as a reminder that we need to monitor not just during, but for an hour or so after wards.

Eye Doctor

At Ellee's Kindergarten screening, they mentioned that she struggled when she had to cover her left eye, which made my heart sink.   As we are finding out with diabetes, all organs are effected in some way or another by the fluctuation of blood glucose.  Kidney function is especially monitored, as well as making sure that we have regular dental and eye exams.

After realizing that school is starting too soon for me, I quickly scheduled an eye exam so that if El did need glasses, hopefully we could get them in before school started.  Part of me was scared to death to take her because I was afraid to hear the prognosis.  I even broke down while talking to a friend about it on Friday because with bodily functions, it seems that once something starts to deteriorate, it all goes down hill from there.  And this is even more so the case with diabetics. 

I love my mom!!!  She (and Uncle Jason) were nice enough to bring the girls to Lima to meet us for the appointment so that I didn't have to go clear back to the lake to get them!  While we were waiting for Josh and to get called back (El, Josh & I all 3 had appointments), we were trying on glasses!  Dani had a blast, putting on a few pairs at a time!  Ellee thought it was great because it was like a big fashion show to her!  I wasn't sure how Ellee would take to having glasses on, but then again, there is a huge difference between trying them on and wearing them all the time.  

After the doctor called me back and changed my prescriptions, as well as talk about alternative contacts to wear, it was Ellee's turn.  I have to admit, it was very interesting to sit and watch an exam to see what the doctor sees on the other side of those huge "eyeglasses".  Her exam took a little longer because she wouldn't sit still and sit up long enough for him to get a good look, which added to the butterflies in my stomach. 

After he finished, he turned to talk to me.  I've watched her do eye charts at the Pedi's office and this one so I know that her vision isn't as good as it should be.  Is she near sighted like I am and will just need glasses to see stuff at a distance (which in my mind would be the best case scenario)? So many questions and emotions ran though my mind in a brief few seconds.  Here it comes:  Farsighted with an Astigmatism.  What?  Farsighted?  Astigmatism?  Okay, so what is her prescription so that I can put into prospective how bad this is by hearing what the correction is?  He explained that he can't determine that without dilating her eyes and doing a more thorough exam. Since he was just filling in for the regular doctor, he wanted us to come back to see her for that exam.

Farsighted didn't sound right after watching her struggle with the wall chart, but then again, it may explain her problems with letter recognition, but it was definitely not what I expected.  For some reason I was thinking that an Astigmatism dealt with the nerve or something that connects to the back of the eye being too long or too short, but know know that deals with her cornea not being a smooth curve.

Josh's appointment wasn't until 5:30 and he didn't get there until after Ellee's exam was over.  I could hear the disappointment in his voice when I told him.  Mom took the girls out to walk around so that I could pick out a new set of glasses and while Josh went to do his exam.  After he finished he said that his vision was fine, but he had a slight astigmatism.  It takes a load of weight off my shoulders to know that El's vision problems are more hereditary than they are due to the Diabetes!  Not that it's a good thing that she has problems to begin with, but for some odd reason it's a little more comforting to know that we would have had to deal with this even if she didn't have the diabetes.

Again, playing the waiting game until Friday the 20th for her next exam to be able to order her glasses.

Dental Check Up

I completely forgot to post about her dental check up on Friday!  I started taking her every 6 months for check ups shortly after she was 2 and she has always done very well!  Poor kid is just like me and is probably a minority of people who actually don't mind going to the dentist!  On the drive to Wapak to see Dana & Doctor Dan, Ellee was telling me that she was just so excited about going to the dentist that she couldn't sleep last night!  I'm glad that she gets excited about getting a new toothbrush and her own "sparkly" toothpaste!

The difference this time was that Dani also had an appointment! Dani had an appointment back in January, but I was unable to take them and lets just say that it did not go very well.  I spoke with the Dental Hygienist (who is a good friend of Josh's) and we decided to schedule all three of us at the same time and have another hygienist work with the girls.  Dana started my cleaning while another took Ellee across the hall for her cleaning while Dani sat in my room to watch.

It's hard to accept, but there comes a point when kids need to be able to do things without you hovering over them, even though it's hard to fight that "mommy feeling" that you need to be there just in case to help.  I think this was one of those times!  

