Well Played, Diabetes

We had a low blood sugar last night. Dex CGM site was on her gluteus maximus and it wasn't really working well the past couple days. Dex had 99 arrow flat and all of a sudden Elyssa said "Mom! My leg is walking away from me again".

She said that Saturday when she was going low but I had brushed it off as crazy toddler talk. Well I forgot my daughter is not like every toddler or little girl. She has Type 1 Diabetes and anytime she says something crazy is going on with her body I better check her out.

So I check and she had a BG of 50 with 1.5 units of insulin on board. That 1.5 units would drop her about 150. That could have made her seizure or could've killed her. This low took the breath out of me and kicked me back a notch. If she didn't say her leg was walking away from her again I wouldn't have even checked her.

I started to think... What caused this low?
I had checked an hour ago, her BG was 120 and she ate about 30g of pasta. Pasta always makes her spike like crazy. Well not only is Diabetes a factor in Blood Glucose numbers there is also the digestion issue. Sometimes Elyssa will eat and her Blood Glucose starts rising 20mins. after eating or on a bad day her digestion is delayed for some reason and she will not spike for 2-3hrs. Or maybe that pasta wasn't created equally as all other pastas and had a lower carb. count. Who knows???

So today was just one of those lucky days where everything decided to go wrong for dinner time..... Bad Dex CGM site, insulin given, carb. count???, body didn't want to play right and digestion was like 3hrs late.

Sometimes you just have to admit defeat.
DIABETES YOU WON THIS ROUND!

T1D Played Nice This Weekend

On Saturday we went to a Quinceanera/15th Birthday Party. Elyssa was running, jumping and dancing the whole time which was about 5 hours. Lots of family members were amazed to see Elyssa can play just like any other 4yr old even though she has Type 1 Diabetes. I put on a cool calm face about all her running around but inside I was freaking out. I kept waiting for low blood sugars but I checked and Diabetes played nice. BGs rocked in the 100s the whole time. Then came night time BGs. I thought here comes the low blood sugars Dun Dun Dun..... but nope that didn't happen BGs were awesome.

Sunday, Family get-together and again Elyssa was running and playing with her cousins. BGs held in the 100s. Again I got comments about how amazing it is that Elyssa can be so active with her Type 1 Diabetes. It was also reassuring to me to see that Diabetes is not going to hold her back from being a crazy, awesome and active kid. Thanks for playing nice Diabetes. It was an awesome weekend.

Feeling Bad for Trying to get some ME time

I know a lot of parents struggle with this but I have been trying to get more "ME" time. My sister was visiting from out of town this weekend and I thought what a perfect time to get some "ME" time. My mom was here, Elyssa had her cousins to play with and Elyssa's dad could take care of her Diabetes care while I was out for a while with my sister. My sister & I went to a nice dinner Friday night and had some drinks after. Everything went good so I decided to go for it again and we went to have drinks Sunday night. Well Elyssa's blood sugars went low she had a BG of 57 probably from running around and playing with her cousins. She always runs around like crazy when she goes low. I have no idea why but she does. Well she ran right into a door knob. I got home and she was sleeping. I was afraid to go to sleep last night in fear of thinking maybe she got a concussion or something from hitting the door knob. I think I woke up like 20 times to check on her. I felt so bad for trying to get some "Me" time and not being there during her accident. I wish I could be everywhere at once but I know I can't.

