June in Review

June flew by, it hardly seemed like we did anything but then I looked at our calendar and realized that we packed a bunch of stuff into those 4 weeks. We began summer with days in the backyard, looking for bugs and playing in our little pool on the patio. I got a bit of a tan, the girls even more so (with the heavy application of sunscreen even). We prepared for my mom to arrive from California - she and my brother drove out in a moving truck and then he flew back to Cali the next day. We celebrated Father's Day, unfortunately for Wayne it was a disappointment but I'm determined to make it up to him. I interviewed for a fantastic job and will be starting this Wednesday (SOOOOO excited about this). We are still having car problems and have decided to suck it up and just pay to have them fixed rather than replace them. We don't need a car payment right now, but how I loathe the cars we own. SERIOUSLY. Ms. J had her assessment to move into 1st grade (her birthday is 2 days past the cutoff) and it didn't go as well as we had hoped, but I'm working on getting some clarification for the testing that was done as I don't think it was what we were told it would be. Her math skills weren't what they wanted them to be, yet we were encouraged to get her tested for Gifted and Talented in the spring - say what? Her reading is off the charts, which we knew, but I find it odd that excelling in one area would make her a candidate for the gifted and talented program. We also have a new endocrinologist and we are officially leaving Children's Hospital of Dallas - thank goodness! It is not to the endo that I had hoped for, I was sad when we were turned down for an opportunity based on Little G's age, only to hear that someone else that we know was accepted with a child much younger than her. Not that I'm unhappy for the other family, just disappointed and a little jealous.

Wayne did have surgery on his left arm, he has some nerve damage, not all associated with T1, but it cannot be ruled out. They took the ulnar nerve, which runs along the outside of your arm down to your fingers and relocated it to the other side of his arm. They also did carpal tunnel surgery while they were at it. He came through the surgery well and is healing like a champ. He's in a cast up past his elbow and will get it off in 2 weeks and his sugars have been great considering his down time. He's a bit restless and annoyed that simple things like buttoning his pants are more difficult, but he's anxious to get his other arm done sooner rather than later so he can get back to playing guitar and working at full capacity. The right arm will be a bugger because the poor man cannot so much as pick up a fork with his left hand. Should be interesting!

My mom is here now and settled in - more settled in 2 weeks than we are after 10 weeks in our house. She is adapting well to life in Texas and is excited about learning about her new home state. She misses my brother and his family tremendously but knows they are but a plane ride away.

We have been shown an outpouring of love and support over these past few months and we appreciate it more than words can express. If you have thought about us, prayed for us or even read this blog or sent me a note on FB, you are very special to us and we have felt your support. Thank you all!

July is going to be a better month for us and the beginning of much better things for the Evans family. Here's to better days ahead!

Ya Wanna Fat Lip?

Things are crazy around here. They seem to be a little crazy everywhere though. Lots of crappy diagnosises and medical procedures happening to people I care about and I'm wondering if it's something in the air.

Yesterday was a pretty eventful day at our house. Car problems seem to be the bain of our existence right now....three cars, 2 of them don't run at all and the 3rd is just humping along. Wayne has been fortunate to catch a ride to work all week with a coworker, but the stress is not fun. Since I'm not working right now, money is tighter than usual and having to fix or find another running car that's reliable SUCKS. I'm so tired of thinking and worrying about cars - it makes me physically ill.

Wayne's nice co-worker was also nice enough to take Wayne to his hand surgeon appointment. During this appointment Wayne was delivered some sad news that he's having quite a hard time accepting. He is suffering from neuropathy, not all is believed to be diabetes related and he will most likely not be able to continue playing guitar. His left hand is the worst, he has muscle loss on both the outside of his left hand and in that meaty part of his hand between his index finger and thumb. He is devastated. The right hand is not as severe, but there is still neuropathy present. They will be pulling the nerve that goes down the outside of his arm and re-routing it down the other side, he will be in a cast for 3 weeks. Left arm first, then the right. Light duty at work for the better part of 2 months or being home (not a great option for us right now given the previously mentioned financial status and short term disability is not too good).

Wayne's stressed and not sleeping, I'm sleeping too hard (I know this because I'm not dreaming) and eating too much. I'm always stressed, like most D-Moms, so this is nothing new but the level of stress is exhausting - my brain only shuts off when I sleep. Sometimes enough is enough and I'm saying enough.

The capper on the day was last night (I posted on FB about this already - thank you for the words of comfort, it meant so much). At 9:30, Little G said that she felt like she was low and ran into the bathroom to go potty - pottytraining is going pretty well for us - 10 seconds later I hear a scream and a horrible cry and run in to find her face down on the floor, blood everywhere and she's shaking. I ask Ms.J to get her meter and pick G up to see a HUGE busted lip. Get her tested and she's at 39 - WTH? Get some juice, wait 20 minutes and she's at 50. Wait another 10 minutes and she's at 56, again WTH? Call Wayne he advises a full on carb load with a PB&J - down it goes. Thirty minutes later she's at 145. Oh, and during all of this Ms.J crashes on me too....one juice, one PB&J and then she's around 180. I checked them at 1am and both were over 200. I was waiting for that rebound super high number and it never showed up. At breakfast this morning they were both hovering in the low 200's. I'm at a loss for what happened last night, but I think the dog was fed part of their dinner and I didn't realize it when I cleared the table. That's the only thing that I think can happen. I hate losing and I really hate it when D kicks my ass - but it did over and over last night. Diabetes sucks...and I cannot wait for the day that I can kick your awful ass to the curb.