Ellee did great, as usual! Even though I couldn't watch it, it loved hearing the girls and the hygienist talk about brushing the alligator's teeth and the other cute things that came up in conversation!  Ellee came over to show me her pretty pink tooth brush and all the other stuff in her goody bag that she was so excited about (which in turn got Dani excited)! I really wanted to be able to watch (and take a few pictures) of Dani's first exam, but my took longer than the girls' did. I asked El if she would sit with Dani and help her while she got her teeth cleaned.  Ellee loves to be the big girl and help out, so she was more than willing!  She came over to my room at one point and exclaimed about how Dani had 8 teeth on the top!  Dana explained that it means that Dani has 2 more teeth to get in, and off El went to check on the progress!

When they finished, they came in and Dani showed her good bag exclaiming about her yellow tooth brush!  Ellee told how neither one of them had any cavities (although I'm not sure if she realized what that meant, but she knew it was a good thing) and both were smiling from ear to ear!

Staff knows you by name, they take you back and get started right away, and it's smiles and giggles the whole time... now if only all other doctor appointments went this well and were such happy events! 

First Eye Exam

When Ellee was first diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes, we were warned about all possible complications and organs that tend to suffer because of the unbalanced blood glucose.  They stressed the importance of regular dental exams (which we were already doing) and eye exams (which I had yet to even think about). 

In the spring they told us that she struggled with her left eye when doing her kindergarten screening and my heart sank. I took the girls to a well check with their Pedi and watched them give El an eye exam in the office.  Grant it, it wasn't the most scientific or even accurate thing, but it was still disheartening to watch.  On one hand, I don't know why I'm surprised because most of my family members wear glasses and I start wearing them to drive after I got married.  On the other hand though, I know that once your eye sight starts to go, it only gets worse over time and I think that is what upsets me the most. 

After seeing a sale ad for glasses, I decided it was time to get her in to hear an "official" verdict before school starts.  I know I probably procrastinated too long, but hopefully we have time to get a pair of glasses in before school starts, *if* she needs them.  But at the same time, I have this gut feeling that it's *only a matter of time* before she will need them. 

It's all a waiting game until Monday afternoon.  On the fun side though, Mom & Uncle Jason are going to take the girls to Chuck E Cheese to play before the appointment and she is so excited!

Preparing for School!

After our Endo visit and a short trip to the zoo to see the Polar Bears on Monday, we went to Target.  We don't have any Target stores around here, so when I make it to Columbus I like to go there and see what kind of deals I can find! 

I am having the hardest time finding a suitable bag for El's "stuff".  Our first bag was a small pink backpack with a poodle dog on it that Great Grandma R got El at the hospital when I had El.  From that, we started using a pink camo insulated lunchbox that we got from a JDRF walk.  Then we tried a 31 Gifts insulated lunch bag.  For her birthday (and 1 year diabetes anniversary) Staci & Gaven gave her a Sponge Bob mini backpack that we are currently using.  Unfortunately, all of these bags have problems so I'm always on the look out for a better bag. The insulated bags really are the better way to go and I really liked the 31 lunch bag, but it really needed a shoulder strap. 

So while at Target, I looked at their lunch boxes.  I'm looking thinking about a new diabetes bag, but Mom quickly reminds me that school will be starting soon!  As soon as she said that, Ellee got excited because she "needed a bag to take her lunch to the big kid school!"  I've never seen a kid so excited about packing her lunch!  I just hope that she keeps this enthusiasm up!

She didn't have a definite favorite, so I told her we will keep looking.  She also wanted too look at book bags.  Do you realize how hard it is to find a cute book bag that doesn't have some character plastered all over it?!  6 weeks left to find a lunch box and book bag that we BOTH agree with!

Quartly Endo Visit

On Monday we had El's quarterly doctors appointment with her specialist.  We did see the nurse practitioner this time, whom I really like!  Unfortunately her A1C went up from 8.3 last visit to 8.5, but we can deal with that. 

The Endos keep pushing us to give her shots sooner when she's eating and even want us to give it to her before she starts eating.  I understand the logic behind it, but lets just say that I'm not excited about it.  And the main thing that I can't get through to them is that she's not a predictable eater so how can I predict how much insulin to dose her with?  If she eats more than I think she will, then she's still going to run high, and if she doesn't eat as much, then she's going to go low and I'll have to force her to eat something.  It's times like this when the pump is looking better and better! 

