Y3W

YOUR 3 WORDS

Kacey got a paper home from school today for an end of the year project. The project is called "Y3W- Your 3 Words". ABC airs the Y3W segment on Good Morning America about once a month and you can also see examples on their website.

When asked the question: "Your 3 words to the world- What would they be?". The students are being asked to spend time thinking carefully of a message that embodies something important to them. They have to share this message in the form of writing 3 words in a creative way. The parents are then asked to take a digital picture or up to three and email them to the teacher. The pictures will be used on an end of the year powerpoint presentation at their awards ceremony.

It didn't take Kacey long to figure out what is important to her. The way she captured it says it all! Take a look below:

What would your 3 words be?

Mommy Nerves

I've got a serious case of the "Mommy nerves"! I have a date with my husband tomorrow....yep a DATE! We haven't gone out with friends since Kacey was diagnosed almost a year ago. Whenever we meet up with friends, we do it with kids in tow. We're going with 6 other couples to a comedy club in Va Beach (an hour and a half away from home!). I'm super nervous about leaving Kacey. Why do I have to be so darn overprotective of her? I mean, I leave her all day long at school and she's fine. So why am I so nervous? The girls are spending the night with my mom and this is also another first in the last year. After Kacey was diagnosed, I haven't let her stay over night with anyone. I think it's moreso because I don't want to "burden" anyone with the 2am sugar checks. So tomorrow is a big day for all of us! I'm scared because if something happens, I'm so far away and can't get to her right away. I know she's in good hands and Kacey is pretty "diabetes independent" now, so everything should be ok. We've not had any crazy lows so that shouldn't be an issue...but you NEVER know! Kacey is really excited because she misses staying at "Nae's" house. Just another milestone in our life with diabetes!

Kacey's 1st "Molly Moretic" Moment

Well...Kacey's had her first "moretic" moment.
(For those of you that don't know what "moretic" means, click the link above)

She came home quite upset today about an afternoon blood sugar of 418. She couldn't understand why she was so high and we thought it was the new site we put in this morning. It wasn't a perfect site and burned for a bit and she said it "tingled" when she bent certain ways. I tried to convince her to let me change it but her dinner blood sugars were back down so I figured it wasn't the site that caused it. I took her pump to download the history so I could send it to her CDE since I didn't do that on Sunday because of my own issues. As I looked over today's history, I found out exactly WHY she was a 418. There was NO bolus for lunch!!! I went storming into her room and asked her what in the world happened? She said she didn't know? Then she began to cry uncontrollably and she told me that she was being rushed to lunch and she was writing down her blood sugar, which was a 174 and then someone was talking to her and she couldn't remember if she dosed or not? She thought she did and she went on to lunch....2 hours later....yep theres the 418! Crap! So I sat and showed her how to view the history in case that happens again and she will be able to see if she dosed herself. Ahhhh...I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later! I'm glad she only peaked at a 418 because by 4:30pm she was down to a 255. Thank goodness for basals! Poor kid! I think she was scared because she knows she has to take her insulin. She was down to a 190 for bed so we'll chalk this up to "lesson learned"!

More Milestones

It was time for site change this morning and Kacey has shown interest lately wanting to do everything herself except putting her site in. She watches me fill her cartridge and fill the tubing and this morning she asked to try. What could it hurt, right? So I let her fill her own cartridge and tubing. She always takes her old site out herself. I put her new site in and she filled her cannula and set the reminder. I couldn't wipe the smile off her face! She felt like she'd really done something. She was so proud of herself. I really never expected her to be doing all of this already but she wants to know how to care for herself so I'm not going to stop her.

News on me....I got a call from my PCP's office yesterday and they asked me to come in this morning to have some blood work done. HUH?!? They sent my strep culture off and got the results back. Positive for strep...duh! I told the nurse that my tonsils were still swollen and I still had some white spots. She said well thats why I'm calling...we think you may have Mono after all because it wasn't strep A! HOLY CRAP!! Mmmk, so this means I've exposed my diabetic child to Mono. Uhhh scary! Thankfully I've been very cautious about washing my hands and I've drank out of the same cup and eaten off paper plates because I knew she could get strep if I wasn't careful. So I went in this morning and they will have the results back tomorrow or Friday. Theres not really much I can do, other than what I've already been doing. As for my foot....it's fractured! I'm in a walking boot to my knee and still in pain. The doc was originally going to put me in an air cast but since I'm on my feet a lot, he decided to go with the walking boot instead. The only bad thing...it's my driving foot! So if I want to drive then I have to remove the boot. Thankfully, since it's been 12 days already, it's starting to heal on it's own. He said he'd like me in the boot for 6wks but if it starts to feel better before then, which he thinks it will, then I can take it off in 4wks. I have to have it re-xrayed in 6wks if it's not feeling better.

Memorial Day- My Brother

Happy Memorial Day to everyone!

Today is a day to thank the men and women who proudly serve in our military. The ones that put their lives on the line, each and every day, for our freedom.

My brother is one of those serving in the United States Coast Guard. I can't even begin to express how proud I am of him. You see, we haven't always been close. We grew up in a military family. Our Dad was in the Army and thankfully we didn't make as many moves as normal military families do. Instead, Dad decided to do several tours on his own to keep us from moving and sadly that had an impact on our parents marriage. When we were in high school, our parents split, making it very difficult on both of us. My brother went to live with my Dad and I lived with my Mom. Weekend visits were extremely difficult for both of us and with that came the riff in our brother/sister relationship. Not long after all of this happened, I found out I was pregnant with Kayleigh. My brother was one of the first called when it was time to go to the hospital. He waited outside for the announcement that he was the proud uncle of a niece! The bond he formed with Kayleigh was amazing. He would stop by to see her and as she learned to talk, her "Guncle Cuck" (Uncle Chuck) could do no wrong. She'd make phone calls to him and babble on the phone for 10-15min at a time. When he made the decision to go into the Coast Guard, I must admit, I knew this would be the best thing for him. He'd been a ping pong ball for far too long and I knew in the long run he'd make us proud. After boot camp, he was stationed in Hatteras, NC. Not too far from home. We made the trip down to see him and he took us to see the lighthouse and around the base. While he was stationed there, he met my sister-in-law, Jenna. She was and still is one of the best things that ever happened to him. They got married and soon after she gave birth to my first nephew, Kylar. I was now in the shoes of "Proud Auntie" and I was thrilled for them! She then went on to have my second nephew two years later, Hunter and then finally a little girl came along two years after that, Abigail. I call her "Princess Abi". Since being in the Coast Guard, they've moved from NC, to Cape Cod, then to Hawaii, then back to Boston and now they are back in Hawaii. I was fortunate enough to go visit them when they lived in Boston and got the grand tour of Boston, the Coast Guard base, the Freedom Trail, and most of lower Manahattan, NY. I haven't had the chance to visit them in Hawaii yet. We were planning to go visit them this summer but when Kacey was diagnosed last summer, it put a crimp in our plans...and our savings! We certainly didn't ask for Kacey's diabetes but it's here to stay and unfortunately we had to decide between Hawaii and medical supplies. This sucked because I know Kayleigh was looking forward to going and she didn't ask for this to happen either. And then...the opportunity came open for Kayleigh to still go. She will leave in 24 more days and stay with my brother for 7 weeks of her summer. She absolutely adores her Uncle Chuck so this is going to be a great experience for her.