My Little Angel Praying for a Cure While Sleeping

Picture Taken By Trista Hermann

Our LA Trip

I was really scared to go on a trip for a wedding in La Mirada, CA last weekend. Last year on our trip to Southern CA Elyssa was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes so I was so afraid something could go wrong on this trip too. I was worried to the extent that I mapped out the nearest hospitals with P.I.C.U units by the hotel and in the town where the reception was going to take place.
Las Vegas to LA is only about a 4 hour drive and I think I held my breath almost the whole way. I wanted to rush and get there so nothing could happen on the road or in the middle of no where. It took us forever to get there which added to my stress. We past 2 accidents and I totally forgot how horrible Southern CA traffic was. I have no idea why I was freaking out so much. We keep Elyssa's BGs in a really good range majority of the time. I just have the worse luck and I couldn't handle anything else going wrong right now.
Well all that worrying was for nothing. We made it there with no problems. I even let her have an ice cream on the way because she was being such a good girl in the car just looking at the clouds, mountains & cacti. I even get bored looking at that stuff so she deserved a treat. We also treated her and took her to the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. She had a blast, she loves aquariums. At the wedding we got a couple 60s and 70s from all the running around she did. I didn't even bolus her for dinner or cake and we still got some lows I couldn't believe it. She played, she danced, she ran around but most importantly she had a good time.
Me on the other hand, I was a nervous wreck watching her running around, I checked her probably every 30 mins., I was tired, sweaty from CA humidity, and I really wanted a drink. Our drive back home went even smoother. We didn't catch any traffic and BGs were in the 100s. I feel sort of stupid for worrying so much about everything but I know Diabetes has a mind of it's own and can wreck havoc in a short period of time. Diabetes was good to us on this trip and I am so thankful.

A Little Encouragement for Elyssa

I've been trying to encourage Elyssa to put sites on her stomach but nothing is working. She has an awesome sitter that had a great idea of practicing on her stuffed animal. Elyssa was soooo happy and proud of herself. I don't think I've ever seen her smile so big! THANK YOU TRISTA & KAILEY!

Yiippeee, No More Medical Bills

I am so happy I have finally paid off ALL Elyssa's medical bills from when she was in DKA and diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. It's such a relief and I feel this tremendous weight lifted off my shoulders finally.
At the beginning I tried so hard to understand this disease and not go crazy from lack of sleep but then when I got slapped with bills for thousands of dollars it truly broke me. I cried so much. I felt like how was I supposed to provide a future for my Type 1 Diabetic daughter when I owed thousands of dollars and had to pay for tons of supplies on a monthly basis. I cried for the diagnosis, I cried from all the threatening calls saying they were going to send me to collections or start taking money from my paycheck, I cried for all the $$$$$ signs flashing before my eyes every time I opened the mail.
Since we were out of town in California when Elyssa was diagnosed my insurance didn't pay for all the doctors fees. She was diagnosed in 1 hospital then transported to another hospital so I had bills from 2 different hospitals, tons of different doctors, nurses, endos and the ambulance company. I took it day by day. I made tons of calls, sent tons of emails & faxes trying to get costs down. I called doctors directly to see if they would lower their fees and a couple of them did so that was a great help. Also, I kept sending a ton of bills back to the insurance company as claims because I felt we shouldn't pay all the out of state costs since the local Pediatrician & Urgent Care doctors that "were" covered by my insurance missed her diagnosis a few days before we left town. The insurance company did end up going 50/50 with me on a couple more bills. Even though it was all so stressful and such a big fight I find myself lucky because I did have some kind of insurance.
I thought for sure we were going to be in & out of the hospital all the time due to diabetes complications. I'm so glad that hasn't been the case. No more hospital stays this whole 1st year of diagnosis. It's given me time to pay off all medical bills, Woo Hoo. I'm finally able to breathe a sigh of relief and do my little happy dance. I no longer have to be scared to open the mail or answer the phone anymore. One whole year of Type 1 Diabetes.... I didn't let the diagnosis beat me, I didn't let the bills beat me.... I just keep taking everything day by day and try to do the best I can for my little girl. I just feel like all the hard work is finally paying off... Literally! =)