Ah, the pump debate!  It's not that I'm opposed to it, it's just that it makes my stomach hurt just thinking about inserting, removing, and having a port in her stomach.  =(   I keep hoping that Gaven gets a pump soon so that Staci can show me first hand how it works. 

One bad thing that did come out of the Endo appointment is that Ellee is developing lumps in her arms from the shots.  Injections should be done in a different location every time if possible because the insulin causes the fat cells to either break down or harden, causing lumps.    We have 4 areas to chose from to give injections... Upper Arms, Thighs, Upper Butt (or Hips), and Stomach.  The stomach is the ideal area because it's closer to the digestive system and is absorbed quicker, there for working quicker.  El has always preferred her arms, but has been letting us do her thighs.  For some reason she fights us when we suggest her hip.  I refuse to consider her stomach, at this point in time, for a couple of reasons:  1) she has no fat in her stomach!  (Yes, I will admit that I'm jealous of her little, flat abs!) and 2) when she goes on the pump, we will run out of spots on her stomach to rotate though, so I see the stomach as a "pump area only".  My only hope is that she will let us use her hips soon, because it will only be a matter of time before we face the same lumping problem with her thighs. 

On a positive note: We are nearing the end of our last bottle of Humalog so we can finally switch over to the Novalog Pen!  The pen will be much more convenient and quicker, plus we won't look like a bunch of drug addicts with all of the syringes! 

One Smart Cookie

It amazes me at the stuff the girls come up with some times!

I had to take Dani in for a well check one Friday, then take Ellee in for her well check the following Friday. Both girls needed shots but I tried not to say anything about it ahead of time. After seeing how big the needles were at Dani's appointment, she kept asking if she had to get shots at hers. Not wanting to scare her, I kept saying I don't know (because I really had no idea what she needed or how many).

After getting weighed in and height checked (44 pounds and 44 inches!), we did the usual waiting forever for the doctor. The girls decided they had to go to the bathroom, so we walked down the hall. El returned to the room before Dani and I did, and when I walked in I heard the following conversation:

"Do I have to get shots today?"
"I'm not sure, we'll have to take a look in a little bit to see if you need any."
"Well, if I do have to get some, will you use my *little* needles instead of your *BIG* needles?"

What do you say to that?! I was so stunned that I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! I was amazed that she was able to make the connection between her needles and the shot needles and think of substituting them! And I seriously wish they would consider downgrading the gauge of their needles because they were huge!!!

Mom and I had the same thought (and she even told El) that she should be fine with the immunization shots because she's use to getting her insulin shots. WRONG! That whole wing of offices could have heard her screaming! And the worse part was that in order for me to hold her down, my ear was right by her face!

Start of Summer!

I decided to try something new and upload a video!  The girls have been begging to go out in the kayaks, and Dani is especially excited since she is finally big enough to try to paddle her own boat!  Good thing Mom had the for-thought to go ahead and get two kayaks when we found them because we have yet to find them again!

This is a video of El in her boat for the first time in "big water".  We taught her to paddle in the pool before going out on the lake.

Fairies

For Christmas, I got the girls the cutest tutus and have been wanting to do pictures of them in them. The weather finally cooperated and we were off to Uncle Dave & Aunt Tonya's tree farm to see what we could get into!

Such a Caring Little Girl!

On Friday, May 14th, I *finally* had my appointment to have my wisdom teeth out (it got canceled and pushed back for 2 months because of insurance delays).  I was really hoping to be able to do it on a weekend when I didn't have the girls, but that didn't happen since Josh was in Florida that weekend.  Mom was a trooper and offered to take the girls and I to the appointment and babysit us as much as we needed that weekend.  I love her to death... she is such a strong, and brave, woman!!!


I had to be to the surgeon's office at 10:30.  Because all 4 of my teeth were completely impacted, they knew it was going to take a little longer than normal... no big deal to me as long as they didn't have any difficulties!  All I told the girls was that mommy was going to a "special dentist", and at some point it was said that I was getting teeth pulled.  At either point, neither of them really cared, they just know that I was having *something* done!

The game plan:  Mom drops me off, then takes the girls to McD's to eat and play at the playground till I'm done, then head back and get me and head home.  Simple enough.  On the way there, we see that there is a playground a block away from his office, and Elizabeth was bound and determined that she wanted to play at THAT playground!  For some reason there was orange barricade fencing around it, so Mom told her that they were going to a different one.  We get to the office, I get Danica out and Mom gets El out.  As I walk around the back of the car, I hear Ellee crying and Mom is asking her what is wrong.  El manages to choke out between tears that she "doesn't want the dentist to make Mommy cry"!  It was so cute and ironic that I couldn't help but laugh and cry at how sweet she is!  We assured her that Mommy will not cry!