Back to my brother....during his military career, he's made us proud more than once. The biggest achievement came when he was promoted to Chief this year. He's only 31 years old, been in the Coast Guard for 13 years and managed to climb the ladder and make us proud. He just attended the Chief's Academy and earned several top honor awards. It makes me smile to think about how he went from a rebellious uncontrollable teenager to this grown man that has a miliary career to be so proud of. He's really come a long way! As for our brother/sister relationship...well I think we're closer now than we've ever been. I love him so much! He's not only a dedicated USCG Chief, he's an amazing husband and loving father...but most of all....he will only be a brother to ME!
So for today, and every other day, I say...THANK YOU Bro for putting your life on the line for our freedom and for making us proud. I LOVE YOU!

4 Days...Pushing 5

Kacey had another one of those "perfect sites" that was giving her some amazing blood sugars and when those 3 days flew by, she just wasn't ready for a site change yet! I let her push the snooze button and she went another day with perfect blood sugars. Thats the longest I've let her go with a site. It was 9pm last night and we really tossed around the possibility of waiting until this morning to change it but since she'd alarmed already telling us she was down to 20u of insulin, we decided it was probably a good idea to go on and change everything so she could start a fresh day today without having to do everything. I'm glad she's feeling so good :)

Blood licker....disgusting or a diabetic habit? How many of you out there lick your finger after a finger stick? Kacey's gotten into this horrible habit of testing really quick and just licking her finger and going on about her business. It didn't bother me at first but now it does. Germs...thats the first thing that comes to mind. With the spread of the flu and other nasty viruses, it makes me paranoid now. When she was first diagnosed, we made the effort to wipe her finger with alcohol and then we were told that it would dry her fingers out so we just started pushing the "wash your hands" issue. Then she would wipe her finger on a cotton pad and just keep it in her case. Now...washing her hands... Sometimes she does, sometimes she doesnt. So how do we get her to break this habit?

Still hobbling around in pain here. Called a connection of mine that works for the doctor that they referred me to and I have to call the office on Tues since Mon is a holiday and I'm going to get an appt MUCH sooner (Tues/Wed) to have it checked. I'm just tired of being in pain :( so hopefully the xrays will pick up whats going on!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Update

I'm finally starting to feel like myself again :) I was really miserable yesterday and the day before. My throat was swollen, sore and I could barely swallow. My foot has ached like a toothache and those of you that have had a toothache know that it is NOT a good feeling! Today was a better day though.

My throat isn't swollen anymore and the antibiotics have kicked in and they are doing their job. As for my foot, well thats another story! I called the doctor's office at 9am for my results on my xrays yesterday. The results revealed no fracture in the area he thought there was one. Mmmkay? So how about anywhere else? Well we don't know because the xrays were only of the area he thought there was a break! GOOD GRIEF! So I asked the nurse what I was sopposed to do and she said the doctor just said it should get better with time and take Motrin for pain. Ok...so this is a problem! Get better with time? At this point, I was in so much pain. You know the pain that makes you sick at your stomach and you feel like you could throw up? Yeah thats the pain! I kept my foot up and the pain had gotten so bad that I ended up taking a percoset that I had from a female surgery last year. I can normally tolerate pain...had a baby with no pain meds...knee surgery and female surgery and was off the pain pills in 2-3 days but THIS is a pain that really makes me think something else is wrong. By 1pm yesterday, I was in tears because I could barely walk and when I did the pains shot across my foot. So I called the doctor back and I'm crying on the phone with the nurse trying to tell her what's going on. So she tells me she will have the doctor call me back. By 4pm, I'm at the point of throwing up again from the pain and I call the doctor back. The nurse explains she can call in Motrin 800mg. Ummm....I've been taking FOUR 250mg Motrin at one time and it's not touching the pain! So they call me in something stronger and I'm now being referred to an orthopedic doctor. Thank goodness! She calls me back with a date....JUNE 4th. Huh?!?!?! I can't be seen til June 4th?!?! Thats insane! So for now I have to take the pain meds and try and stay off of it as much as possible (yeah right!) I called the ortho doctor's office today and asked them if they had a cancellation list? Nope! So she told me I could call each day and see if they had anyone cancel but normally they are booked. Great! Ugh! I picked up my pain meds today and they seem to take the edge off the pain and they aren't making me feel so loopy like that percoset did. This just sucks!

Happy to report Kacey's numbers are staying in range and she's feeling wonderful :) She took her Math SOL yesterday and she said she thinks she did good and I'm so pleased with how well testing is going for her. They have 2 more SOLs next week and then they are done! Kayleigh finished her last SOL yesterday and she didn't have to go to school today so she hung out with me all day.

Strep & Possible Fracture

Nope...not Kacey, thank goodness! ME!! I'm the chosen one this time!

I ended up at the doctor yesterday!

I woke up with a minor sore throat, nothing to really get bent out of shape over. I had body aches the day before so I figured I was coming down with another sinus cold. I took Kacey to school and I was scheduled to help with 1st grade testing and I really started to feel crappy. I made myself an appointment at 1:45pm. By 12pm, I was feeling feverish and my throat was worse. I had a chance to take a look at my throat again....WHAT?!?! I now had white sores! Oh God, please don't let it be! So I go to the doc, they do a rapid strep test, the doc comes in and takes one look at my throat and says "Wow...if you were 10 years younger I'd swear this was mono with these symptoms." MONO?!?! So they've sent my culture away to check it but I've got my antibiotic for....strep throat!

Soooo....now I have to back up a bit. Last Friday was my anniversary and when we were walking to the car to take the girls to my Moms, I slipped in the driveway. Those damn rocks and crocs don't mix! I rolled my foot, not my ankle. It immediately started to swell and it was a few hours before I could ice it because we went on to dinner. I just figured I'd twisted it. By the next morning (Scrapbook day), it was really swollen and I sat with my foot propped while I was scrapbooking and kept an ice pack on it most of the day. The swelling went down most of the way but the pain never went away. For the last 5 days, I've hobbled around hoping it would get better and it hasn't. So while I was at the doctor, I told him about it and he took one look at my foot and ordered immediate xrays. Why?!? He did some pressing in different spots and he's almost certain I have either an avulsion fracture or jones fracture of my 5th metatarsal. HOLY CRAP!! So I had the xrays done and I'm waiting for the call today to tell me what they said. I'm hoping and praying I've only messed up the tendons or ligaments down there and it's nothing worse. The pain shoots across the top of my foot and is keeping me awake at night. Last night, between the pain in my throat and the pain in my foot, I was a mess!

Thankfully diabetes isn't rearing it's ugly face and Kacey's numbers aren't too bad. She has another SOL test today so I'm hoping she does just as well on this one as she did on Tuesday.

