Family Fun from Starlight

We had a GREAT weekend!

Kacey was invited by Starlight to attend U-Turn Sports Academy in Richmond. VA. It's an hour and a half drive for us but it was for a CPKids Camp. California Pizza Kitchen was sponsoring the event with their yummy food! There were bounce houses, face painting, games and lots of sports fun. We received some very cool tshirts when we walked in. The kids had an amazing time as you can see in all of the other Facebook pics. There was a photographer and videographer there so I'm excited to get my hands on those pics :) Both of the girls won a contest! Kayleigh won a hoola-hoop contest and Kacey won a cup stacking contest! There was a fun DJ there and he had the kids dancing and having fun. Kacey was very excited to see "Starry" and have her picture taken! I was able to meet some wonderful people that I've been emailing with from Starlight. They put sooooo much work into these events for the families and I really want them to know how much we appreciate all their hard work. Also, if it wasn't for so many volunteers showing up, there couldn't be an event as great as this! There were just as many volunteers as there were family members there. It was AWESOME!!!

THANK YOU Starlight for making this a wonderful day for our family. We are looking forward to many more fun events with you all!

Record Low

OK... I'm ready to catch a break here! Yesterday Kacey had her record low....***36***

Yes....thats LOW!!! I picked her up from school yesterday around lunchtime because her blood sugar was a 338 and she felt sick at her stomach. After we got home from picking her sister up at school, she layed on the couch to watch TV. We decided that since she wasn't feeling well, I had a bit of a sick stomach stirring and Kayleigh was swamped in missed classwork that we would just skip youth group tonight at church. As much as I hated to, I was worried that I'd end up getting sick while we were there. So we chilled out at home. Kacey ended up falling asleep and I figured that high was just taking its toll on her body...WRONG! I told Kayleigh to go wake her up because she'd been asleep for over an hour and I wanted her to be able to get to bed on time. She screamed to me in the kitchen, "MOMMMMMMM SHES NOT WAKING UP!!!" So I went running into the living room to find Kacey laying there with her eyes shut.

Me: Kacey, are you ok?

Kacey: no response

Me: KACEY!

Kacey: letting out a moan

Me: (grabbing her kit) Kacey! I think you're low! (testing) ***36*** CRAP!

Me: Kacey! You're REALLY low!

Kayleigh: (gone to grab juice boxes without being asked)

Me: Kacey can you open your mouth?

Kacey: opening her mouth a little.

Whew! OK so she could hear me but she couldn't open her eyes or speak to me. Can you say....SCARED!!!!! I pushed 2 juice boxes immediately .

 Just 15 minutes later.....still a ***42***....DOUBLE CRAP!

I pushed one more juice box....***73*** Ahhhh relief in sight!

Kayleigh sat by her side like a mother hen and once she came around she just layed there like the life had been sucked right out of her body.

After she came up to the 73, she started talking and actually sat up. She cried, I cried. She was sound asleep so she never felt it coming on. When she sat up, she was SOAKED in sweat. As the tears ran down her face, she said, "Mom, I could hear you but I couldn't open my eyes or talk. I was so scared but I knew you knew I was low." ***insert the throw up feeling here*** I felt like I could vomit at any moment.

Once things settled down, she was able to eat something and she ended up bouncing in the 400's through the night but woke up at a ***103*** this morning. I hope her day goes better than yesterday. I'm not far from school today since the nurse is out and there is a sub nurse in there that has never been there before. It's times like this that I become an overprotective Momma!

Now...once I was finally calm...I sat and thought about things. At the time Kacey dropped low, we should have been driving to youth group at church and that could have happened as I was driving. Yikes!! As I've always said....God places us where we need to be at just the right time and everything happens for a reason. I'm sure God understands WHY we didn't make it to youth group because he made me have that sick stomach so I'd stay home. And you know what? After it was all over and my nerves had settled, my sick stomach was gone. Yep! I'd say it was a blessing that we were home.

So I took that chance to perform an experiment on myself. Since I seem to have a "normal" pancreas. I tested my blood sugar before making myself eat a very high carb meal on purpose. My blood sugar before eating.... ***84*** and then 30 min after the high carb meal ***125*** and one hour after that ***117*** so what did I find out? First of all, I don't have a misbehaving pancreas (thanks be to God!) and is that what a normal pancreas does? I'm not sure? But I tested myself to see if I shot over 200 at any point.

Luv ya's, Mean it!!! 