Surgery goes well and we head home.  I hurt, boy did I hurt, but I didn't cry!  When we got home I sat on the couch with an ice pack icing down my face for a few hours which helped with the pain.  At some point, El sat down beside me.  I showed her the bandage and cotton ball in the crook of my arm and said "look, Mommy got a straw in my arm, but it didn't hurt!"  I've learned over the years from blood draws and IVs, that it just hurts initially, but not even that bad as long as I don't watch them insert the needle.  El has had her share of draws an IVs, so I'm trying to get her to see that the initial poke is the only thing that hurts.  I assured her that my arm doesn't hurt any more so she told me to take the bandage off, so we did. I had to choke back the tears because that was a sticky bandage!!!

Dani would come over and play with me, which usually consisted of using me as a playground.  El seen her do this a few times and sternly told her "Dani, be careful, Mommy's arm hurts!"  I couldn't help but laugh and tell her that my arm is fine, it's my jaw and mouth that hurts! 

After a couple hours I got off the couch and went out side to watch the girls jump on the trampoline.  A few different times, Ellee came up to me and said that she wanted to "make soup for me so that I feel better!"  I couldn't help but laugh and cry a little every time because it made me so proud that she was so caring and wanted to do anything to make me feel better! Mom and I both told her that when I when I finally get hungry, I'll let her know so that she can make me soup, but not to worry about it right now!

It just goes to show that how strong of a little girl she is.  With all the needles and pokes she has to go through, that she is brave and gets through them.  And when some one else is hurt, she is willing to help take care of them!  I really do hope she becomes a nurse and puts her caring to good use! 

Speechless!

I have to admit that I had a hard time thinking of a title for this post!  Even before diabetes, Ellee has always seem very grown up for her age and her personality definitely started showing through at an early age!  In the year that we've had to deal with T1D, she has proven to be such a strong little girl - maybe too strong! She has accepted this new path through life with a shrug of the shoulders and keeps moving forward.

Last night she said something that caught me off guard but so funny at the same time! We've become very good friends with the neighbors who have a little boy and little girl who are the girls' age.  Last night, we ate dinner with them because it was their Mimi's birthday!  I made sketti & meatballs with garlic bread and when it was done, I fixed 4 plates and sat them down at the table.  I set El's test meter down beside her plate and called all the kids in to start eating and went out into the kitchen to make my plate. I sent back out to see get the meter and to see what her number was. 

Being pokey like she can be at times, she wasn't done yet.  Standing there waiting for her to finish, the little boy asks her what she's doing.  Consintrating on getting the blood on the strip, without looking up at him she says "I'm checking my sugar".  He accepted that and started in on his plate, but to my surprise, a few seconds later El adds "*sigh* I'm just the kid next door with diabetes!"

WOW... not sure what to make of that!  I did have to laugh to myself and mom laughed this morning when I told her about it.  I think the "matter of fact" voice that she used is what made it so cute and funny.  In a way it scares me that this is making her grow up too fast, but on the other hand, I can't be more grateful that she's accepted this as well as she has.

D-Day

April 21, 2010 - Ellee's one year anniversary from her diagnosis date.  I know it sounds odd to celebrate it, but I've heard of others doing just this and I think that it's a pretty good idea!  We have to celebrate the small victories, and one big victory - that we still have our Ellee!!! A year ago, two hospitals and an ambulance ride later, we still have our Ellee!!!

Our nightly ritual is to try to read at least one book before the girls go to bed.  Some times it gets too late and we don't have time, and other nights we'll read for an hour!  Thursday night Dani had fell asleep so it was just El and I to read.  We crawled into my bed and chatted for a little bit before I started the book.  I was pretty emotional, for many reasons, this week.  While I usually try not to cry around the girls, some times I can't help it!  Monday was 11 years since my grandpa passed away, Tuesday was Ellee's 5th birthday (wow, 5 years!), and Wednesday was her 1 year diagnosis day.  With all of that, on Thursday night as Ellee and I laid in bed, I told her "you know, you've had diabetes for a whole year now!  I am so proud of you for being so strong and cooperating so well!  I really appreciate that you handle this as well as you do!"  I started to tear up and couldn't say anything else, but she got this big smile on her face and shook her head yes (like she does when she gets really excited about something).  It brought a huge smile to my face, I said thank you and she gave me a great big hug! 