I'll update as soon as I know something :)

Meeting & Testing

Yesterday was my meeting with Kacey's school about her 504 Plan. We all sat down with the EC from CHKD. We discussed Kacey's plan and everything we had in her plan were things they normally include (YAY for us!) The only thing we had to add was an addition about Kacey being able to carry her diabetes bag everywhere including into testing situations. Also, Kacey is taking her SOL test on paper instead of the computer and so I had to give permission for them to transfer her answers to a bubble sheet instead of having Kacey transfer them and risk her marking the wrong bubble. I'm thrilled with everything they are doing for Kacey to make this whole situation as easy as possible. We're so lucky to be in the school that we are in and I love the "family" relationship we've developed with them.

Today was Kacey's first day of SOL testing. We were worried she'd be too high to test because of the natural excitement going into the test. Instead of using a number to figure out if Kacey was capable of testing, they asked her if she felt ok? The reason for this is.... she can be a 200 and feel crappy and if we have no testing over 250 then she would still have to test. Then there are other days when shes a 300 and feels just fine. Thats exactly what happened today! She went into the test at a 315 but she felt fine. So I'm guessing the raise in her blood sugar was from being anxious and not from a true high. She came out of testing with a smile and she stayed at school the whole day :) She tests again on Thursday and I hope it goes as smooth as it did today!

Kayleigh took one of her SOLs today and she was able to leave school at 9:40am. I picked her up and took her back to school with me and she helped pack boxes for shifting classrooms. She's still counting the days til she leaves for Hawaii. She's down to a month!! *cry* As much as I want her to go, I won't let her see how sad I am. I'm really gonna miss having her around here for 2 months.

Off to watch American Idol....who will win? Adam or Kris?

Day 6 with Dex

We made it to day 6 with Dex. The sensor sticky had lifted almost all the way around and we'd used everything we could think of to keep it on but it just continued to peel up. So we made the tough decision to take it off a day early. With lots of tears, Kacey placed Dex into the bag for us to return him tomorrow to her CDE. We talked about how he only seemed to be 50% accurate but when he was accurate...he was spot on!

When we took the sensor out, this is what we found....

Yes...thats a crimp in the wire. Is it normal for the Dex sensor needle to bend like that?

I'm assuming that maybe that was why it wasn't more accurate than it was?

The last 6 days with it have been interesting. I'm excited to see what the results reveal. By the looks of her blood sugars on her chart, I don't think any changes will be made yet. She's still all over the place and there really wasn't a clear pattern this week. The last couple weeks, she's run high during her 2am checks and this past week she was in normal range every single night. I'm glad I listened to my "Mommy gut" and didn't make the changes to her basal the way the NP suggested when we went for her check up last Monday. I wanted to wait and see what Dex picked up before we made those changes and she agreed to let me wait. If we had made those adjustments, we'd of been battling SEVERE lows!

I'm getting ready to email blood sugars and I looked at the summary from her pump print out.

Average BG- 135

In Target- 56.41%

Number of Tests- 78

Average number of tests per day- 9.75

This is the BEST her averages have been since she started on the pump. Could this be a break-thru? I sure hope so!

Happy Scrappin' Momma

Yesterday was absolutely amazing!

Yesterday was the first time in 10 months that I've left the girls for the entire day. YES...the ENTIRE day!

I woke up at 6am and tiptoed in to check Kacey's blood sugar. She was snuggled into her covers and sleeping so sound. I tested her without her even budging and then tiptoed out. Everyone was still asleep so I quietly made my way to the shower. Once I got dressed, I heard the pitter-patter of Kacey's feet coming across the hardwood floor. It was after 7am and she was wide awake. Frankie woke up shortly after she came in and it wasn't long before Kayleigh was up. Today was a BIG day for Mommy! Where was I going?

I left the house at 7:30am and I met a friend of mine for morning coffee at 8am. Something I totally miss doing!! I left the coffee shop and headed to my destination for the entire day. I'd be scrapbooking with a group of my friends from 9am to 5pm :) . I entered the room with my scrapbook suitcases in tow and sat down at a table about 5ft long that I had to myself. I layed all of my things out and when I sat down I felt this amazing feeling of relief. For one entire day I wouldn't have to count carbs, check blood sugars, worry about lows, chase highs or listen to a teenager mouth. I was in company of my friends and I could just enjoy being "Jill" for a change. I can't even begin to explain how wonderful this was for me. My spirits were lifted and my creative brain was flowing so fast. I only got 2 calls the entire day. I'd asked Frankie not to call me unless it was something they REALLY needed. Well...about 9:30am my phone rings...(only 30min after I sat down).... "Hi Mom, it's Kayleigh! I won't keep you but will you tell me how many carbs are in 2 waffles because we are having breakfast at Granny's and Daddy didn't bring the waffle box". LOL I had to chuckle! "It's 30 carbs and tell Daddy he needs to remember those things!" Haha...I heard him laugh in the background. So I hung up and went back to scrapping. What project was I working on? Kacey's Diabetes Journey ...the last 10 months worth of pictures. LOL I know, I just couldn't get away from it all! Some of the pics made me laugh...others made me tear up...and then theres the ones where I felt inspired. The pictures that are worth 1000 words and tell a silent story. The pictures that made my heart smile to know that one day Kacey would be telling her "story" and have this book to show her journey to the person she will become.

So what were the girls doing with Daddy while I was having the day to myself? They went to visit his Granny for breakfast and then he took them to the movies to see "17 Again". Both of my girls are Zac Efron fans and they LOVED the movie! Around 2pm my phone rang again.... "Hi Honey, I hate to disturb you but I'm taking the girls to Taco Bell for lunch and I don't know how many carbs are in 2 soft tacos?" LOL... "Frankie where is your Calorie King book?" Haha he chuckled again and I told him how many carbs she needed to bolus for and the convo ended with "I hope you're having fun and we'll see you whenever you get home!". I hung up and I smiled because it wasn't "see you at 5-5:30pm" ...it was "see you when you get home"...which told me things were completely under control and I was in NO rush to leave.

Back to scrapping....

I kept my head down and continued to work hard on each page. Putting all those memories on paper made me so happy and knowing that my girls were safe made me even happier. I'd planned on leaving at 2pm but after the phone call, I knew I could stay til 5pm. Around 4:45pm, we started to clean things up. I'd won several door prize tickets for doing certain things with paper during the day and then we got 1 ticket for each page we completed (not counting journaling). 1....2...3...(keep counting)..30...31...32....33!!! I completed 33 pages in 8 hours :) I'm only half way done but I was thrilled to get that much done. I entered my tickets in the drawing. I really wanted this pack of paper that included stickers, small paper and journaling cards. It's gorgeous! I dumped 3/4 of my tickets into that bowl and then I waited. I WONNNNNNN!!! O-M-G...I was soooo excited! :) After hugs and pictures, I left. While I was driving home, I felt so refreshed. I was relaxed and had time to de-stress. It was MUCH needed time away and I'm so thankful I had the whole day.