Kayleigh's GTT

Kayleigh had her Glucose Tolerance Test yesterday at CHKD. After a nice run with some traffic, we got there 20 minutes early. They got her registered in and then admitted her. I was a bit shocked because I didn't know she was going to be admitted for the procedure. They sent us up to the Short Procedure Unit and we got comfy in a room with a nice view of the buildings and river below. Kayleigh was showered with a TV, movies and a Playstation. All she asked for was a blanket and some water! We quickly became "friends" with Nurse RB. She wasn't very familiar with Type 1 diabetes but she was fascinated as we educated her and I told her about all of my D-Mommas and D-Peeps on here. Nurse RB was AMAZING! I plan on writing the hospital to let them know how nice our stay was and how caring and compassionate she was to Kayleigh. When it came time for the IV to be put in, she made sure Kayleigh was as comfortable as she could make her and then she even sprayed the area to numb her so she didn't feel it. How cool is that?!?! She could have told her to suck it up like a big girl and stuck her without that. What was even cooler was she gave me 5 tubes of Emla cream to try with Kacey! She said they couldn't give the spray out but if she could make Kacey's life just a little easier then she was happy to give us the cream. Once the IV was in place, she was ready to start the test!

She was all smiles since there was no issue with the IV. It wasn't long before the orange glucose drink was sent in. She had to drink 75 grams of this sugary drink.

Was it gross? YES! It was nasty!! The nurse let me taste it so I would know how gross it really was. As Kayleigh drank, we passed the time talking about my blog, Kacey's diagnosis, Kayleigh's "episodes" and then my phone rang. It was SHANNON!!!! She was coming to visit with us!!!! We'd wanted to plan a meeting but it just so happened that I was going to be at the hospital so she came on over with Joshua to help us pass some time. When I got off the phone, I explained to Nurse RB that we were about to meet one of the D-Momma's and she was just as excited with us. It wasn't long before she popped around the corner with this precious blondie....

It was so exciting!! Joshua climbed right up with Kayleigh and he showed off his new alert bracelet. Shannon and I sat there talking like we'd been friends for years. Once Kayleigh made it to the one hour mark in the test then she was free to walk around the hospital but we had to come back every hour so she could have blood drawn. So we took that walk with Shannon and Joshua....down to the PICU where it all began. It was one of those bittersweet moments. Two Moms...with diabetic kids...taking that stroll down Memory Lane. As we walked back down that hall, I snapped this pic of Joshua. It's one of those times when you really reflect and this was one of those times. He went into that PICU so sick and literally fighting for his life and now here he was walking down that hall and you'd never know he'd been so sick.

We walked Shannon and Joshua downstairs to the front door and said our goodbyes. It was WONDERFUL spending time with them and Kacey was really sad she missed it but I told her that we were planning to get together this coming summer so she can't wait to hug his little neck!

Kayleigh and I took the elevator back upstairs. She said she felt really tired and wanted to lay down. She climbed back in the bed and pulled the covers up. Around the 12:20pm mark....3 hours into the test...Nurse RB came in to do a blood draw and Kayleigh was watching a movie. She was very still and not saying much. Not even 10 minutes later, she kicked the covers off and with tears in her eyes she said, "I feel like I'm going to pass out! I feel like I did that day at school! MOM! I'm sweaty!" So before I even called for Nurse RB, I grabbed the kit that she had in her purse.......***43***!!!! NOWAY!!!

I ran out to the nurse and told her Kayleigh just bottomed out and she was shaky and sweaty. She called the doc on call since our doc was out of town. No answer! Ummmmm....HELLO....JUICE would be nice! But since it was a procedure, she couldn't just give her juice. She had to wait for authorization to stop the test. I snapped a few pics to show Kay what she looked like during a low. By the time another Endo called back, Kayleigh's "fight or flight" instinct had kicked in. She'd gotten so scared that Mrs. Liver decided to spurt that adreneline (thank you!) She came up to a 69. We only had about 20min before the next blood draw so the doc asked Kay if she could push through it and she did! She came up to a 71. Dr. G ordered several tubes of blood to be taken for different tests since they had the IV in already. He ordered the A1c to be done and also the antibodies test since Dr. SS had forgotten to order that. So 4 hours into the 5 hour test, it was called off and she was allowed to finally drink some juice to bring her up some more before she ate her lunch.....approx 150 carbs. Nurse RB said that we wouldn't get the final results for about a week. She said with every blood draw, they were testing her insulin levels as well so they could see if her pancreas was spitting out too much insulin when it wasn't supposed to or if something was going wacky with it. DUH! Something is DEFINATELY going wacky in there!
Not long after she ate, she started with a sick stomach. Then came the headache. Then she got so sleepy she could barely hold her eyes open. So Nurse RB said that even though the test was over, they still had to keep her for observation and we still did finger sticks every hour to see what her body was doing. It wasn't til we got home that I thought....WHY in the world wouldn't they have placed a CGM on her during the test so they could WATCH what was happening? With all the technology, you'd of thought they would have done that too.

