Peeps & Pumpkins

Two exciting things....Kacey has her new "peeps" (glasses) on and we carved pumpkins this afternoon.

She is LOVING her new glasses ...about as much as I am loving mine!!

Kayleigh with her pumpkin

Kacey with her other pumpkin

All lit up!! The weather here this afternoon was beautiful and it allowed the girls to get some fresh air. I also opened up the house to let the germs out :) Things are looking up here!

Fever Free

Our house is FEVER FREE!
I know I shouldn't jump for joy just yet but it's kinda hard not too after having fevers in my house for the last 5 days.

Kacey woke up this morning with a blood sugar of 174 and she went to bed with a normal temp and woke up with a normal temp. I felt her head during her 2am check and she was nice and cool. So I'm thinking she's through the worst of this mess!

Kayleigh continues to get stronger each day. She still has the cough but it's not as hard on her breathing as it was. She actually had the energy to start on the work she's missed this week. I'm keeping her home til Monday so she can go back to school at 100%.

Frankie's fever broke last night and he woke up this morning feeling 100% better. Against my wishes, he went back to work. Since he drives a truck that hauls heavy equipment, he said he was fine to drive. All he's got now is the cough and a bit of a stuffy nose. He's making a long haul today so I'll keep calling to check on him! I must admit....he's a hard worker for sure!

As for me...I've still managed to dodge this mess and continue to pray that my immune system is strong enough and this mess doesn't come back to bite me in the butt next week when everyone else is well!

Now...onto the Halloween issue....
I've really been thinking about this. I spoke with the girls about it and we've decided that we will NOT be trick-or-treating this year. There were many factors we took into consideration. The first one being....GERMS! Going door to door with all the flu germs that are going around isn't a smart idea. When you think about it, if the person handing out candy is sick or getting sick and they touch the candy to put it in your bag then they've just given you the germs. Also, if they are one that let the kids pick their own candy then you've got every single germy hand from every single kid that came there before your child. Ummm....YUK! The second factor in deciding NOT to go was the fact that Kayleigh is now 15yrs old and she really had no interest in dressing up and taking Kacey around trick-or-treating for candy that Kacey most likely isn't going to eat. I just don't see the point in wasting the time to do that. SOOOOOOO.... (drum roll) they voted to stay in and do a movie and popcorn night! While I was out running errands yesterday, I bought them a new movie.... "17 Again". They both saw it at the movies with Daddy but I haven't seen it yet. So we're going to have a fun night in and I told Kacey if she wanted to wear her costume then she could. I'm betting it only stays on about 10 min and then she will ditch it!

Tonight is...PUMPKIN CARVING! I'm looking forward to doing this with the girls this year. The carving is a ritual that they share with my Mom & Brian every year. Since they've been sick, we're not wanting to share any germs so we've decided to carve them at home this year and take lots of pics :) I'll share those later!

To everyone going out trick-or-treating this year....STAY SAFE! Carry your GermX! Wash your hands!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN TO ALL!!!

Daddy Has It Now!

Yep, thats right! Frankie has the flu too!

The flu is so widespread through our county right now that I'm surprised they haven't shut down schools. I heard yesterday, that when kids were getting off the bus at the middle school, they were taking temps and sending home kids with a fever above 100. Guess what? They had 1/3 of the school out! Thats SCARY! I also heard that on Monday at Kay's school they served lunch to over 1100 kids...then on Tues it was only 900 ...and yesterday was only 800. Kids are walking around the school with masks on. Thats REALLY bad! These kids are changing classes and sitting in desks that sick kids sat in and the virus lives on surfaces for 7 days...YIKES!

Yesterday Kayleigh started feeling better, she had some life back in her but she's still got a pretty nasty cough. She wanted to go back to school today and I was going to let her but the more I sat and thought about it...her immune system is still fighting this cough and if I send her back with all the sickness then we're gonna end up back where we were on Monday....NOWAY! So she's staying at home another day.

As for Kacey...poor thing :( ...she's still running a 102 fever...and thast WITH Motrin! She's had stomach cramps and the only thing she's managed to keep down is Nilla Wafers. Everything else makes her tummy hurt. At least she's eating something! She's still got the body aches. I feel terrible because there is nothing I can do :( I have managed to make her comfortable with baths and then she bundles up in my bed. Other than that, she's just miserable!

