Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Camp Day 3: A Day to Remember

Matthew gave himself a shot today! I am so proud of him.

And so grateful for his camp counselors! Matthew said they really encouraged him, but didn't push him at all.

Matthew said Brynn was the most encouraging. She said he was very brave. According to her, most kids hesitate on the first shot, but not Matthew. She said he just went in and did it.

She even took a picture of the big event. Of course, I cried when I saw it. Yep. Big, fat, crocodile tears in front of everyone. (But Matthew didn't see.)



I've never been more proud of my brave son. I see God working in his life, helping him to be strong and courageous, and I am just so grateful.

(And yes, we headed straight to the store to buy the new Toy Store 3 DS game!)

Camp Day 2: Second Post

Well, 2 days of non-stop activity caught up with Matthew: we had our first night of battling lows.

It started at bedtime when it was difficult to get him to 100. We finally got him to 110, but then he just kept slowly dropping. When all was said and done, I had to wake him up to drink juice 5 times! (Don't tell his dentist.)

Matthew was a good sport...until the third time I woke him. At that point, he just got really mad and cried. It must stink to have someone wake you up and force you to drink juice. Especially over and over......

Anyway, Kevin checked at 2am and Matthew was 97. Lately he goes steady at 95, so I hadn't planned to check him until morning.

But...somehow I woke up, got confused and decided to check him one hour later. He was down to 88, so I gave him some juice. He was thrilled. Not.

Then God woke me up at 5am (Thank you, Lord!) and Matthew was down to 73. At this point, the poor child just sat up and drank so I would leave him alone and let him sleep.

Sidenote--I am so grateful God woke me then. I hadn't planned to check until 7 and can you imagine how much he would have dropped?

Then 7am comes and Matthew bounced out of bed at a beautiful 94. AND get this---despite all that juice, he never had an accident. Go Matthew!

(I'm going to talk with his nurse about lowering the Lantus a little tonight. Thoughts?)

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Camp Day 2

Camp was such fun.

Let's see.....once we dropped Matthew off, I had a little quiet time, then got a few things done around the house. I taught one piano lesson, had lunch with a friend....

Oh! Wait a minute....did you want to hear about Matthew's day at camp? Silly me. : )

Matthew LOVED it! Despite a rainy morning, they did everything from BB guns and swimming to crafts and little carb counting.

And somehow during all that innocent play, he got disgustingly dirty. I mean his clothes are FILTHY! Everything's in the wash right now and quite frankly, I just tossed the socks.

His BS was pretty good all day. He did go low at lunch (62) but other than that, he was great!

Woo Hoo!

Monday, June 28, 2010

Camp Day 1-Success!

Matthew's Thoughts

He loved it! But let me tell you, that child is exhausted! It was go-go-go! He had fun hiking and playing games....all sorts of things. They were going to go swimming, but storms popped up around them. Hopefully tomorrow...

There are 8 kids in Matthew's group. Six of them are girls! Ummmm....he was not pleased. Fortunately, he likes the other boy he's with, Brett, and they had fun together.

When I saw Matthew at pickup, the first thing he said was "My numbers were good, but Brett went to 381! But no ketones, so that was good."

It was so nice to see Matthew concerned and looking out for his new buddy!

Tracy's Thoughts ((Warning: this is long!))

God is so good! We we checked in, everywhere I turned I felt like God was giving me a surprise. There are 5 adults/counselors in charge of Matthew's group and I had a "connection" of some sort with 3 of them. How amazing is that?!

First, there was the nurse. No connection with her, but she was nice. A little...um....serious....but then again, we were talking about Matthew's numbers. If she had been too perky, I'm sure I would have thought she was a fruitloop.

Second, (follow closely, this gets confusing.) Several weeks ago, we were introduced to a family with an 8-year-old diabetic boy, Tanner. Tanner and Matthew really hit it off and since Tanner had been to camp several years, Matthew decided to try it.

Tanner's favorite teen counselor is a boy named Derrick. That very boy is Matthew's teen counselor!! It's such a blessing because Tanner's mom loved Derrick, too. He has even babysat for them. I really hope Matthew and Derrick hit it off because I'm hoping Matthew will want to be a counselor when he's older.