My plans now....

I'm hoping to take one day a month and do this with my girlfriends. We can all bring a dish and meet for the whole day and just scrap :) I told Frankie about my plans and he agreed that it was a good thing so I'm looking forward to June already!

Happy Gotcha Day!

Today is also a very special day! Not only is it my anniversary but it's "Gotcha Day". What is "Gotcha Day"? It's the day that Kayleigh's adoption was final :) .... the day Frankie "GOT HER" ....and it's a very special day we celebrate each year.

May 15, 2002

We came home to find a message on the answering machine. "Hi West Family! This is (*insert lawyer's name*) and I'm just calling to tell you.... IT'S FINAL! Frankie she is all yours now! You can pick up the final papers in my office as soon as you can. I'm so happy for you all. Take care!"

What did this mean for us?

For the first 7 years of Kayleigh's life, we went through a nasty court battle with my ex and his family. It was a difficult time for us all but most of all Kayleigh was the one that was affected. I'm not going to drag up the past because thats where I prefer to keep it and since the adoption we've managed to become friends with my ex and his wife (who also happens to be Type 1 and helped me through Kacey's diagnosis....LOL amazing how God works!) Anyway, because of the situation, my ex signed rights to Kayleigh over to Frankie and allowed him to adopt her as his own. It was what we all wanted but most of all what Kayleigh wanted. Frankie had been in her life since she was 2 and he was there all the time for her.

I firmly believe everything happens for a reason. I know some people didn't think this was the best but in the long run it helped us become a family and it helped to mend the bitterness between Kayleigh's two families. She will always be biologically attached to my ex's family but we were blessed with another man that stepped up to the plate and took care of her as his own from day 1. They share a bond that will never be broken. She might say she's a Mommy's girl but there are times that she is such a Daddy's girl.

As for her special present.... She doesn't know it yet, but we're giving her a pandora bracelet. She's loved shopping for the charms for mine and today she will have her own.

Kacey still doesn't understand the whole situation and we haven't told her anything. It's a special time that we've shared privately the last 7 years. We give Kayleigh a special present on this day each year to let her know that not only is this our anniversary but this was a day that is also very important to her. Since Kacey still doesn't understand the day....we've decided to give her a bracelet too and it will be for her 1 year D'anniversary since that is fast approaching!

It's going to be a GREAT day! I'm so blessed!

With This Ring...I Thee Wed

May 15, 1999
2:30pm

Ten years ago today, I said "I Do".

As I looked back at the pictures, it's hard to believe it's been 10 YEARS!

Frankie asked me to marry him in November of 1997. I knew I'd always wanted a spring wedding with spring flowers (yep I love my flowers) but I knew that 6 months just wasn't enough time to plan the wedding I'd always dreamed of. So we settled on May 1999. This gave me time to plan, time to shop and time to budget and save to have the perfect wedding without going into debt from the start.
They haven't been the easiest 10 years either! They've been full of ups and downs and somehow we've managed to keep from strangling each other...LOL! We've been as low as we could get and we still held on tight and pulled out of it.

This picture is our wedding party. It made me smile but also sad at the same time. I smiled because I put so much hard work into planning our wedding...a year and a half...and it all came together perfect and was one of the prettiest moments of my life. I giggled when I saw how little Kayleigh was. She was only 4 when we got married but so grown up for only being a preschooler.

When I saw Beverly, my matron of honor (in purple), it made me smile too. She is the one that set Frankie and I up on a blind date in November 1996. She gave him my phone number and I wasn't interested in dating after going through a horrible split from my ex. He called that same night and we talked for two hours. Bev kept telling me to just go to dinner with him. I agreed to go out with him and our first date (I'd still never seen him) was to see the Monster Trucks and dinner at Denny's. LOL! I have to laugh when I think about our first date because when he picked me up, he showed up at my house with Brooks & Dunn blastin on the radio in Toyota 4x4 with 39 in tires....his own personal monster truck! Kayleigh was only 2yrs old and the tires were taller than her! I teased him for the longest time and told him I fell in love with his truck before I did him...hahaha! From that date forward, we were always together. On the weekend, he always made time to do things with Kayleigh and I loved watching them grow from strangers to having a father/daughter bond that could never be broken. He ended up adopting her when she was 7 and it just proved to me the kind of Dad he wanted to be.

Looking back at the picture of our wedding party made me sad because standing next to Frankie is his dad, who died from a massive heart attack a year after our wedding. Kacey never had a chance to know who he was.

Our wedding day started out like any other wedding day. The hustle and bustle of getting things together, my hair fixed and making it to the church on time were all part of the morning. I stayed at my Mom's house the night before so Frankie wouldn't see me until I walked down the aisle that day. It was a cloudy morning and I prayed for no rain because I had to walk outside to get to the front of the church. I was getting ready in a back room and I remember asking everyone is Frankie was at the church yet? No one could find him! I knew he was with his best friend, James and I hoped they'd make it BEFORE it was time for me to walk down the aisle...haha! About 20 min before it was time for the wedding to start, I heard someone shout, "He's here!" ....it was time!!

This picture is my Mom, Me, Kayleigh, Frankie and Chuck (my brother).

I struggled with the thought of who would walk me down the aisle. I wasn't on speaking terms with my Dad (the result of a bitter divorce and his new girlfriend) and I'd asked my Grandfather (Mom's dad) if he would do it? He agreed and then not long after, he passed away. I was back to wondering what I would do? Could my Mom do it? Could I walk alone? Could Kayleigh give me away? Nothing seemed to fit just right. We traveled to Maryland for my Grandfather's funeral and during the time afterward, my Nana asked me if there was anything I wanted of his to remember him by? I told her the one thing I wanted she may not give to me. Her response, "You name it!". I told her the only thing I wanted was his wedding band. He was going to walk me down the aisle and I wanted to have his ring to be a part of the ceremony. She took it out of the jewelry box and placed it in my hand, "It's yours". After lots of tears, I worked up the nerve to try it on and as God planned it, it was a perfect fit! Frankie agreed that my Grandfather's ring should be my wedding band and we would get him one similar to it. Ten years later, that ring is still on my finger!

