Camouflage

Not actual bag...stand in that
doesn't make me cry

Another child at our school has been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. That brings the total to 5. There are only 300 and some students.

I stopped by my daughter's lunch table to say hello and see how the newly diagnosed kid was doing. I had to say something. I saw the camouflage bag. I asked him how he was. "Good, my mom just stopped by to check on me. I'm fine," he said.

The camouflage bag. Something caught in the back of my throat. I couldn't finish my sentence.  I just wanted to know how the transition to school was going. There was no stopping the quickly forming tears. I couldn't speak.

Endo Appointment Looming

Throwing caution to the wind right before Endo appt

Not to be a band-waggoner. But, I do not want to go this quarterly appointment. I used to look forward to these appointments. During the honeymoon phase, the topics were light coffee table conversation that felt more like a light applause for catching on so well.

Now it's all "that a1c is sure coming up" and "you have to have tried to inject in your belly once a week by the next appointment" and "do you know that Nutella is all sugar?"

It is making everything stressful.

Me: The numbers have to look good for the doctor, Tim.  We have to get the carb:insulin ratio right, right now!
Tim:  I know they were high when Riley was sick, but they're better now, right?
ME:  NO, no they're not. Did you see that 464 the other night?

Me: Riley, what's up with the 464 the other night?
Riley: Um..I dunno. I didnt want to tell you because I know you'd freak out.

Where does he get this from. ..me..freak out?!

Then, last night 130 at 9 pm before bed and 59 around 10 pm. That's just stupid.

Plus, I may have said some things that sounded like other people (Tim) need to pay closer attention while I'm working so much these days right before the quarterly Endo appt.

Cold Caught

138 Fri breakfast
255 Fri lunch
301 Fri dinner
343 Fri bedtime

211 Sat breakfast
397 Sat lunch
262 Sat dinner
260 Sat bedtime

222 Sun breakfast
247 Sun lunch
248 Sun dinner
232 Sun evening check
266 Sun bedtime

240 Mon breakfast
202 Mon morning check
306 Mon lunch
  84 Mon afternoon check

Riley got sick over the weekend. You can see where it started on the schedule above. Right between breakfast and lunch on Friday morning. Sore throat, croupy cough, no fever though.

Then he got better. Sometime Monday afternoon. Or maybe we finally got the insulin carb ratio right to cover the insulin need during his cold.

Difficult to dose now. At dinner we kept the same higher dose, thinking we got it right as shown above. But after two hours, lots of loud carrying-on (symptom of low for Riley) - he was 71. Ate 10 CHO homemade protein bar, tested 70 bg. Ate Belvita 36 CHO and chocolate almond milk 13 CHO, at bedtime he was 180. This morning 240. So...still fighting cold or need to up Lantus??? Then send him to school and hope for the best, ughhh.

Wrap Up

This week included:

• Mid Term Exams for Riley (Bible, Math, History & English)
• Eye doctor appointment for Riley
• Girls group meeting for Reid and I (American Heritage Girls)
• Dental appointments for Riley and Reid
• Business travel out of town for Tim
• 9:00 pm indoor soccer game on Saturday night

Highlights:

Studying for exams with Riley is like .... something I can't describe. I never want to do it again. But here I sit taking a break from Spanish and science quizzing/study assistance. And, oh yeah, 10th grade and beyond. I'm sure he will do it on his own then. Or maybe have a girlfriend, who really cares about grades and wants to help him study. This is a true possibility, right?  A girlfriend and a girlfriend who like to study.

I meant to take an actual picture, but didn't

Next eye-opening event - diabetic retinopathy exam.
Riley needed to have an eye exam because his frames had broken  for the 13th time and it was time to get bigger ones anyway. Since it was less than a year since his last eye exam, I was told the eye doctor would code this exam as a diabetic check-up and it would be paid by our insurance. It was old hat. We've done this a few times now and I had nothing to worry about until I saw the the doctor purse her eyebrows as she was looking through the equipment pictured on the left. She did it for both eyes. I suddenly felt sick. My stomach turned. In my head, I was screaming, "Wait this is just routine stuff...nothing's wrong here!" Then she finished, everything looks great. Very normal.