That is what is so amazing about all of this... she is such a strong person and has taken it all in stride and not let any of it phase her!  Why can't everyone be like that?!  It's funny that most people look up to an older person to model themselves off of, but after living with and seeing other Type 1 kids, I admire them so much!  Sure, I still have to fight her every once in a while to do a shot, or she doesn't like that I make her do a leg instead of an arm, but she's over it very quickly! 

Things we've learned in the past year:
1.  Type 1 Diabetes is still kind of a tabo thing, but many, many people have it and get it.
2.  After Ellee's diagnosis, I am finding that more and more people I know have it and I didn't even realize it.
3.  The cause of T1D is unknown, but learning the symptoms of it for early detection are important.
4.  Getting the word out can help others, 2 other people close to us have been diagnosed since, and the one has credited us with helping her get her son to the hospital as early as she did!
5.  This disease sucks!  And while the first couple of months are rough, even horrible, things do get better.
6.  Younger siblings do get jealous of the attention, and are often very curious of all the supplies!
7.  A younger sibling will always want to check their sugar too, and usually at an in-opportune time!
8.  There are terms associated with T1D that when said out in public can raise eyebrows (see this post!)
9.  You find yourself saying things with out thinking and realize that never in a million years you'd ever think that you'd be saying it to your child, let alone a 4 year old, such as "Lets do shots!" or "come on and poke yourself, your meter's running!"
10.  Kids are very resilient. As an adult, you can't imagine giving yourself a shot, let along multiple times a day, yet these kids do it 3-5 times a day and think nothing of it!

The biggest thing that I've learned from all of this, and the thing that I think has pulled us through all of this the most is that we have to control the T1D, not let it control us!  I'm very proud of how well we are doing in this aspect!  It is a few extra steps we have to take in our lives.  One day I hope that Isolet Transplants will come to the fore-front so that these kids get relief. Knowing how strong as these kids are, I believe that they will push and strive for it, even if they are the ones who go into the medical field and develop it themselves!

Happy D-Day Ellee!!!

One Year Checkup

On Monday, April 5th, we went in for Ellee's one year check up! 

We didn't have the best morning, including a point in which I didn't think my car was going to make it to Dublin.  After calling to let them know we were running behind, we finally got there and had a fairly good visit!

They were fairly happy with her numbers over all.  Her A1C was 8.3 (they like it to be around 7-8).  Her numbers have been higher than what they should be, but they were fairly consistent with very few lows.  We did ask about getting a prescription for an insulin pen and the nurse came in and demonstrated one for us!  I will admit that I was nervous about them after giving Gaven a shot with his.  For some reason it seemed like the needle on his pen was twice as long as the syringes, but after seeing the demo pen, they almost looked smaller!  The girls got a kick out of watching us learn to "bleed the air out" of a new cartridge of insulin!  To do this, you have to set the pen to 2 units and press the "inject" button.  You do this into the air to push any air out of the cartridge before the first use and it shoots a stream of insulin (or in this case of demonstration it was saline), but the girls thought it was just as fun as trying to run through a sprinkler or catch bubbles!

The doctor came in to go over our log book with us.  There really isn't anything worse than having a doctor "yell" at you for doing something you didn't know you weren't suppose to do! She did politely tell us to not adjust the long acting insulin because it takes a few days of consistent dosing to see any results.  Josh and I talked afterwords and he admitted that he did the same thing, he just didn't write it down in the log book! To us, our thinking was rational so why not give it a try?!  Now we know! 