So now I'm still stuck in my dilemma of who would walk me down the aisle? Then out of the blue it hit me! I only have one brother, one sibling and what a perfect person to fill the spot. I asked him if he would do it and he hesitated at first because he didn't want it causing hard feelings with our Dad but he eventually agreed to do it and I'm so glad he did! I remember the one special moment....actually two...that I really felt close to my brother. When the wedding party walked down the aisle, they closed the doors to get ready for my grand entrance. We were standing behind the doors and my dress was all straight and I turned to my brother and he asked me "Are you ready to do this?" and as I replied "Yep!" the music qued and the doors opened. He smiled at me and walked me to my soon to be husband. As we were standing there locked arm in arm, the preacher asked "Who gives this woman to be married to this man?". My brother spoke up and said "Her family and I" and then he turned to me and kissed me on my cheek and went to his place on the front pew. That moment started the first of many tears during my wedding. I'm so thankful we shared that time and I'm blessed to have such a wonderful brother.
This picture was taken once we got to the reception. Our reception was one of the most fun times of my life! We had a DJ, all our friends and family dancing & drinking and it was completely catered. There is only ONE part of my wedding that didn't go as planned.....my wedding cake! To anyone else, they wouldn't know unless I told them that our wedding wasn't perfect. Looking back, the cake was a minor bump but at the time it was a BIG deal! When I saw the cake, it looked like what I had ordered. When we cut into the bottom layer for pictures, the cake looked fine. We had the toast...exchanged the cake with NO mess (I warned him ahead of time)...and then everyone started getting their cake. We got sidetracked and never got any of the cake (except the small piece we exchanged). I walked back over to the table to pick up my wine glass and noticed the 2nd layer was cut already. Then it hit me! Bottom layer....white cake (check) Middle layer....chocolate cake.... (WHAT?!?! It's yellow cake!!!) This was one of the details of planning that I let Frankie choose and he wanted chocolate cake....and there was NONE! Top layer....who knows? It wasn't til our 1st anniversary that we found out the top layer was POUND CAKE!!!! Yukkkkkkkkkkkkk! So yeah, the cake was a disaster but everyone talked about how delicious it was so I tried to let it slide.

The evening wouldn't be complete without some garter shots! The guys had a blast with this one ;)

Our first dance.... "You Had Me From Hello" by Kenny Chesney. The first song wasn't hard to decide. The whole blind date thing came into play and the song was perfect!

Out of the 100+ pictures that were taken at our wedding....this one is my favorite! We took this picture while everyone was dancing and having fun. We snuck out the front door and walked around the parking lot as husband and wife for the first time....no one talking to us....no one following us....just soaking in the memory of what took place just a few hours before. It was another one of those special moments.

And now....ten years later...those memories are still as vivid as they were 10 days after the wedding!

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY FRANKIE!

I love you!

Day 3 with Dex

Last night we had to charge Dex because his battery was getting low. She's been wearing him clipped to her pants but since he was on charge, we had to figure out a way to keep him in range but out of the way so he could charge too. I decided to use Kerri's headband trick. It worked until she rolled over and it read out of range for about 2 hours.

Today we had a break-thru! When Herbie and Dex work together, it turns out to be a beautiful thing! This is the first time in the last 3 days that they were this close. Herbie says 103....Dex says 105....but Mommy says PERFECT! :D
Did it take them a few days to make friends? Did it take Kacey's body 3 days to adjust to the sensor? Did the threat I made to Dex about having to bring me flowers work? Who knows! All I do know is, it is wonderful to see them working together at least once during our journey with him.

We did run into a problem during the day though. When Kacey tested for lunch, she was a 65 (another lunch low) but yet Dex was saying she was an 83. Then there was a point that the little blood drop was showing up...she tested and calibrated...yet it still stayed the little droplet. This went on for over an hour like this. It finally picked back up when school was almost over.

Hopefully Herbie and Dex will start to work together for Kacey!

Day 2 with Dex

Today has been a weird day between Herbie & Dex.

Kacey woke up at a 145 this morning. By snack time at 10am, she was a 126. Thats a perfect number for her to be able to do her school work. By lunch time at 12:30pm, Dex was beeping and vibrating and said she was a 38! A test with Herbie revealed a 67! She's never been that low in the middle of the say at school. She went on to lunch and after lunch they went to a meeting with the principals. Next week is SOL testing and they were going over certain rules. One of the main rules....no cell phones. During their talk with the entire 3rd grade class, Dex decided to make his presence known and beep and vibrate and show off a 55. The kids thought it was someone's cell phone and one of the kids spoke up and announced "It's just Kacey beeping!" LOL! Mrs. P, the assistant principal, reassured everyone that she knew it was Kacey and it was fine because it wasn't a cell phone. Kacey said her cheeks were so red because she was embarrassed. Thanks Dex! Her blood sugar made a nice climb to 119 by 1pm. When it was time for resource at 2:30pm, she was sitting high on a 209. She felt fine the rest of the afternoon and by dinner at 5pm, she was a 188. After dinner, we went outside and she rode her bike for about 45 min before Dex decided to show off once again. He was telling her that her BG was 55...again! Ugh! She got off her bike and came in the house to test. Herbie said she was an 87. She wanted to go back out and play but I knew she was on her way down. We went back out and she just walked around the yard and then.... beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep LOW. Good grief Dex! This time he just showed LOW in the window. (check out the chart below...looks like an EKG to me...LOL!) LOW....and Herbie says 75.
It's been a back and forth battle between the two of them all day. Dex says one thing but Herbie says another. I know we're calibrating correctly so I'm not sure if this is what it is spose to do or not? Some times when she tests, Dex is within 20 points or less and then other times he is wayyyy off! Don't know how accurate that will be when it comes to looking for trends? Is this love/hate relationship normal between pumps and CGMS's?

Day 1 with Dex

My eyes popped open at 5:47am and I immediately shot up out of bed in a panic. OH CRAP!!! I took off running to Kacey's room. I fell asleep at 8:30pm last night...and I never set my alarm for the 2am check!!!! Crap! Crap! Crap! Her first night on Dex and I sleep through it....ugh! I immediately looked at Dex.....67 :O WHAT?!?!? I hurried and got Herbie ready for a test... 93. Whew! Thats better but that's the lowest she's woken up in a long time. I scrolled thru Dex's screens to the 9hr screen. There were 2 drops in the middle of the night that I never caught and I probably wouldn't have caught if I tested her at 2am.

The day was pretty uneventful. Kacey did really well taking Dex to school. She's adjusted so well to this and it's become so "normal" to her. I was afraid Dex would be a distraction since she was fascinated with it last night and I had the talk with her about how she didn't need to look at it every 5 min and we'd look at the screen when she came home to see how her day went. She did very well and remembered to put her numbers into Dex each time she tested. I'm just amazed at how fast she caught on to navigating the screens!

More tomorrow....

Diabetes Report Card

The results are in..... Kacey's A1c is..... 7.2!!!

I was completely shocked when she told us. Even though Kacey has some pretty high numbers lately, she still managed to drop ONE full point! She even wrote "Keep up the good work!" at the top of our paper. That made me feel so good :) As her Mom, I work so hard to try and take complete control over her diabetes and when this number is revealed it can make or break you as a parent. Even though we all try not to let it bother us, it does! I was thrilled that we'd managed to drop her one full point with the transition from shots to the pump.

We had a few more "firsts" today.

We met up with Kacey's CDE before the appointment. She brought along some different infusion sets for us to try, the Inset-30 and the Contact Detach. Kacey got all giddy when she saw the Inset-30 because it was pink! After being shown how it worked, I did the first automatic inserter set on Kacey. I was so nervous but it went in very smooth and she immediately smiled so that meant it was a good site. I'm not so sure I'm comfortable with the automatic inserter. After doing the manual ones for the last 2 months, it threw me out of my comfort zone!

