Recital Night

It's Kortnie's recital night tonight.  I just dropped her off at her show (my family and I are going to tomorrow's show, we couldn't get tickets for both nights).  I dropped her off with her test kit, a few snacks, some glucose tabs and juice box, and a couple water bottles and her cell phone.  She goes on as performance #26 so she'll be hanging out backstage with her pals for a good while.  I could have stayed backstage with her, but she wanted to do it on her own, so I let her.  I will be going down to check on her a few times, and once my husband gets home from work, I may just go sit there with her.  Usually at dance practice she drops low and I put her pump on a  -50% basal rate, but tonight she was high when I dropped her off 386, probably because she was excited and nervous.  I told her to check her BG again and call me in an hour.  By then Brian will be home and I'll be headed down there to check on her.  Check on her BG, check on her hair and makeup. 

 

Here she is all ready to go, looking all grown up with her stage makeup.  Sweet and Sassy, I can't wait to see her dance tomorrow night!

 



Mom Goes a Little Crazy

This past weekend, the kids and I took a trip to Utah.  The reason for the trip was a baby blessing (like a christening...sorta) on our new niece.  My parents don't live far from where we were going to be, so they came up for a day to see us too.  So we spent one day with my side of the family, and one day with my husband's side of the family.

 

We left Friday after school.  Usually when we travel long distances Kortnie's BG is higher than normal, I guess it's all that sitting.  So, I checked her when I picked her up, she was in range, I let her have a cookie and a cheese stick, bolused for the cookie, and upped her basal rate 50%, that is pretty standard for us to do on road trips.

 

We drove nine hours, the kids did great, we only stopped twice, Kortnie's blood sugar stayed in range with the help of that +50% basal increase.  We got to our hotel at midnight, I checked her BG and she was good, so I didn't set a 2:30am alarm, I just set the alarm for 6:30am.  She woke up with good numbers and I was happy.

 

Saturday we ate breakfast at the hotel, which is very carby, waffles, bagels, Danish, muffins, etc.  She had 2 mini waffles, 1/2 a bagel with peanut butter, a mini muffin, some eggs, and bacon.  That is a lot of food and a lot of carbs, but we were on vacation, so I let her have it.  Bolused and set a basal increase.  We headed over to meet my parents and go to the zoo, all was well, her numbers were doing okay.  Then she got a little pissy, so I had her check, she was 318, okay, so that is why she is a little irritated, no biggie though, she had all those carbs for breakfast, gave her a bolus and a bottle of water.  All is well, around 45 minutes later we went for lunch and this is where everything went to hell.

 

She was in range, like 120's.  I should have known something was up.  We had a sandwich and a small bag of chips, I bolused her for that, she still had IOB from the 318 a little earlier, we had been walking and walking, and I still decided to give her the whole lunch bolus.  I guess I wasn't thinking. After I bolused her my mom brings out cookies.  Kortnie picks a tub of Nutter Butters.

 

 

Then my son tells me he doesn't want the crust on his sandwich so I tell him he doesn't have to eat it, well she says she doesn't want her crust either, so I said to her "I guess, you don't have to eat it, the cookies will make up for it, but eat all of the meat and cheese", well she threw away 1/2 of her bread, ate the meat and cheese and started on the cookies slowly, and then later I found out she didn't eat her chips either.  We were walking back into the zoo, and she started stumbling and grabbing at my arm.  We were there with just 3 adults and 6 kids, so I was kind of like "what are you doing?" and then I turned and looked at her and realized she was LOW, I mean by now I can tell just by looking, but she was F'd up and drunkard stumbling and just a mess.  Right then my mom who doesn't know what is going on says "oh look a bird show, lets go sit and watch", I'm like "YES, let's do it!" I'm searching in my backpack for a juice, get the juice out, dad is parking the stroller, mom is corralling 4 kids, I'm trying to get Kortnie a juice and corral my youngest, can't find the freaking straw for the juice, somehow we get sat down and I find a Quickstick in my bag, I'm ripping it open and pouring it in her mouth, getting her checker out and it says 42, but she has a lot of insulin on board.  She's crying and saying that she was walking and everything went black and her stomach hurts.  This one scared her and me too.

 

Behind Kortnie is her sister, her cousin, my dad, my nephew, and my mom, nobody knows our dilemma.

 

I found some skittles and smarties in my backpack, she wanted skittles, so I was handing her a few, the birds started flying and skimming our heads, it was pretty cool, she liked it and perked right up.  Phew!  We sat for half an hour or so, she loved the bird show, she ate a few more skittles and asked me why this low was worse than another low of 29 (twenty nine and doing just fine!) she'd had once.  I told her because I think this one came on fast, she was dropping fast and still dropping and excited about the zoo and in a different place and we'd been walking around all day and were still tired from travelling the night before.  Who knows, really, Diabetes is just crazy like that. 