We were finally released 2 hours later. Kayleigh was feeling better and she'd gotten her color back. What a roller coaster! I helped the nurse keep a journal of her numbers while we were in there. Here is how the day played out.....

2-23-11

94 @ 9:00am- test starts- drank 75g glucose drink

105 @ 9:52am (blood draw results)

113 @ 10:24am (blood draw results)

137 @ 10:50pm (self meter check)- felt sick @ stomach

122 @ 11:23am (blood draw results)

49 @ 12:22pm (blood draw results)

43 @ 12:28pm (self meter check) sweaty, sick, dizzy

79 @ 12:45pm (self meter check)

69 @ 12:55pm (self meter check)

71 @ 1:20pm (blood draw results) TEST STOPPED

Lunch @ 1:25pm (approx 150 carbs)

220 @ 1:58pm (self meter check)

236 @ 2:08pm (self meter check) sick stomach, headache, tired

231 @ 2:38pm (self meter check)

146 @ 3:20pm (self meter check)

175 @ 4:08pm (self meter check) headache worse, still real tired

157 @ 4:48pm (self meter check)

138 @ 6:15pm (self meter check)

Dinner @ 6:30pm- NOT hungry- no dinner, sick stomach and headache same

83 @ 8:30pm (self meter check) Went to bed

She was so scared to go to sleep last night because she was worried that she was going to drop during the night. Ummm....GREAT! She wasn't the only one worried! She wasn't hungry and she said she felt like if she ate then she was going to throw up. So I didn't force it. I got up to do Kacey's 2am check and the thought of going in and testing her crossed my mind :( How sad is that?

So as you can see...it was a day of up's and down's! Now for a question...you'd think I should know this already but for some reason I don't. What is a normal level for a normal person to peak to after a meal? Should they bounce in the 200's after they eat? And if so, how long should it take to return to "normal" levels of 80-100? If Kay ate that high carb meal at 1:25pm and then she didn't come back into range until 8:30pm...somehow that seems like a LONG time to be bouncing around. And FYI, the 150 carbs was 2 juice boxes, a hamburger, a handful of fries, a snack pack pudding and a small brownie. It wasn't anything that should have kept her soaring like pasta.

I'm just scared! I have a million things swirling around my head. I'm going to be on pins and needles until I have that diagnosis. All of the "Could it be's" are bogging me down. Keep the prayers coming. You all have been wonderful through this journey and I'm thankful and so blessed to have each and every one of you! Once all of this is over, I think I'm gonna have that doc write ME a prescription....LOL! I will let you all know the results as soon as I do!

Until then....PRAY!

Love ya's, Mean it!!!!

Coming Together

Don't you just love it when a plan comes together? It's times like those that I really feel like I have a sense of control. Or do I REALLY have control? Am I the one in control? Or am I feeling this way because I've given ALOT to God lately. I'm slowly learning not to sweat the small stuff and let things go. Sure there are times when something so small sets me off but I'm trying. I've set aside more time for prayer lately and things seem to be calm compared to last week.

On Sunday, we woke up to this in our front yard....

 A lonely goose!
Usually this time of year they're already paired up. So I quietly crept outside and enjoyed the day I was blessed with. I stood there taking pics and couldn't help but ask myself, "What's her story? Why is she alone? Is her mate off looking for food?" She sat there basking herself in the sunshine and I basked in the beauty that God gave us. It was peaceful.

Yesterday was pretty stinkin' busy for the West household. The girls were off of school for President's Day but they really didn't have the day off. Kayleigh had to be up at school for Culinary practice at 8:30am. We had practiced the dessert she is making for the competition and it seemed to have rave reviews with all of our friends and family. They gave her some advice, she tweaked things and she went into the practice with an open mind. She's doing MUCH better after the week she had last week. She just got the recipe so she's had to practice extra hard so she can perfect it before the competition.

