DKA On Thanksgiving 2012

I have finally figured out why  I do not write on this blog much, it puts our "D" life in words. So here I am blogging in hopes of what happened on Thanksgiving Day 2012 will help me put my mind around all the "what if''s."

I will start with Wednesday November 21. Was like any other day I got up went to class while Sweet and Sassy stayed with a friend, she did not have school that day. Sugars were wacky all day but nothing new in the life of diabetes. After her third high number for the day she called to tell me she was still "HIGHER" then normal. I told her to give herself 1 unit of injection and change her pod. It was pod change day anyway. A little over an hour later an we are down to 144. Pod change was needed we are good, She feels fine acting like a normal 9 year old girl. Hold on...do not get to excited at dinner a little later than normal but it is  Thanksgiving Eve nothing is normal!!! We can't be getting sick although in the back of mind I knew that is what was going on or at least I think.

7:22 P.M back up to 327. WHAT we were fine 4 hours ago. Eat, correct and get ready for bed for TURKEY DAY!

 9:17  P.M. BG is 417. We are in for a long night. Did a 2 unit injection and increase basal rate. Being the over protective mom and worried what is going on I check again at 10:08 P.M. BG is still 415.

 My next thought is something is wrong with the pod and or insulin. I get a new pod and a new bottle of insulin just to be on the safe side I change pod and use the new insulin. 

Oh I should add in all this time she never had Ketones. I checked with the blood ketone meter as well with the urine sticks
.
 Time for me to get a couple hours sleep... checked at 12:45 A.M BG 248. We are getting somewhere was it the pod or the insulin?!? Who knows I am just grateful she is coming back down. Correct and back to bed for 3 hours.

 3:40 A.M. BG 351 check ketones again they are Trace okay no biggie she has had high numbers all day. More insulin to bring down the numbers and drinking more water.  Back to bed and alarm set for 6:30 A.M.

 Sweet and Sassy comes crawling in our bed around 6:00 so I checked her then BG 267 not bad. As all my "D" mama's know all I can think of is SLEEP. So I go back to sleep with my arms wrapped around my child.

She wakes at 8:00 A.M. crying " Mom I am going to get sick." That is right our crazy "HIGH" numbers were a Virus. Get her calmed down and sugars and ketones checked BG is 347 again...ketones are LARGE. How is this happening I have been keeping a close eye on her all night.

More insulin and for ketones and high sugar. She is one sick little girl she can not keep even a teaspoon of liquid down. I give Zofran. Having her take a spoonful of liquids every 20 minutes and it comes right back up.

Check sugars and ketones again at 10: 48 BG is 322 and large ketones still.  She screams "mom I need you!" Not even 15 minutes have gone by and her breathing is rapid, fruity breath, flushed face and all this vomiting. She is soooo weak she cannot even hold her head up. I took one look at her and knew I had to get her to the ER she was going into DKA! Those 3 LETTERS are my worst nightmare coming true. 

We get to the ER and she is vomiting non-stop and her little body is shaking uncontrollable. The Dr says " Has she ever been in DKA?" No she has never been in DKA not even when Dx. I am really scared ! Let me rephrase that I am more than scared I feel like my worst dream is coming true I am going to loose my baby to Diabetes... knowing all that is involved with what her little body is going through.  I have to stop thinking this way but I can not my head is spinning and I am going to be sick. I quickly tell myself to pull it together you are at Children's they will take care of her, About that time I hear Code Blue Rm 14 my heart falls, oh no this is not good. Everyone takes off running, I feel so bad for that family of that child. I did not ask many quetions as to what happened but I do believe he/she did make it through, During this time all I can think of is "Please God do not let that be us" as I feel so bad for thinking that and saying it as well. Why am I thinking this way is it I have read to many stories on kids going into DKA and not living or am I just being a normal Mom of a diabetic kid?!?

We are hooked to an IV and insulin drip her Ph level is elevated, electrolytes are showing DKA and blood gases are elevated too.