 

After the bird show we go up to leave and my mom was remarking how it was nice to sit and watch the show and rest for a little bit and I said, "yes, we were having some issues and I'm glad we had a show to watch because we needed to sit and fix Kortnie up"  so mom and dad were like "what we didn't even realize!"  I said it was okay, that if I would have needed help I know they would have helped, that they don't live near us so they wouldn't catch what was going on unless it got too crazy, that they were hanging out with the other kids and that was just what I needed.  I told them what had happened and my dad says "you are a great mom, you know just what to do", and I said "no I am not a great mom, I should have made sure she ate her lunch, and I shouldn't have given her a full lunch bolus, I should have known she'd drop"  they assured me that that wasn't the case.  I got out of my bad mom slump and fed her skittles throughout the day.  Her BG was holding steady and we were doing good.   We stopped off at a gas station after the zoo and got an ice cream cone for the kids and cold drink for me.  Kortnie's BG was in the low 200's, so we bolused for the ice cream, and went to the hotel for swimming.  I checked her after ice cream, before swimming and she was 175 with IOB, so we took the pump off for swimming.  After swimming she was 125, so we put the pump back on and went to Cracker Barrel for dinner.  She ordered mac and cheese, she ate it, she was still hungry, so I gave her some of my mac and cheese and a biscuit and some of my chicken.  We ordered dessert, a double chocolate fudge coke a cola cake with ice cream.  She shared it with her 3 year old cousin.  I gave her more and more insulin for all the extra food and then after dinner set a temp basal increase because that was a lot of carbs.  By 2am she was 101 and I was happy with that. 

 

Sunday we got up, went to Ihop for breakfast, she had pancakes with banana and sugary strawberries and yogurt, carb, carb, carb.  From then on out she was High all day, I set temp basals, I changed site, I opened new insulin, I gave her an actual shot, and she just stayed high.  We went to church for the baby blessing, we went to a park after for a picnic, we walked and played, she still stayed high, no ketones but HIGH, never came below 250 at one point she was in the high 400's. 

 

This is where I went a little crazy.  The picnic had lots of desserts, I told her just one dessert, but all the other kids were having a bunch, so I let her have another.  Then I think she snuck something else.  I spend so much time telling her and everyone else that she can eat whatever she wants, she just needs insulin.  This day that came back to bite me.

 

After the picnic we went over to my brother in laws, they kept talking about ice cream in the freezer, I kept saying, no we don't want any, they kept talking about it more and more, my older daughter wanted some, I said no, Kortnie never asked for any, I know it was because she knew she was high.  She was hungry, I said we'd leave and go find dinner soon, they said they had bananas and brownies and ice cream she could have that.  I said, "no, she can't have that right now" the other kids were getting hungry, I said we'd leave soon to go find some dinner I was hoping Kort's BG would come down so I was stalling them. Again, the freakin' ice cream came up, I said no, we can't have ice cream.  It kept freaking coming up!  I finally said "let's go" say goodbye, since we are leaving early tomorrow morning."  They said, "really we have tons of ice cream take some back to your hotel"  I said, "NO, I really don't want it, I am done, we are going!" 

 

We left, we went and got some dinner, we got microwave dinners at Walmart and salads.  We went back to our hotel, we ate, I gave Kortnie a shot, I increased her temp basal, finally around 3 am she was under 200, but still 175 at breakfast.  We ate hotel breakfast, I didn't let her have as much junk as she wanted, she didn't argue.  We said goodbye to my MIL who was leaving a little after us, she asked if Kortnie's BG had come down, I said yes, but not as much as it should have, she asked why it was so high.  I told her I didn't know for sure, but probably because we'd been eating like crap all weekend.  We don't normally eat this way at home.  Cookies, waffles, bagels, brownies, dessert at every meal, biscuits, mac and cheese, etc.  I told her I was beyond irritated about the freakin' ice cream everybody kept mentioning and I was sorry I got so irritated but I was tired and PMS'ing too. 

 

On the way home it took us a little less than 9 hours, Kortnie ran high all the way home, I even gave her a +200% basal increase all day, since we've been back she's still running high, I've increased basals and have been sending her to school with a +30% basal increase, finally last night she hit a low with a 52.  I hated the low, but was glad to see something other than 200 or 300.  She took her site out last night for a change and said it bled a lot, so I guess it was a not so good site.  Hopefully we are the up and up now. 

 

It was a tough weekend and tough last few D-days.