The practice she had yesterday was set up like the actual competition will be. We got the full schedule of events and times we're leaving. You could feel the excitement and nervousness build right there in the room. The 4-man team performed for all of the parents that attended the meeting. Kay's level of anxiety shot through the roof and after an hour of competing, they stopped and presented their dishes. Kay was still shaking from the intense level of everything. But....the pressure was good for her! She was around people she knew but she was also put on the spot to cook right in front of them. She did great and her chef gave them some constructive advice that they could use to better themselves. They did AMAZING for their first time pushing through with a time limit....ONE HOUR...to prepare, plate and present their dish. I took TONS of pics but right now I'm not sharing them (***evil laugh***) mostly because we don't want any of the other teams to see what we're making right now and "steal" ideas. So we're keeping things hush hush but I will say....the dessert Kay is doing is AWESOME and it's delishhhhhhhh! I know she hates me talking about it and sharing what I know but I'm just so excited for her and I'm hoping as the competition gets closer that she will open up more and want me to share the pictures I've taken. Her chef is a great person and he actually allowed me to come into the kitchen during Kay's first practice with the dessert and take pics. I took pics of everyone making their dish and the final product. Then he allowed me to take pics again yesterday during the first run of being timed and making their dish. So it's been GREAT to get all of these pics of such a memorable event! I'm excited to scrapbook these pictures!

Kay's Culinary practice was over at 12:30pm and then I had to have Kacey back up at her school by 4pm. But a monkey wrench got thrown into things. Once we got home, Kacey was making herself some lunch and all of a sudden she took off running to the couch and tested her blood sugar. She layed back and at the top of her lungs shouted, "I'M A FORTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!" Crap! I ran to get a juice box and grabbed two of them. She sucked the first one down in nearly one suck. I pulled that one and plugged her up with another one that she sucked down in another suck. Then she layed back on the couch like every bit of life had been drained from her body. She layed still, closed her eyes and never spoke. I rubbed her head and she'd open her eyes and roll them back shut. Scary! This one hit her out of the blue and it hit her like a ton of bricks. She didn't feel it until it was almost too late. As she layed there, a million things ran through my head. All those scary "what if's" and it worried me. I knew she was about to perform in dance practice for an hour, perform in singing practice for another hour and then she'd have to wait in her classroom for another hour with only 2 pieces of pizza and water. The 15 min reminder alarm made me snap out of my thinking and retest.....***50***....Double crap! So I went and drug out the big bottle of Hawaiian Punch...poured a cup and a half of that and ran it back in to her. She drank that a bit slower. She scrunched her nose and I could tell she was on a sugar overload. I knew that was going to bring her up enough that she could actually eat something. So I finished making her lunch and she nearly inhaled that. Another 15 minutes passes... ***87*** ...OK we're getting there! The lunch should keep her where she needs to be. When it came time for her practice, she was feeling great and all smiles. She tested ***147*** and no IOB so I set a temp basal and decreased her insulin to 80% for the next 4 hours since thats how long we were going to be at school between the performances, singing and narration. I didn't want her dropping low again. An hour of dance practice and then an hour of singing and she looked over at me....it was "THE LOOK" and she stuck out a finger. Thats diabetes sign language for ..."I need to test". So I took my place side stage to test her... ***62*** Triple crap! WHERE is this coming from? She usually bounces high when shes excited. I had 2 juice boxes stashed in a bag with me so I grabbed one of them and she sucked it quick so she could get back with her class. Her teacher was right there with us and they were about to leave and go eat pizza. QUICK MOM! Think! Think! What do you wanna do? OK...she already had a temp basal going and I knew she was about to come back on stage for the real dance performance and real singing preformance and narration and I'd rather her run high than drop like a rock and embarrass herself. So.....we decided NOT to bolus for the 2 pieces of pizza and I gave her a pack of peanut butter crackers to eat with it....NO BOLUS! When she came out on stage, she was beaming! She felt good! She LOVES being on stage. It's comfort for her. She LOVES performing. She was all smiles and I knew I'd made the right decision. After both performances, she went back to her classroom and tested...***272*** I'll take it! Once I got to the classroom, she corrected because I knew she was in safe hands now. What a GREAT night! She was a 104 before bed and I gave her a snack and off to sleep she went. The 2am check....***104*** ....Can I get a WHOOP! WHOOP!...haha!

So after some excitement through the day....it all ended up coming together and we worked it out! God is good!