The Dr came in and said to me " you got her here just in time she is going into DKA within 2 hours she would of been FULL BLOWN DKA. Right now she is in a Mild Stage of DKA." I am speechless as look at my little lifeless girl laying there and to think this is  "MILD DKA" Hate to see Full Blown DKA.  Lots happened in the nearly 12 hours we spent in the ER.  I will not go into detail as it was a long day and seems to be a blur or maybe I just want to forget that it even happened. I still am asking myself " What did I do wrong or could I have prevented this from happening?" As I have learned over the past 2 1/2 years with Diabetes it is always a guessing game and you never know why?

On this Thanksgiving 2012 I am thankful that I have educated myself and those around me on Type 1 Diabetes and for all the Dr's and Nurses who cared for my Sweet and Sassy at Nationwide Children's hospital!

Summer's Gone

         Yikes! Where did the summer go?!? I am sure many of us are asking yourself that same question. Well I know we have just been busy realxing lakeside with great friends this summer.   

 

                        NOTHING BUTT FUN AT CHOCTAW LAKE

                                              
  A day on the boat is fun too!

                       And of course us moms like to have fun as well!

Okay I know enough from all the fun we had this summer and back to the real reason for writing this blog.


Sunday I decided it was finally time to go through our stock pile of diabetic supplies and get things ready for school which starts tomorrow.  This what we have OH MY LANCETS wow did not really know we had that many at all!

 

Sweet and Sassy will be going to a new school this year. Found out last week or week before can not really remember  but there will be another T1D in her classroom too! How cool is that she will not feel different from other kids. And as of this morning one across the hall as well. We had our 504 meeting with all the teachers, nurse and principal. For the first time since sweet and sassy was diagnosed that I felt like I was in control of the meeting. Maybe because this is my 4th 504 plan meeting or maybe a was more prepared who knows either way it went great!  I am not nervous at all about her going to school this year. I have taught her to take care of herself and be very aware of her body feels. Some say I put to much responsibility on her?!? NEVER and you know why? I can not be with her 24 hours a day 7 days a week and so on, so she MUST be able to care for herself. I am very confident if she had to care for herself for a week she could without my help. Do I want that no but it is nice knowing she can do it.

So here we are the day before school starts still with many things left to do and places to be. One of Sweet and Sassy"s favorite sports is Cheer so off to Studio for cheer in a couple of hours.



      

 

We Don't Have It So Bad

As I was wondering what I should blog about this evening. Nothing came to mind except we don't have it so bad after all. Even though we as D parents think sometimes how could it get worse. We are either to high or low, ketones, snacks and juice every 3 hrs in the middle of the night. We wish we could sleep more than 3-4 hrs. Then there are night OH MY GOODNESS I slept through my alarm. You take off running to the bedroom to check BG and to your surprise your child is sleeping and is just fine. God has taken control for a few hours so we can sleep. This brings me to why I am posting tonight.

As I signed onto Facebook yesterday I read a girl I had gone to high school with had passed away unexpectedly at age 35 leaving two little boys here on earth without a mommy to get kiss away the boo's boo's or watch them play ball, graduate, go to college, get married and so on. Then  I few weeks ago I stumbled across a family who's daughter is fighting Neuroblastoma cancer stage 5. I do not know this family at all but have several friends who do. Check out her CaringBridge site her mom has set up.   http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/isabellasantos/mystory  

So just when we all think HOW BAD IS TODAY? We still have our babies with us and are doing everything we can to help find a cure. With this being said I will leave with a picture of Sweet and Sassy playing softball and pitching and enjoying life to the fullest no matter what D throws at her she throws it right back on the field.

Feeling Numb

     Well here it is been three months since I blogged. What have we been doing?!? I can't really remember all the details but we have had highs, lows, been on vacation, birthday parties you name it. Oh and Sweet and Sassy has a broken hand now. Through all this I have often sat and wanted to write but just have not. After a lot of thinking I may know now.
      
      I love reading everyone's blogs on how they are doing with D but for me to write a page is just to painful at times. I so wish our lives were normal...but what is normal? I forget. This time of year brings so many emotions that I almost feel numb, now days. All the highs and on her birthday reading off the PDM for nearly 4 hrs felt has if I was in bad dream and couldn't wake up. When she looked at me and said "Mom I am scared will I be okay?" Holding back the tears I say " Yes you will be fine." Not knowing what was going to happen to her that evening. Needless to say 22units of insulin in 4 hrs we got a reading of 523. Thank- you Jesus for keeping my little one safe tonight.