 

I am still irritated about all the ice cream nonsense and it brings up other irritants about past dessert issues.  My husband's family seems to live for dessert, whenever we go to a family function or dinner at his mom's there are always 2 or more desserts (a lot of times there are MANY more) and I feel bad telling Kortnie that no she can't have all of it, she can only have one thing, or a little tiny bit of two things, so I let her go overboard and then we pay for it for days afterward.  No matter what we do, whenever we go to these family things she ends up high.  I guess I need to get better at putting my foot down and not only telling her no, but telling the other kids no, and telling the rest of the family, "no we can't have all of that!"

 

If you are reading this and think I'm talking about you, then I probably am.  Sorry, these are my issues, and I am working them out and trying how to say no without hurting feelings and without making my kids upset, maybe if you see this you can remember the issues I have and try not to encourage or push so many desserts next time you see us.  Yes, Kortnie can have dessert, she just can't have a crapload of it, she can have one piece of one thing, not a piece of everything, nobody needs a piece of everything.  No more saying, "oh we're on vacation, let her have it", or "oh, it's a special occasion, let her have it".  When I as the mom say no, respect it, don't push it or me.  I am about to my breaking point, someday soon I'm gonna blow and I'm going to hurt feelings and I'm going to make people mad and then I'm going to feel like an a-hole for doing it.

 



How T1 makes me bend my parenting rules

Today has been a crazy D-day. 

 

 

First, this morning, my kids woke up late, they were slacking in getting their chores done.  The rabbit was out of its cage.  Normally, before D, I would have insisted that the chores be done and the rabbit be put back in his cage before breakfast.  If you ran out of time to eat before school starts, then too bad, so sad!  You go to school without breakfast.

 

Well, a T1D kid can't really skip a meal, so I had them all come in and eat and let the rabbit roam the back yard all day.

 

Then, Kortnie called me from school at 11:25am, "I forgot my lunch".  I was out running errands, I came home and guess what?  No lunch in the fridge.  These kids are supposed to make their lunch for the next day as soon as they get home from school the previous day.  Sigh....  I didn't have time to even think about what I could grab her from home, I was in the middle of errands, I had Graham and 2 daycare kids in the car.  Normally, I would say again "too bad, so sad, you didn't make a lunch last night, you didn't make one this morning, you don't get lunch today"

 

Again,  a T1D kid can't really skip a meal, I picked her up from the nurses office, and took her over to McD's for a happy meal.

 

On the way to McD's I told her to check her BG and pre-bolus for her lunch-we were in a hurry, because I wanted her to get the food, get back to school, eat it and have time to run around the playground some.  Midday exercise is important for kids, and even more important I think for a T1D kid.  She opens her test kit, and guess what?  No test strips.  Are you freaking kidding me?  You used the last one this morning at breakfast and didn't get some more!?!!  Normally I would say again, "too bad, so sad, you were not prepared!"

But....NO, we need to check, it's 11:25 and she hasn't checked since 7:30, she needs a check, and she needs to eat.  So I tell her, "check the blue bag" (a bag of D-stuff we keep in the car for times like this)  I had just re-stocked the blue bag for our upcoming road trip.  She got the test strips out, tested, and put the vial of strips in her test kit, and bloused for her meal.  I told her "after school today, you better remember to replace those strips in the blue bag!"  We got her lunch, and I dropped her back off at school with 30 minutes still left of her lunch/recess time.

 

Around 2:10pm (school is out at 2:20) I get a call from the nurse.  "Kortnie is 58, we gave her a juice, but she says she still feels really shakey, I don't think she should ride her bike home today."  Normally, I would say....no just kidding in this situation when my kid is not feeling good, I would go get them...

 

Of course she can't walk home!  And, of course, I have one sleeping daycare kid, and Graham and the other daycare kid are playing nice.  Sigh.... I load up all 3 kids in the car, drive the 1/2 mile to pick her up, get there and she's in the office with out her stuff.  I walk her to class, get her stuff and remember that I am supposed to get her friend too.  So I get her friend and we head home. 

 

I get home and remember that she rode her bike to school and the bike is still at school. 

 

Oh well!

Fast forward to dinner tonight.  I made lasagna and garlic bread, she loves lasagna, she asked for a big piece.  I got her a big piece, and we bloused for 85 carbs (that is a lot of insulin!)  She was eating her food an said she didn't really like it and asked could she not finish it.  Normally, I would say, "no you asked for it, you eat it, or you don't get anything else!"

 

I told her to try to eat it.  She picked at it and picked at it for 45 minutes.  The sauce was spicy tonight, I didn't really like it either.  Finally she sighed and told me "I ate all the noodles out of it and finished the bread, can I not finish the sauce parts?" 