Ambassador At Work

As you all already know, I spend Saturday mornings with my Mom. We usually go to breakfast at IHOP and then we run any errands that we need to or we do a little shopping. So this past Saturday wasn't any different. We woke up at 6:30am...left the house by 7am...got to IHOP by 8am. We talked with our favortite waitress, Aly and she placed our regular orders. We sat there catching up about the weeks crazy events when in walked a family that we'd been hoping to finally "meet". Kayleigh is friends with a boy in school that has a little brother that is 11 years old and he was diagnosed with Type 1 in 2009. They talk about their siblings in class and Kayleigh kept telling him that we needed to get them together. Well.....here was our chance! We didn't say anything to them just yet. It didn't take too long for our food to come out and as usual I turned to Kacey and said, "Check your blood sugar." She pulled out her pump and the Dad told the Mom and Son to look. We acted like we didn't hear anything and kept on like we didn't see them watching her every move. Kacey tested, she dosed and then she plowed into her breakfast...egg & cheese omlet, hashbrowns and pancakes! It didn't take long for the other family's food to come out. We didn't want to look like we were watching them so we couldn't see if he tested or dosed. We knew he wasn't on a pump. He's scared. His Mom is scared. Ohhhhh how I remember those feelings! Should I turn to them? Should I make small talk? I wanted to just blurt out...I KNOW WHAT YOU GO THROUGH! I knew it would be rude while they were eating to try and carry on a conversation. After all, they didn't know me. Would they think I was a creeper if I said, "Hey! She had diabetes too!" Ahhhhhhhh......so we waited for them to finish. We ate our meal. We were given our checks about the same time and Kayleigh finally said, "I'm gonna say something!" .....and she did! She leaned over and asked them if they were K's family? They replied, "Yes". She told them her and K were in the same class and they talked about their siblings.... (pointing to Kacey) "She has diabetes too!" That opened ther avenue. We found out they go to the same doctor's office. He's a year older than Kacey so he's already in middle school but he told her there were 4 other diabetics at the school to which Kacey replied, "That's so cool!" COOL? Ughhhhh...it's NOT cool but I guess in their eyes to have another person going through the same things they are is kinda cool. So...what does Kacey do? She gives him one of her cards from Diabetes Dude and a blue flamingo silly band. Now...THAT was cool! :) I told the Mom to find me online and we could get them together.

It's always so neat when you meet another D-Mom that really "gets it". We didn't get into all of that while we were making small talk but she did mention that he was still on shots and they were battling the hormone issues. I wanted to get up and hug her. I wanted to let her know that I felt her pain. I wanted her to know that we're battling those same issues. I wanted to sit for hours and talk with her and compare stories. It's funny how you may not even know someone but when you have a common bond like this then you feel like you've known them forever!

Were we put at IHOP that morning for a reason? Were they seated next to us for a reason? Did Kayleigh muster up the courage to lean over and speak to them for a reason? Did Kacey pull out that cool card from Noah and the silly band for a reason? YOU BET!!

Struggling

I want to start by wishing everyone a Happy Valentine's Day! I hope each and every one of you had a GREAT day full of love!

The last few days have proven to be full of struggles. I haven't caught up on blogs yet so I feel like I'm so far behind! WHY haven't I caught up on them? Well...lil Miss Kacey decided to share her cold with me and Kayleigh. Yep! I've got the sniffles, the stuffy nose that pours clear snot that can't be snuffed back up in my nose kinda cold. The sinus pressure has been enough to keep me in bed most of this past Sunday and some today. Kayleigh has been knocked off her feet with it and it's got her asthma flaring up. Yeah, just how I wanted to spend my Valentine's day...YUK! So please forgive me for not catching up on blogs.

So I'm sure you're asking yourself....why so much struggling? Well, there is something weighing heavy on my heart and so it's time I write about it. I've had a chance to let things fizzle a bit but the whole reason I started this blog was to vent my feelings and for me to have a place to go to write my thoughts. That hasn't changed! Just because I have more reader's doesn't mean I have to sit and be Little Miss Happy Sunshine all the time, right? So why do I feel that I can't come here and write anymore? UGH!

What's This Mean?

Hmmmm....what does this mean for Kayleigh? Could be nothing...then again...she's going back up again!

With her appointment not far away and since it had been 2 months since we did the last test, I decided to go on and check and see what her A1c was holding at. She's up from the 5.4% that she was on 12-6-10. So what does this mean? WHO KNOWS?!?! She's been having quite a few lows again but she's feeling them by the time she's around 70. Her highest lately is 150-160 range. So I guess thats a good thing. Kacey told her that she would take those numbers ANY DAY...haha! My Mommy gut is still very worried for her. We've been logging things like we were asked to and there is no pattern that I can see. Maybe her Endo will see something we can't. So...countdown til the 23rd begins!

Busy Week!

WoW! It's been a busy few days. The girls have had several things going on with school and it's days like this that those that I feel like I get so behind on catching up here. Although I guess sometimes that can be good, huh?