Kacey and Herbie also met "Dexter" the Dexcom today!! I wasn't expecting it to be as big as it is. After some brief training, Kacey caught on very quickly with navigating the screens. Then it was sensor time! She'd been very nervous up until now and I was waiting for those tears to start falling. Our CDE asked her where she wanted the sensor put? Her belly? Her hip? Her arm? Ummm arm?!?! OK, we've done the belly sites and the hip sites but we've never even attempted anything on her arm. With a smile, Kacey replies "I think we can try my arm". YIKES!! By now, my stomach was feeling queezy for her...LOL! Anddddddddd..... SHE DID IT!!!!!! She put the sensor on the back of her arm! I'm soooo thrilled that she was brave enough to try it. She didn't even know it went in :)

We're still so new to all of this CGMS though. She's had the ???'s pop up twice and I'm still unsure why? She has it clipped to her belt on the opposite side from her pump. I also called around to every local pharmacy looking for the Skin Tac or Mastisol and no one carries it. Any other recommendations on how to keep the sensor stuck? It's started to lift a little around the edges already and it hasn't even been 6 hours! We're spose to keep this thing on for 7 days and I don't know how to keep it stuck unless I use medical tape (which is what I might have to do!). Other than the few bumps in getting things started, she's loving the idea that she can look down and see her BG. I wasn't too sure she'd like having something else clipped to her but she hasn't minded it one bit! She came in about an hour ago and told me she didn't want next Monday to come. I asked her why? She said because she didn't want to send "Dexter" back. **sigh** She told me she felt "safe" with him and Herbie. It breaks my heart to know that she feels she needs medical devices to be "safe". I know it's a comfort to her to be able to look down at a device and see what her blood sugar is whenever she wants without having to prick her finger. It just makes me sad.

I've been more emotional than usual this afternoon. Not sure what's going on? I'm thinking it's the aftermath of the stress I was feeling prior to Kacey's appointment. I get so worked up and then to find out that I'm actually doing a good job just put me in an emotional spiral. I'm sad because I have to watch my baby play while sporting the "Inspector Gadget" belt. I can tell she's not bothered by it and she's moved on like it's "normal", which is wonderful but it's still heartbreaking. I know I shouldn't feel sorry for her but I'm her Mom and I'm allowed to feel like that. Don't get me wrong....I'd rather see her sporting all her gadgets over taking 8 shots a day!!! I'm so thankful we have Herbie :)

The Greatest Mother's Day!

(This pic was taken right after all my tears so forgive the red face)

Today has really been one of the best Mother's Days ever!

From the way the day has gone I'd really have to say... I'm spoiled! Nahhh... I'm not spoiled...LOL who am I trying to kid...OF COURSE I'M SPOILED!

The morning started with my girls giving me a few of my presents. Kacey made me a frame with her picture in it at school. She also made me a card that I will share because it really made me cry. The assignment was to "Get inside Mom's head" so this poem is sopposed to be me talking. She did a wonderful job!

Then I was given a small wrapped box. I was told it was something they both picked out for me. When I opened it, it was a new Pandora charm! It is the 4 roses with 4 pink gem stones. Roses for Mommy on Mother's Day that will never die.

Perfect!

Then I was taken out to breakfast at my favorite place, Juan's. Breakfast was delicious, the girls were not arguing, Kacey's blood sugar was 150 (right on target) ...could the day get any better? SURE!

After we left Juan's, we went to visit Frankie's Granny. We took her a hanging basket of flowers, which she absolutely loved! She looked wonderful :) Remember she just had her kidney removed a couple weeks ago because it had a cancer as big as an apple in it. She's getting around great and even managed to put lipstick on herself and Kacey and pose for a picture.While we were at Granny's house, I was given more presents from my girls and my hubby. They each had a small white paper bag. I opened Kacey's bag first.... 5 more charms for my bracelet!!! HOLY COW! Then Kayleigh's bag... 5 more charms!!! Finally Frankie's bag... 4 more charms!!! OMGGGGGGG!!! Here are the ones I got:

Kacey: my birthstone wheel, her birthstone wheel, star, Hello Kitty and paw print (for her school mascot)

Kayleigh: her birthstone wheel, coffee cup, silver awareness ribbon, LOVE, and pink flower wheel

Frankie: silver rose, gold & silver flowers, blue swirl wheel, and blue bumpy wheel

My entire bracelet is now full and I have to start a new one...LOL! I don't know how many of you are into the Pandora/Biagi beads but E-bay has wonderful deals on them!! If you buy them full price they are $25-$75 a bead but online you can pick them up for less than 1/3 of what the cost is in the store. (Thanks Mom for helping them get the beads for me!) I'll post pics of it soon! LOL my anniversary is Friday so ummmm...I think I need a new bracelet, huh? Haha!

We left Granny's and came home for a bit. We relaxed and just did....nothing! It was great to just sit around :) Then we left for Mom's and had the cookout there. I got my final present at her house. I got my FIRST Vera Bradley bag!!! It's the Purple Punch Tote (purple is my fav color!) and I'm sooooooo in love with my new purse...LOL! Kayleigh was a bit jealous cuz she liked this pattern too and she's a huge Vera fan...haha but Mommy beat her to it! It was all good though :) She liked seeing me so surprised and happy! (Thanks Mom for helping them get it and keeping it a secret!)

We left Mom's house after dinner and we came home to get things ready for tomorrow. It's back to school and lunches & baths had to be done. They went on to sleep with no fussing. I must say...it was a wonderful day! I'm so blessed to have 2 happy and caring girls. I love being a Mommy (even when I'm so exhausted I don't feel like I can keep going!) They are my world and I wouldn't change a single thing about my crazy life (ok yes I would...bring on that cure!) Diabetes stayed in control and gave me a break today. It was nice to be so pampered for the day! I'm worn out and getting ready to head on to bed. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end for now!

Tomorrow is Kacey's Endo appointment. I'm feeling a bit nervous since she's had some hellish blood sugars lately. We meet with our CDE before our appointment so she can show us some new infusion sets and also so Kacey can get hooked up to the Dexcom for a week. Then we see the doctor at 1pm. Soooo.....We'll see! I'll update once I get home.

I hope all you Mom's out there had a wonderful day!

My Mom

When I woke up this morning, the first thing I did was call my Mom and wish her a Happy Mother's Day! We were going to a get-together at her house this afternoon and I had a super special surprise for her.