Then....Frankie calls me from work yesterday and says he's got the aches and chills. UHOH! By 4pm, he was on his way home and he said he knew he was burning up. He still had an hour drive home :( When he got here, I had 2 Motrin, a glass of tea and 1 Tamiflu pill waiting for him! His fever was a 102!! I figure since Kay was over hers, then I could use a few of the Tamiflu we'd got for her and dose Frankie, in hopes we caught it in time! At 3am this morning, his fever broke and he was sweating. He sounds horrible and his temp is 98.7 right now. But....thats not to say it can't shoot back up because thats exactly what the girls did! So he's home from work and in the bed :(

And as for me....I'm still flying under the radar! For once my immune system is fighting harder than it ever has. I only had the body aches day before yesterday but I'm not complaining!!!!

And now, for a giggle...
Kacey was running a fever and I was sitting next to her and rubbing her head and I said "I'm glad I didn't get anything but the body aches." and she looked up at me and smiled and she said "Mommy you didn't have the flu, those are just aches from getting old!" HAHAHA! She's so sick, yet she's still got her sense of humor! :)

Still Down For The Count

We're on Day 3 of the flu here!

Kayleigh is finally starting to show some signs of life but Kacey is still down for the count. During the night, Kacey's fever shot up to a 102.6, her blood sugar went up to a 428 and she had ketones....YUK! All she did was cry because the body aches are so bad. She also got the throwing up but Kayleigh didn't. They both still have a really nasty cough and that has made Kayleigh's asthma kick up so she's puffing her inhaler every 4 hours.

Kayleigh said she felt better and with rest today, she thought she might go on back to school tomorrow. She hasn't had a fever since last night so we'll see how she feels in the morning. As for Kacey, she won't be going back to school until at least Friday and possibly not til Monday depending on how she feels. She got upset earlier because she doesn't think she will be well enough for Halloween (which wouldn't bother me in the least...LOL) but I made her giggle when I told her that I'd still let her dress up in her costume and trick-or-treat at our front door....candy and a movie! Then she got excited when I told her she could watch the movie in her costume ;) I hope she's feeling better by then though!

On a good note...our glasses came in! I'll post pics once my poor baby is feeling better :)

GermX....Lysol....Clorox....and good ole Alcohol wipes!

*Cough*Sniffle*Cough

The flu has officially hit the West house!

Kayleigh was home from school yesterday because she wasn't feeling well. Her asthma was acting up and she had another cough and stuffy nose. She was running a low grade fever so I gave her some Sudafed PE and she didn't move from the couch all day. She complained that her body ached and I had a feeling we were heading for the worst. Frankie was home from work with her. I worked yesterday and Kacey came to me at the end of school and said she wasn't feeling well. I took her right to the nurse and she had a 99.5 fever. By the time I got home, Kayleigh was running a 101 fever and both girls were complaining they ached all over. I made a run back to Walmart and got a new thermometer, more Sudafed PE (thought it was a cold), Motrin and water. Both girls went to sleep early but we were back up at 12:30am. Kayleigh was having trouble breathing because of her asthma and she was up to a 103 fever! I ran water in the bathtub and made her get in to try and get her fever down. Meanwhile, Kacey woke up and she was crying that her legs hurt and she was thirsty. I ran to get her a drink and made her test while I was gone. I figured she'd spiked up but when she told me it was 166, I nearly fell out! The whole time she's stayed in the 100's (not that I'm complaining) but usually when D-kids get sick, they spike but not her...she drops low! I checked her temp and she was only a 100.7 but she felt warmer. She downed two cups of Crystal Light before Kayleigh got out of the tub. Once she was out, she wanted to be on the couch where she was closer to me. I had Kacey in bed with me ...haha...we kicked Daddy out and made him go sleep in Kacey's bed! We finally got back to sleep around 4am. All they both did was cry...the aches were causing them joint pain and they couldn't rest. By 6:30am, we were all up again. Kacey was crying because she was so stiff she couldn't walk and her temp was up to a 101. Kayleigh's fever had finally come down to a 99.3 and she was resting good. I called the doc at 8am when they opened. I told the receptionist their symptoms and she put me on hold. She came back on the line and she said the doctor was calling in some antiviral meds for them and for me to not bring them out! She said it's definately the flu and they need to stay inside and away from other people :( Guess that means we'll be home most of the week. Let's just hope and pray the worst of this is over!

From 4 Eyes to 8 Eyes

Kacey and I went for eye checks this morning. I wasn't too thrilled about having to go see a new doctor so I really had a negative attitude going in. That was quickly changed when we were greeted with a warm smile and very nice receptionist. We only waited about 10 minutes and we were called back. Dr. N is very nice and he's a foreign doctor but his accent isn't so heavy. I could understand everything he was asking us.

