The "Mommy Meter"

The Mommy Meter!

If you are a parent of a child with diabetes you will totally understand where I am going with this! When our first child was diagnosed she was 2.5 years old, we were on such a roller coaster of blood sugar highs and lows that we eventually ended up moving her into our bed just to save the time of having to get up and down so much and to try to grab some precious moments of sleep while monitoring if she was alright. Those of you with little ones can really relate to being sleep deprived. Until you have a child with diabetes I don’t think you can entirely understand how all those sleepless nights can really take their toll. It amazes me how I can sometimes just wake up and know that I need to test her! It’s like there is a Mommy Meter in me!

As Nikki got older and we installed baby monitors into bedrooms we weren’t up and down quite so much. Two years after Nikki was diagnosed the boys were diagnosed within 4 months of each other and our house took on a whole new meaning of the words night owl. There were constant night checks, blood sugar corrections and that need to just make sure they were all alright. This we would do automatically every night based on everyone’s blood sugar before going to bed. But every once in a while even though things all appeared to be right something would trigger in me to check someone’s blood sugar and 9 out of 10 times I would catch a high or a low. How did I know to check? It’s what I call my “Mommy Meter”. Just a feeling that comes over me to get up and check.

As the years have come and gone and with the help of sensors and new technology we now find that we can catch up a little on some of that lost sleep. Yet some nights you just get that sense that wakes you up and tells you to check a blood sugar and low and behold you catch a 33 blood sugar! That’s my “Mommy Meter”at work again telling me to check. I have found that the Mommy Meter has been more accurate sometimes than all the technology out there so I say always go with your “Mommy Meter” and yes I know there’s a “Daddy Meter” out there too.

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Julie
Mom of Adam, Patrick & Nikki

It's Not Like It's A Birthday!

Where has the time gone, on June 19th of this year it will be the 10th year since Nikki Tyler was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. This date sticks in my mind and so does August 25th the day of Adam’s diagnose and November 11th the date of Patrick’s diagnosed. These dates are not like a birthday where you want to celebrate, yet they are significant dates that mark life changes in our life.

So being the positive person that I am, I am reflecting on all that is good in our life as we approach this 10th anniversary. Everyone is happy and healthy and all are pumping so no more shots. We have new technology to help us today such as sensors and better meters. We are finally sleeping through the night (once in a while). We have made so many new friends that we would other wise never had met. We have grown and learn so much, I never thought that I would be able to change a site in a moving car all in a matter of minutes. We have learned to be an advocacy for our children and how to support finding a cure for diabetes, we have grown in so many ways! Yet there is one important lesson that our family has learned that has made everything bearable and that is that we “Are Not Alone”!

So thank you to all our relatives and friends and especially the friends we have met along the way for giving us the hope, encourage, laughs and hugs we needed! I hope in another 10 years I will be writing to say 10 years ago they found a Cure For Diabetes.

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Julie, Dawn & Our Families

It's The Simple Things!

Tuesday night in our house is the one night where everyone has something to do, except for Nikki and I. So Nikki and I have started to go out to dinner just the two of us. We go to our favorite restaurant “Carrabba’s” and enjoy our favorite bread and herbs (that’s what we really love) they know us there and always give us extra herbs! Nikki always gets pasta (we chase numbers afterwards) but she really enjoys it.

Tonight as I sat listening to Nikki talk non stop about her day I thought how nice to be able to have this time to just sit relax and enjoy her. No rushing around, no black berries (left it in the car) no distractions just time alone catching up on all that is Nikki.

I heard all about the drama of Middle School life, how she likes her new hair cut, where she wants to go to college (yes she has it all planned out) how she is not going to date till college (lets hope she sticks to this one) and how much she is enjoying her sewing class.

We forgot about diabetes for the night and just enjoyed each other.

I realized as we were getting in the car to come home how special this time is and how quickly she has already grown up. So if you have the chance to sit one on one with your children and put the diabetes aside for a little while and just enjoy them you will find that you actually look forward to the next Tuesday night.


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Do you need to test?

If you are a parent of a child who has diabetes take this test for one day count the number of times you ask your child that very question “ Do you need to test” .

I did this the other day and I actually asked the question a total of 9 times, I not only asked the question verbally but I texted the question as well. Now I have 3 children with diabetes so here’s the break down, Adam who is 20 was asked once when we were out to eat, Patrick who is 17 was asked twice, once when we were out to eat and once before he went out to drive the car. The other 6 times were for Nikki, and one text to Nikki at lunch time to see if she had tested. (does texting count)

In thinking about this question I realized that the words “Do you need to test” seem to slip out of my mouth every time I think that someone is being difficult, when someone is loud, when someone is hyper, when someone is being nasty, when someone is having a difficult day, when someone is hungry. It’s a mom thing I know and I attribute all of those things as indicators for a low or high blood sugar, but I do realize that I am the broken record of all broken records. I vow to rephrase the question! (could you do me a favor and let me know what your blood sugar is?).