Wordless Wednesday

Elyssa's 1st Diaversary

Well today is D-Day July 1st, Elyssa's 1 year Diabetes anniversary. 1 year ago today she was so sick in DKA she almost died but she was given another chance to live. Type 1 Diabetes is an everyday battle but I am trying my best so she can live life to the fullest. She was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and our lives changed forever. It has been one hell of a year to say the least.
I don't know what to expect of my emotions today. I do know that I have already teared up off & on this week just thinking about this day. I want her to remember that she was given another chance at life and I want her to celebrate life. I think that making it a whole year living with Diabetes and still having some sanity deserves to be celebrated.
I really wanted to thank everyone that has helped us throughout this year. We had an awesome CDE that explained everything so well that we had enough knowledge to come home and take care of her. I have to say thank you to the few friends & family that have actually stuck by us and helped or showed us support. Also, thanks to the D.O.C (Diabetes Online Community) I have learned so much from all your posts, blogs & responses and you guys have really helped get me through some really hard times. I have made some new lifelong friends and diabetes has shown me how truly strong I am. I hope Elyssa will see a cure in her life time and if not I hope I provide her with the tools to live her life and not let Diabetes stop her!

A Birthday Wish

Today is my birthday. There is always that moment when you're about to blow out the candles that you stop and think what should I wish for. Well my wish is going to be the same for every birthday, every shooting star, every coin I throw in a fountain....I wish that one day there will be a cure for Type 1 Diabetes.

Mother's Day

I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day. As for our Mother's Day well that didn't go so good. Today has been filled with high blood sugars, 2 site changes, insulin shots, and many many finger pokes to check BGs and ketones.
I started to reflect on today and it's meaning. I know my daughter is too young to thank me for being her mom but I wondered if she would think I'm a good mom. I started realizing today that since her diagnosis last July I really haven't read to her, played with her, painted/colored with her or danced with her.
I told myself at the beginning that I would always let life be first and Diabetes second. Well it sort of seems I have let Diabetes win and go first. It's a really hard disease to take care of and I know I shouldn't beat myself up too much but I am. I'm working 40hrs. a week then come home too exhausted to do anything with her.
When she was in DKA and the ER doctor told me to pray that she wouldn't go into a coma I thought about all the things she never got to do and the life that she would miss out on. I have tried to take her out more but I don't know if it's enough. I don't know where I'm going to get all the energy to do everything but I have to put some pep in my step and start doing more things with her. I can't let Diabetes take away anymore precious moments & memories.

Things that make you say Hmmmmmm

Elyssa is really in to horses right now. We took her to a ranch today to go feed some horses carrots and apples. Well there was a private party going on so we fed the horses and left pretty quickly.
At home we were watching My Little Ponies and Elyssa said that her My Little Pony toys had diabetes. I thought to myself, "Do horses get diabetes?" Hmmmmmm.... I know everyone always says cats and dogs get diabetes but I thought it was probably due to those animals eating the same food humans do. So I had to google it and there it was.....horses have insulin resistance problems/Type II Diabetes. I tried to search to see if they get some form of Type 1 Diabetes but wasn't able to find anything.
I wonder what other animals get Diabetes and could diabetes in animals help find Diabetes causing factors. It's late so I will just have to google and think about that another day.....

Trying to Spread Awareness on a Daily Level

When my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes I had no idea what it was and that almost cost my daughter her life. Since then I have kept trying to think of ways to spread Type 1 Diabetes awareness.
On my way to work a couple times a week I see a car with a License plate that says DKA. I know that is probably the persons initials or something but every time I see it I feel like beating the crap out of the license plate with a crowbar or baseball bat. It always takes me back to the moment I learned my daughter was in DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis). So to kill the bad vibe of the DKA license plate I decided to match it with my own awesome personalized plate....

I AM SO PROUD OF MY LICENSE PLATE. I have had it almost a month now. People keep asking me about it and I am proud to tell them what CURET1D means to me and so many others!