 

I guess so.  I'll just keep a close eye on her blood sugar tonight.

 

Then she asked me if she could have some chocolate almonds.  Normally I would say "no, you didn't finish dinner, you don't get a treat"  But... I figured the chocolate almonds would help the blood sugar not to drop, as she was 99 when she asked me if she could have them.  So I said yes and she got her treat. 

 

Dang it, stinkin' Diabetes, you got the best of me today, tomorrow I will get the best of you!

I wrote this last night as I was waiting out the blood sugars. 
At 8pm she was 99, she had the chocolate almonds with no insulin.
At 10pm she was 69 with 1.76 units of insulin in her system, and out like a light.  I got a juice box and coaxed her to sit up and drink it.
"Come on Kortnie, drink, you're low" I put the straw to her lips, she kept batting it away, finally she drank it.  I suspended her basal insulin for 30 minutes. I laid down and set my alarm for 11:15pm.
At 11:15pm she was 150 with  .59 units of insulin on board.  Just right.
I went back to bed and set my alarm for the normal 2:30am.
At 2:30am I apparently turned off my alarm and fell back to sleep.
At 4:29am I woke up having to use the restroom and realized I missed my 2:30am check.  I rushed into her room thinking, "please be breathing, please be breathing", I poked her and she moved.  Phew, thank goodness!  I checked her blood sugar and she was 89-a little lower than I like for sleeping.  I reduced her basal insulin by 40% for 1.5 hours, went potty, and went back to bed. 
At 6:05am my alarm went off to wake up for the day.  I went to the girls room and told them to wake up, they both wiggled around and made some noises, I went back to my room and snuggled up with Brian for a little bit.
At 6:15am my 2nd alarm went off, the girls were up and Graham was in my room snuggling with me.
I finally got up around 6:30am.
At 7am Kortnie's blood sugar was 147-not bad, not bad at all, although I do prefer her to be a bit lower first thing in the morning, but considering the day we had yesterday, I'll take a 147.

Aims testing and T1D

Last week Kortnie's school did AIMS testing, these are the Arizona Instrument to Measure Standards testing.  They are apparently a big deal, the schools and school districts get funding based on the children's grades on these tests.  I believe that next year the kids will have to pass these tests in order to advance to the next grade levels.

So, Kortnie's school is pretty pro active in getting parents on board and encouraging us to get them good dinners and breakfasts before testing as well as reminding us that the kids need lots of rest.

Kortnie usually wakes up and has breakfast around 7, school starts at 7:50, so she does have a bit of a post-breakfast spike in blood sugar in the mornings.  Testing was going to start at 8:05am.  I was worried about the blood sugar spike. 

I got her up right on time, but had her eat before she got dressed.  I also prepared breakfast for them.  I don't usually cook every morning, we eat a lot of cereal and oatmeal.  The kids like it, and generally we don't buy the super sugary stuff. 

Also, the kids would be having a snack at school before the test.  This I guess the school does so that kids aren't hungry during testing-sadly there are some kids who don't get breakfast at home in the mornings.  I didn't want Kortnie to be left out, but I wasn't too keen on the snacks they were giving the kids.  Oh, the snacks were just fine, but not really what I wanted for Kortnie.  They had juice and crackers mostly I think. 

We don't have a 504 in place for Kortnie, (we are doing one next year when she moves up to the big kids school) but her teachers and the other school staff have always been open with us and worked around our needs.

Our plan for Kortnie went this way...

-The night before we tried to have good dinners, no carby pasta or pizza that makes her spike throughout the night
-To bed at 8pm, read until 8:15pm and then lights out, I was diligent about her nighttime checks, to make sure she woke up at a good number in the morning
-Wake up at 6:15am,  eat at 6:30am, made them eggs, strawberries, and peanut butter toast one day, and the other day we had egg sandwiches and strawberries, both days they had milk (Vanilla Almond Milk for Kortnie)
-I sent in snacks for her, 3 peanut butter crackers, 1 slim jim, and Healthy Balance Juice. 15 carbs
-I made her a chart to follow on taking BG and snacks
     1. Check BG
     2. If number is over 150, eat snack and bolus for 15 carbs
     3. If number is 105-150, eat snack and bolus 10 carbs
     4. If number is 85-105, eat snack and bolus 7 carbs
     5. If number is lower than 85 or higher than 250 call mom
-I also made sure that the basket we keep in Kortnie's classroom had plenty of low snacks and other supplies, because they technically were not allowed to leave the classroom during the test.  Most of the time Kortnie tests and treats in class, in extreme or stubborn low and highs she goes to the health office, with an escort of course. 
-I clarified with Nurse, Principal, and Teacher that if Kortnie had any extreme lows or highs during testing she would be able to leave the classroom, they were fine with that, but said in lieu of an escort (usually a classmate or teacher), the teacher would have to call the nurse or office staff to come get her. I also clarified that if she needed to use the bathroom then she would be able to.  I did advise Kortnie that she needed to use the bathroom before class and that she should only use her bathroom privileges if she REALLY needed to go.
-Her second sets of testing were in the afternoon after lunch.  I made sure we packed her lunch without excessive carbs and with protein.  I didn't limit her, I just paid better attention to what she was taking and helped her to make good choices.  I told her and the nurse to call me if she was High or Low at lunchtime, like above 250 or lower than 80.  I also told her at recess to run around a little, not to sit on the steps and talk with her friends.  Basically I told her to get her wiggles out, figured that might help the spike.  And then after lunch I had her follow the above plan for snacks before the test. 