I'm off now to fix lunch, get out of my pjs and go car shopping. Kind prayers always appreciated.

Did I really just say that?

As the mom of 2 children with type 1, I often has people who ask questions, make observations and occasionally that one jackass steps up with a real humdinger of a comment. I always welcome questions and I am happy to educate anyone that takes the time to strike up a conversation. Most of the time I bite my tongue and give a very heavily medically termed explanation for the jackass - I still feel that part of my journey with T1 is that of educator - it might just help someone else or even one of my girls one day.

My post today is dedicated to those jackasses out there that open their mouths and stay the most ridiculous things, either without regards to the person their saying them to or because they don't care. My disclaimer on the little story I'm about to share is that it had been a rough night blood sugar wise, I had a raging headache and PMS was rearing it's ugly head. SO, I might have been a tad intolerant. The only part about this that I feel bad about is that I was in the nursery at church when this conversation took place, so unfortunately I will be seeing this person again. Yeah buddy.

We go to the later service at church, it starts at 10:30, ends at 11:45 - I step out at 11:30 to go check Little G's sugar. I head to the nursery where she's playing with her friends to do this. Last Sunday I walk in, say hello to the gals that are watching all the littles and say "G, come here please, we need to check sugars" to which this other mom, who had been sitting on the floor whips around and says "for what?". I tell her that Little G has diabetes and we have to check her sugars regularly to which she replies "I would just DIE if one of my kids was diabetic, it's just SO sad". There must have been a delay in my censor turning on because before I even thought about it I said "no, unfortunately it would be your child who would die, because this isn't optional and you have to put your big girl panties on and deal with it." Enter that really uncomfortable silence and 2 awkward stares from the teenagers that work in the nursery. I finished checking Little G's sugars, signed her out and said goodbye to everyone. To say I was furious is an understatement and then I ran into the gal who oversees the nursery (who is also a teacher at the school there, so I know her pretty well). I told her what had just gone down and prepared her for a complaint about my harshness and she laughed, said that this particular mom finally ran into someone that would give as good as she got. She didn't expect any fallout from it, and she was right. I'm looking forward to church this weekend....I promise to take my Midol before I go. Maybe with a chaser of Prozac.

My wish is that every person out there that thinks it's okay to not use that censor reconsider how their comments will be taken by the other person...especially if that other person happens to be a mother. Apparently stupidity knows no bounds and I hit max capacity on it last Sunday.

Diabetes Blog Week - We like to move it, move it!

Exercise is necessary for everyone, whether we like it or not. Wayne and I are finally getting back to working out, we know that we are the example that the girls turn to the most.

The girls are very active and spend as much time as possible outside. I think they could easily live in a tree house so long as it had a microwave and flavored water. They love to go for walks, ride their bikes, pull weeds and chase bugs. They spent 2 hours outside this morning learning to use their kiddo-sized racquets to play badminton. They have recess every day at school for 40 minutes, sometimes they're outside, sometimes they're in the gym. The teachers run with them and make sure that everyone is active. We will be starting swim lessons in a few weeks and Little G has just announced she wants to start taking dance lessons. Ms.J has talked off and on about playing soccer, maybe we'll sign up in the fall.

We always check before, during (about 30 minutes in), and after. The girls react differently to exercise, one is high right afterwards, then crashes 2 hours later while the other one will be lower but rebounds 1 hour later with considerable highs. We always make sure they have lots of water and ALWAYS plenty of sunscreen.

Diabetes Blog Week - We're Watching our Carbs

Since neither of our girls are pumpers, we watch our carbs. My hubby does too. Both girls have a carb target per meal, per snack and for quick sugar. We are fairly consistent with our meal times, but we are also flexible enough to know that sometimes it just doesn't work out that way. We always have snacks with us and their meters are never more than an arm's length away.

There are times when we have birthday parties at school, but most of the mom's that bring goodies to school are kind enough to make sugar free frosting and also make smaller cupcakes for all the kids. LOVE OUR SCHOOL. We don't think that it's wrong to let the girls celebrate with their friends. Does it mean a bigger shot for them? Yes. Does it mean that they can sit next to their friends and lick the cool whip off the top of a cupcake and make a silly face just like everyone else? Hell yes. This doesn't happen very often, so we're okay when it does. We don't do dessert at our house very often (maybe once a month) so their little goodies are appreciated and enjoyed which is the way it should be.

We have our go-to snacks and fast sugars that we always have on hand and we're always on the look out for new ideas.

Thank you to everyone that has been sharing this week. I haven't been able to read everyone's yet, and I'm way behind on my comments too. But I am eating all of this up with a big spoon and fat McDonald's straw. Thank you, thank you!