The yearly blood draw afterwords, however, was not so pleasant. =(    We went next door for this and they had a wonderful play area in the waiting room!  Which was nice because the girls were going stir crazy after sitting in the doctors office for 2 hours!  We got called back in a matter of minutes, Dani was ready to follow the nurse, but Ellee was entranced in the toy!  Josh told Dani that she has to stay here and play and without looking up El says "I'm staying here to play too!"  I wish I could have let her, but couldn't.  We did have a great nurse that worked as fast as she could with minimal pain.  Ellee really hasn't had that many blood draws, but she knew that she got that stretchy cord wrapped around her arm and tried to do that herself while the nurse was getting ready!  What followed however wasn't not so fun or cute.  They had a sheet of different bandages for her to choose from.  After blood donations and draws during my pregnancies, I learned that I was okay as long as I didn't watch them insert the needle.  Using this, I tried to get El to concentrate on the sheet and deciding what she wanted. The nurse, being as good as she was, recognized this and inserted the needle.  Unfortunately, it still hurt and she screamed, then cried.  It was over fast, but in the rush and getting El to calm down, I forgot to grab the prescriptions and print out from the doctors when I grabbed my purse and the diabetes bag! 

We went over to Cici's for a late lunch and I got a phone call from a 614 area code and immediately answered it.  Once the nurse said who she was, it immediately dawned on me that I didn't grab the papers!  Oops!!! Thankfully we were still in town and not halfway home!

Over all, we had a very good visit! It's been almost a year since diagnosis and I have to admit that we are all handling this very well!  Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't wish Type 1 on my worst enemy, but you definitely learn how strong you really are when faced with it.

Kindergarten Screening

I can't believe how fast time goes!  Seems like Ellee was just born yesterday, and now she's ready to start full time school!  She's been in preschool for less than a year and a half, for just a couple hours 4 days a week.  Preschool has been very manageable with diabetes because she eats and gets a shot before school and snacks are kept to around 15 carbs or less.  The only thing they have to watch for is signs that she's low, which equates to watching to see if she doesn't feel good or isn't acting like her normal self.  This is the beginning of April and there has only been one or two instances of her getting low, so I have to commend Grandma and Mrs. M & Miss H for the great job of watching and controlling since I can't be there!

But now it's time for Ellee to start "big kid school"!  I'm excited about this, but with her medical condition, I am an absolute WRECK!  When we were at Children's Hospital (almost a year ago) all I could think about is "how are we going to handle full time school???"  Since I moved, I've been looking into different school districts and checking on their nursing staff and how they handle T1D children.  We found out that when Indian Lake built their new elementary school, they included a very nice nurses station and have a full time nurse.  At the time we were told that she has around 5 T1D kids!  This is great news because most rural schools only have a nurse that is part of the county and visits different school. 

Our big day was Tues, March 23rd at 5pm!  I can't tell you how nervous I was about if she knew what they needed her to know!  After being assured by some friends on facebook that she'd be okay, I felt much better going into it!  Once we got there, we signed her in and off she went with one of the high schoolers - not shy at all, but excited to see where these big kids were taking her!

The school nurse was talking with all the parents one on one, so when it was our turn, we headed over to her table!  As I went to sit down, she stood up to shake my hand and introduce herself.  I said my name and "we are going to get to know each other VERY well this year!".  She gave me an odd look and I said "Elizabeth has Type 1 Diabetes".  It use to choke me up every time I said that out loud.  I can't describe how hard it is to admit that you don't have a perfectly healthy child.  But I am over-coming that and am now able to say it with a steady voice and dry eyes.  Mrs. M smiled and immediately wanted to know more, pencil in hand and took lots of notes as we chatted!

As we wrapped up our conversation, she asked permission to tell the staff that they have another diabetic in the pre-school staff meeting and I immediately agreed that she can... and should!   Like I told her, I think that EVERYONE should be aware of the symptoms because I believe that catching it as early as possible may increase the length of the honeymoon phase! Since teachers are with kids for 6 hours a day, they are likely to see the warning signs.

We also talked with the principal of the school and was in agreement that before school starts there will be a meeting with him, the nurse and her teacher to go over an action plan for the year.  I can't even begin to express how much of a relief it is to know that they are so willing to work with us!  I hear of so many people who get nothing but grief from the school about their child's care and hope that we never have to deal with that!

Dress Shopping

On Sunday I took Ellee to Columbus to get her dress ordered for her Uncle Carl's wedding in June!  I think I was pushing it waiting as long as I did to order it, but we lucked out and they let us take the one off the rack since it was her size!  I had a hard time getting her to go because she just was NOT in the mood to go shopping! I am blaming it on her being low because when I checked her half an hour after she drank 30 carbs of juice, she was only 97... YIKES!!!  Not low yet (any thing under 90 is considered low for her), but it seems like once she gets under 100, she drops fast!