Friday the 13th Crazy BGs for a Crazy Day

Wednesday was a good day. We were finally able to keep Elyssa under 200 for a whole 24 hours. Woooo Hoooo. That's only the 2nd time in 9months since diagnosis!!! =)



Then Friday the 13th. I had to add the date cause it was a crazy day. Elyssa's dad left her with the babysitter with a high Bg of 380. Babysitter called to say Elyssa had come down to 284, I said okay, then 128, okay then an hour later 65. Elyssa came down too quick while playing and running outside. Babysitter did a great job of giving her carbs. to bring her up but was afraid to dose for them and Elyssa's appetite gets pretty big when she's low sometimes so it caused another high. Everyone even got to see Elyssa cry from being so exhausted from all the BGs and playing. Elyssa always gets her point across with words so she never cries only when really tired or if she falls really hard.
After that Elyssa was in the 200s for the next 7hours. I tried and tried to get her under but it wasn't happening. Finally during the night she came down to the 100s. It feels like such a battle sometimes and the stress definitely wore me & Elyssa out. So here's to you Friday the 13th.....

Random Thoughts from March Issues

I started thinking about the endo. appointment last month. They weighed and checked her height. Her weight was fine but she was 37” tall. That meant she had grown 5inches since diagnosis 7months ago in July 2011. I was a little disturbed knowing that she had only grown 1inch from Age 1 to 2yr 8months at diagnosis. I double-checked her height just to make sure they weren’t off. Yep they were right. Wow no wonder her clothes no longer fit her.

It really made me think about how malnutritioned she probably was for a year or so and how it stopped her from growing. I read so much information when I was pregnant about how important nutrition is the first couple years of life. I couldn’t help but wonder how much damage the undetected dying pancreas has caused.

I was so happy after going to a Nevada Diabetes Association meeting last month. I was put in contact with an awesome Pharmacist. She is a pharmacist/CDE and knows so much about Diabetes. I went to take her my daughter’s insulin prescription and ended up talking about Diabetes and nutrition for over an hour with her. I know she will be able to help us with nutrition and help lower BGs. I just have to get back into logging all foods, carb. counts & BGs.

I wanted to take Elyssa to the St. Patrick’s Day parade but her cold had come back with Asthma attacks mixed in so we didn’t make it. High BGs were back and I was so burnt out from all the highs in February that Diabetes has fried & scrambled my brain. I have really been slacking on everything Diabetes related. Really felt like a crappy parent.

Catching Up

January
We had really good numbers. I should've known it was the calm before the storm month. LOL

February -Very bad month
This is the month I had to handle my worse fear which was a T1D toddler vomiting. It was a horrible feeling. Her Blood Glucose levels began to crash and she didn't want to eat or drink anything because she knew they would make her throw up again. Her head kept bobbing around in between vomiting. I couldn't tell if she was passing out or falling asleep everytime she closed her eyes. Cake Mate was my friend I truly believe that's what helped us keep her BG in the 60s until we got her to the ER. Many problems at the ER. They did not know how to take care of her Diabetes. She had low BGs with lots of ketones. I told them to get her to stop throwing up and I'll get rid of the ketones. We were discharged with ketones. I was able to bring them down since she was no longer throwing up. Of course whatever virus she had stayed around almost the whole month off & on and caused lots of Asthma problems too. So high BGs from illness was the main theme of the month.
We got her A1c which was 7.9 up from 7.7 but I still think we are doing good for the first 8 months since the Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis.

Bye 2011 I want to start 2012 off right

Well I haven't blogged in a while. Elyssa's birthday, holidays, and year-end at work have made these past couple months crazy. January 1st will mark 5 months of living with Diabetes. The coming of the New Year has made me think of everything that has happened this year. It's funny....Everything that's happened this year before Elyssa's Diabetes Diagnosis just seems to be a blur. It's like our life didn't start until after the diagnosis. It has definitely been a hard year but I have met many great, strong people who are also living with Diabetes in their lives. Everyone has been such a great help and inspiration. Diabetes has truly taught me how precious our lives and children are. I cherish every moment with my daughter.
We've been getting a little lazy with watching/counting her carbs. so this New Years my resolution is to get back in to crunching the numbers and watching Elyssa's Blood Glucose levels closely. I know one of our biggest downfalls is not giving her all the insulin 15-20mins before she eats. We also swag alot of things so we will have to measure, weigh, count, bolus and hope we did it right to get good numbers. Elyssa is worth it so we have to do it. Bring it on 2012 I'm ready for it all the struggles, the smiles, the triumphs, the stress, the tears, the laughs and every moment I get to spend with my daughter!

