Excitement! Excitement!

Whew! The whirl wind of the Christmas season has finally settled and it's nice to finally get things back to normal. The rush over the past week has been pretty intense. I'll try for a recap and then I've got a bit of news to share... *wink*

We had a wonderful time at Christmas Eve service. It was so nice to be surrounded by my family and friends. Mom and Brian came and actually enjoyed it so much that they said, "We'll be back for sure!" It was also nice to see my best friend surrounded by her family as well. Her Mom came and it made my heart smile to see an entire family there celebrating such a joyful occasion. The music was AMAZING (as always!) and when we all lit our candles, I felt tears well up in my eyes as I looked around to see how absolutely beautiful it was. BREATHTAKING! I wish I could have snapped a picture to share.

Christmas Eve night....well, let's just say...Santa was almost caught! We got home from all the evenings festivities around 10pm. The girls opened up their new jammies and off to bed they went. Once asleep, Santa went to work doing the job. By 11:30pm, I felt something. *tap*tap*tap* ...followed by..."Mom, Santa came but I feel sick." I sat up in bed and Kacey sat down on the edge of my bed with her kit already in hand. ***sugar check*** OVER 500! Ahhhhhh #$%*! I drug myself out of bed and stumbled to her room. Back out to the living room I went with blanket, pillow and Rufus in tow. I set up camp for her on the couch (which is right outside our bedroom door) and figured the clock was already set for the normal check at 2am. So....2am check....486....BLECH! I sat there and up'ed all those basals ...AGAIN...with hopes that by Christmas morning she wouldn't feel like a big pile of poo! Then....7am....*tap*tap*tap* ...UGH! I rolled over to a smiling face that happily said, "Come on Mom! Santa already came and my sugar is a 167! YAHOO!" Ahhhhh thats nice.... *grumble*...LOL!

Christmas morning was AMAZING! This was the first year that I really had no clue what I was getting. My husband has this habit of saying, "What do you want?" and then when I tell him, he give my Mom the money to go get it. OR he will ask my Mom what I've mentioned wanting and she goes and picks it up and he gives her the money. Well, we now have 2 grown little girls that WANT to do the shopping. Soooooo this year, they did just that! Daddy came home from work, ate dinner, showered and then off they went to the mall...just the 3 of them. I sat home and enjoyed the peace and quiet BUT it was a little lonely here at night. Anyway...my gifts....the angel from the Open Heart Collection from my husband, a snowman charm for my pandora bracelet from Kayleigh and a heart charm for my bracelet with BEST MOM on it from Kacey. It was soooooo nice to be surprised! The girls loved all of their presents as well. After we finished with our morning, we went visiting and didn't get back home til around 6pm.

Around 3pm on Christmas Day, it started to snow. They had said we were going to get slammed with a storm but we were NOT prepared to be hit with a FOOT of snow! Yes....12 inches of that nasty white stuff covered our ground! It finally stopped snowing by Monday but we were snowed in! Our driveway is 1/4 mile long and there was NO way we were getting out anytime soon. Then Monday evening, our neighbor's son came down with his big truck and started to pack the snow in our driveway for us so we could at least get out if we needed to. So....after being stuck in the house all day Sunday, all day Monday and most of the day on Tuesday...we decided to break out! The main roads were mostly clear and it was nice to get out.

We had a wonderful Christmas and enjoyed the time we got to spend with family and friends. Diabetes reared it's ugly head several times and we just had to try and beat it down the best we could.

Then...Tuesday night....A BAD NIGHT! We visited with my best friends family and all the running around playing inside finally caught up with Kacey at 1am. We had all fallen asleep around 10:30pm. I fell asleep with the TV on and around 1am, I heard a yell from the other room. "Mommmmmmmm!" You know how you think you're dreaming it so you ignore it for a minute? Yeah, thats what I did. Then again..."MOMMMMMMMM!!" I jumped out of bed and went running to Kacey's room to find her sitting up in the middle of her bed.