Third, one of the counselors in Matthew's group is the Omnipod representative for our area. I've already e-mailed him several times because this is the pump that Matthew wants. (He doesn't want it now, though. Matthew is holding out for the smaller one than doesn't hit the market until next year.)

Lastly, a few months ago, I met a sweet girl, Brynn, on an on-line diabetes forum. She's 20-something and a diabetic herself, living right here in North Texas. Brynn told me about this camp and encouraged me to send Matthew.

I found out a couple weeks ago that she got on their staff this year and believe it or not--Matthew is in her group! It was so nice to meet her face-to-face. She's adorable and I think she stole Matthew's heart when she said they were going to start the day with a bug hunt.

God is so awesome! I love Him so much! I didn't even tear up when it was time to leave. I had such a peace about the whole thing. (Thank you to all those who prayed for me. I was so busy praying for Matthew that I never thought to pray about peace for myself!)

I feel like God put a bunch of angels in place to watch over Matthew. And I sure hope that's the case---I think it's archery tomorrow! Yikes! : )

Looks like he's going to have a fantastic week!

Sunday, June 27, 2010

Diabetes Camp

Matthew heads to diabetes camp tomorrow. Wow! It's only a day camp, but still.....he's never done anything like this and he's a little nervous. Excited, but nervous.

Truth be told....I'm nervous, too. Of course, let's be real. Those people are trained medical professionals!! I'm sure he'll get much better care than he does with me! So why am I fretting? I think I'll be much better after he gets through his first day and tells me about how much fun he had.

I think it's especially hard for me because he's had such terrible numbers recently. We have to take a log of all his numbers this past week and quite frankly, I'm almost embarrassed. This has been one of our worst weeks with diabetes.

Nearly every day just before lunch, he went low, thanks to all the activity at VBS. BUT.....I'm considering this a blessing because it'll help the folks at camp know how his sugar does with added activity. Right????? I really do think that's good.

And then, he's still having those insane highs at night. (Example: Friday night. At 8pm Matthew was 99 and at 9pm he was 222. With no carbs!)

I talked with the nurse yesterday and she wanted me to try lowering his dinner ratio. I had done this some, but it seemed like we were getting to the point where he might go low.

Anyway, we tried it last night and.......it worked! BEAUTIFUL numbers from dinner through breakfast. Around 9pm, he did drop to 77, but I didn't panic and treat. I waited 30 minutes to recheck. He went up to 83 and stayed there for about an hour. At that point, I gave half a juice box, praying he would not spike. He didn't! About 30 minutes after the juice, he was 120. At 3am, he came in at 112 and at 7am this morning, was a fabulous 95. I'm thrilled.

Of course, now we have camp and that throws us a major curve ball. I'm sure nights will be an adventure with lows a possibility. But I'm so thankful that at least we were able to conquer the highs before we added the extra variable. God is so good!

(If you prayed for us........THANK YOU!)

And since you're so good at getting answers to prayers, would pray for Matthew this week? Please pray that Matthew :
  • has a great time at camp!
  • that his blood sugar stays in range
  • that he meets a good buddy with the same values
  • and that he might consider giving himself a shot
  • that he will be inspired by his teen counselor and want to do that one day!

Thank you in advance!! By the way, if he gives himself a shot this week, I'm going to surprise him with a present!

Oh! And I will try my best to post about his first day tomorrow. It may be short, but I'll at least let you know how Day 1 goes!

Friday, June 25, 2010

Weekly Update

This will be such an easy update. With VBS keeping us busy, it's been the best week of the summer so far!

Matthew

The big highlight of Matthew's week......VBS. Saddle Ridge Ranch! Matthew LOVED it! Seriously, it was the first time he just gave in to all the silliness. He dressed like a cowboy. He sang the songs-even doing the arm motions. Believe it or not, Matthew even dyed his hair orange and spiked it for Crazy Hair Day!!!