     May 17, 2010 was the start of our 21 days and 3 trips to the Dr to finally get some answers...we have D. The dreaded word I have come to learn so much about. Sometimes I just feel like the high and lows have no affect on me anymore its just a number and we know what to do. No more of the worries I had in the beginning. Did I count carbs right did I change ratio's right. Don't get me wrong I still worry everyday just that I feel numb to the numbers and that there is no right or wrong with diabetes. Everyday is different. The lack of sleep, counting carbs, weighing and measuring are just are normals now. Life before diabetes is just a blur and honestly I do not remember life before.

      Sweet and Sassy is becoming very good at learning how to care for herself, pod changes,weighing, measuring and carb counting.. I put a lot of responsibility on her because I can not be with her 24 hrs a day. So with our endo appt tomorrow at noon I am little worried to see her A1c because we have been all of the place with numbers the past three wks. I leave the blog tonight still feeling numb to all that diabetes has given to us over the last 2 yrs.
      

I am back

Well it has been a little over 2mths since I have wrote on this blog. Mainly because I am so busy. Here you go an update on the Omnipod:)

We have been podding for 3mths and had our 3mth check up with endo today, drum roll...A1c was 7.1!!!! Awesome for us, I was a little worried because she has been all over the place lately. We are still trying to figured out some basal and IC ratio's but over all I am very proud of how we have done so far.

Sweet and Sassy's handles it all very well. She can even do a pod change by herself with no help. I am getting braver and have let her spend the night away from twice. The third time will be Sunday she is staying with her cousin.

Hope all my blogging friends are doing well, I promise to update more often.

What were we waiting for

So we have been pumping with the Omnipod for one month tomorrow, so far so good no big issues. We love it, as I sit back and think about why I waited so long to get started on the pump? I really think it was just I had the injections down I knew when she would go HIGH or LOW with what activity.

Pod changes have went well every three days we have not had one fall off or be uncomfortable...I am patting myself on my back because when were on saline the first week I put one her arm and it was EXTREMELY painful for her. Sweet and Sassy cried for almost two hours that day. I felt so bad for her and thought is this going to work for us. She was so afraid of and said " I just want to go back on shots!" I encouraged her to keep trying it out. Trying to explain this too a crying 8 year old who is very strong willed was quite difficult but all in all she agreed.

One of our first days on the pump she said " I do not even feel like I have diabetes anymore." This brought tears to my eyes. I am glad she feels that why now me it took me a few days, seeing the pod attached to her was a constant reminder to me that she had this awful disease. It does not bother me at all anymore.

We have had awesome BG only a couple high's but this week are struggling with low's in the morning after breakfast as in 40 yes I said 40 to low for me.

A big thanks goes out to Nicole Stupp when ever I had question no matter the time of day or night she was always there for me.

With all of this being said Sweet and Sassy is preparing for our next cheer competition on Saturday

24 Hours and counting on the pump

A very long time awaiting but we did it and so far we love it. As I did not think it was going to bother me very much but as we ate our first meal without and injection I become overwhelmed with emotion I started crying and could not stop. I am sure everyone in the place was like what is wrong with the mom. I have been an emotional mess since then. I think it just brought back so many memories of Dx day.


So here we are just over 24 hrs and counting and we have had great numbers and only one high but no ketones. Keeping my fingers crossed that we continue with all the good reports.

Her first meal without an injection!

Big Day

As it never occurred to me when were setting up our start of the Omni-pod it was diabetes awareness month what better month to start pumping! Today is the day we will began pumping of course with saline the first week then insulin. I am a nervous wreck I will do something wrong with the pump. Just has I felt the day we left the hospital when Sweet and Sassy. I know we will be okay because I have great support group of other D mamma's that I have met over the past few months. Well time to get ready for our big day.