For as long as I can remember, my Mom has always been a "picture taker". No matter where we went, she always had her camera (yep! I get it honestly!). She carried her camera case with at least 4-5 rolls of film and she was always capturing my brother and I doing something funny. A few years ago, my brother and I scanned in a ton of pics (like 500+) and he made her a DVD put to music for Christmas. Nearly 99% of the pics were ones she had taken and the pics went from 1953- present day. While I was digging through those pictures, it made me appreciate the times that she had her camera and captured so many memories on film for us. I'm sure you can imagine the tears that this DVD brought on and it was something that money could never buy. My brother put so many hours into making it and it was a wonderful surprise for her! After all those years of using film, we decided it was time to bring Mom up into the "digital world" and convince her to get a digital camera. It took a few months of harrassing her but eventually she bought herself a digital camera. Nothing too fancy...the zoom wasn't all that great and the view screen was pretty small....but at least she was learning how to function without film! She really didn't complain about the new camera but I could tell that she was having problems seeing the pictures she'd taken and she was frustrated with the zoom. She mentioned last week that she'd like to get a new camera before she left for Hawaii. She's flying over with Kayleigh on June 19th but she's only staying a week. During that week, she'd be capturing memories once again and I had to make sure she was able to do it! I went in search of the perfect camera for her ....something small....large view screen....good zoom and great megapix. I found it!! She had no idea I'd bought it for her and she still thought I was giving her a gift card for Walmart. Sure a gift card would have been easy but I wanted to give this to her! I could never begin to repay her for what she's done for me in the last 33 years. She's always been there and never once turned her back on me (even when she could have). My girls were so excited to give her this present that they could barely contain themselves once we got to Mom's house. She sat down and they both jumped at the chance to give it to her. I managed to capture the look on her face as she opened it....yep, it was MY turn to capture the memory (LOL notice how pleased Kacey was in the background)! She was THRILLED!!! It didn't matter that it was pink...it didn't matter that I spent 45 minutes trying to decide whether to get it because it was pink....what mattered was she got a camera she could finally see the screen on the back of AND it took amazing pics! We played with it and I showed her several of the features. She's got plenty of time to figure out how to work it before she leaves in June :)

I'm so very thankful to have my Mom....even though there are times my phone rings 15+ times a day....I'm glad she's on the other end to talk to!

Happy Mother's Day Mommy! I love you!

Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to take a moment and wish all the Mom's out there a very Happy Mother's Day! I'll be back later to post about my day!

Perfect Snack

I can normally get all of my grocery shopping done in about an hour and a half but today it took me 3 hours! Why? Well because we're getting tired of eating the same thing over and over so I took my time (with 2 kids in tow) and went aisle by aisle looking for new things to try. I made it a game with the girls to help me find new things they'd like to eat. Kacey really wasn't into the game and all I kept hearing was...

"I'm tired!"

"My feet hurt!"

"My tummy hurts!"

"I don't feel good"

"I think I feel low! I need to test."

"I'm only a 113 but I feel low!"

"I'm hungry!"

(and the list goes on)

It made it very difficult to shop and I really don't know why I put myself through the whole issue of taking her with me. Kayleigh is a big help when I go because she holds my coupons and she can go get another cart if we need one. I even tried letting Kacey push the cart and it was too heavy so I let her be coupon holder and she said they made her fingers sweaty...LOL! So it wasn't until we hit the freezer section that she got interested in the game we were trying to play. I had a few coupons for some new little ice cream cones and I was having her search for them. Imagine her surprise when she ran across these.......

She immediately belted out a squeal and grabbed a box of them and flipped it over. "Mom! Mom! MOMMMMM! LOOK! It's only 4 carbs!!!" I know the lady standing there thought we were crazy but she was the one who needed help when she said, "Awww is someone watching their weight?" Ummm....ok it was all I could do not to smack this lady so I killed her with kindness and replied. "Nope we're not watching our weight, she's got type 1 diabetes and it's a perfect snack when we find something like this!" I'm sure you can imagine the look on her face and how she wanted to insert her foot! I turned back to Kacey and continued my conversation with her. "Wowwwwww Mom! Can we try them? Please!!!!" ......"ABSOLUTELY! In fact, let's try 2 different boxes." (they had 3 different boxes) Kacey is a HUGE Crystal Light fan. That is normally all she drinks. I make her the orange drink and it's perfect for breakfast and she loves the peach tea and we put that in her water bottle for school. We've tried the lip staining Fruit Punch and the tongue staining Grape but she doesn't drink those regularly because she says they are "too sweet". Kacey literally skipped through the store with those popscicles in hand.

She usually has a snack for bedtime and these are perfect for that when her sugars are high. Tonight she tested for bedtime at 8pm and since she was outside playing all afternoon, Herbie said she was a 62! She started to cry because she wanted the popscicle for snack. MMmmmk....popscicle and one glucose tab...that should do it! And 15 minutes later....retest...123....ahhhhhh perfect! I rechecked at 11pm to make sure she wasn't dropping again and she was a 146.

I have a feeling that we're going to be keeping a stash of these popscicles in the freezer. They're still a "treat" but it's one of those treats that don't make you feel bad and they will be great for her high's. So after all the drama through the grocery store....I think we managed to come out on top! If you get a chance to check them out in your ice cream section....try them! I had one of the peach tea ones and they are delicious and very icy.

Happy Mother's Day Miley!

Not long ago, my fat cat Henry passed away. Our family was pretty shaken from his loss and I kept reminding the girls that we still had Miley outside. She was our indoor cat until about a month before Henry died and for some reason she started "acting out" and she was destroying things in the house and attacking Kayleigh for no reason at all. We made the tough decision to let Miley stay outside. She really enjoyed the outside and was always hanging around with Henry. It wasn't long before she was following in Henry's footsteps and bringing us "presents" (mice, birds and even a baby rabbit...ugh!) I didn't discourage her because we live on 5 acres and there are field all around us so mice can be a terrible problem and I like having a "mousetrap" that I don't have to set...haha! She's adjusted well to being outside, put on weight and is always on the porch to greet us when the car pulls up. So when Henry died, Miley grieved with us. She lost some weight and walked around the yard with this "lost" look on her cute little face.

A few weeks ago, I noticed she had made peace with Kayleigh and she was being more lovable than she'd ever been. I'd even found her curled up beside Kayleigh on the porch as she listened to her iPod. I figured I'd made a great decision and it was working out for the best. I noticed that she'd finally put some weight back on and she was running around like a crazy kitty. About 3 weeks ago, I told Frankie that I thought maybe she had worms because her belly looked a little "bloated". Being outside, I figured her chances for worms were much greater so we wormed her. Then I noticed her belly wasn't shrinking and Frankie said, "You don't think shes..." NOOOO! She can't be! Henry was fixed! Ummmm wait....the lady that I got him from told me he was fixed but was he really? So then about a week ago, Miley was just laying around on the deck and not going very far for anything. She was wanting to be loved on and meowed more than usual. It wasn't until she decided to laying on her back with all fours in the air that I noticed ....holybigboobiesbatman! Ummmm yeah I think we have a problem here! LOL! Now it was just a waiting game!

Yesterday when I came home from work, there in Miley's barrel (she's got a big plastic barrel we made for her to sleep in with an old comforter and pillow for her to lay on) were her and 4 KITTENS! I was suddenly overwhelmed and sat down in the deck and sobbed. Two of them were identical to her and the other two.... the colors of Henry! Could it be? We'll never know but my girls cried right along with me as they told Miley that Henry would be so proud of them! This was about 5pm and I went back to check on her around 7pm and she was laying there feeding them so I didn't disturb her. I went out to check on her this morning.....1, 2, 3, 4, .....5! WHAT?!?! She'd had one more kitten last night. It's been very warm here the last few days and so she decided to move them. Where? Ahhhh yes...right under the bush in my freshly mulched flower bed....haha! Mom & babies are doing well though!
Happy Mother's Day Miley!