He read over Kacey's chart and said "Oh diabetes?" and Kacey said, "Yes but I'm Type 1 not Type 2." He smiled and said, "So no trick or treating for you!" AHHHHHHHHHHHHH! No he DID NOT just say that! I gritted my teeth through the smile and said, "She's type 1 so yes she can have candy and go trick or treating." He gave me a puzzled look. This is where I really have a problem. Are they NOT taught in med school the difference in Type 1 and 2? I mean, C'mon! The pediatricians are the same way. It's like they slept through the chapter on Diabetes. I really didn't have the energy to go into detail with him. He pointed to her pump and said, "Is that your insulin shots?" LOL!!! She laughed and said, "No it's my pump, silly!" So....long story short.....her vision is 20/40 and 20/30 (just like the nurse tested) and so she needs glasses for seeing distance. She got her eyes dialated and he checked for bleeding....NONE! :) So yes, she just needs glasses!

Then it was my turn. I haven't had my eyes checked since I was in high school. I had absolutely NO idea that I had astigmatism and my vision is 20/50 and I NEED GLASSES!!! I was so shocked when I tried to read the chart and I couldn't see it. Then when he put the thing on my eyes and I could see it clear, I nearly fell outta my chair!!

So Kacey and I both picked out our new glasses and they will be here next week! :) I told her we were going from 4 eyes to 8 eyes and she thought that was hilarious! I think she'll adjust to them just fine :) I did take a pic of her with the "trial" pair of glasses on but I won't show it off just yet. I'm going to wait til she's got her new glasses and show them off...so watch for pics!

Eyes

Kacey had her check up for her eyes with the school nurse. I got a phone call from her afterward and she confirmed the suspisions I'd already had. Kacey has made some comments lately about her eyes being "fuzzy". She made a couple remarks last year but it seemed to be related to the high or low blood sugars she was experiencing and it raised no red flags. The last few weeks, shes been telling me things are "fuzzy" but her blood sugars were "normal" at the time. Every year, the school nurse does eye testing. This morning, she tested Kacey and she was 20/40 in one eye and 20/30 in the other eye. Hmmmm?

Her last eye check up was 2008, right before she was diagnosed. She was 20/20 in both eyes then. Surely diabetes couldn't be taking it's toll on her THIS early? Yeah, the Mommy part of me is starting to worry already!

Our eye insurance has changed and the eye doc that we've used for the last 11 years is NOT a participating provider (damn you insurance!) so this means I'm back to square one trying to find a doc that participates. I called around and I found one but I've never heard of him, no one I know has heard of him and so I'm risking it here. They had an opening for 9am on Friday. WOWWW! So soon? Isn't that a bad sign if you get in right away? Since they aren't booked?

OK...I have to think positive here! I'm just heartbroken that we can't see Dr. C anymore :( We were referred to her 11 years ago. Kayleigh was only 4 years old and she couldn't see the 2 letters under the big E during her preschool eye exam. Her pediatrician sent us to Dr. C and we loved her from the beginning! Kayleigh had a lazy eye and we worked closely with Dr. C to help repair it. She became more than just a doctor. She knew us on a first name basis and every year when it came time for Kayleigh's check-up, she always knew who we were when we were waiting and she'd speak to us personally. Now that we've got this new plan...which BTW we did NOT choose....it was chosen by my husbands work....we have to see the doctors that participate or pay out the ass for coverage!

So....Friday at 9am it is! I'll update when we go. :)

Walk to a Cure 2009

WE DID IT!
You know that feeling of letdown that you feel on Christmas morning after all the presents are opened? That's exactly what I felt after the walk was over yesterday! We had put so much planning and effort into the walk this year and it was over so fast but now we've got the awards ceremony to look forward to. So....onto the day of events....