Ellee LOVES dressing up and looking pretty, so she will be loving it on the wedding day when we get to do up her hair and give her flowers!  She was calling this flower girl dress HER Wedding Dress!  When she first found out she was going to be in Carl & Moriah's wedding, she asked "Am I going to look as beautiful as Aunt Moriah?!"

Good Bye Honeymoon???

We've been having problems with Ellee having high blood sugar (BS) readings lately. Any time there is a high reading, we have to think about what is causing it. Is it because she had too many carbs that we didn't account for when dosing her insulin? Was it some of the cold medicine we were giving her? Did she sneak food or drink or just have too many for a snack. Did we miscalculate how many carbs she is eating and under-dose her? So many things could factor in, and there are quite a few things that we can do to try to adjust, such as giving her a dose of insulin for her afternoon snack or changing her carb:insulin ratio to give her more insulin. But in the back of our minds, there is the terrifying thought that she might be coming out of her "Honeymoon Phase".

Usually after diagnosis, every one goes through a honeymoon phase. It is where any remaining Beta Cells that were not completely killed off start to kick back in and work after insulin injections are started. The best way I can relate it is to compare them to wounded soldiers in battle. After most of the cells are killed off, ones that are "wounded" give up and withdraw because they know they are out numbered. After diagnosis administering insulin is like sending in the backup troops to help the wounded cells. Seeing that they have back up, the cells kick back in and start working again. The great thing is that we don't inject that much insulin, and in some cases, we were able to bypass a shot for a meal! The down side is that these cells are damaged and will eventually die off.

Last week I was racking my brain with Mom trying to figure out why she has been so high in the afternoon. Looking at all the numbers in the log book trying to put together some kind of pattern, I had a horrible thought in the back of my mind: is this the end of her honeymoon???

As a realist, I know that it has to come to an end at some time, but I'm not ready for that yet! In my weird way of thinking, I some how equate the length of her honeymoon to the fact that we caught this disease early enough that not too many of the cells were killed/damaged. On that note, we are 9 months in, and the average is 6-12 months.

On the way to BounceU on Sunday to meet with other families of the JDRF Dayton Chapter, I mentioned to Staci about Ellee's numbers being high. She said that Gaven's has been too. I had read a while ago and found it very interesting that about half of the people diagnosed was right around their birthday, and that about 25% of the people say that symptoms and diagnosis came within months after a vaccine or flu shot. I'm starting to wonder... No matter when a person was diagnosed, did their honey moon end between Jan-March? My theory: with all the colds and flus going around and the immune system working over time, maybe it's also working on the rest of the beta cells. I think I'm going to get on Juvination and do a little bit of research and maybe take a poll!!!

Although I am greatly saddened by the thought of coming out of the honeymoon phase, I do realize that she will have to eventually. After reading about an Ohio woman's journey through an Isolet Transplant... the positive side of this is that for a transplant, there has to be absolutely no beta cell activity! Ellee is many years away from the possibility of a transplant, but I'm hopeful that there will be a cure breakthrough in her time!

Live Life, Be Brave!

Very Encouraging!

Just got a news letter from the local JDRF chapter.  One of the front page articles was about Isolet Transplants by some one who actually had it done!  The fact that she's been insulin free for over a year is wonderful news! 

I heard about this shortly after El was diagnosed as something that is on the horizon.  The article I read involved using stem cells to generate as isolets then injecting them in the body and they implant themselves into the pancreas.  This article talked about pulling the isolets from a donated kidney (or two) then injecting them.

One reason that I'm very hopeful about this possible procedure is that there is less chance of rejection.  If there is rejection, it will hopefully just be the cells and shouldn't be the whole pancreas.  But one thing that I've wondered about it is the rejection meds that you would have to take.  Would the rejection meds be any better or worse than taking the insulin? I still have a lot of research to do on this, and I have a blog to read about this woman's journey through the transplant and recovery. 

The hope of Isolet Transplants becoming a reality is what drives me to do fundraisers for JDRF.  There are so many people who deserve some relief from the daily routine of keeping their blood sugars in check!

Uck... Birthday Parties!

I think for any parent, the thought of going to a birthday party brings mixed emotions.  As a parent, you realize that there really isn't any GOOD time of day to have a party.  What do you do?!

