Halloween = Candy......what's a diabetic child to do????

Well as most of you may not know, children with type 1 diabetes CAN EAT CANDY! Normal, chocolate, sugar filled, yummy candy! How is this possible you ask? Well let me tell you!
Our first Halloween with type 1 diabetes was just 6 weeks after Shanie was diagnosed. So we were still very new at all of this. After her diagnoses we felt like we were dealing with a newborn baby again. We were very careful of everything! Also still being so ignorant about this disease that was trying to kill our daughter we did the only thing we knew how at that moment!

For Halloween we still let Shanie and her younger brother get candy. BUT we decided that we would buy her candy from her and she could go shopping and buy something instead of eating candy. She was fine with this except when she saw her brother being able to eat his candy. NOT FAIR RIGHT?? RIGHT! So we bought his too! LOL!

Of course we quickly learned that she can in fact eat candy just like anyone else! And SUGAR FREE ANYTHING IS NOT GOOD FOR HER! It causes tummy troubles. So NO SUGAR FREE CANDY!
:-) Well, like I said we quickly learned that she could eat just like a "normal" child. The only difference was that she had to put the insulin in to cover the CARBS, NOT SUGAR, but the carb amount from the candy. So instead of her body making insulin to cover her candy like the rest of us, she just has to make sure to put in the right amount of insulin. So now we let her get candy, LOTS of candy! LOL! And yes she does get to eat it all! Just not all at once! LOL! :-) She just has to keep track of the carbs she eats and put in the correct amount of insulin and she is good to go.

So make sure that you don't treat diabetic children any different during Halloween! :-)

Help bring awareness about Type 1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is so hard to deal with. And having people that "think" they know because they know about type 2 is so frustrating. I think it's to the point where type 1s just don't want to hear it anymore. I know it frustrates my daughter when she is being told by someone that is not educated about type 1 all about type 2 and if she just does this or that she will be fine. So I think this makes a lot of people that are fighting this disease try to hide or not talk about it.

This disease has messed with the wrong child! As the ones that know me, I have a big mouth and I'm very outspoken! My daughter is the same way! So we are doing whatever we can to bring awareness!

I can't tell you how frustrating it is as a parent to hear people treat this disease that is trying to KILL your child like it is no big deal!! I do admit that before this disease came crashing into our lives, we had no knowledge of it. I refuse to let that happen to anyone else. I want everyone to know about this disease, what it really does, how much it is NOT like type 2 and that it does indeed KILL!!

So whenever you meet someone fighting type 1 please do not tell them about their disease if you do not know about it or if you know about type 2. Ask them how it is or let them talk about it. I know my daughter HATES when people tell her about it when they don't know. But she loves to talk to people that don't know and help them understand.

3 things come to mind that I have heard people tell my daughter that is fighting a deadly disease.

1. WHEN SOMEONE TELLS HER THAT SOMEONE THEY KNOW HAS TYPE 2.
Well it's too bad that they have type 2 but that is not the same disease she has!
I'm not trying to say that people with type 2 are not suffering, but it is a different disease.

2. AT LEAST YOU DON'T HAVE CANCER.
REALLY???????? How dare anyone tell my child that she is "lucky" it's only type 1 diabetes! You have got to be kidding me!! My daughter fights EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY & NIGHT to stay alive!!!! So keep your ignorant, stupid comments like that to yourself!!

3. IT COULD BE WORSE.
SERIOUSLY???? Would you ever tell a child with cancer, "Oh it could be worse, you could be dead! At least you are alive" You wouldn't dare! She fights to stay alive and if she didn't then guess what dumbnut she would be dead!! So again keep your ignorant, stupid comments to yourself.

One more thing.....for those of you that think insulin is a cure? INSULIN IS NOT A CURE!!
My daugther has a pump attached to her 24/7. So if you think living on lifesupport is a cure you are WRONG and please stop thinking that!!!!!
Sorry I guess I needed to vent a little bit! :-)

Continuous Glucose Monitoring

How Continuous Glucose Monitoring Works in Diabetes

First, a tiny glucose-sensing device called a "sensor" is inserted just under the skin of your abdomen. The insertion is quick, and is usually not painful. It's very similar to insertion of an insulin pump catheter. Tape is used to hold it in place.
The sensor measures the level of glucose in the tissue every 10 seconds and sends the information via a wire to a cell phone-sized device called a "monitor" that you attach to a belt or the waistline of your pants. The system automatically records an average glucose value every five minutes for up to 72 hours.
Results of at least four finger stick blood sugar readings taken with a standard glucose meter and taken at different times each day are entered into the monitor for calibration. Any insulin taken, exercise engaged in, and meals or snacks consumed are both entered into a paper-based "diary" and recorded into the monitor (by pushing a button to mark the time of the meals, medication, exercise, and other special event you wish to record).
After three days, the sensor is removed at the doctor's office and the information stored in the CGMS is downloaded into a computer. You and your doctor or diabetes health care team can then review your blood sugar levels in relation to the other data collected and make any necessary adjustments in your diabetes management plan. The information will be presented as graphs or charts that can help reveal patterns of glucose fluctuations.