Tracy

  • I had fun with VBS, too. Usually I help out with crafts, but this year I helped in the Missions Room and loved it. Each day, we focused on a different mission group in Mexico.....South Africa.....the amazon.....it was interesting and adventurous.
  • There's not much else to report because I was so tired. : ) I did manage to teach piano one day and run a few errands, but VBS is definitely the highlight this week.

Matthew's Blood Sugar

Well, quite frankly, those "pesky highs" are driving me insane. We talked about it at the doctor's appointment last week, and they had me make a Lantus time adjustment (moved from 8pm to 6pm). Well, that only created another problem. He started running really high before dinner. Great. Now there are 2 issues.

So.....I went back to our original Lantus time and plan to just deal with this after diabetes camp next week. In the meantime, I'm just correcting at night. Grrr.....it's hard to keep a happy attitude about those "pesky highs" when he keeps shooting high 3 hours after dinner....night after night after night.....With. No. Carbs.

At least I can correct with insulin until we figure it out.....so that is really good!


Wednesday, June 23, 2010

VBS Day 2

Howdy, yall!

It was Western Day at VBS! Everywhere you looked....bandanas.....cowboy hats.....cowboys boots......we were all lookin' so fine, if I do say so myself.

Even Matthew. In the past, he has never wanted to dress up for these things but apparently it was a new day on the ranch.

My little cowboy was such a sight for sore eyes. Check out that hat and bandana. What a pair of outlaws!



Oh! Matthew's blood sugar was much better. He did go a little low (63) by the time we got home, but it was a quick fix and I'll make adjustments for that tomorrow.

Y'all have a good day! : )

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

VBS Day 1

Overall VBS was great! I love to help out and Matthew is having a blast, too.

I'm helping out in the missions room and Matthew is going around with the 4th graders. I'm really glad that we're not together because I think it will give him the chance to be more independent with diabetes and yet, I'll be close by if there's a problem. (And to give insulin at snack time.)

The snack yesterday was cupcakes. Hmmmmm....didn't we conquer this last week?! Oh yeah! I was feeling pretty confident, so I didn't worry one little bit. (Can you say stupid!)

Turns out, I didn't think about all the walking around that the kids do. The groups go from room to room all morning. Jumping and bouncing....you know the drill. Hmmm....should have factored that in because.....

About 15 minutes before the end, Matthew dropped down to 54. Sigh. At least he caught it.

Just like last time, he said he could tell his mind wasn't working right, so he checked, downed a juice box and was fine.

This is so tough for me! I hate it when he has lows without me around! BUT....I'm so thankful that's he learning to take care of himself. And it's only been a couple of months! I really am so proud of him.

God has given me such a great kiddo! : )

Monday, June 21, 2010

Goals for Matthew

A few weeks ago when I was making goals for myself, I made a few "diabetes goals" for Matthew as well. There is so much that he'll need to learn to take care of himself, but I'm determined to go slow. I don't want to drive him crazy with diabetes education. So......

There are 3 main goals I'm focusing on this summer:
  1. Recognize lows. Sometimes he's great on this. Other times, he misses them completely. It's not a problem if he's with me, but if he's at a friend's house. Well, you just worry more when he doesn't catch them. When he does miss them, we've been reviewing how he felt. Did you feel tired at all? A headache? Hungry? I think it's helping. I hope.
  2. Taking his kit everywhere. This is the camouflaged lunchbox he uses to carry his glucose kit in. He also has food and juice to treat lows. When summer started, I would toss these things into my purse, but I realized that Matthew needs to get into the habit of carrying his kit with him. He never minds and we just need to keep building that habit.
  3. Know how to treat himself when he's low. Of course, Matthew knows to have sugar if he's low. But sometimes that kid is starving when he drops!! He'd eat the house! LOL! I just want him to have a basic understanding of what to eat or drink and how much sugar he really needs. As many d-moms know, overtreat a high and then you just have to to correct later. Not a fun rollercoater to be on.

Sidenote: This weekend, Matthew was next door playing with his friend. He caught a low (52-- Of course, it would have been nice for him to catch it sooner, but.......), he drank some juice, tested again in 10 minutes and was great (88). We tested an hour later and he was 89.....perfect treatment! Go Matthew!

