Thank You Dex!

I had a totally different post scheduled to post today but after the night I had, I felt I better post on Dexcom. Two years ago, we did a Dexcom trial. I had a love/hate relationship with it. Kacey was still honeymooning and I was frustrated with it's lack of consistancy. I was also struggling with seeing my child attached to *two* devices. We weren't ready. It wasn't our time. Dexcom wasn't right for us at that point.

And now...here I sit 2 years later....thanking Dexcom for alarming last night.

Our day of school ended pretty normal. Kacey is still battling a headcold and now shes got the cough so I'm sure we're not out of the woods just yet. Thankfully her sugars haven't spiked too bad....until yesterday! When we got home from school, she was high. Like 400 high. She plopped on the couch and I reminded her that she had Upward Cheer practice and she perked up. You see, at her first game, the couch was impressed with her leadership skills and she chose Kacey to be the Captain this week and for the second game. She's been beaming about it and she was excited to go to practice last night.

Rest. Dinner. Leave for practice.

While at practice, she led like a pro and put 100% into it. She also led off with the first prayer (for Morganne) during devotion time and then it was back to practice for another 30min. After an hour of jumping around, we headed home. Sugar check- 297. Ugh!

Home. Shower. Snack time. Sugar check- 291.

By this point it was almost 9pm and she was tired. She sat down on the couch and before I turned around twice, she was sound asleep. I decided that since she was battling the cold and not getting much rest, I'd just leave her there and let her sleep. I covered her...kissed her forhead...checked Dexcom again... 283. Checked pump... 5u of IOB. She should be good til 2am.

Set alarm. Snuggled in bed watching TV. Fell asleep within the hour.

Bzzzzzzz. Beep! Beep! Beep!

Groggy I winked one eye open. It wasn't my alarm. WHAT was that noise? I pushed myself up in bed and sat on the edge looking into the living room where I could see a dim light. WHAT is that?

Ohhhhhh. Emmmmmm. Geeeeeeee! It's DEXCOM and that was the LOW alarm!

I rushed out of bed, tripping over Cricket who has recently decided that sleeping next to my side of the bed is the right place to be (wrong!). As I stumbled and cursed the dog, it woke Frankie (shocker!). I sat on the edge of the couch...no glasses....staring at Dexcom. LOW. Low. LOWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!!!!

By this point, Frankie had stumbled into the living room too. "What is she?" .... "She's LOW, thats what she is!" I directed him to get the juice beside the frig and pour her some in a big cup. Meanwhile, I tried to jostle her so she's wake up a little. "Kacey.... *shake*....Kacey, you're low....*shake harder* Kacey! (stern voice) You are LOW baby!" She peeked one eye open and said "I know I heard you." LOL! Frankie gives me the juice and she sucks the whole cup down. "Sweetie, did you feel the low?" She opens her eyes and looks at me and says, "If I felt the low, don't you think I'd wake you up?" AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!! I giggled cuz I couldn't be mad about her smart mouth at this point.

So I'm sitting there waiting for this juice to kick in. Those 15 minutes are the LONGEST wait! I kept pushing Dexcom to see if she was coming up. Nothing. So then I checked back to see what happened as she dropped and this is what I saw...

WHOAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! Talk about a ride! She dropped like the Loch Ness Monster at Busch Gardens.

I don't know about you all but when we have lows like these and we catch them before it's "too late"...I sit and reflect. I think about all the "what-ifs" and all those families that are not fortunate to have Dexcom. I remember those that lost their battle with this terrible disease and I struggle. I struggle emotionally and then I can't go back to sleep.

My "What if" worry this time was....what if she'd gone to sleep in her own bed and I never heard Dexcom beep and my alarm wouldn't have gone off til 2am. What if I slept through my alarm? What if she was lower? The questions are endless. But...those angels around me made me wake up in time. I thank God for another day...even though I'm exhausted from no sleep. My baby is well rested because she went back to sleep after her juice and I stayed awake working as her pancreas. Thats my job. I'm her Mom AND her pancreas. It took about an hour and another cup of juice and she finally hit the 150-170 mark and thats where she hovered the rest of the night.

Thank you God for putting her to sleep on the couch. Thank you God for waking me when I needed to be. Thank you God for giving me the strength to push through the long day ahead with no sleep. Most of all....THANK YOU Dexcom and the makers for giving us a wonderful tool to use for times like this!

My friends, THIS is why we set our alarms for 2am every morning. THIS is why we do what we do.

This morning, she woke up tired but she knew that she had Festive Chorus Tryouts and she was not about to miss school! I gave her nurse a heads up about what happened during the night and now here I sit at....STARBUCKS! Thank you God for coffee, for without it I could not function! LOL!