November 1st JDRF T1D Day

November is Diabetes Awareness month. Today makes 4 months since Elyssa's Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis. She has a cold with congestion & a runny nose. For children without diabetes a slight cold isn't really a big deal but for us it's scary. I have to prick Elyssa's finger more often to make sure her Blood Glucose levels aren't going crazy. We are pushing & watching everything she eats more closely so we make sure she has the right amount of insulin & drinks tons of water to flush life threatening Ketones from her body. These Ketones are what caused Elyssa to be in Diabetic Ketoacidosis when she was diagnosed. If they're not watched she can go into a diabetic coma or they can cause death.
I really don't know if her body/brain could handle being in Diabetic Ketoacidosis again in such a short time. After Diagnosis she wouldn't talk she would just point and make grunting noises or baby talk. That was really scary I totally thought she had brain damage but doctors said we had to wait 3 months to do testing to see if she did have brain damage. I was glad that after a month she started saying some more words and 2 months later she was able to say sentences. So one little cold has brought back all these emotions and feelings of when she was in Diabetic Ketoacidosis.
I hope that diabetes awareness month does help get the word out there that Diabetes can happen to anyone at any age. I hope that media can catch wind of it and talk about it on every channel. Children with Type 1 diabetes are dying from its complications. I see all these campaigns right now about bullying. Well I would love to see commercials about Diabetes Awareness too and how important finding a cure is. I was trying to think of what I could do or say today to try and spread awareness and the thoughts just brought tears to my eyes. I wish we didn't have to spread awareness about this chronic disease. Why can't people see how important the need for a cure is? I wish Elyssa was never diagnosed with Diabetes, I wish nobody had Type 1 Diabetes, I wish we didn't have to live with the fear of all it's complications everyday, I wish it would just go away, I wish there was a cure for it!

Elyssa's JDRF Video

I keep forgetting to post this video here on my blog. I was going to update her JDRF video now that we've starting pumping but I really haven't had the time. So I'm just going to leave it as it is and next year I can update it. So here it is and I still tear up when I see it knowing everything we've been through these past couple months.

We are up & Pinging it.

So Elyssa's butt is now hotwired. She is hooked up to the Animas Ping & the Dexcom. I swear it's almost like the first week she was diagnosed. I was sweating, shaking and 4 hours later my chest is still pounding like crazy.
Elyssa fought & kicked then fell right asleep and it wasn't bed time. She was at 87 then 85, Dex had her at 76 with arrows down. I already knew I had to wake her up because there's no way I could let her sleep the whole night at 85. Well she woke up and wanted to eat everything in the fridge. I tried to give her low carb items but nooooo she wanted the thing I hate the most.. a quesadilla.
I've tried to rock the tortilla to insulin ratio but I always lose. Well whats one more lost battle she's at 85 right. Damn 2 triangles of quesadilla she shot right up. I was upset at myself because I still think like I'm using insulin pens and that I have to wait to see how much she's actually going to eat before I give insulin. Before she was done with the 2nd triangle I give some insulin. Voila.... insulin given. No fighting, no kicking no running around trying to find the insulin pen, pen needle & alcohol pad. A little anxiety went away with the ease of giving insulin but I'm still afraid to give too much so I held back and the tortilla won again. She shot up to 300. Crap!! It's okay though after 2 weeks of pumping I want a rematch tortilla and we'll see who wins.