But I am not alone, the other night we had friends over and a girlfriend of mine was in our kitchen with her daughter having a disagreement over something and my husband walked by and asked “Does she need to test”. (she doesn’t have diabetes). I think we are all programmed!

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Oh No, It’s Ski Season!

Yes, I am mom of a child who loves to ski! Actually I have 2 son’s that love the slopes, Adam loves to snowboard, and Patrick is our skier. We are fortunate to have a ski program that he has been in since the 8th grade, but I still can’t wait for the season to end!

Yes our kids can do anything, but that doesn’t mean that mom isn’t home worrying and waiting for confirmation that another Tuesday Night ski night was a success.

The things I worry about, First I worry that he has a helmet on (yes I want him wearing a helmet), he tells me he is wearing it but is he really ? Then I worry about all the things mom's with children with diabetes worry about, what if he has a low way up on top of the mountain? Does he have a fast acting sugar on him? Is he skiing with others that are prepared to assist if he goes low? Luckily he rides a bus home, but he has a season pass and often goes out to the ski resort with a friend. Does he have a change of site with him? Does he have his Dex 4 tabs in his pocket? Drink boxes in his ski bag? (Can’t take those on the slope he tried that once and it wasn’t pretty).

So tonight starts the ski season I ran through the list this morning (there I go again with my lists), and he assures me he has everything! Only 12 more weeks to go!

Note: The Waist Pump Bands are a great way to keep your insulin pump secure and helps insulin from freezing during winter sports. The pump band allows you to position the pump where you like it best and it is close to your body offering your body heat to help keep insulin from freezing.

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My Car Screams Diabetes!

I am one of those people that always wants to be prepared and that means always having what I need in case of an emergency. My car has become the carrier of all that is diabetes.

I have 2 items in my car that I never leave home without and they are my “Car Visor” which carry’s a fast acting sugar dex4 (we love dex4) and my purple organizer loaded with test strips glucagon, pump site change,needles,spare test kit, another dex 4 and spare batteries. I always swap out what has expired with the change of season and this has worked out great. So you can imagine my surprise when I was cleaning out my car this week and found:

In my glove compartment I had not 1 but 4 boxes of test strips (all expired ) and i am not even sure how long they have been there. In the slot of the passenger door is a glucagon (expired) a open box of needles. In my arm rest where i store my cd’s are 3 drink boxes (now this was really surprising that they did not open and leak) but they too have expired. In the pocket holders behind my seats was another box of test strips (do you think I am afraid we will be without?) a test meter that doesn’t work, (this was left behind by some child who’s test meter needed batteries. Where i keep change are 3 pump batteries and 1 meter battery. The funny thing about all of this is that all these things were brought into the car at one time or another and I don’t remember bringing any of them into the car. All of my supplies are in my organizer or car visor. So all of these items test strips etc were left in the car by one of the kids when in a hurry they grab a box from the house take a vial and leave the 2nd vial in the car, grab an extra drink box, needed a battery for a pump and swapped then out in the car leaving the used battery in my change holder.

If you are a passenger in my car it screams diabetes! From the test strips, car visor, drink boxes and meters, how could you not know that a mom of child with diabetes is on board! Well I finally got everything cleanned up and thrown out and I am back to my nice neat Car Visor and purple organizer taking care of all my diabetes necessities.

I dropped my daughter off at a friends the other day and on the seat she left a drink box and 1 box with 1 unused vial of test strips, I automatically picked up the drink box and went to put it in my arm rest and threw the vial of test strips in the glove compartment!
Here we go again!

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Is It A Good Idea?

Is It A Good Idea?

I believe every parent who has a child with diabetes will experience this at some point in their child’s life. When the testing frequently becomes an issue.

I use to believe it would get easier as they got older, I no longer think that way. When our children are young we have virtual control over everything they eat, how often they test and even though there’s just no controlling diabetes we at least could fool ourselves into thinking that we had a handle on what was going on.

Then that fateful day comes when our children go off to the Middle Schools and are pretty much responsible for their daily testing of blood sugars during the day. You would think that a child who has had diabetes all of their life would just automatically remember to test before eating, when feeling high or low. Now that they are away from us and taking on more control of their diabetes I long for the way to make this a positive experience. I am tired of the hounding text messages checking to see if my child is testing, if she remembered to bolus, then downloading meters and pumps only to find out that what I thought the numbers were are not quite the same as the ones I downloaded.

So my question is this, with the New Year Approaching, I am adapting a new strategy! I will be looking at the pump each day to ensure proper testing and blousing, at the end of the week if we have had 4 days (I have to allow a day for the oops I forgot) of doing what we need to do than we will be giving out a reward, something fun like movie tickets, a trip to Target or something else that is special for a job well done.

So do you think it’s a good idea to reward our children for taking on the responsibility and care of their diabetes? I will let you know our results, Remember our kids are kids first and as hard as it is we still need to make teaching them what they need to do a positive experience.