The Details

The last couple months I've been busy with emails to fund raise for our JDRF Walk team.  Now that our Walk is over it is time to get back to blogging!  School is still going really well for Natalie and she is doing well academically, socially, and with her diabetes care.  Both 1st grade classes have had to adjust to changes early in the year with their teachers taking maternity leave.  Natalie's teacher returns from 5 weeks of maternity leave tomorrow.  The first few weeks of school with her teacher went so well, and I was afraid of how all the details with her diabetes care would work with a substitute teacher.  I worried if she would speak up if she felt low and how it would be handled in the class.  As has been the case for the last 2 years, God continues to provide a way when I fear the unknown.  You would think I would know better by now and not feel such anxiety about all the details (except that the details are life and death situations!)  I met the substitute teacher right before she started and it turns out she has hypoglycemia (low blood sugar issues) so she is well aware of what the blood sugar numbers mean and the need for fast acting sugar right away when too low.  AND....when she was in college her dorm Resident Assistant was diagnosed with T1D and she was responsible for helping her when she was newly diagnosed!  I mean really!!  I am just amazed at how God has placed specific individuals in our path to care for Natalie at her school.  The last 5 weeks with the substitute teacher have gone so smoothly and there have been no issues at all.  While we are excited for her teacher to return, we are sad to say goodbye to someone who has been such a positive influence for Natalie.  She has even encouraged Natalie to check her own blood sugar in the afternoon and Natalie has been doing that daily!  Mrs. Gray still boluses (gives insulin) for snack and lunch and helps her in the afternoon if needed or if there is a birthday treat, but otherwise Natalie and the sub have handled the afternoons and if she has needed a snack or not just perfectly.  From the first day, the sub has just "gotten" it and I have felt so comfortable. 

Another amazing detail that occurred was while we were at our JDRF Walk.  While on the stage modeling our team t-shirts, (which I'm convinced they just pick new teams as the winners because clearly our shirts are THE BEST), I noticed our friend talking to someone who looked really familiar but I couldn't place where I had seen her before.  When I came down our friend excitedly motioned for me to come over and she introduced me to the 2nd grade teacher at Natalie's school!  She was there walking for her daughter's best friend who has had T1D since she was little.  She said she knows how to work her pump, program carbs and bolus.  Now, when someone says the word "bolus" you know they "get it"!  I told her that she would be Natalie's teacher next year!  What a blessing to know God already has someone in mind for our Natalie to be cared for next year.  I almost cried right there! 

Podding is becoming more routine and pod changes are a lot quicker.  It's never perfect though and always in constant change just like when on shots.   I can see why many people say pumping is more complicated than shots.  It makes me so crazy that she can wake with the same blood sugar two days in a row, have the exact same breakfast, same amount of insulin administered at the same time, and one day at fruit break be high 200's and the next low 100's.  Some days I really think I am going to lose my mind trying to make sense of it all!  Her basals have changed drastically since starting on the pod.  All insulin pumps offer so many variables to work with and it is just almost too many options for my very analytical mind!  She started on the pod with a basal rate of .20 per hour for all 24 hours of the day (boring!).  Within a week it changed to .20 overnight and .25 during the day (still too boring for me).  Here is a picture of what her basal rates are right now.  They don't even all fit on one screen!  (The next screen shows that it increases to .35 from 10pm -12am....which I am trialing right now.)  Not to mention the carb ratios that I keep changing between 1/15 and 1/17 for fruit break and lunch...one carb makes a difference!

It is so amazing to me that we can adjust basals for every hour of the day!  It keeps my mind constantly spinning and trying to figure out what is best for her ALL day.  Really, it is never out of my mind and sometimes I just wish my mind could take a break from it, but it can't.  It has been over 2 years of setting alarms through the night and constantly trying to adjust and keep her in the safest range possible, thinking about getting her through each day as well as trying to prevent future complications.  We are still checking at 11pm, 2am and more nights than not again at 4am as well (and even more if necessary).  Her little fingers are so torn up from all the finger pricks.

She has her next Endo appointment on Wednesday and I am really getting nervous about it.  This is the first one since podding and I anticipate her A1C increasing due to all the highs and adjusting to the pod.  I am interested to see if her A1C matches the averages on her PDM.  Her previous meter only gave 30 day averages and the PDM gives daily, weekly, monthly, 60 day and 90 day averages. 

Finally, not to ignore my first born son, but Jacob has adjusted to middle school quite well and even made the Honor Roll his 1st Quarter.  His travel baseball team finished off their fall season strong placing 2nd in one tournament and first in another.  They have come a long way this season and now we move onto basketball.  A funny story about Jacob that I am pretty sure ensures his future need for counseling is while talking about imaginary friends he brought up his imaginary friend that he had at the age of 4-5 maybe.  I remember his imaginary friend well....his name was Michael and he was African American (he named him after Michael from Fisher Price's Little People).  I also remember that one day he told us that Michael died and that was it, he never talked about him again.  Well the other day he tells us that after I sent Michael to time out one day he never came out and died in time out!!  Just to explain Jacob had been blaming Michael for EVERYTHING, so I finally said fine, Michael can go to time out then as well!  Now years later he tells me that I am responsible for Michael dying in time out!

I am just in LOVE with this new toothless smile of hers!

2012 JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes

Team Coastal Cruisers 4 Natalie's Cure 2012