Big stuff around here...

Big stuff going on around here... I feel like I need a theme song (hey, it works for Hallie ;).

First up... we are done with pump training (we finished early to boot).
We made our final pump setting adjustments today. I am not sure I get it but who am I to judge?

What don't I get???

Well, I don't understand how we see the obvious need for more adjustments, but not the need to follow up with how they work. I guess I just assumed we would continue to send in logs until there was no more adjusting. Confused am I?? Well... just a tad!

Either way... So now I don't need to check in between meals unless I suspect a low... that I won't complain about because we have been flying through test strips faster than the cup full of tokens at Chuck-E-Cheese the other day. I don't have to keep logs like a crazed math nut. Justin can have snacks again, I can correct if I need to... AND because I don't have to fax in logs by 1pm, then wait for the call that sometimes never comes... we can get out of this house!!! We are all going a bit stir crazy I am afraid :)


I know, I know... we could have left. But I am one of those people that has to get up early and get going... or I just don't bother. One of my many oddities I guess.


Movin on...


Sliding in second on my list...
WERE GETTING A CGM!!!!! YAHOO!!!!
feels like there might be a smidgen of sleep in my future :)
It arrives Wednesday... now all I need is a super cool name for it.
OH~ and more training... CRAP!


And last but certainly the funnest... I filled out an application for the Littlest Heroes Project
and it was accepted... YAHOO AGAIN!!!
Now I am in the process of looking through the photographers. I have it narrowed down to 8 in my area... I still have a lot of "narrowing down" to do.

Hope you all have a FABULOUS 4th of July weekend!!!
BE SAFE!

A lesson to learn...

To say it has been a long week would be an understatement. Maybe if I wasn't an endocrinologically challenged control freak... I wouldn't be exhausted right now :)

Today... we are on pump day 11. From the way things are going... site changes are glucose crashing monsters. Those have been the days with the most issue around here. That leads me to my mistake.

Yesterday, Justin had a birthday party to go to at my favorite place E.V.E.R (sarcasm inserted)!
Chuck-E-Cheese has made my head hurt before I even get there on many occasions. It's not the snotty nose little kids all touching the same games... it's not the tube system polluted with food that parents let their little darling take in there or the fact that if you walk in your white sox's... they will look like you just played in the dirt with them(oh wait- that IS what you did).
Aside from all that loveliness... MAN IS IT LOUD!!! I do not like chaos... never have! And it doesn't get much more chaotic than a birthday celebration in the mouse house.

Before I go... I prepare. Chuck-E is nice enough to list his nutritional value on his website. I made sure to write it all down ahead of time. AND the soda is easily accessible so I could fill Justin's party cup with some carb free diet.

Get to the point Lora...

Okay, so for the pizza I figure Justin would eat 2 pieces... they were not real big. So I go ahead and bolus for that thinking there would be play time in between pizza and cake... um NOPE!
The girl just dished out the cake like it was part of the meal. So in my unsure mind I decided to wait a bit to see what his BS would do before I bolus more. Besides, he has been running hard for almost 3 hours straight and his BS held pretty steady the whole time.

When it was over...(still no bolus for cake) the kids turn their tickets in to Mr. Munchy and we head over to the counter full of prize "stuff". Five hours later (not really, but it felt like it) we emerge with our trinkets and head home.

When we get home (2 hours after eating) I have Justin check his BS... 268. Okay, correction it is. I gave a little less than it said because it is night time.

Oh yeah, we also needed to do a site change... Magic cream + 45 min... easy!

Until... the bedtime check.
9:42pm - 53 + 18c
9:59pm - 64 (did I not wait long enough?)
10:22pm - 53 + 38c (pb&j with a little bit if juice to quick boost)
11:01pm - 133
3:00am - 74 + 15c
6:30am - 57 +15c
8:00am - 46

Dear lord what did I do???? Should I not have corrected at all??

What would you have done??

What a day...

Yesterday was suppose to be about Justin. As I mentioned to some of my FB friends- we had an appointment to have a pump site inserted just to find out if he would tolerate it in a place OTHER THAN his arms(Justin will only let me do his injections in his arms).

Justin had decided that he wanted to try it in his belly. Meri had gave me a tip that for the skinny guys... the hip/butt is a little better. So since Justin listens to the opinion of everyone BUT me, that morning I asked Justin if he remembered my friend Meri (we had talked about everyone over the holidays as each Christmas card came in the mail =)... it was great "talk time"). HE DID! So I told him what she/her boys said. He listened and at that point wasn't agreeing or refusing so we let him ponder.

When we got to the hospital the CDE was ready and waiting for us. She explained the process to him as he mindfully inspected the size of the needle. She also confirmed Meri's tip after some suggestive wording from me :)
THEN...She offered to put one on me first and sweet little Justin didn't want to hurt me. SO SWEET!! (sniff sniff)
I let him know that it was okay and I said I would love to try it, and I did :) CLICK!!! It really did not hurt. However, keep in mind that I have a WHOLE LOT more chub than he does so who am I to judge really?

Then, there we were... Justin's turn. We didn't drive almost an hour for nothing as far as I was concerned. We inspected "the property". He was willing to go to the "cheeks" but REFUSED to let the CDE see his tighty whities. OH BOY!!! NEW PLAN!!!
I ended up taking him in the bathroom and doing it. After a few minutes of nerves, a sweet "just let me calm down"and a deeeep breath... CLICK!!! WE DID IT!!!