Overall, she did really good.  She was responsible (with the help of her wonderful teacher), I never got a phone call about crazy numbers.  She said the tests were easy, but it wasn't any fun to have to sit still and quiet while the other kids finished (they had to sit and read books if they finished early).  I looked thru her meter and her numbers were all good, I can't remember what they were exactly, but I do remember thinking they were good numbers and I wished we could have numbers like that all the time. 

It does go to show that with planning, diligence, good cooking, rest, and hard work from both Kortnie and I we can keep better numbers.  I'm not going to lie though, it was exhausting, the planning, a few extra checks, making sure our "team" was all on the same page.  And luckily Kortnie's body was cooperating and not growing or trying to get sick or anything.  I am all on board with doing the extra work to keep her healthy, but sometimes a kids gotta be a kid and sometimes, a mom has to let them.

Spare A Rose, Save a Child

Today is Valentines Day.

 

A day for love, kisses, hearts, flowers, candy, unicorns, and glitter.

 

On this day in 2001 my Brian asked me to marry him, and from then on we have grown a beautiful family, full of love and fun. 

 

On this day and everyday I am thankful to live in a land where I am able to provide for my children.  Provide them easily with all of the things they need to grow; food, shelter, water, clean air to breathe, clothing, shoes, education,  LOVE, hugs, kisses, fun, and most importantly, in Kortnie's case, INSULIN!

 

There are children and adults in some countries who do not have access to insulin, it is just not available or they can't afford it.  With out insulin, a Type 1 Diabetic will die, we all need insulin to live, most of us produce our own, but Type 1's do not.

 

I don't even want to imagine what it would be like to live in an under-developed country, much less what it would be like to live there, have my child diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes and have to watch them die, because I can't get the life saving medication that they need. 

 

Life For A Child.  is an International Diabetes Federation program that provides life saving insulin, education, and tools to children and their families in developing countries. 

 

Just $1 a day provides a child with regular insulin, blood sugar monitoring equipment, clinical care, diabetes education materials, and diabetes trained medical staff.

 

Spare a Rose, Save a Child is a campaign within the DOC (Diabetes Online Community) to help raise funds for Life For A Child.  The idea is that on this Valentines Day, if you planned on buying roses or even chocolate covered strawberries for your sweetie, you buy your 11 roses and take the money you'd spend on the 12th rose and donate to the Life For A Child campaign.

 

 

 

I donated $5 yesterday, can you spare a dollar or two, or five?  Even if you can't today, I hope you remember this programme and maybe you will have a few bucks to spare at some other time.

 

Happy Valentines Day from Kortnie's D-Life.

Kortnie is happy to have access to the tools and medications she needs to stay alive.
 

 

 

 

D-Mom Fail, Oh well, there's always next week!

We had a fail last night.  Sad episode for sure. 

 

Here is how it went.

 

Kork is watching a little TV before Girl Scouts, I was on my computer finishing up the taxes.

 

"Beep, Beep"

 

Me- "Is that your pump?"

 

Her "yeah"

 

"Well, what's it beeping about?"

 

"Low Cartridge, less than 10U"

this means that she is running out of insulin in her pump, which means that its time for a site change because I usually put 150-175 units in her pump each time and that lasts us 3-4 days, so when the pump runs out, its time to fill it up and to change the site.  You don't have to do both at the same time, but doing them at the same time works for us.