Get better fast

I am really upset today, on Saturday I let Sweet and Sassy play outside all day with

Snuggled on the couch with Braxton with high blood sugars that make her feel cruddy!!!!

the neighbor kids. She had on sweatshirt and jeans and tennis shoes...versus the neighbor girl who had no shoes and tank top with carpi pants it was in the 50's but hey I am not her mom. So who wakes up yesterday with a nasty barking cough yes that would be my daughter. I started breathing treatments immediately on her as I do not want this to get out of control...which with the breathing treatments = high blood sugars in 400's. I just get so made at this stupid disease the least little thing they do affects their sugar level. Needless to say we off to the Dr today when the little girl across the street is at school and is not sick...not that I would want her sick too. We can not be sick we are getting our Omi-pod on Thursday and we have our first cheer competition on Saturday

Sweet and Sassy and her big sister too.

Giving Kisses to each other...love it.

Sweet and Sassy and her big sister at her 7th B-day party one month before diagnosed.

The Best Big Brother

This was at one our Dr's appointments I just love that the are so close. This was only 10 days after diagnosed he had to be everywhere with us. Very concerned about his little sister.

Showing Courage to her Bubba

Good morning to all! We have had some really good days not to many high BG or low BG I absolutely love this but what I do not like is what or should I say how this disease made me feel this morning at breakfast.

We got up did our normal first things first before even getting out of bed we checked Sweet and Sassy's BG it was PERFECT 131!!!! Did a little happy dance we love seeing that kind of number first thing in the morning. So I ask the kids what they wanted for breakfast they both said " Cinnamon Rolls." almost spontaneously really strange. So off I go to put them into the oven. Of course after putting them in the oven I immediately look at the carb count already knowing what it is but I always like to double check 44 carbs with icing per roll. They both decided they wanted chocolate milk as well. So Sweet and Sassy wants 3 cinnamon rolls with chocolate milk. 165 carbs = 12 units of insulin for her.

As I am dialing up her insulin pen and preparing to give it to her. I just stood there for a minute looking at it and said " This just stinks." She was sitting there about to enjoy her breakfast when we have to say " oh wait you need a shot before you can eat that." With that many units I wanted to make sure it was going in a spot that would absorb better than others. After choosing our spot she said" oh that one kind of hurt." No tears though. My son says " This just plain sucks for her." Yes it does. So while I am in the kitchen cleaning up I hear her talking to her bubba her response to all of this was " God must not of had enough diabetics that is why he chose me bubba." I almost started to cry. To look at that way is UNBELIEVABLE for an 8 year old. I do believe he does choose the strong ones to have this awful disease. I am so very thankful she does not put up a fight every time we need insulin to just stay alive everyday. I do believe if this was my son it would not be so easy. As just the other night he said " Mom I feel funny kinda of shaky and light headed." You know us D mammas of course I checked his BG. You would of thought I was telling him we were doing major surgery. Thank goodness it was 99 and dinner was about to be served. I am always fearful that he will end up with this as well. When he was an infant his BG dropped to 61 when we were in the hospital for a virus. We checked BG for 2 weeks 3 times a day at 9 mths old. Everything turned out fine and the Dr's determined it was Rotovirus... I still worry especially now with her having D.

A New Adventure Coming Soon

Hi to everyone I know I never blog very much at all, and to be honest I feel like I am not a very creative writer and frankly blogging takes more time than writing a quick status on facebook. So here I am about to tell you all that has been going on since my last blog a month ago.

After careful decision making for almost two months of reading and asking questions to all my other D families we have decided to start pumping and have chosen the OmniPod. Sweet and Sassy has always said " I do not want anything attached to my waist all day long." and with that being said we never pushed the issue. That all changed when we found out about the pods. Since Sept 17 we have been in the process of getting all this started. As of Monday this week we have our Omnipod now just waiting on a call from the Dr's office to get it connected. I am excited and a nervous wreck about starting this adventure. I know there will be many bumps along the way just like when we were diagnosed.

I really am going to try and post more on here...I know I know I keep saying this but I really want to post more I do. If we could only have more time in the day to get things done. Hope all my D families are doing well.