The day started with me turning over and seeing the clock say 7:07am ....WHAT?!?! I had set my alarm to get up at 6am and it never went off! I jumped out of bed, ran around the house waking the girls up, got everything and everyone ready and we were walking out the door at 7:42am. We had to pick up one of Kacey's friends, Hunter. He and Kacey have been friends since....uhhhh...before birth! :) Actually, the night I was having complications with her and was sent to the hospital was the same night he was born. She finally came about 3 weeks later! After we picked up Hunter, I took them to get some breakfast and by 8:30am we were pulling into the walk site. Misty rain...yuk! It had been pouring the night before and so they were not setting up the individual tents like they had last year. They didn't have a lot of what they'd planned to have because of the rain. So we went and reserved a table under the big tent and set up our stuff. By 9am, we had friends starting to arrive. Many people from my Mom's work were coming in, people I'd never met before but they heard about Kacey and opened their hearts to her! Around 10am, everyone started gathering toward the stage they had set up. We still didn't have a count for how many people we had walking but I knew it was A LOT! The lady on the mic called all of the children with diabetes to the front of the stage..... 13 children were standing there and that wasn't counting the ones that didn't want to walk up there. Standing before us were the reasons why we were there and one of those reasons was my baby!I managed to choke back the tears I was feeling come on until a grandmother took the stage. She told "their story" and about how she felt when she got the call about her grandchild being diagnosed, how daily life for him is difficult and how they took the time to learn how to care for him. At that point I was completely overwhelmed. The tears fell freely and I sobbed as I thought about "Kacey's story" and the day we found out and how my own Mom has taken the time to be such an advocate for Kacey. I also thought about the people there with us. They took time on a Saturday to come out in the nasty cold misty rain just so they could walk 3 miles with Kacey. That my friends, is what I call SUPPORT! Many of them took the time to raise money within their own circle of friends. My dear friend, Jill, sells Tupperware and she held an Open House for 2 hours and announced on Facebook that she was donating 100% of her profit to Kacey's team. We were so excited when she announced she was donating $150 to JDRF! I could go on and on about the support but it's very obvious we're having no shortage of that. :)
We made it through the 3 mile walk...which we thought was only 2 miles and I couldn't understand why Kacey was feeling tired. We pushed her through the last 1/2 mile and I crossed the finish line with my arms around both my girls. Yes, another heartfelt mommy moment that brought me to tears. We went back to the tent and Kacey sat down and I hear.... "Mom, I'm low!" Uh-Oh! She'd dropped to a 62...hahaha no wonder she had no energy left! She ended up getting something to eat and then she was ready for the team picture. We gathered up our team and we still weren't sure how many walkers we had so we counted them while we were waiting to take the picture.....56 and 2 had already left.....58 WALKERS!!! We had the largest team there! Then we had the raffles. Kacey won a new meter & lancet and a JDRF button for her jacket. Everyone started leaving and we began to pack things up. We got an exciting announcement.... DIABETES SWEETIES has won 1st Place in the t-shirt logo contest!!!!!! YAYYYYYYY!!!!!! This year, I proudly designed the logo and took it to Peace Frogs and asked them to print it. They proudly took on the task and donated all of the art fees and printing fees. Thanks Sandra!!! After we got everything packed up, I got that letdown feeling. It was over, we won for the most walkers and the best logo. WAY TO GO DIABETES SWEETIES!!! We took Kacey's friend home and after ge got out, she layed her head over and I could tell she was thinking. I asked her what was on her mind? She said, "I think this was the best walk ever!"

Now, I have another story in the middle of all of this. While we were standing at the stage when they asked all the children with diabetes to come up, the lady made the announcement that there was someone there giving away FREE Cozmo supplies and if anyone was on a Cozmo pump and interested then please see her and she'd put us in contact with the person that had them. FREE SUPPLIES?!?! Uhhhh, I don't know about you, but if someone offers free supplies for Kacey's pump then I'm gonna jump! I went straight up there and told the lady I was interested and she put me right in contact with the mom that had them. An introduction of one D-Mom to another took place. I met Mara. She's a mom of an adorable 8yr old little boy that was diagnosed at the age of 1...yes, ONE! He had a Cozmo for the last 3 years and when they found out Cozmo was going out of business, they made the switch to MiniMed recently but they were left with unused and unopened Cozmo supplies that they hoped someone could use. Because the walk was about to start, I briefly told her about Kacey and showed her where our table was. After the walk, we met back over at our table and her table was right next to ours. She handed me a large brown sack full of infusion sets and cartridges! We exchanged hugs and I got her email and phone number. You know those times when you look at one D-Mom to another and they just get it? Well, she got it! She then said...If you ever need to talk, you know how sometimes it's hard.... OMG! Yes! I get it! *sigh* So then she introduced Kacey and her son. It was too many people around for them to really get to know one another but I really would love to plan a date for us to sit and chat. I gave him and his mom one of our team shirts. Yes, they had their own team but who wouldn't love to wear a shirt to support JDRF? ;) I'm very thankful that I was able to participate in this walk and meet another D-Mom that lives so close! THANKS MARA!!! :)

So there ya have it....our walk day. I couldn't have asked for any more! We don't have donation totals yet because we've still got money rolling in but I know we've done better than last year ;) I've also got a friend, Lori, that could not make it to the walk because she is a Creative Memories consultant and she was holding a weekend crop. She was so disappointed she couldn't walk but she set up a donation bucket for Kacey and she also made the announcement that she was donating 50% of her weekend profit to JDRF! Amazingggggggggg!!! I'll keep you all posted and in December we will make the announcement of what was raised for JDRF.