Tagged

I was tagged by Shamae & Rachel for this one :) so here goes....

8 Things I'm looking forward to.....
1. SUMMER! (less than a month til school is out!)
2. Frankie's hours picking up
3. Going to NC this summer to relax
4. Cleaning my house
5. All my flowers blooming
6. Getting a full night sleep
7. All day Scrapbook event next Saturday
8. Ultimately my final thing is A CURE!

8 Things I Did Yesterday......
1. Helped tutor a little boy in 1st grade
2. Got a call for Kacey to speak with JDRF when they go meet Glenn Nye
3. Taught 1st grade the 2nd half of the day
4. Walked around the yard before the storm rolled in to see what was blooming
5. Sat on the porch and talked with Frankie
6. Helped Kacey with her homework
7. Fell asleep at 8:30pm and missed all of American Idol (woke up as Allison was leaving...LOL)
8. Updated my blog


8 Things I Wish I could Do.....
1. Go to Hawaii this summer
2. Sleep all night
3. Lose this dang weight
4. Sit all day and do nothing (altho I'd prolly go bonkers...haha!)
5. Take the girls to Disney
6. Go to the event with JDRF on Friday
7. Control Kacey's pancreas completely
8. Find that Cure!


8 Shows I Watch.....
1. American Idol
2. Law & Order
3. CSI
4. Biggest Loser
5. Hell's Kitchen
6. House
7. Days of Our Lives
8. anything on late night when I cant sleep

8 People I Want To Read 8 Things About.....
1--Wendy (Candy Hearts)
2--Sheri (No Sugar Needed)
3--Cara (Every Day...)
4--Penny (My Son Has Diabetes)
5--Kelly (Chasing Numbers)
6--Karen (Bitter Sweet)
7--Amy (Mom of a Diabetic Princess)
8--Anyone else that wants to share this :D
(I tried not to tag ones Rachel & Shamae already got!)

Speaking Out

I got a very cool phone call today from Lori at JDRF. For those of you that haven't read further back in my blog, Lori is the lady I was put in touch with for Kacey to receive her Bag of Hope from JDRF when she came out of the hospital. Lori sent us Rufus :) (which we will forever be greatful for!) So back to my phone call... I was at work today and my phone rang with a local number. I took the call and it was her! She was calling to ask Kacey and I to join JDRF when they go to visit Congressman Glenn Nye on Friday. My first instinct... OMG WOOOOWWWW Thats COOL!!!! Then I was quickly hit with... Oh crap! Friday is a school day...Kacey will miss out on school work...I have a job that day and I don't want to have to cancel. Geesh....what a priviledge to be able to go speak with JDRF. I hope this isn't one of those opportunities I'm going to kick myself for not doing. We would have to get up and leave the house by 6am to miss all the morning traffic and head down to Va Beach. Then fight everything coming home. I wouldn't mind doing that but since it's a school day and she's missed so many days already for being sick, I'm going to pass it up. I did tell Lori to PLEASE let us know when something else like this comes up because I know my "Lil D-Advocate" would love to participate in something like this. She does such a wonderful job educating everyone around her and getting people involved so this was right up her alley!

Been a busy few days for us. I love being back to work! I love the reward of walking down the hall and having my name shouted and followed by waving arms and to top it off...the reward of being bombarded with kids who give you hugs because they miss you being in their class! It makes it all worth it :)

Kacey's numbers took a turn after those fries. We're still battling blood sugars in the 300's with no reason why. So, were the fries really evil or did her body just say "Enough with being normal, it's time to drive Mumma nuts again!" I'm beginning to think it's the second one! Hopefully with the use of Dex we will be able to see if there is a pattern to these numbers that we just can't seem to catch with testing 8-10 times a day.

Evil Fries

I've come to the conclusion that Kacey just can't have french fries without her blood sugar shooting to the moon. We've tried a few times to have them and bolused different each time and she still goes high. Last night, we were doing a quick dinner and Kacey wanted fries. She ended up bouncing up into the 300's and stayed high all night...woke up grumpy...and was still in the 300's at snacktime. We've just accepted that for now we just can't do fries!

I went to join the gym today! :D As soon as I signed my membership papers, I was off to the locker room to put my bag up and I headed right out to the treadmill. I completed a 30 min walk and was drenched! I'm so proud of myself :) I've had so much more energy this afternoon.

Change of plans for my meeting this week. The EC had an unexpected death in her family and she will be out until May 11th. So we have to postpone the meeting. Kacey goes back to the Endo on the 11th and so we will meet the EC that day. She will also be hooked up to Dex that day!

I'm substituting at school every day this week (Yaaaayyyyyy!) so I won't be around as much but I will check in as I can.

Worth It

Some days I have to dig really deep and accept that it's ok to do things to please myself. I'm always pleasing everyone around me and doing things for other people that I forget to take time for myself or I end up with not enough hours in the day for it. Two years ago, I had knee surgery. It sent me in a downward spiral in weight gain and put me in a miserable place. In the last 6 months or so, I've lost 30 pounds and dropped 2 pants sizes but I still feel I have a long way to go. I found out a few weeks ago, I can get a gym membership with the local gym for a little over $20 a month since I work for the county. I used to have a membership to this gym before my knee surgery and I loved it! I loved how I felt after workouts, I loved how it made me look and most of all I was doing something for myself. The last 10 months, since Kacey's diagnosis, I haven't done very much for myself. My days are spent taking care of her and if I'm not the one taking care of her then I spent it worrying about her being taken care of. After chatting with a dear friend lately, I've found my desire to do something for myself that makes me feel good. Tomorrow morning I am going back to the gym! I am going to workout on days that I'm not subbing at school. I must admit, I'm very excited but I'm also very scared. This will be the first time I've really done any heavy exercise since my knee surgery. S-L-O-W...thats how I'm going to take it. I know my knee will never be the same but with some regular exercise I think I'll do just fine!

As for things on the diabetes front....Kacey's numbers have still been amazing. She's had a few highs but nothing really abnormal. They seem to be consistant highs at the 2am checks so not sure whats going on there? I have my meeting with the school this week and next week is Kacey's visit back to the Endo.

Calm Few Days

It's been an extremely calm few days on the diabetes front. (God, please don't let me jinx myself when saying this....) Kacey's numbers have been excellent with only a few lows. She's back to being "normal" and feeling wonderful on top of that.

She's had excellent luck with the hip site and now we're on her second hip site but on the other side. She really likes having it back there and it's out of the way and doesn't bother her one bit!

My reason for not being here...I've been working :D I've had several jobs this week along with helping out with RIF so I just haven't had the time to be here. When I get home, I'm worn right out!

But other than that, things are going great! :D I'll post more over the weekend!