Kacey finally decided to move to some new tummy territory. Usually she uses her sides and her hips but I've tried to convince her to move up her tummy above the nice little line of dots that have been created over the last 2 years. She did it! She didn't even cry! But we had to giggle because right before site change, she got a pump alarm. An alarm for CARTRIDGE EMPTY!

Yep her pump was completely out of insulin! She thought it was cool that it happened right before we were doing a change. Usually her pump has about 10 units left in it when we do changes but since she was having some high's with this cold she's battling, she was empty!!

Yesterday I was blessed to witness some of God's most beautiful work.

I have to take Kayleigh out to the school bus at 6:30am and now that the time is starting to change, by the time I get back to the house, the sun is coming up. This is what I was able to witness yesterday.

Then yesterday evening, right as the sun was starting to set, there was a sun dog. I've heard Frankie talk about sun dog's before but I never really knew what one was. He has always said that the "old timers" would say when you saw a sun dog that it meant that bad weather was on the way. Every time he has seen one, we've had bad weather. Last night was no exception. I went out to take several pics of it and last night....we were blessed with about an inch of snow! How cool? Right? I think so! But once again, I was blessed to witness something so beautiful right before my eyes!

A HUGE Thank you to Bayer for sending me out the coupon for the FREE A1c kit so fast. We got it a few days ago and I used to to buy the kit yesterday...saving me $28! The pharmacist asked me how I got my hands on such a great coupon? LOL...I told her what happened with the error code and so basically I got one test free. But it's nice that a company can back up such a great product!

And....for those of you that are looking for the perfect diabetes carry all...check out the SUGAR BOLUS over at Hallie's Blog, The Princess and The Pump. She's got a great contest going on to win a very cool bag from Skidaddle. So pop over there and check it out! You could be the next WINNER! :)

Ignoring Symptoms

Please tell me that my child is not the only one that has done this?

Today I took a leap of faith. It's a leap that was probably long overdue but I just wasn't ready to take yet. I've started to really trust faith and today was the first day that I really applied it. Kacey was selected to participate in an African American dance for an upcoming school performance. She was thrilled to be able to participate in this because she absolutely LOVES being on stage. BUT...the only draw back...for the next 3 Mondays she has to stay afterschool from 3:55pm top 5:30pm and learn the dance. RUT-ROH!! I wasn't going to make a big deal about it because I don't want her being afraid to be left on her own. She packed her bag this morning and I told her that I would meet her afterschool to check her blood sugar and bring her a snack. I met her this afternoon and she was a 269 when she came out of class. She took her purse, her snack and her water bottle and off she went. I knew she was in GREAT hands. She was with her principal and she knew that I wouldn't be far away. Around 4:45pm, I peeked in on her and her principal said she would love for me to take some pictures for the yearbook. I went and got my camera and I came back in and moved to the front row. As I snapped the pics, I watched Kacey move into "slow motion". I SAW IT! I saw her body slowing down. I saw her getting "foggy". I mouthed, "Are you ok?" to her and she shook her head yes. But I SAW IT. I knew. It was the face I'd seen several times before. So WHY wasn't she testing? WHY was she pushing herself to make it through the dance routine? WHY was she ignoring the symptoms? After about 10 minutes, they finished for the afternoon. She came down off the stage and plopped down in one of the seats on the front row and said, "I'm LOW!" Ummmm....DUH! As I reached for her purse, I asked her if she felt it coming on? She replied, "Yes" and just looked at me with that blank look on her face. I didn't want to draw attention to what was going on but her principal saw what we were doing. She asked if Kacey was ok and I said "Ohhh yeah, shes just low." By this time, I'd already pushed a 15g carb snack and became a human pez dispenser (Thanks Reyna!). How low was she? She was a 58 with 1.25u of IOB!!!! Crap! She came up enough that we were able to walk out. As we walked I asked her WHY in the world she would ignore her low? You know what she said? She innocently said...I was having fun and I didn't want to disrupt the class. UGHHHHHHHHH!!!! So we had a long talk about how it's not disruptive since she knows how to treat her lows before they get too low BUT if she got too low from ignoring it then she could easily have passed out and hit her head on the concrete floor. So it was safer for everyone if she treated her lows. The dance teacher (who is also the principals sister) was there when all of this happened and she was so sweet. She told Kacey that when they take their water break in the middle of the class, then Kacey could go down and test and get a snack or some sugar so then she could finish the dance without having a low. I REALLY want Kacey to be able to stay after without having me tag along but I told her I was playing "photographer" for her principal and she was ok with that. None of the other girls seemed to know why I was REALLY in there and they have been in school with Kacey since diagnosis so it's not anything they are not used to seeing.

