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!