I was really proud of him for not freaking out. I asked him if he was scared. He said he could tell his mind wasn't working quite right, but he knew to drink the juice and he'd be okay.

As a mom, it feels so good to know that he's learning to take care of himself. God is so good.

Saturday, June 19, 2010

Weekly Update

It's been another FANTASTIC week on the home-front. (Well.... we are battling some pesky highs. More on that later.)

Matthew:

  1. His favorite classmate came over for a playdate. Both the boys had such fun.
  2. I took Matthew and a neighborhood boy swimming yesterday.
  3. Matthew is still skyping his friend in Taiwan. (How life has changed since I was a kid.....)
  4. He was really happy about his first A1C being 7.2

Tracy

  1. I knocked out a bunch of things on my to-do list.
  2. Quiet time was pretty good. I'm getting back on track with my bible reading plan and that feels good.
  3. Got some school forms filled out. (I've decided to not homeschool math any longer, so I got Matthew signed up for the additional class.)
  4. Oh! And of course, our first 3-month check-up went great!

Matthew's Blood Sugar

  1. He's had great numbers, except for these crazy spikes at night. We discussed it at the doctor appointment and made some changes. Last night was better. Great, in fact. Hopefully it wasn't just a freaky good night and we actually fixed it! : )
  2. Matthew did have a couple lows this week, but all were explained and were easily treated.

Now we're gearing up for a busy week of VBS. Between the extra activity and snacks, it should be an adventure!

Friday, June 18, 2010

You'll Never Believe This!

Yesterday Matthew had his very first hamburger.

Yep, my 9-year-old kid finally gathered the courage to try a hamburger! I guess when you're brave enough to have a least 4 shots a day, you're brave enough to try a hamburger.

Somehow Matthew convinced himself years ago that he wouldn't like one. We kept telling him.....but you like meat.....you like bread.....we'll load it with ketchup....try it. (What pushers we are!)

Anyway, yesterday was the day. (It helped that McDonald's is giving away Shrek watches.)

Verdict: He liked it! But next time, he's going for the kid-size double cheese burger.

Thursday, June 17, 2010

First A1C Since Diagnosis

At diagnosis, Matthew was 13.7

Goal: Anywhere in the 7's. (That goal will drop into the 6's when he's older.)

Today's magic number: 7.2 Hurray!!


For those of you that don't know what an A1C is....it's basically a 3 month blood sugar average. The lower the number, the fewer long-term complications. People without diabetes usually have an A1C of about 5%.


When Matthew was diagnosed, his sugar was averaging 370. (Remember, his blood sugar goal is 70-180.)


Now, he's averaging around 154. It would have been even better if we weren't having these late nights highs recently. (We came up with a new Lantus plan.)

AND....remember the steroids? Took his sugar through the roof!!! At his appointment, they told us a 7.2 A1C while on steroids is totally awesome!

On another note, going into the appointment, I was a little concerned about Matthew's weight. He's not gaining. But he's not losing either. Anyway, they weren't worried because he's grown nearly an inch since March! He's 75% on height and 50% on weight.

Still a goofball, but a pretty healthy kid nonetheless!

One other sidenote....our sweet dog Twister is sick again. (Her issues started long before this blog.) We would appreciate any doggie prayers. Here's our fantastic pup! Okay, she's really 12, but she'll always be a pup to us! : )

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Conquering Cake

Well......we did it!

Matthew had a birthday party yesterday and we totally ROCKED on the cake! Woo Hoo!

It worked out where I could give him the insulin early, so I gave him 2 units up front. For Matthew right now, that equals 63 carbs.

Once the cupcakes and ice cream were served, I could get a handle on the size and make some quick calculations. They both came to 50 carbs. I added in a few teddy grahams and he was good to go.

Sidenote: Matthew was really surprised when the ice cream was served. We had only talked about cake and he thought he couldn't have the ice cream. He was completely thrilled when I said I had already figured that in. Definitely a good Mommy moment!

Anyway, I checked him 2 hours later, hoping and praying he'd be between 140 and 180. The number was......drumroll please.......

157!

I am so grateful that God is getting us through those situations where you just have to make your best guess.