By the way...when Mommy gut says there is something wrong....there usually is! TRUST IT!

Have any of you had a problem with your kids "ignoring" their symptoms while they are having fun?

Honor Roll & Praise

I am VERY pleased to announce....Kacey & Kayleigh both got HONOR ROLL...Kacey got 1 A and 3 B's and Kayleigh got 3 A's and 3 B's! And Kacey did it all while missing 15 days of school and countless days of leaving early. Yep...take THAT diabetes! I can only imagine what she'd be able to do if diabetes wasn't affecting her poor body so bad. Her teachers talked with me and explained that shes missing that "repetitive" teaching and she's not able to pick it up as fast as the other kids. I completely understand that BUT she's got some brains up there somewhere because she got Honor Roll. Thats saying ALOT... she was absent 15 days out of 80!

We were still having some pretty amazing blood sugars until last night. What happened? Shes got a SORE THROAT! Ughhhhhh! She goes back to school after finally getting well after a week home and now shes picked up some other kind of germ. So we started back on a temp basal and I gave her some Triaminic. Also...here is our chance to see if the Amoxicillan is what caused her severe itching. I spoke with her NP and she doesn't seem to think it was the antibiotic that caused the severe itching so since she still has pills left, and her rash and itch have been completely gone since Tues, I started her back on it and we're going to see what happens. Hopefully she doesn't break out! This is the one thing I really hate about public school....GERMS! It's so hard to keep her well when the desks are side by side and they change classes several times a day so the germs from other kids are all over her desk. This weekend, I am buying her a can of those Lysol wipes for her to keep in her tub as she changes classes. I told her that when she goes into the class, then she can wipe the desk down and try and cut down on the germs. It's sad that I have to do this but I've got to try and help her every way I can! I've even gotten so bad with wiping the carts down when I go into Walmart. If I can help just a little with her getting sick then I will do what I have to do.

Last night I had the opportunity to bond with Kayleigh in a way we've never bonded before. We were blessed with the chance to attend the first Women's Praise & Worship at our church and we got to listen to guest speaker Ann Sullivan, who happened to be the one who wrote the cookbook that was on display in the foyer. As you all know, cooking and baking is Kayleigh's passion! So she was grabbed into the speech immediately. As Ann spoke, I could feel the spirit moving me. Kayleigh and I both ended up being moved to tears. We sat. We listened. We prayed. We sang. We worshipped. It was all women in the church and it was for women 16 and up. I contimplated on whether I should take Kayleigh with me or not. I prayed about it. I made the decision to take her and I'm SOOOO glad I did! As we sat there together, we had no worries. She wasn't bothered with the texts that were buzzing her phone. I wasn't worried about diabetes. All that mattered was that we were able to take some time together to share and give it all to God. I must say, as I watch Kayleigh's transformation, it literally brings tears to my eyes. Just the night before, she spent the evening with the youth group, Awaken. She's becoming more involved with them and she's so eager to be a part of the group. Then, last night she was offered a chance to go to the mall with some friends that seem to be "convenient friends". You know the ones....those friends that only call you to do something when they don't have anyone else. Those friends that are never there when you need them most. Yep! Those are the ones! Once she found out that I was going to let her go with me to the women's praise, she had a decision to make. Go with those friends or go with me. I told her it was up to her. You all know which decision she made! As we walked out of the church last night, she looked over at me and said, "I made the right decision tonight." More tears streamed down my face and I replied, "I KNOW you did!"

As we drove home, I could see the inspiration moving within her. She spoke about the speech and we talked some more about it. And then....the cookbook. I bought her a copy of the book. Inside was a handwritten message from Ann that she used the light from her phone to read, "May you be enriched and inspired as you share in these special recipes and memories that shaped our hearts and home at Sullystone. Simply Blessed, Ann" She smiled and just then...a light bulb went off! A few years ago, Kayleigh had this crazy idea to write a cookbook. She started to compile recipes from family and friends. The recipes came in from all angles and then...she found out her first Culinary teacher was leaving. She was so sad. Her passion started to dwindle and the cookbook got shoved to the side. Here is where the lightbulb comes in....next year for her Senior year of school, she has to do something for her Senior Project. For the last two years, she's said she was going to make a wedding cake for her project. Seemed easy enough! Well....my friends....the inspiration is BACK! She is now going to consider making the cookbook her Senior project! I was so excited to hear her getting so excited about it. The recipes that she already collected are PRICELESS! We have some of Granny's recipes, some of her other Grandma's recipes and other family that scribbled their favorites onto some paper. So now here is her proposal....anyone that has a special recipe that they would like included in her cookbook can email me directly. She will continue to collect recipes through the summer and once her Senior project starts in September then the ball will start rolling. We're going to take this all the way to publishing so if you're serious about having one of your recipes in her book, then let me know! I will need a form filled out and mailed back to me. This is going to be so much fun! Once again, God places us where we are for a reason. God placed her beside me last night for a reason.

