Monday, January 16, 2012

time goes by

I don't know how it is that Jimmy is 7, Jenna is 12, and that it's 2012 already! I know it's cliche, but I thought they were just babies!

Jenna and I took a trip down memory lane tonight - she sprung it on me that she needed a picture of her as a baby and also in kindergarten. So there we are, reminiscing about her baby years - going through the albums and noticing how much Jimmy looks like her - and noticing that there aren't too many photos of 'just Jenna' since Jimmy came along!! And as Jenna pointed out, that it's always been that way - wherever she is, he's there, too! She was ok with it - for a minute I thought she was going to complain about it. All she asked was, "Mom, was it easy when it was just me?"

She's such a good kid. She knows it's hard now. Diabetes is hard. I told her that it was hard work with just her - but I love it, and that she was my only priority then. Now, she shares me with her brother - but that she was lucky to have me all to herself for almost 5 years before Jimmy came along. She agreed, and added, "I'm glad Jimmy is here."

Me too. Like I said, she's a good kid!

Jimmy mentioned to me on Friday that he remembers playing video games in the hospital when he was first diagnosed. I'm relieved to know that of all the bad stuff he went through in the hospital, that he remembers the good stuff!!!

Christmas was difficult. The time spent sitting in the car to go visiting doesn't go over well with blood sugars. The tempting sweets over the holidays is just ridiculous. Being off schedule does a number on Jimmy's numbers...

I find it amazing that his A1C was actually lower than it was 3 months ago since the holiday break was so "off."

We're hovering at an 8.2 now - down from an 8.5.

We've made the necessary changes now, but I'm afraid that he's sitting too low lately. He has a low almost every day for the last 2 weeks. Need to contact the dr. (aka Rachel) to see what we should do.

On another note, we had a crappy Friday the 13th. It was Thursday night, and I waited until he fell asleep to change his site (it's just easier than fighting him - which isn't always the case, but when he fights, it can be ugly. So when I can, I'll just do it when he's asleep.)

I changed it, but in the morning, he was over 200. I feared that Friday the 13th was getting us, but bolused him anyway, covered for breakfast, and went off to school (keeping my fingers crossed.)

Well, don't you know I got a call from the school nurse that Jimmy was in the 400's with keytones.

Panic mode.

Ok, here we go.
1. Correct him with a shot of 1 and 1/2 times the correction with the novalog pen. oops, he flinched, and didn't get the entire correction...

2. Give a 2nd novalog pen shot to guess what he didn't get and make up for it...

3. Then he decides he's hungry. Ok, so now we need to give another 1 unit, except - OH NO - there are no more novalog pen nano needles, AND he needs a new site!!!

4. Locate the original syringes in the nurse's office and chase Jimmy around until he agrees to have the syringe to cover for his yogurt and chips he wanted to have. Finally gave him the shot, and he doesn't want the snack anymore. Really???

5. Convinced him to eat the snack.

6. Still high, so I decide to to take him home and change the site, only to realize the site I put in the night before was the last site until the delivery on Saturday - which wasn't soon enough.

7. Communicating with the Molly Center about Jimmy's keytone status, they told me to come on over to see them since they have some extra sites on hand. Thank goodness!!! So I get there, and make a mental note that I'll need gas before I get home.

8. Leave the Molly Center, head to the bank, since Jimmy wants pizza from his favorite place, but they only take cash - so off to the bank. The plan was that I'd get the cash, get the pizza, then go home to change his site and eat.

9. Best laid plans... as we're leaving the bank, my car (which said that I still had 5 miles to go) ran out of gas.

10. Can't find my AAA card, so I call Jim. He has it and gives me the number - which I call, and discover that my phone battery is low (I had let Jimmy play with it as a distraction in the nurse's office) and the phone then actually shuts off. So there I am, leaving the bank, blocking the exit with my dead car. Angry people honking at me, yelling at me, etc... Happy Friday the 13th.

11. Now keep in mind that Friday morning, it was actually nice out. However by about noon, it was a blustering, windy, freezing, flurries falling day. We hadn't had our heavy winter coats with us because I'm evidently a bad mom who doesn't read the forecast! I wasn't sure what to do...

12. So, already feeling like the worst mom ever, we go to the nearest safe and warm place - Starbucks (the bank was farther down the strip mall, and Jimmy was soooo cold!!!) Luckily, the manager took pity on me and offered to watch Jimmy so I could go get gas. I was sure she was going to call DYFS on me for not having a winter coat for him and for abandoning my child. But I go across the street to get gas. Praying with every footstep that I was doing the right thing.

13. (13 being the final step in my awful ordeal) I have to pay extra for a gas can, even though the gas station attendant can see my car from his station - he claimed that I wouldn't bring it back... So freezing my butt off, I run the gas over to pick up Jimmy from Starbucks (to find out that the manager had given Jimmy a cup of hot chocolate - WITH WHIPPED CREAM!!!!!!!! I guess I didn't mention that he was a diabetic, since I knew he was already high and that he wouldn't go low in the 5 minutes I was across the street getting gas...) Although, I was still incredibly greatful that this kind, angelic person (albeit complete stranger) was nice enough to look after Jimmy for me on what might have been one of my worst days ever!!! So, there we are - getting back to my car - gas can in hand. You'd think that one of the 3 security guards directing traffic to avoid my car blocking the exit would have offered to fill my tank with it, but that wasn't the case. They actually watched me as I tried to figure it out. I was freezing, my fingers were numb, and I couldn't get the cap off. It was kind of like a water bottle that you need to pry off the plastic piece before use - so frustrating!!! Well, no thanks to them, I got it off, filled the car, and Jimmy and I were off.

We did it.
We survived Friday the 13th.
And it was only 1:30 in the afternoon!!!
What else would the day have in store for me???

Luckily, Jimmy's keytones were gone by the time I got home, and despite the major amounts of carbs in the hot chocolate, I was able to correct that high in a reasonable amount of time.

Always something with diabetes - at least this time, I was able to blame something else - namely Friday the 13th. I'll be better prepared next time - I hear there are 2 more this year - Wish me luck!!

Peace,
June