Matthew and I decided God must be a big fan of cake and ice cream. : )

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Making it a Great Day!

It's not even lunch time and it's been a great day already! I've been Little-Miss-Productive.
  • Quiet Time
  • Treadmill
  • Talked to nurse about Matthew's strange highs just before midnight. Even the nurse thought his numbers were a bit odd and asked if he was sneaking carbs at night! But he's not! : ) And we made a plan to increase Lantus tonight.
  • Ordered his monthly prescription refills
  • Taught Matthew a new song on the piano
  • I even showered already! (You'd never think I was up half the night correcting another high.)

Now we're off to lunch and a birthday party. I'm prepping myself for the cake high and hoping, hoping, hoping it'll work out where I can give that insulin early!!

Monday, June 14, 2010

Weekly Update

I'm a little late posting the weekly update because we spent the weekend in San Antonio. Our first roadtrip with diabetes. Overall, it went great!

Here are some highlights of our week.

Matthew

  1. The biggest thing for Matthew this week was our trip to Sea World. He had a blast.
  2. Then we arrived home to discover that our upstairs air-conditioning is not working. (GRRRR!!!) But of course for Matthew, this meant more adventure since got to he sleep downstairs on the air mattess.

Tracy

  1. I was much better about my quiet time this week. I also felt much happier. Hmmm....I bet there's a connection. : )
  2. I still did not get on the treadmill once. But........
  3. I did sign up for that 5k. My training plan begins this week.

Matthew' Blood Sugar

  1. In the days prior to Sea World, I had to make some adjustments, but everything seemed to have worked well.
  2. For the hotel breakfast buffet, we gave a few units of insulin up front, let Matthew eat what he wanted, calculated his carbs as we went along, then gave the rest of his insulin. Both mornings this worked great. And Matthew loved eating as much as he wanted.
  3. Sea World went great. We did have a couple lows. One 70 and one 54. (Yikes!) Gadorade to the rescue!
  4. Only 2 highs, and the biggest was on the ride home. Lesson: If Matthew is sitting in a car burning no sugar, he needs a bit more insulin.
  5. Oh! One other big lesson learned. On the morning of a trip, I need to give Matthew less breakfast. Before we left, I gave him insulin for a typical breakfast and he was so excited he could hardly eat a thing. But of course, he had all that insulin in him. I fixed it, making mental note for next time.

I'm so grateful the trip went well. But I will say, traveling with diabetes is a lot tougher. It stinks that Matthew can't just grab a treat along the way....carrying all those supplies.....stuff like that.

My hardest moment was at dinner the night of Sea World. We had been there since it opened. Running here. Running there. Sweating in the oh-so-nice Texas heat.

By the time we sat down to dinner, there was a moment when I just did not care what the child ate. I was so tired......I just wanted to give him some insulin, give him some food and pray it matched up.

Of course, I didn't. I got the scale and did the math. Sigh. I don't want Matthew to have to do this at every meal for the rest of his life. It was tiring.

BUT......it was all worth it. Overall his numbers were GREAT!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Our Anniversary


Kevin and I were married 15 years ago today. Wow! It's hard to believe how fast the years have gone by.

One thing I'll say about our marriage, it's always an adventure.


Never more so than the past couple of months. But here we are. In sickness and in health, we're together.

And.....we're trying our best to have fun along the way!

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

A Day of Rejoicing

I'm really struggling with my priorites lately. I know what I want to do. I know what I need to do. But....I don't. I get into this "checklist" mentality and then my heart is not in the things I'm doing. I lose my focus.

I know the answer, though. I need to get back into living life one day at a time. Rejoicing in that day alone and not worrying about the future.

You'd think Matthew's diabetes would help me with this. I mean, your focus has to be on that one day. Those meals. Those numbers. There's no point in worrying about tomorrow, you just want to work to keep the numbers in range that day.

So why can't I transfer that focus to other areas of my life? Sigh. Truthfully though, I know I can get back in the groove and I'm determined to keep working on this.

I'll never make this a "Year of Rejoicing" if I don't make every day a "Day of Rejoicing!"