 

"Okay, after dinner, lets remember to change your site and cartridge"

 

"Okay"

 

15 minutes later we are heading out the door to Girl Scouts.  I left my older daughter at home with 2 of my daycare kids who she helps out with quite often and its a way for her to earn some money.  I took 2 of my other daycare kids and my 5 year old son with us.  It was my week to help out with the troop, also I am cookie mom this year, so I had to go get the girls cookie orders so I could log them on the computer and order their cookies for them.  Got to the church where we have scouts, put my son and the 2 daycare kids in the playroom, then I went to the scout meeting with Kortnie.  While the girls were working on their craft I tallied up the cookie orders.  The mom of my 2 daycare kids showed up to pick up her kids, I talked with her a minute, then a GS mom showed up and asked me about Kortnie and K's plans for a sleepover the next night.  So we talked about that and got the details hammered out.  I packed up Kortnie and her brother in the car, headed home to get Stasia, then we went to the grocery store and picked out some soup to go with our grilled cheese sandwiches.  Back home, it's now about 5:30pm.  I told the kids a few chores they needed to finish up and I started making dinner, grilled cheese and chicken noodle soup.  Got the kids eating, (gave Kortnie insulin and everything) a load of laundry in the dryer, and hubby walks in about 6:30pm.  Gave him a quick kiss then headed upstairs to get ready for my Zumba class at 7, while he visited with the kids while they ate. I got changed and folded a load of laundry.  Came back downstairs, told Brian and the kids that I was going, they need to put their dishes in the dishwasher, get their folded clothes off my bed, and be in bed reading by 8pm.  I went to Zumba and got in my "me time".  When class was over I talked to my friend in the parking lot for a few or fifteen minutes, got in my car, had 3 texts waiting.  I answered them, stopped by my church on the way home to get a schedule for our ward's women's volleyball and talked to the ladies there for awhile.  Finally I got home around 8:45ish.  All the kids were asleep. 

 

Do you see where I am going with this?

 

I had a quick shower, made myself a grilled cheese and sat down to watch Once Upon A Time on Netflix with Brian and enjoy my sandwich. 

 

About 10pm-ish, our show was over and time for us to go to bed.  I tidied up the house, started the dishwasher, put wood on the fire, brushed my teeth.  AND, went to check Kortnie's blood sugar.

 

Her BG was 205, not bad, she needed a little bolus of 1.50 Units of insulin to get her down in a better range.  Went to give her the bolus and ....

 

"Beep, Beep, Beep"

I had totally forgotten about the beep, beep, beep from earlier!

 

I check the pump and it says something like "failure to deliver, not enough insulin"

 

Oh crap, there is only 1 unit left and she needs 1.5 units now, and she still needs her basal rate all night long, and she's sound asleep, and I've never tried to do a site change on her while she is sleeping, and I'm not going to try that now either, she'll probably wake up and punch me.

 

So, I wake her up.

 

"Kork, come on, we gotta get up, we forgot you were running out of insulin, and we forgot to do a site change"

 

"oh, can't we do it tomorrow?"

 

"no baby you are out of insulin, we have to do it now or you'll get sick"

 

She started getting up, I told my husband who was in bed that Kortnie was coming and we needed to do a site change.  (Our bed is where we do the site changes, always)  I went downstairs to get the insulin out of the fridge.

 

Kortnie was sitting on my bed half asleep, went into my closet and got the site and cartridge, told Brian to get the site ready, told Kortnie to take off her old site, I filled the cartridge. 

 

I handed the cartridge and pump to Brian so he could get that all loaded, I put the site in Kortnie.
Click here for a video on how I put the site in, the video is back from Aug 2011 and is a belly site.  I need to make a better one someday.

Put the site in, and, DoH!  I forgot to clean off her skin, she had been kind of sweaty in bed, the site didn't stick!  Now I have to pull that one off, and do another one. 

I'm irritated because my stupidity just wasted a $10 site, she's irritated because even though she is used to putting sites in, they still hurt, and she is tired.  She is crying now, but silent big alligator tears rolling down her face.  Somehow those silent tears make me feel worse than if she was just blubbering and hollering. 

I gave her an alcohol wipe, got a new site out, got it ready to go, waited for the alcohol to dry on her skin.  Put the site in and this time it worked. 

I cleaned up the mess, Brian primed the tube, got Kortnie hooked back up, gave her the 1.5 units of insulin.  I told her to go get back in bed, I went downstairs and put the insulin in the fridge.

Came back up, went into her room and she was in her bed, all bundled up in her blanket, still crying, I gave her a kiss and asked if she was okay.  She said yes, still crying.

"Does the site hurt?"

"No"

"Are you just tired"

"Yes"

"Go back to sleep now"

"Okay"

She was still crying, her face looked so sad, I could almost read her thoughts and they seemed to be
"why me, this sucks, I'm tired, stupid diabetes, stinkin' needles and pokes"

She didn't say any of that, but I am pretty sure she was thinking it, I know in that moment, looking at my sad, brave girl I was thinking it. 

