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!