How We Did Kings Dominion Amusement Park

This is how I remember Kings Dominion 25 years
ago as a middle-schooler

Our youth group does an annual 3-day trip to Kings Dominion for Kings Fest. I am a youth leader so fortunately I was able to go and hang out with lots of teens and my own with T1D.

How we did it: Dropped Lantus by 1-2 units and Novolog by 2 units starting on the first night at the park for the Lantus and dinner time for the Novolog since we arrived at 3 pm.

There was at least one meal that Riley didn't use any Novolog.

His days were spent walking to/from the hotel to the park, in 100 degree heat, walking the park, riding rollercoasters, cooling off in the wave pool.

His bg never went above 150, the only low was on the bus ride down right before lunch.

Big relief knowing Amusement-Parking is totally in the realm of possibility. Will use these lessons learned for Camp next week.

Camp Checklist

• worry
• contacted camp via email outlining diabetes procedures-attempting to overwhelm without success
• contacted CDE to outline procedure for lowering evening Lantus, before meal Novolog, review the camp schedule for hot spots for lows
• worry
• purchased single serving snacks of 15 g carbs
• checked schedule for best time to covertly visit camp
• worry
• watched video of daughter's visit to camp and studied games intensely, very sure of low possibility

Going To Camp

Riley has been to the same summer camp for one week every year since he was 8. I should add right now that it took ten years off my life dropping him off that day 6 years ago. Now, even his little sister has put in her third summer camp experience. The camp is about 22 minutes from our house, has a great staff and tons of their school/church friends attend.


At camp, 2 yrs ago-before D

Riley decided he was bored with camp and didn't want to go this summer. I was shocked. But he does tend to say he doesn't want to participate in some activity and then when forced has a great time. 

This time I didn't want to force. This isn't diabetes camp. This is regular camp. There are no licensed medical people. No one hired to watch my kid and be sure his blood glucose is in range, checking bg regularly, calculating carbs properly, dosing mealtime and evening insulin, considering the extensive activity and preventing lows.

We had a talk with Riley and explained he had to do something productive with his summer. Maybe golf camp - three hours each morning for a week. Something. Today, he said he would rather just go to camp - the one he goes to every summer! I am beside myself. It is no good being myself and next to me is so much worse.

Father's Day

We're winning-why is he laying behind the hole?

 I have a great spouse. I adore him. He's an awesome dad.

We enjoyed an afternoon at my brother/sister-in-law's house, picnicking on the back deck, playing corn-hole (why has it become so popular again?) and eating a lot of good food.

Everybody (my in laws and my husband's brother and his wife and us) brought out the best in their own repertoire which means my mother-in-law made chili sauce for the grilled hotdogs, my sister-in-law bought a white cake with white icing and coconut from the local Wegmans.  And I made tomato pie and ordered an almond cookie that's the size of a cake.  All of this made for a fantastic gastronomic experience.

Then my team beat his team in corn hole. My team = Riley & I their team = Tim and Reid

Hottie on the left cutie on the right

My dad died three years ago after not so much of a battle with cancer for 2 years. Battle sounds like he and cancer went back and forth but he actually never had the upper hand. But he always had a great attitude. He was joy to care for in the last 6 months while he lived with me. He was a pleasure to spend time with. We had such fun. When he felt up to it, we would go to Wegmans and stroll around in his wheelchair while he picked out Valentine cards for my mom and I and a bouquet of flowers and a box of candy for her. We went to the movies a couple of times when Regal Theaters had open captioning on one of their films. My Dad has been deaf since birth. He came to a few of Riley's baseball games that spring.

During that time, I began this blog. Most of my parents friends are not local, so blogging/ his video-blogging kept everyone in the loop until the end.

We had tuna salad sandwiches at the cafe and did some shopping

Happy Father's Day to both my kids' father and my Dad. Two very special people.

Summer is here and ...

Everything is different now. Makes me not want to blog at all. I don't even want to read D-blogs except for Bigfoot Child Have Diabetes  I can't get enough of Katy.

I finally upped the evening (long acting insulin) Lantus last night, so the numbers look fantastic today. Which doesn't make me feel better, it worries me that tonight or tomorrow his bg will be too low.

Summer has been tons of fun while trying to get bg numbers under control-or at least under 200. That's a good goal, right?

We already went to visit Gramma at the beach. We were joined there by my neice and nephew, ages 2 and 3 1/2, and their parents. I tried to make it like a real summer vacation - we went to the beach, we went to the pool, we miniature golfed and had a huge Kohr Bros custard cone for $7. a piece at the boardwalk.  And because it is a tradition - Reid and I rode my dad's scooter to the grocery store. We do this every single time we go to my parent's house. My parents both got scooters shortly after retiring and moving to the beach. My dad's is a Vespa.

Vespa - So Cool!

I don't have a motorcycle license so I rarely rode it. Dad would limit my joy rides on his faster-than- mom's-scooter to just in the neighborhood. I ride my mom's Honda scooter all over Bethany Beach, Ocean View and even to Ocean City on occasion. No license necessary since it doesn't even go 30 mph. The scooter is absolutely one my favorite things. I ride it every time I go to the beach -when my dad was alive. Now three years after his death, I have only been to their house a handful of times but I ride the scooter. It takes me back to the fun times of all of piling onto the two scooters and going into town for the July 4th parade or to the beach. My dad would ride the Vespa with Reid in front of him and my mom on the back of him and I would have Riley with me on the yellow (Honda) scooter. Good times.

We also picked strawberries the morning before we headed home. The four of us, my mom, Reid and Riley and I picked almost 18 pounds-I have no idea what that means in the proper strawberry quart measurement. But it was a lot and they were delicious. I froze our bounty so I can learn how to follow a recipe and make jelly with them. That is my goal for one day this summer...eventually.

A Rough Patch

As you see from my post from Memorial Day weekend glucose numbers, we've hit a rough patch. It took every bit of these past two weeks to get it back to "normal". Normal is in quotes because let's be honest, what is normal?

But now that I'm looking back wihtout all the emotion of the honeymoon is over, will his numbers ever be stable again, will he ever consider the pump (because now I see why it would be so helpful), and why does everyone celebrate everything with food, it really only took an increase of one unit of insulin at each meal. I haven't even changed his long-acting before bed insulin. Yet.

First Time for Everything

An unresponsive blood glucose

9:30 am   89  HUGE carb breakfast with some non-lite syrup on two pancakes and hash brown potatoes

{spouse had to drive 35 miles one way to get insulin kit left at restaurant}

1:40 pm   253

4:50 pm   240

6:30 pm   265

6:31 pm   274

9:20 pm   239

7:13 pm   135   whew...