And I will close with a quote that I heard last night that most of us can relate to.....
"God makes a message out of a mess."

So Blessed,

You Never Are

This is my new FAVORITE song!!! :) I've found myself singing this ALL the time lately!

Victory?

I'm feeling just a little victorious over here! It seems like for months that I've battled Kacey's bdy. She's had regular sugars in the 200-400 range and it seemed like any basal change that we made wouldn't help...until now! We made the aggressive changes to her basals with the help of her NP. And....the results the last 24 hours were....

108 @ 1:56am
95  @ 6:32am
325 @ 8:26am (only 1hr after breakfast)
182 @ 12:00pm
83  @ 3:55pm
49  @ 4:06pm (yikes! might have to work on this one)
104 @ 4:22pm
167 @ 4:55pm
113 @ 5:54pm
103 @ 7:58pm (after dinner...whoop! whoop!)
114 @ 8:30am
213 @ 10:09pm (thank you "celebration" ice cream)
176 @ 1:03am
184 @ 6:09am

So as you can see, I've been doing the "Happy Mommy Dance" for the last 24 hours. Could this be the break through that I've prayed for? I asked God to please lighten my load a little and give me a little bit of a chance to catch my breath as a full time pancreas. This was the answer to my prayer. Now...how long this will last? Who knows? What I do know is, I was so scared to be aggressive with changes and NO CGM...but it all worked out. We did just fine! And just FYI, Kacey hardly felt that low...which was a tad scary. She only felt "a little shaky" and she was trying to do her homework since we'd just gotten home from school and she said she "couldn't focus on her book" so she tested and she dropped from that 83 to a 49 in just 11 minutes.

We still haven't heard anything from Animas about pump coverage yet and I left the rep a message yesterday so hopefully he will call me back and let me know something! If it's not going to be covered then we're doing the paperwork to go forward with Dexcom (which btw, Kacey voiced she actually wanted that first anyway) I'll keep you all posted!

In the meantime....I can be found "Happy Mommy" dancing down the aisles at Walmart getting some baking supplies for Kayleigh to make more cakes! :)

Glucose Test & Basal Changes

I got a call from our Endo's office this afternoon. Kayleigh's GTT (Glucose Tolerance Test) is scheduled for February 23rd. We have to be down at CHKD at 8:30am to register in and then the test will start around 9am. Its a 5 hour test so we'll be down there til that afternoon. I have this really nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach. I got a call from Kayleigh at 2:30pm. She said she had a bad headache and she was having some blood sugar issues again. She ate spaghetti in Culinary class at 12pm. At 1pm, her sugar was a 123 and then by 2pm she bounced up to a 154 and thats when the headache and hot flashes started. By 3pm, she was back down to a 99 but shes still got a really bad headache. I've written everything down in the notebook since we have to keep a journal of what her sugar was, what she ate and what her symptoms are.

I also got an email from Kacey's NP. She wants us to bump all those basals up again and change her correction factor. She is REALLY hitting that puberty stage and we're fighting a tough battle. I read about all these other kids with really high I:C ratios, correction factors and hardly any basal and then I see Kacey's insulin intake and it makes me gasp a little. I'm hoping we will some some numbers back in the 100's since she is staying in a consistant 200-300 range.

Just a little FYI....here are Kacey's current settings....

Insulin:Carb ratio- 1:7

Correction Factor- 30

Basals:
12am- 1.15u (possibly going to 1.20u if she continues to bounce up)
4am- 1.40u
8am- 1.35u
2pm- 1.30u

It just floors me that her body is taking in so much insulin! I guess when you're fighting those hormones then you have no choice. Last week she was in range 10% of the time! UGH! She's feeling better and I think the itch is moving out. She is only itchy on her toes now...LOL! It's like it moved all the way out from her body to her fingertips and toes. Weird! She went back to school this morning and she made it through the whole day....so thats a good sign! She was swamped with make-up work and homework. One day at a time :)

Sooooo right now I'm feeling like Super Coupon-Mom! I just went grocery shopping and my total bill was $305.35 and my final total after coupons was $148.55...whoop! whoop!  Now THAT is what I call BARGAIN SHOPPING!!