HUGE SUCESS

So back in August I had an idea to do a fundraiser to raise money for JDRF.After about a day of thinking I decided to do one with bowling. Where kids can be involved too so it was just not for adults since these was my daughter. I decided to call it Strikes for Sweet and Sassy's Diabetic Courage. I was very apprehensive about this. Would it be a success? Would we make money? Who would actually show up. With all of this going through my head I thought why not if it does not go well who cares we had fun. Boy was I wrong after I posted it on Facebook we had a huge response but then again I found myself questioning myself the closer it go to September 16. I had put alot work, time and money into this. We had 50/50 tickets and 5 raffles items.

As the days followed I prepared pictures and a video. I am not a crafty person in anyway shape or form. I had no clue had to make a video but I figured it all out.

So the night was here I was so afraid that everyone who said they were coming would call and say "something came up we wont make" thinking in my head what I would say back to them. What i want to say is "What if this was your son/daughter that went through living with Type 1 everyday?"

All the worrying for nothing this event was a huge success with family and friends and will defiantly be a event we will do everyday. The evening went by so fast I was busy talking and thanking everyone for coming I barley had time to enjoy any bowling with my daughter. She had a blast along with everyone else who was there as well.

In the end after paying for all the bowling, pizza and soda we raised $471.00 to take with us on our walk October 9.

I am truly from the bottom of my heart so thankful for all our family and friends that came out September 16 to make this event a success they will never know much this meant to me.

Her two older brother Chase (left) Damian (right)

Cadence wearing her sample Omnipod

A little bit of everything

When I started blogging back in July I thought I would blog something every day...boy was I wrong. Since I started this life has been a whirlwind of ups and downs. It started out with my friend loosing her 21 year old son, then Blake's grandpa passed. I decided to go back to work applied for several jobs on Monday August 7 got a call that day for an interview the next morning that afternoon they called and ask if I could the next day. So I had to find a sitter for Sweet and Sassy that I could trust and know how to take of her. I was pretty lucky I had a few in mind that I was given names of . The first person I called was the one. Her daughter has Celiacs Disease so she was very understanding that of reading labels and measuring food out. Thank goodness she was able to take her at the last minute.

Then we had our 3 month endo appt it went great...we are now going to start pumping with Omnipod super excited about this change. Sweet and Sassy wore a sample Omnipod prior to our appt. We go Sept 17 for our pump class then go from there. Lots of good things I hear about the Omnipod.

Then school started...all went well no complaints here. The nurse is wonderful with her. I never feel like she is not taken care of. The nurse will text me all her numbers througout the day or if she has any questions about anything! LOVE LOVE LOVE

Then over Labor Day weekend I took my 1st trip without Sweet and Sassy since she was diagnosed. Blake and I went to Florida to pack up his granparents place and drive their car back. The getaway was great but I worried the whole time I was gone. Thanks to Misty over at Life Is Like a Box of Chocolate's for being on call all weekend if needed. My mom did have to call her just for reassurance. Sweet and Sassy then went to stay with her dad on Friday evening let me just say this was not what I expected.
Her dad just dont get it sometimes he gave her donuts every morning for breakfast and pizza every evening for dinner....WHAT WAS HE THINKING!!!!! Do not get me wrong I do let her have those types of food but not everyday.

Well with all this I am going to try harder to at least blog once a week from now on...we will see how this goes. I truly love doing this and reading others blogs well. Hope everyone has a great weekend.

Michele

Busy.........

Life as been hectic the last few weeks...and sure does not look like it is going to slow down anytime soon. With the first day of school sneaking up on us we have our endo appointment in the morning. Hoping and praying a good visit as well as to some answers. Sweet and Sassy has been running extreamly high at night with ketones and nothing we do seems to be working to our advantage. By morning she is back to normal so who knows with disease somedays.

She has been wearing a sample of the OmniPod in hopes of this is what we will get in the next couple of months, she seems pretty excited about it.

Hope everyone is enjoying your last few days with kids before school is back in session and that we all have our 504's ready to go.

Will try and report back tomorrow about our visit.