SIDENOTE:
Matthew has had some crazy highs lately. I lowered his morning ratio and he was much better at lunch. That was nice to see!

Now I need to tackle his late-day highs. Looking back over his log, I noticed he's in a pattern he had before. My notes show that I increased his lantus and that worked, so I'm going to up his lantus a tiny bit tonight and see if that helps.

Saturday, June 5, 2010

A New Attitude

Sometimes it amazes me to think how life has completely changed since Matthew's diagnosis. There was so much freedom that I took for granted.
  • I used to sleep through the night.....always assuming that Matthew would wake up.
  • At the pool, my biggest worry was about Matthew getting a sunburn.
  • And of course, eating was so simple. Matthew could eat any little thing whenever he wanted. No counting carbs. No measuring. No shots.

But life has changed.

And I'm realizing that it's okay. Matthew's diabetes came as a huge surprise to me, but it didn't take God by surprise. He knew that Matthew would face this challenge and He knew that I would have to care for him.

But God has not left our side. He has equiped us to handle this. He's going to be with me every step of the way, teaching me how to care for Matthew. And He's not going to abandon Matthew either. Instead, God is going to show Matthew that the greatest challenges are given to those with the greatest character.

So....I know I'll have tough days to come and I realize that sometimes I'll be downright frustrated, but I'm going to start looking at diabetes differently.

I'm going to try my best to glorify God at every turn and I pray that I can somehow encourage other D-Moms along the way.

After all, this is God's plan for us. And who I am to argue with God?

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jer 29:11

Friday, June 4, 2010

Weekly Update

Although I have had a TERRIBLE cold, it turned out to be a pretty good week. (And I'm feeling much better today, just a little tired from getting up several times last night.)

Matthew:
  • His friend,Garrett, spent Tuesday with us and ended up sleeping over as well. (His sweet mom had a migraine, so we had to help!) The boys had a blast!
  • Had fun celebrating Kevin's birthday yesterday
Tracy
  • Ummm.....I accomplished very little, thanks to my cold. I did manage to clean the house a little.
  • Got on the treadmill.....once.
  • Oh, I was pretty good with my quiet time this week. Yea!

Matthew's Blood Sugar

  • We had a couple of strange numbers, where Matthew went high for no apparent reason. Not sure what that was about, but he's doing okay now.
  • Only two lows this week. One was just after swimming and it wasn't too bad.
  • We ate out for lunch and dinner on Kevin's birthday AND had cupcakes to celebrate. Matthew went high after lunch (totally weird because we've had Subway several times since diagnosis) but after a little correction, he went down nicely. All other numbers were great.
  • One bummer....Matthew had the most shots ever on Kevin's birthday---7 in one day! But get this---not one complaint!

Gotta love that kid!

Thursday, June 3, 2010

A Strange Night

So....last night Matthew checked his sugar before bedtime. A beautiful 128. Love that.

But....he still had 2 hours worth of insulin in him, so I decided to give him a handful of peanuts--yes, I measured them. 4 carbs.

I check him 2 hours later. He's at a whopping 269! WHAT?!?!?

(SIDENOTE: This same thing happened one night when my parents were here. Bedtime check was beautiful, gave him a few peanuts and he soared over 250. Very strange because I've given him peanuts at night before.)

I opted not to correct because at night, Matthew's body always corrects itself. Even that "peanut night" when my parents were here, Matthew was 75 by morning. (The exception to this is one night when he was on steroids)

Moving on.....2:30am BS 221 and by 4:30am there was no change. I finally did the correction (hate to give him a shot in the middle of the night) and he came in at 109 by breakfast.

So weird. And it makes me kind of sad. Matthew's body didn't correct itself. Are we moving out of honeymoon? Are his last little beta cells finally giving up?

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

We're Still Here....

Just wanted to check in and say hi! Both Matthew and I are fighting a little cold, but no big worries.

Fortunately, we didn't get sick until after my parents left. We had a great time with them and now we're ready for summer.

But I am ready for the fun of swimming with diabetes?!?! I've heard terrible stories. Groan.....

I'll take any and all helpful hints for tackling swimming. Hint....hint.....