(me)Did it hurt?
(J) "it pinched a little"
(me) "but not so bad right?
Justin didn't answer... he was still thinking about it.

We left the bathroom with me explaining my inexperience of the process and that soon he probably wouldn't even feel the pinch.
Unfortunately... I inserted the darn thing right where the band of his underwear lays and it bothered him. So we ended up removing it after about 5 min(mine stayed in).

Speaking of... I think we used a CLEO(?) insert. Does anyone have an opinion of them? It did not last the day on me. I intended to leave it on and give Justin my opinion about sleeping in it, but it came off?? ARG!!!

He didn't decide right away, but he has now said he might want to do it.(The two of us will work on a separate post with HIS questions and concerns).

THEN... the day switched gears. Lunch plans canceled. Strawberry short cake plans forgotten.
Because I got a call...

It was my Aunt Gwen...
Hey, where are you? Leaving the hospital...
WHY??? I explained...
Oh, okay. What hospital? St Joseph's...
Grandma's there- in the emergency room. Okay, I'm turning around.

I knew she hadn't been feeling good, but I guess it was hurting her to breath. Anthony sat with Justin for a few while I went in to get the details. Turns out she has pneumonia and she has become anemic. They decided to admit her and were talking blood transfusion. I hung out about 30 minutes and my uncle had arrived so I decided while they were looking for a room and getting orders, I should go ahead and take Anthony and Justin home(I didn't need him sick too).

I went back and hung out with her while she went down for an ECHO and a CT. She DOES NOT like to be enclosed so they couldn't do the CT... new plan!!!

I hate my grandma being sick... she the only grandma I know. It's scary to think about her getting older and not being able to fight off the sickness like she use to. My aunt stayed with her over night. She received 2 bags of blood(of course while she was trying to sleep).
So tonight I am planning on taking the night shift. This way she doesn't have to wait for the nurse if she need to go to the restroom or gets cold and wants a blanket.

Sadly, in my mind, I am worried about Justin. Anthony will need to do the night check for the first time(he doesn't know it yet). I guess it was bound to happen.

Today... I will be praying for an uneventful "D" night!!!
(Me and my grandma)

Not bad at all...

What a relief. Justin's A1c was a whopping....

6.5

It did go up.. (was 6.2) but I am not going to complain when I was waiting to hear an 8. (seriously)

We had a great appointment. We got a new purple meter(Justin's favorite color)

Dr. D sat with us for a while (as usual) and chatted about the lunch time dilemma.

He says that I can just correct him when he gets home... that's not so bad.

Then it was onto the pump...

Just as Wendy said "we have a choice of 3"

Ping ~ Minimed & Omnipod

Dr. D said it was our choice when we were ready and all I had to do was a little homework.

This is apparently to see if I am competent enough to count carbs in the proper manor :)

Hmmm ~ we shall see!!

I have decided to leave it up to Justin. He can get the pump if he is ready. On the way home(little more than a 45 min drive) we talked about it. I told him how it was 1 shot every 3 days and how within 3 days he now has 6 shots and could be getting up to 9 from now on.

He's pretty smart... he quickly did the math and the light bulb turned on :)

At that point, I gave him the brochures and let him look through them. I pointed out the CGM and told him what that was all about. In his words "I'll take that".

I don't even think he cares about the pump... he just wants the CGM.

Do you think maybe he's tired of poking his finger?

Either way, we need to make a decision though I believe it will happen when it ready to.

Dr. D did say that I don't have to deal with the Insurance...
That's good in a way, but I hate to convince Justin to go with it only to find out our NEW insurance isn't having any part of it. UUG!

Again, we will cross that bridge when we get there.

to everyone for your advice. I GREATLY appreciate all your support and I am sure I will be posting more questions soon :)

Hi Ho - Hi Ho... It's off to the Endo we go!

Yikes! This appointment has snuck up on me. I am dreading this one because I KNOW Justin's A1c will not be pretty.

WHY?

Because his lunch numbers at school are messing us all up.

PLUS!!!

I dread it because I am going to talk about adding another injection to help with the above mentioned problem. Poor Justin. I hate doing that to him.

On a side note... I was told to look start looking into the pump during our last appointment. Not really sure what exactly I'm suppose to look into. Where do you start? What questions do you ask? Who do you ask? I have poked around on the Internet and don't think I've learned a whole lot. Granted, I am not much of a reader.

I like hands on experience and real conversation.

EVERYTHING I know about the pump... I think I've learned from a blog(or was it Facebook?).

For example:

• Always have extra batteries with you
• Batteries like to go out in the middle of the night when you want sleep
• When you cant find your pump... look under your pillow
• Our pump needs a cool name
• Pumps require a full rewind... ummm like a video???
• If you detach your pump in front of your teacher... she may have a heart attack!

I do still have a few questions...

-I would like to know which pump also goes with the sensor thing that also checks your bg and eliminates the need to poke your finger??? That would be nice... Justin's fingers are all beat up and it makes me sad. I met a mom at a run we did and she was telling me about her daughters that did this. Why can't I remember the name?

-Are there any pumps I should avoid?

-I also hear that it's a whole lot more expensive... oh boy! Can it get worse?

-I do think(and I've said it before) our biggest challenge is going to be the injection site. At this point, Justin will ONLY use his arms. I haven't been able to convince him to try anywhere else. Anyone have this challenge?

I would love some feedback if you have any. AND a little prayer for an A1c that doesn't make me cry :)

Thanks for any advice~