When a Continuous Glucose Monitor Is Used

The continuous glucose monitor is not intended for day-to-day monitoring or long-term self-care and it is not a replacement for standard blood sugar monitoring. It is only intended for use to discover trends in blood sugar levels. This helps your health care team make the most appropriate decisions regarding your treatment plan.
The main advantage of continuous glucose monitoring is that it can help identify fluctuations and trends that would otherwise go unnoticed with standard HbA1c tests and intermittent finger stick measurements.
For example, the device can capture dangerously low overnight blood sugar levels which often go undetected, reveal high blood sugar levels between meals, show early morning spikes in blood sugar, evaluate how diet and exercise affect blood sugars, or provide up to a 72-hour complete review of the effects of changes made to your therapy by your health care team.

Shanie tried this. First off she hated that the needle and tube that is injected into her tummy was thicker and longer than her pump. She also hated being hooked up to yet another device. While she wore it, she said it was painful. While this technology is great, it just wasn't for her.

Supplies for a type 1 diabetic

As a parent you always worry about your children. As a parent of a type 1 diabetic child you have a few things more to worry about.

Last night as we were going to bed Shanie needed to test her blood sugar. She needed new test strips. So as I go to our cabinet to find a new box, there were none to be found. So I go to our closet where we keep boxes of all of her extra supplies, no test strips. So of course panic kicks in. We have a few extras stashed. So I go out to our van and find our back up stash. Thankfully there were some in there. However, when I have to find our back up, I get very nervous because that means that we are really really low in supply.

How do we let this happen you ask? With everything we need to make sure our daughter stays alive once in awhile something gets overlooked. Or we "think" we have it. We have supplies in the van, in the kitchen, in our closet and in a few backpacks. Here is a list of the things we have to have.....

Pump, reservoir, infusion set, insulin, lancets, glucagon, syringes, blood sugar meter, test strips, injector, ketone sticks, batteries for her pump, batteries for her tester.

We have to have all these things to keep her alive. So sadly yes sometimes something is overlooked. But that is why we do our best to stay on top of this and help her fight this deadly disease! We will never let her fight it alone. We will do everything in our power to make sure she always has everything she needs! :-)

Central Cal Type One

There is a new organization to help type one diabeteics. It is called Central Cal Type One. Last night we had the first fundraiser and it was great! So many people came out to support our kids!

We are so exicted about this group and plan to help out in anyway we can. Our daughter is even excited about this. With her being a teen with type one she talks to a lot of teens online about their thoughts, feelings and frustrations about being a teen and dealing wtih this disease. She tries to stay very positive with her struggles and loves to reach out to others to try to help them. She understands how they feel and what they have to deal with. So with this new group we are excited to start a teen support group.

As most of you know just being a teen comes with its own problems, add dealing with type one diabetes and you have a whole new set of struggles on top of the regular ones. Please keep us in your prayers as we start this new journey and hope to reach out to the teens fighting this battle to let them know they are not alone!

September 15th 2003

Everyone has their own story about how type one diabetes came crashing into their world. They are all different, but still the same. You are going along living your life until one day you hit a brick wall.
This is our story.

Sept.12th is when the nightmare began. I took Shanie to the doctor thinking she had a bladder infection. They did a urine test and we waited thinking no big deal, you get medication and she will be better. When you get a phone call from the doctor herself, you know something is up. She told us that there was sugar in her urine. She thought there may have been a mistake but she wanted to do a blood test. Since it was a Friday she was going to wait until Monday morning. She asked if Shanie was sick. We said no she was fine, so we thought. She told us that if during the weekend she got sick, take her to the ER. We had no idea what she ment by "sick". All weekend we looked up sugar in urine on the internet. It all came up the same, DIABETES. We were scared but hoping for the best.

Monday morning came, Sept. 15th. We went in for the 3 hour blood test.....then the wait.......that afternoon the doctor called. I will never forget what she said, "It's what we thought, she has diabetes". It took everything I had but I managed to stay calm as she told me that we needed to get her to the hospital asap! After I got off the phone with her I told Shanie's dad to come into the bedroom. I told him what she said and we both broke down and cried. We pulled ourselves together and tried to stay calm as we went and told our little 7 yr old daughter that she was sick and we had to take her to the hospital. She was so brave. We had no idea what we were all in for.

When we got the hospital, they did all kinds of tests and threw so much information at us, our heads were spinning. We were in shock and we needed all this information to keep our child alive. She did everything they told her to do. She was confused because she didn't feel sick. We would later learn that we had caught it early and that most children that are diagnosed are really sick. I guess being an over protective parent really paid off. She was in the hospital for three days as we learned how to test her blood sugar and what the numbers ment. We had to learn how to give her shots. I know for most parents you hate it when your children have to go in and the doctor gives them a shot. We are no different. It took all the strength I had to pinch my daugther's little leg to inject the needle myself. It broke my heart every single time. While she was in the hospital I couldn't leave her side. That first night I held her all night long and I could not stop crying. I couldn't sleep. I kept watching the window waiting for the next morning, waiting for the sun to come and waiting for this nightmare to be over. But as the sun started to rise, I was still there next to my daughter, lying in the hospital. This was real. It was a nightmare that would never end and we would have to live it everyday. That was eight years ago. Life with diabetes is like a roller coaster. It has many ups and downs and lots of twists and turns. You never know what to expect. We were very ignorant about type one diabetes. Most people don't understand it. Here are some things I wish people knew about this disease.....  

                                                                 
She did nothing to cause this./ She did not each too much sugar/ She cannot just take a pill/ She cannot lose weight or change her diet to get rid of this./ She will have it for the rest of her life./ She has to fight this disease 24/7 and she can never take a break from it/ She has to worry about carbs, not sugar./ She has to weigh and measure everything thing she eats./ INSULIN IN NOT A CURE!!!!