Last Day and Pump Journal

Aww, sweet friends.  What a blessing when we meet them, even better when we know their hearts. : )

We've been busy, how 'bout y'all?  Today was the last day of school, hooray!!  I didn't get done all I'd hoped, but it was enough.  I'm finishing up with the house (only one drape left to hem..), and my plants are looking pretty good (except the one the mulch guys decapitated!).  I planted a row of hydrangeas along the south side of the pool, and I can't WAIT till they get big!  The blooms are already heavy and droopy.  I'm watering them at least once, and sometimes twice a day!

Diabetes has been..well, diabetes.  My kids?  Still being kids.  I don't expect them to be all grown up (even when they are taller than me..).  Mary Claire forgot to tell me she had a low reservoir warning (only 20 units left!!).  I found out when I went to her school for the pizza & ice cream party they'd earned (for Most Spirit, woohoo!).

I tried to bolus her, and she freaked out.  She didn't want me getting her pump out in front of anyone!  (Ahh!!  It's not a secret..will this ever end?)  Anyway, I pulled out her pump to learn she only had 16 units left!  When was she going to tell me about the Low Reservoir?  And the choices for drinks were canned Sprite and bottled water.  Umm..if you have diabetes, you generally opt for the least sugary.  Especially when you don't know if you'll have enough insulin to cover a 38 gram drink, two pieces of pizza, and ice cream!!

Because it's the end of school, I tried to breathe in, breathe out.  (Oxygen so totally helps my brain when I'm losing it, btw.)  (I actually read that when you are super stressed, you stop operating from your pre-frontal cortex, and begin thinking with the less mature brain centers.  (ie: caveman brain) and you lose the capacity to think rationally or react calmly.  And also lose the capacity to treat your family in a kind way.  So breathe.)

Anyway, we bolused her, she didn't eat the second piece of pizza (sacrificing it for ice cream I think), waited to be served dead last (getting the ok from mama, maybe?), and putting no toppings (chocolate, caramel, chocolate chips, sprinkles) by choice.  She's a sweetie and knew she had to be careful.  Diabetes sucks.

Monday was Clay's awards ceremony, and he received All A's and B's and a Citizenship Award.  He's a good student and was a little disappointed he didn't receive an award for science.   He's got a very good grade, and he's been gathering fish for the teacher and taking them in..he was just sure he was teacher's pet, ha! : )

Mary Claire's was today, and she received All A's.  She's smart, and has really been working to bring up a couple borderline B's!  And she did it, yay! : )  We had a small Last Day of School party after school.  Just some balloons, swimming, hot dogs, chocolate strawberries, and strawberry shortcake, and friends!  (Strawberries were .98 a quart today!  So, I had to get six quarts!  And find things to do with them!)  There are a few chocolate strawberries left, and not quite a quart that was just washed to eat fresh.  That's it.

I went in to say goodbye to the kids' middle school nurse, she's been so sweet.  I got their supplies, snacks, care notebooks, etc.  She was telling me that I know more about diabetes than so many other people.  That I understand it better than some people who've had it their entire lives.  (I told her it HAD been ten years, haha!)  I guess I just kinda get it, and I have a math-y brain, so it's not that hard for me.

And that I had *great* training early on from Children's Hospital.  They had a nurse call-in line that was open every day from 11a-2p, and you might wait on hold for 30 minutes, but you got to talk to a HUMAN, and that was sooo worth it!  You could talk numbers, and I created all these charts to record her carb intake, bolus ratio, correction ratio, how much exercise she'd had, any illness, when her site was changed, and even what foods she'd eaten.  

up above the hour, I'd write the :14 or :30 to tell the time for the record, and I wrote every food that crossed her lips.  Good for figuring out glycemic index and her reaction to fatty/high protein foods too!

I kept these for four years.  They were my training wheels.  And then one day, I just quit.  I think I'd grown out of them.  And now, when I feel a change on the horizon, I start keeping them again.  After two weeks charting, I can kinda read where the issues are, and I make changes.  Sometimes I even do them on the fly.  BUT, I still have my original notebook from day one, and still record every time I've changed her basal rates or bolus ratios!  I feel like the nurses and dietician answering the phones and teaching me made a HUGE difference in my education.

I learned about the glycemic index, that baked potatoes (and even healthy-ish chips like Baked Lays!) were faster to affect her blood than orange or apple juice.  And just how exercise dropped my baby, but excitement could raise her numbers!  It was a science.  I wish this opportunity for all my T1D mama friends.  Wish I could teach them.  But I don't want to be a know-it-all.  And sometimes they don't want to know.  Lord, sometimes I still want to stick my head in the sand! : )

Ok, so the pictures!  They are from JDRF 2014 Walk Kickoff (still working on a NEW team name!) at the Naturals Baseball Game, a field trip with Mary Claire's sixth grade to the Tulsa Zoo, some award ceremonies, a few of my baby being adorable, and anything else I found on my phone, haha!  (ps-these are for forgetful-future-me who loses her stock of pictures off the hard drive..it's only happened twice, but I'm learning!)

When a child of mine decides to spray sunblock all over my windows..they get to scrub it off (and wash the painted part too)!

 

**I found this blog post sitting on my computer ready to post..I guess I got busy last week, ha!  I'm getting ready for some judging on my house.  A busy time.  Cleaning windows..setting the table..making beds, haha!  I've done so many fun projects-I made Ethan's curtains, painted jars for hydrangeas, glazed huge letters, I need more time in my day to WRiTE about them! : )

Hope you are having fun with your family and friends this week!  Hugs!