We had a birthday party on Sunday for a friend of Ellee's.  She was so excited to see her friend (after not seeing her for about a year) AND she was excited to go bowling (a new found love)! The party was from 3-5:30, a really odd time to adjust for eating schedules, especially since we usually don't eat dinner till 6.  It's funny because I had read about other T1 families talk about how much they eat in terms of how many units of insulin you need... and I'm realizing how true it is!!  I gave El 3 1/2 units at the end of the party... about 100 carbs of food!  Her usual shots of Humalog at a meal are 1-2 units, occasionally she'll be a little piggy and eat 3 bowls of cereal and get 3 units at breakfast.  But for her to eat 100 carbs in the afternoon is VERY unusual! 

Another thing that makes a non-pumping T1 mom cringe when it comes to birthday parties is that everything is so spread out.  When we went for El's last check up with the Endo, her A1C was higher than desired.  While we were keeping her numbers in a good range, we were waiting too long after she got done eating to give her a shot and the Endo made it very clear that we should give it to her a lot sooner.  In essence we were "chasing" her BS levels.  While the end result is the same, her A1C will be higher because of the higher level of BS until the insulin kicks in and starts bringing it down.  Yesterday (like most birthday parties), it was close to 2 hours from the time Ellee started eating till I was able to give her a shot.  She started with a couple chocolate covered pretzel sticks, then the pizza came and she had two pieces... then waiting.  Ellee was anxious to have cake and ice cream and I was anxious because I wanted her to finish eating so that I could dose her.  I hate to guess how much she would eat because it would be my luck that she wouldn't eat it all and we risk going into a Hypo because I gave her too much insulin.  So, I opted for the chance of a higher A1C and waited to see what she actually ate.  Good thing I did because she didn't finish all her ice cream. 

Another dread about birthday parties for T1 parents...  the goody bags they take home.  Okay, so this is a dread for any parent, especially when you get the noise maker toys like the "hand clappers" that was in El's bag!  We got to hear that for half the car ride home. =(  The other dread is the candy that is in there.  Kids love it, parents hate it.  Parents especially hate it when you've dosed your kid for all the carbs you plan on them eating for 3-4 hours.

Oh well... life goes on!  Hopefully good control all the other times will make up for what seemed like a long afternoon!  *sigh*  Yet another advantage of using an insulin pump.  We will definately be checking into this in a few years!

The Gears are Starting to Roll!

Literally! I'm so excited! I just got off the phone with Vicky from the JDRF Dayton Chapter about meeting with her in regards to doing a Ride to Cure!

When I first started looking around jdrf.org after Ellee was diagnosed, I had it in the back of my mind that "some day" it would be GREAT to be able to accomplish one of these Century Rides (100 miles) in her honor. Knowing that my physical condition was getting better, but not the best, I put that on my "to do list" for around 5 years out.

I completed a Half Marathon Skate in August and amazed myself at the fact that I was able to finish, not be last (but I was second to last!), and that my average time per mile was less than 5 minutes! A week after that, Ellee had strapped on her little kid roller skates and proceeded to start her slow roll around the block. I could see El's frustration with the wheels not rolling like she wants them too. She looks up at me and says "Mom, I need lessons to learn to skate like you!"

It's times like that when I swell with pride and know that no matter how often I feel like I'm not the best parent that I should be, that I'm not doing too bad after all! I love that she still looks up to me and wants to do the same things that I like to do! It's that point when I know that I need to push myself into uncharted territory, step out of my comfort zone, and set goals for myself that I never otherwise would! After getting back into cycling and doing a few 20+ mile bike rides, I've set my sights to train and attempt a Century Ride this summer!

I didn't really plan on doing the Ride to Cure Century this summer, but I'm thinking that I need to just make up my mind and do it. The required fundraising amount is between $3,000-$4,000 and is very intimidating. But after I read a post on Facebook from Staci about how her son Gaven is adjusting, it made me realize I've got two little kids to push me through this! Two little kids who are going through things that I can only comprehend 90% off. I know that a true cure is a long way off, but the progression they are making is huge!

While being realistic that these kids may not get to use any of these new sciences for a while, my wish for them is to overcome the disease all together. Not to let it take over their life, but to make it a little side note to their accomplishments! Not to let this stop them from any dreams or goals that they may have! I want to ride in their honor... and hopefully be an inspiration to them!

Let the fund raising begin!!! Okay, so I can't do much till after they release the new ride dates and I find out the amount I have to raise! How about this.... LET THE BRAIN STORMING BEGIN!!!