Man, what a life!  For me, it was an inconvenience to have forgotten to take care of her pump stuff earlier, but for her it was more than an inconvenience.  To be woken up, to have to go in the bright light, to be stuck not once, but twice because mom messed up the first time.

I felt crappy that in my haste to get out of the house, I had forgotten to remind her and to tell her dad that she needed a new site.

But, she felt even worse about the whole situation. 

Last night, was a D-Mom fail in my book.  Definitely not my first fail, probably not my last fail.  It sucks, but there is always next week, right?

For the record

2:12am check was 98

6:47am check was 102

WINNING!

And she was in a good mood, no mention of the drama of last night.
I wonder if she even remembers.

That is a WIN!

Hah! Diabetes can suck it!

Last nights fail turned into a win this morning.

 

 

48 Questions, A Good One to Start the New Year Off

Meri over at Our Diabetic Life answered 48 Questions.  I thought I would try it too, I need something to kick off a new year of blogging.  As far as Kortnie's D-Life, right now everything is ho hum, blah, blah, blah.  Oh don't get me wrong, Diabetes has been kicking my ass and pissing me off since before Christmas, but it always does that and I don't feel like dwelling on it or whining about it, and that crap Diabetes is pulling is nothing new or perplexing (well it is perplexing, but not in a new kind of way!), so I needed something to get me going, and a fun 48 getting to know you questionnaire thingy seemed the way to go.  Here we go!

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

I was named after some songs, Amanda by good ole' Waylon Jennings, and Mandy by Barry Manilow.

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

I don't know. Recently I'm sure.  I cry a lot, because I have leaky eyes, just random stuff will make me cry, actually I think I cried a little on Saturday, because Anastasia (my oldest) made the first basket at her basketball game.   I  am sure that I cried Sunday during church, and I'm sure I cried some other time this week too, its just what I do.

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?

Ehh, it's okay.

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT?

I like this peppered turkey, it isn't crusted in pepper, but has ribbons of pepper going all thru it, I get it at the deli at Walmart.  I think it might be made by Sara Lee

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

I have 3 of them.  Two girls and a boy.  I do daycare out of my home, so I have more kids that I think are mine, I teach Nursery at my church, little guys 18months-3 years old, I think they are mine too.  I am PTO President for 3 years now, at the K-3 school in my town, I think all of those kids are mine too. 

 

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

I think so.

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?

Never!

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

Yep.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

Yes!  Actually I think I would, but most likely I would chicken out at the last minute. 

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE CEREAL?

I like Oatmeal Squares, and Special K with chunks of chocolate and dried strawberries, I got it at the store last week on sale, it said limited edition on the box.  I also love Cream of Wheat

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

No,but then when I go to put them back on I untie them.  I kinda hate wearing shoes, always have, but the older I get, I find that wearing shoes, actually makes my back and feet feel better, so....whatever!

 

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?

I guess so.  But that leaky eye thing I have is kind of wimpy, isn't it?

 13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM?

All of them, I love ice cream it is my weakness.  Cookies and Cream, Mocha Almond Fudge, Pistachio, Coffee Chocolate Chip, Mint Chip, Peanut Butter, Pecans and Pralines, Sweet Cream, Brownie Nut Fudge, those are some.  Now I want ice cream. 

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Their smile and their eyes.

15. RED OR PINK?

Ummm, neither or both?  This is a hard one.  I have red hair, so red?  Well, my hair is strawberry blond, so that is more pink, so pink?  The color red as in clothing or lipstick, looks terrible on me while pink looks good on me-so I'm told, so pink?  I don't really like to wear pink though, mauve or purplely pink is okay.   Red roses are nice, but I like the pink geraniums I grow too.   Our rabbit has red eyes and they are kind of freaky, pink eye sucks too.  I drive a Red SUV Truck and I like that, its fun having a red car, no one wants a pink car.  I'm on the fence with this one.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

My thighs and booty, or my leaky eyes.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

No one really, I have my guy and my kids around me, they are all I need.  Sure, I miss my family both mine and my husbands family members who don't live close, but we are lucky enough to see them often or have seen them recently, so I am not missing them much, not right now at least.  I miss working at the airport in Phoenix and I miss the people there.  Yeah, that is my final answer.

18. WHAT IS THE TECHNIQUE THAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON THE MOST?

Since this is my D-Mom blog, I'd say that I need to work on Combo Bolusing and Temp Basals the most.  As a whole, I would say I need to work on....nothing, I am perfect the way I am!  Seriously though, I can't really think of anything else.