Diabetes Blog Week - Our Biggest Supporter

This one will be pretty short, sweet and to the point. Our family has been blessed with a list of fantastic people that have truly stepped up to the plate. Our list has just a many names, but just 3 categories.

1. Our family. Starting with my mom. When Ms.J was dx'd, she spent those 2 days at the hospital with us, sat through the education sessions and the time spent with the nutritionist & dietician and most of the appointments before we moved to Texas. When we moved she was most upset at the idea of anyone besides her taking care of the girls, but especially Ms.J in the event that something should happen. Once Little G was dx'd, she became even more fierce (some might wonder where I get my passion, it's all from my Mama). Our girls are the main reason she is moving to Texas, she feels like they need her and who are we to argue? We all need her.

Now, my SIL's Eileen & Annette, here in TX are fantastic as well. When Little G was dx'd they went to the 101 class with us and are really great when it comes to keeping the girls on the very rare occasion that we ask. They don't volunteer to keep them, but have never said no when asked. Keep in mind that neither of them have children of their own, so it's not like they come equipped for the day to day stuff. But they are wonderful and I'm so grateful that they have not shyed away from any of it. Plus they both walked on our team last year for the Walk to Cure - so we got doubly lucky!

2. Our school. The director at the girls' school, Leslie is nothing short of phenomenal and fearless and ALWAYS acts with the girls' well being in mind. If she has questions, she calls. If she second guesses her knowledge or ours, she always asks. She is fantastic and is the first person outside of our immediate family that I have ever let take care of the girls. I will love her forever for the sense of security she has provided Wayne & I. All of the teachers know the signs and symptoms and have really taken a genuine interest in learning about T1 - unfortunately one of them had a child dx'd with T1 less than a month ago, so she has a good support system already in place. Plus, they let us have a School Walk - actually it was Bounce for 'Betes in the bounce houses - but we raised a boatload of cash for our tiny school of 32 kids. They're all awesome.

3. The D-Mom Community. All the rants and raves and frustrations that I've aired in my blog haven't prevented most of my "regular followers" (all 9 of you)from commenting and offering that note of comfort that we're not in it alone and that yes, T1 does suck ass and that it's okay to not be the happy face of dealing with it that I sometimes try to keep on. Wow, sorry for the run-on sentence. But I do love our little community and the knowledge and the experiences that are shared teach me something every time I read one of your blogs or a comment on FB. More than once you have provided a little warm place where I can go and let down the guard for a bit and just let it fly and I cannot thank you all enough for being here. I wish there wasn't a reason for any of us to be connected this way, but I'm damn glad you're all here. MUAH!

Diabetes Blog Week - Making the Low Go

I have 4 things on my "grab here first" shelf in the cabinet that houses all of our supplies for the girls. I have 3 things on the list for my hubby as it seems to take about double the amount to get him back on track without another crash an hour later.

Whenever we are going to be in the car for more than a local ride, we take our "car kit" with us. This stays packed with everything we need for all 3 of my T1s and a few snackies for me too. We use a large cooler lunch box/bag and we have enough juices, nuts, dried cranberries, fruit leathers, sugar tabs, cake gels and bottled water to get us by for at least 1/2 day. Plus I always have extra supplies in my purse, just in case. We also have an extra tester and pokers, syringes and alcohol wipes, plus hand sanitizer to use in a pinch.

For the girls, we have sugar tabs, Juicy Juice 4oz. juice boxes, unsweetened applesauce, and cake gel. Cake gel has been a necessity more than once with each of the girls and when they are super low it is the fastest way to get their sugars up short of glucagon.

Our rule is simple - whenever we go to Walmart we grab a bottle of sugar tabs, both girls will eat them and they are very quick to find while digging in your purse while in traffic and you can leave them in the car without them melting during the summer too. Cake gel I seem to find at Hobby Lobby more easily than I can find it in a grocery store or even a store like Target or Walmart, weird but true. I always buy the smallest ones I can find and I keep them in a bowl on the "Grab Here first" shelf.

For Wayne it is a little more difficult. Lows will wake him up out of a dead sleep (thank God for that)but he is usually very uncommunicative. He is usually half asleep and depending on how low he is, he can struggle with putting words together. I have learned to recognize the look and the little beads of sweat on his head. I usually start with a glass of juice (15g) and while he's working on that I make him a PBnJ. I cut it in half and he usually eats the first half and then puts the other half on the nightstand in case he wakes up later. We have gotten in the habit of stocking his nightstand with stuff for him - juice, peanut butter crackers, applesauce and sugar tabs(this is a last resort for him, he hates them). I feel better knowing that he has stuff close by so that he can help himself if I'm not home.

Milk has worked with all my T1s, but it usually upsets their stomach after the fact so it is our very last resort. I know people that this works really well for, so for anyone reading this blog that might be gathering information it is certainly noteworthy. Regular soda is also something that people use, we have made the choice not to give our girls soda so this isn't something we have done - but I know with Wayne it works really well once he gets back the taste of the full sugar soda (he loves his Diet Dr.Pepper).