Kacey: I need my kit!
Me: Are you low?
Kacey: I need my kit!
Me: Ok...**checking her sugar by this point** ....57! (frantic moment)
Me: Kacey, you're low! You need juice! I will be right back!
Kacey: (yelling from other room) Mommmm! I need you!
Me: (yelling back) I'm hurrying!

I rushed back in with juice and watched as she sucked it down in only a few seconds. She sat. She looked around. She looked at me with the glassy eye look. Then she started to cry. I moved her out to the couch to set up camp again and so I could be near her. I sat on the floor beside the couch as I waited for her pump to beep to tell us to retest. ***15 minutes later*** Retest- 78 CRAP! More juice! This time she had fallen back asleep and I kept trying to get her to sit up to drink and she wouldn't sit up. (Thank you spill proof sippy cups!) She sucked the juice while laying down. She kept her eyes closed and didn't move. The tears fell down my face as I watched her...so helpless...not able to hold a cup...not able to hold her eyes open and sit up...it was the most awful feeling! Since diagnosis, she's only had about 3-4 middle of the night lows. I HATE THEM! They're scary and they make me feel like I could vomit! I can deal with daytime lows but when she has these in the middle of the night like this, it makes me afraid to sleep. It reminds me WHY I set that alarm for 2am EVERY SINGLE NIGHT! The scarier part....the next morning when she woke up, she did NOT remember a single thing from the long night before. She didn't remember waking up yelling. She didn't remember the 3 cups of juice she drank. She didn't remember anything! NOT ONE SINGLE THING! This is so scary :( and it's sad! Diabetes robs their bodies from so much and it snuck in like a thief and she didn't even know she had been low.

(This just confirms my feelings for the next topic below.....)

So yesterday, I revealed a little secret to my family that I've been keeping secret for about a week. I haven't told all the rest of our family yet (unless they are reading this now) because I want to visit this place before we make the decision. I revealed it because I finally got to speak to Scott on the phone about it after a few emails and we've officially made the step and I'm excited about this journey we're about to take. For the last few months, I've been tossing this idea back and forth but it wasn't until I ran across C.A.R.E.S. that I thought maybe this was actually possible for our family. If you haven't clicked the link, C.A.R.E.S. stands for Canine Assisted Rehabilitation & Education Service. Yes, we've made the step to look into getting an alert dog for Kacey. I spent over 30 minutes talking with one of the nicest men I'd ever spoken with. Tidewater K9's rescue and train service dogs and one of their specialties include training diabetic alert dogs. Scott started out asking a brief family history and then proceeded to explain the program to me. Since we live so close, we will have the opportunity to participate in the training and actual scent discrimination. So basically, the dog chosen for Kacey will be trained to suit her needs and learn her scents. This process doesn't happen overnight. This will be a 6-8 month process of training with the facility and then more training that involves Kacey with scent and public certification. The dog chosen for her will be trained to accompany her in public and be fully trained on and off lead. It will also most likely be a Goldendoodle or a Labradoodle since the "doodles" are hypoallergenic and don't shed. This will be GREAT for her! Scott also explained that there will be little if any out of pocket cost for us because they help us put together the corporate sponsor packages that will help us fundraise. He will also do demos to show how alerting works for any companies that want to see how it works before they sponsor us. Our first step will be to go out and visit the facility. I have to call and make the appointment. During our visit, we will get to meet a few already trained alert dogs on site as well as 2 dogs that are ready to go. We will get to see first hand how alerting works and then decide if this is definately something we want to move forward with. I'm very excited to start this journey and who knows where this path may lead? You all will be the first to be updated as I blog about the new steps we're taking. I won't sit here and tell you that this will be the perfect solution for us. It's something we're looking into and we're going to see if this is the right journey for us to take. I'm sure the first time I see one of the dogs alert right there before my eyes then there will be no turning back....but I'm going into this with a VERY open mind (and heart).

I know in my heart that 2011 is going to hold some very exciting paths for us. I'm already standing at the beginning of several roads and the adventures they are about to take are definately blog worthy!

I hope each and every one of you had a wonderful holiday and the best of wishes for a VERY happy new year!!

I close with this quote....
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight."Proverbs 3:5-6