19. WHAT COLOR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?

I have on these black deck shoes, they have tiny little pink, gray, and white hearts all over them.  I bought them for $1 a couple years ago at a rummage sale.  They have tons of holes in them, in the toes, the sides, and the heel even. I don't really wear lots of pink like I said before, and I don't have anything else jewelry or clothing that has hearts on it, but I love these shoes because they slip on and are comfy and worn in, I just got back from picking my oldest up at basketball practice, I sat right down to finish this post up and didn't even kick off my shoes beforehand.  I am kicking them off right now though.

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?

An orange and a couple of pistachios.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

My 3 kids and 1 daycare kid talking and watching Sponge Bob on Netflix (I HATE Sponge Bob!), now they are changing it to playing the Wii Fit.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE?

Cerulean.  Its like an ocean skyish blue color.  There used to be a Crayola crayon with that name and it was my favorite.

23. FAVORITE SMELLS?

Clean babies, garlic, bread baking, vanilla, oranges, the ocean, and finally-this one is kind of weird-pepsi.  Brian drinks pepsi all day long, and when he comes home from work and gives me a kiss, he always has pepsi breath, when I smell pepsi it makes me think of him.

24. HOW IMPORTANT ARE YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS TO YOU?

They are important to me, but I don't think my views are important to everyone else, so I usually keep them to myself.  I am tired of seeing every ones political views and arguments all over facebook and everywhere else.  If you don't have something nice to say then don't say anything at all.  How many peoples views or votes are changed by something posted on facebook.  Politics and Facebook and Politics and Trying to Argue with me when I state what I think are my pet peeves.  Can you tell?

25. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?

Beach house, I crave the ocean.  A mountain hideaway would be nice too, but it has to have a lake or stream close by.

26. FAVORITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Whatever my kids are playing.  My oldest is sporty, she does it all, I think my favorite to watch her do is swimming.  I like football too, but we don't have TV so I don't get to watch it, but going to a High School game is fun.  I like the Olympics, but again, no TV and no matter how I searched I could not find live Olympics on the Internet this summer :(

27. HAIR COLOR?

Red, or Strawberry Blond, remember we covered this already.

28. EYE COLOR?

Hazel, more brown than green.

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

Yes, I'm pretty blind, even when I wear my glasses I can't really see. 

30. FAVORITE FOOD?

Hamburgers.  I like lots of food but hamburgers I could eat forever if I had to.

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Happy Endings.

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?

I watched Red the other night with my husband.  We got it as a Netflix DVD in the mail.  It was funny.  We watch a lot of movies, before that we watched  Trouble With the Curve, it was good, but kind of slow, I got that one at the Redbox.  We've also watched Princess Diaries 1 and 2, Transformers 3, and Magic Mike in the past week.  The last movie I saw at the theatre was 007 Skyfall.

33. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?

My Color Run shirt that I got when I did the Albuquerque Color Run last August.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?

Spring and Fall.  Oooh, I'm such a rebel!

35. FAVORITE DESSERT?

Ice cream, or better yet a milkshake to go with my hamburger.

36. STRENGTH TRAINING OR CARDIO?

Cardio.  I was never much of an excerciser, but I am finding I like Zumba and running.

37. COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?

No TV for us, I like the computer, but I also like Netflix, of TV shows on the computer!

38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

None, which is sad because I like reading, I need to go to the library and get me a book.

39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

I don't have a mouse or a mouse pad.  I have a laptop.

 

40. FAVORITE SOUND?

The kids laughing genuinely not that fake obnoxious laughing. 

41. FAVORITE GENRE OF MUSIC?

I like almost all of it. 

42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

My dad was in the military so wherever we were was home.   I've lived in AZ for the last 17 years though and the farthest I've been from here would be Hawaii.  (When I was a kid I went to Japan for a layover on our way to Guam where we lived for 2 years, so maybe one of those would be considered far from our home of the US) 

43. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

Not really, except that I'm perfect!   Don't you remember from earlier?  Silly questions.

44. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

Edmonds, Washington.  A suburb of Seattle.

45. WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW?

Snowflake, Arizona.  Ironic name for a town in Arizona isn't it?  It isn't even named for snow or snowflakes, its named for the first settlers here, the Snow and the Flake families, but it does snow here.

46. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR HOUSE?

White or gray or cream colored with a darker gray or black trim.  I suspect it was Gray with Dark Gray trim originally.

47. WHAT COLOR IS YOUR CAR?

Red!

48. DO YOU LIKE ANSWERING 48 QUESTIONS?

I do, it was fun, I like reading answers to 48 questions better, hope some more people do these.