Indoor soccer at 9 pm. Very exciting. I'm excited for Riley to have the opportunity to become a better player. Improve his game for the fall season at school. Diabetically speaking, it's very strange. This was the second week of games on Saturday night, last week was at 8:30 pm. We knew what to do. Riley tested before we left the house to see if his bg was below 150 in which case he would eat a snack. It was 233. Perfect number to start a soccer game, I guess. The players each play about 5-7 minutes then come out and sit awhile, then head back in. I would think that the excitement of the game and the total minutes of play time would drop his blood sugar by at least 50, right? When he got home and tested, it was 280. What?!? Now what do we do? Correct and then have it plummet overnight when his body realizes the exercise/excitment or not correct at all?  We just dosed for Lantus (night time insulin). This morning his bg was 113.  That is definitely comment-worthy. I let his bg remain that high with only Lantus to correct which works over a 20 - 24 hour period.

What I Am Reading and Why

I don't know why.

I tried to backtrack and can't figure it out. I was reading...Oh wait, I recall now. I was watching an interview with a mother who put her seven year old daughter on a diet. Dara-Lynn Weiss is the author and the book is The Heavy. The interview was brief and trite. So I googled it and while I was reading an article about Weiss, The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother was mentioned. I was intrigued. I also had a faint memory (clearly an issue of mine) of my cousin mentioning the book or someone mentioning it on a blog. I checked it out...Correct on both accounts, here's the link to my cousin's blog.

I read until about midnight last night and again today while waiting in the car for my next interpreting assignment. It's fascinating. It makes me feel so stupid. Literally obtuse, well not literally. The only thing I do that is in any way similar to Amy Chua is yell at my kids. So it isn't even one of the things that is tough now but pays off later like hours of instrument practice. I'm not saying that I agree with the the Chinese model of raising kids but it has more positive aspects than the Western model. There must be a way to get the best of both worlds.

I still have half a book to read. Maybe Amy figures it out.

I tried to get the previously mentioned book, The Heavy, at the library at the same time, but couldn't recall the title or full name of the author. When I drop off Tiger Mother, I'll pick up The Heavy and let you know how it goes.

*theme today = I can't remember crap

30 Day Media Fast

Not fast as in fast forward, but fast as in to do without.

Our youth group is doing their annual overnighter tonight. I am not there because I seem to have caught a bug. Not the flu that is running rampant all over the United States right now, but a little sore throat, head congestion and a touch of a sick stomach.

The night will include a worship band from a nearby college, laser tag for three hours in the middle of the night, root beer floats and a showing of the documentary Captivated. I just watched it and it is powerful. I am looking forward to Tim and Riley getting home in the morning and see if we're all on the same page. Or at least that Tim and I are on the same page - the page is that we as parents need to take control of the television (we don't watch much tv, but unplugging will show us how addicted we may be), xbox, iphones, and Kindle. There is definitely some addiction issues to the middle two.



me watching the documentary and the whole house went dark

A strange thing happened while I was watching this documentary about unplugging from media. Our power went out. So the only electricity running in the whole house was this laptop with Captivated showing. Tim's work computer and phone - out. Riley and his friend's Xbox game - gone. Reid's television - blank. That's a pretty strong message. And I got it loud and clear.

On a completely different media note - I can't upload pictures here anymore. Is anyone else having the same problem?

Picking Favorites


Thursday - my favorite day

  7:15 am   bg 135   eat breakfast, inject insulin, go to school
10:30 am   no idea  call home because feels sick (nausea etc...whatever it takes to get out of school)
11:00 am   still ?     call home again because we haven't come to pick him up
11:30 am   bg 81     on the way home with his parents who finally picked him up
11:40 am                 feels dropping, eats 15 CHO of grapes then hungry eats 30 CHO crackers/cheese
12:00 pm   bg 87     watches UFO stories on cable wrapped in Gramma's down comforter
  6:00 pm   bg105    what what?? perfect 
  9:20 pm   bg 120   you're killin me



Reuben is his favorite

Friday - Riley's report about his day: great day; smiled and laughed all day.

Wait, whoa...what about being ticked off at the world, failing a Spanish quiz, forgetting your math homework, annoyed by all my questions, wishing you had cooler parents?

Making sense of it all - hormone drop? Could it be that the hormones wreaking havoc on his insulin resistance and his attitude have taken a vacation?