Crazy

The last week has been a nightmare any parent should never have to go through. My friends son did not make it he passed last Saturday. He physcially was doing ok but on Friday they did brain function test and he was brain dead. VERY SAD! The family is holding up way better than I would be. As I writting this i just a got text from her that said " We ordered a beautiful headstone!! Thanks for being there and you can"t live your life in fear of Cadence's disease. Just enjoy her don't fear the disease god wouldn't want you to be so stressed living day to day scared it's out of control as I found out." My heart aches for her.

Since this has happened to her, I am now more than ever worry more about BG. I know we have them under control and she is doing good, but us T1 mamma's know this could change in a blink of eye.

Well just wanted to give an update with her son since i posted last week about him. Thanks to all your prayers keep them coming they will need them in the next upcoming weeks and months.

STRESSED

First of all I want to thank anyone who has commented over the past few days its been very stressful around here as you are about to here!

Sweet and Sassy's BG have been extreamly high at night in the 300's and low 400's but has been great during the day, no high's or low's. I think we have it under control now. I have been increasing her Lantus as of last night it's working, let us hope tonight is good too. I need some sleep more than 2 hrs at a time!

Then our air is out. Been having companies in out getting estimates. We think we have one now should be installed next week sometime. It has not been to hot as our's still works some what.

Blake's grandpa is not doing well at all. He is now in Hospice care only drinking not eating. They are saying its a matter of days. He is Florida. I keep telling Blake to go see him I do not want him to miss out on saying good-bye and then regret it later. I know we have alot going on here but I can handle it. So not sure how to handle him not wanting to go. I am thinking it is just a guy thing.

My friend Jeannette found her 21 yr old son unresponsive she had to give him CPR. He has blood clots they think with all the CPR the clot broke up and moved to his lungs which was lying on his heart. He has flat lined three times since Monday I was told. He is on a hypothermia machine to help with the brain function. He is 65% vent and 35% of his own breathing. He truly needs a MIRACLE! He had told his mom about a month ago he thought something seriously was wrong with him. He just graduated college and was engaged. The family had also taken a trip out west about a month ago as well.

I feel so HELPLESS to all the ones around me right now. Knowing there is nothing I can say or do to make things better for any of them. All I can do is be there when they need me.

I know alot of this had nothing to do with her BG's but please keep them all in your prayers.

As a mother I can not even imagine what she is going throguh. I hope and pray I never have to either. If none of this makes any sense it is beacause I have had a waterfall on the whole time I have been typing.

Michele

Something that has been bothering me for a weeks now

Hi I know all of you will understand where I am coming from when I tell you this story that I have kept to myself for several weeks now.


I have an amamzing boyfriend named Blake and without him I do not know how I would have gotten through this the past year since she was diagnosed. I will save that story for another blog on another day.

So here is what happened Blake has a big family with bothers, sistes and step brothers and sisters as well with all their kids. It was July 4th weekend and Blakes mother was having somewhere between 20-25 people there for the whole weekend with all the kids and so forth. I offered to do to all the desserts for that weekend. I made several differnt ones to be exact I made 6 all together 2 for each day Sat, Sun and Mon the 4th. On Saturday evening I took over what we call a Dreamy Creamy Kool-Aid Pie, Death by Chocoalte and a Ice-cream sandwhich dessert as well. All of which my daughter can eat when she is given the proper insulin. One of the ladies there that evening turned to me and said " Is this why your daughter is the way she is because you fed her sweets all the time?" For the first few seconds I was shocked she even said that to me. Then I got angry that someone would accuse of me that. After about 30 seconds which seemed like hours I looked at her and said "NO MY DAUGHTER WAS BORN WITH THIS DISEASE IT IS AN AUTO IMMUNE DISEASE IT WAS JUST A MATTER OF TIME THIS COULD OF HAPPENED WHEN SHE WAS SMALLER OR 10 YEARS FROM NOW!" Then I had to walk away. I felt like she was saying I caused my daughter to have this, which I know is NOT true, but when someone says something like that to you when you have a T1 it hits home a little more than someone who is not T1.

I am sure many of you have been in similar situation before. I almost lost it but I think I did well. If people only understood what T1 really was all about. I can't even imagine having said something like to someone not knowing much about the disease. Once again people amaze me!!!!