Thanks again everyone!!!

Diabetes Report Card

Today was Kacey's Endo appointment and the results are in...... 7.6%


Yeah, it's not as good as the last time but she went through the growth spurt, had a cold and her Endo said she's starting the first stages of puberty. He told us we were doing a great job and anything under 8.0% was good for a growing little girl. That softened the blow for us. I knew her A1c was going to be higher than last time and I actually expected it would be closer to a 7.9% so I was happy when we got the results. He did download her pump settings and logs and went over them with us. I told him about the basal changes we made yesterday and he wants me to give those a week and if she's still dropping low at 3pm then he wants me to change the carb ratio and see if that works. He breezed through the TDD% and said it looks great and she's eating about the same about of carbs each day and her TDD is right where it should be. She's not missing boluses (whew! thats a plus!) We talked about the logging and he asked Kacey if she liked doing it and she told him she did and he said then he sees no reason to not give her that responsibility. Once again, I felt some relief! We don't have to go back til January :)

On the way home, we decided to make a stop off at the cemetary. It's been so difficult to go there and we've neglected it for about a month now. Kacey had picked a "special pumpkin" for Granny and drew a cute little face on it. The last trip down there, all Kacey did was cry and that made it even more painful. So we thought we'd try again and hope that it was a little easier.

It wasn't!

Kacey put the flowers and pumpkin by the headstone and we saw that they'd finally come out and put the date on the headstone. Granny already had her name and birthdate on it because it was done when Grandaddy passed away. So we'd been awaiting the date to appear. After Kacey put the pumpkin down, she walked around and sat on the edge of the headstone.

Yeah, I know....I probably shouldn't be sharing this pic of such a personal moment. I couldn't resist the capture. But it shows just how much my baby is missing such an important person in her life....her Great Granny. She sat there quietly and cried. I didn't interupt until about 5 minutes later. She stood up and said, "I'm done talking to Granny now." OK...so I managed to hold back my tears until then! She'd had a silent conversation with a resting place. She wiped her tears away and smiled with red eyes and said, "We can go now. Granny got her pumpkin and my heart is happy." Wise beyond her years is all I can say! She blew a kiss as we drove away and I silently cried all the way home. We miss her so much!

SHE DID IT!

YESSSSSSSSS......SHE DID IT!!

Kacey logged her blood sugars and carbs all day without me telling her to. She was so proud of herself when she got home from school and happily took out her book and showed me what she'd done!

(BTW, "3 GT means 3 Glucose Tabs)

Sure, it's not the neatest in the world....but WHO CARES?!?! I'm thrilled that she logged!!! It took her a few more seconds but it was so worth it to see the proud smile on her face. I praised her over and over with loads of hugs and kisses. One day down....a lifetime to go!
I got an email back from Kacey's CDE today. We're making 2 more basal changes. We're gonna try that 4am rate increase and then add in an 11am rate to decrease it back and see what happens. We're trying to bring her down when she's waking up and bring her up from afternoon lows.
Tomorrow is the big REPORT CARD day! Why do I feel this sickening knot in my stomach? I feel it because I know that we had a 7.2% the last time we went and I know it's gone up and I'm dreading hearing the number! We get to see her Endo tomorrow and I know it's time for that lab work again...ugh! Keep us in your prayers tomorrow :)

And The Winners Are....

We had a sleepover at our house last night so we didn't get a chance to do the drawing til this morning. The pics show the winners! Kacey put the D-Mommy name instead of the child's name...LOL....sorry! :) Now, I need you to email me your mailing address so we can get the packs out in the mail this week! You can email straight to mom2knkc@inna.net .

THANKS EVERYONE!! We hope you enjoy your presents!!

Put all the names in......

Close your eyes tight and mix them up........

And the GRAND PRIZE WINNER is...................

As the Grand Prize winner, Addy is the proud owner of the "Tigger" pack. Diabetes numbers bounce as much as Tigger does! You will also receive one of our newly designed 2009 Walk to a Cure t-shirts with the Diabetes Sweeties logo as well as some other extra special goodies!

Thanks again for taking the time to enter :) Kacey is excited to "share" her packs!