The last few months have brought on loads of excitement. Let's start with both girls at once. They both had their annual eye check ups. As you all know, type 1 diabetes can affect many things long term and eyesight is one of them. Both girls had been complaining of headaches more than usual but how do I know if it's just allergies or if something more was going on? Kacey started coming home telling me she couldn't see. It was worse on high sugar days. She said, "Things are blurry all the time. I can't read the board and I sit in the front row. I can't even read the road signs anymore! Mom I NEED an appointment quick!" So yes, I was worried. I was scared. I know it takes a long time to affect your eyes but it's times like this that I worry. Kayleigh's been complaining more and I knew she'd been having lots of lows. So yeah....I had the Mommygutworryitis! We went in for the appointments last week. This time we got to see a different doctor (female) and both girls absolutely loved her! She talked to them and not around them (which makes a HUGE difference!) Kacey was up first....she couldn't see past the 3rd line down WITH her glasses on! YIKES!!!
And then it was Kayleigh's turn! She could see down to the bottom but she was straining harder and squinting.
It was then that I knew BOTH girls eyes had really changed. The doc said that Kacey's eyes had gotten worse and she now had astigmatism in one eye and Kayleigh's one lens was actually too strong and her eye was working overtime. Other than that....both girls eyes look healthy! So then the fun came with the glasses. They both had fun trying on new glasses and since our insurance pays for them 100% every year, we take advantage of it. They always like to trick Daddy though and they send him a picture of a funny one and tell him thats what they chose. So here are the picks this year...
The end of the school year is drawing near. Their last day of school is May 31st and the weeks are filling so fast as it gets closer. The past month we've been swamped in stuff to do!
Kayleigh presented her SIRS (Senior Independant Research Project) on April 23rd. She was more than prepared for it but she was still nervous. She wasn't finished collecting all the money for the last of the cookbooks so her teacher gave her til May 1st as her cut off. She met with the Roundy family on May 1st and presented them a check for $3400.00, money raised from cookbook sales and dessert event. This money was used to pay off the final medical expenses that this family had as a result of the accident Morganne was in that required her to undergo two life saving brain surgeries.
As you can see, she's a walking miracle and is doing wonderful! She will graduate with Kayleigh. This project had consumed so much of our lives as a family and as sad as we were to see it end, we were glad it was over and we could focus on graduation. Thank you to everyone online that helped support her!
On April 27th, Kayleigh had Senior Prom. I can't believe this was the last dance I'd be fixing her hair for. As I helped her get ready, the tears began to flow uncontrollably. I've had more meltdowns lately because I know the end is drawing near. She was asked to prom by a very nice and respectful young man that she's been friends with since the beginning of high school. I won't go into all the details about him just yet but let's just say I was happy to know that I didn't have to worry about her that night. She went with a good group of friends and she was happy that she finally decided to tell him yes after weeks of saying no.
May 6th brought a fun day....COLOR ME RAD. It was our first 5K and it was so much fun!
This time of year also means the end of some favorite things in school. Kacey has been in chorus, festival chorus and band this year. She patiently waited the last 3 years to be able to play her saxaphone and now it's come to an end. She finished the year with two concerts, one for chorus and one for band. Once the concerts were over, so were the classes. The next morning she had to go to school without dragging that sax case with her. You'd of thought she was missing her best friend. She moped all morning knowing that it was almost time to give it back. The sax she had was a rent to own from a company the school uses. Personally I don't like the idea of handing my child a $1700 saxaphone when you can buy them online all day long for $295! We paid $55 a month to rent this one since the beginning of the school year but the nice thing is that we can hand it back over to the company and be done with it. So thats what we did....but not without a few tears! We reassured her that we would purchase one for her over the summer. And now....a new found love....she saw the Jazz Band perform and she is thrilled about joining. I explained that she would have to give up chorus in order to do it and she's prepared to! She was so excited about it that she went into her teacher the next morning and told her she was interested in it. Her teacher explained they had to be chosen for it but she knew Kacey was a hard worker and put in hours so she'd definately be a candidate for it. Talk about being over the moon! We aso got the sheet home for her to choose classes for next year. Yikes! 7th GRADE! Her choices surprised me. Of course, Band is #1....but #2 Guitar....#3 Keyboarding....#4 Home Ec. Ummmm....GUITAR?!?! Yep she wants to learn another instrument that gets her closer to playing in the church band. Geesh! I'm excited for her :) It should be a very MUSICAL year again!
Then Diabetes has a way of sticking it's foot into things and stirring the pot to cause a tornado. Ketones...those little buggars that are like a thorn in your side. It was time for the dreaded site change and Kacey was already wallowing over it. Her pump had alarmed and she hit ignore for the low cartridge. But when it plays that little tune to tell us that it's completely out of insulin then there is no choice but to change it. She was a mess and started to cry and the easiest thing for me to do when she gets like that is get the site change done as quick as possible. I grabbed up supplies and the crying got louder and louDER and LOUDER til she was in a full wail. She doesn't do this every site change but there are just times she has those meltdowns. So imagine how difficult it is to do a site change with the crying and belly jiggle...difficult! I got it done but something about the "stick" didn't feel right. She said it felt ok and usually when its a bad stick then she can feel it and we take it out right then. (Which is why we don't use numbing cream) Anyway, the night went on and her sugar was a 389 for bed at 9pm. Yuk! At 11pm, I checked to see if she was coming down....394. Crap! Gave her another correction and went to bed. The 2am alarm went off and I checked again....419. Holy Moley! Gave her another correction and checked her site. Everything looked fine, no insulin smell, no leaks, no blood, pump battery fine. All the normal check off list was correct so what in the world was causing this? She woke up at 6am and you'd of thought we woke a grizzly bear. Grumpy...grumbles...shouts...tears (and lots of them)....screams of "I don't feel good!"...but she had her last chorus practice and if she missed it then she couldn't perform the following night. She managed to get herself up, wash her hair, get dressed and then refused to eat. After some convincing, I got her to eat a rice cake with peanut butter but not without a fight. She was miserable, I knew that, so whats a Mom to do? Well, this Mom took her to school. She slept the entire way. As we pulled up, I assured her that she didn't have to go but she pushed the van door open and said she had to so she could sing. I dropped Kay off at school and had just sat down in Starbucks for a breather when my phone rang....8:30am....Kacey School Nurse. CRAP! I answered it and with a worried voice, her nurse explained that Kacey had come in and her sugar was a 460 with LARGE ketones. I'm glad I was sitting down because I felt my whole body tingle. LARGE? Yes, you heard correctly. She doesn't feel good and she's trying to stay but shes miserable. I imagine she is! She's only had LARGE ketones ONCE since diagnosis and that was when she had the flu. YUK! Kacey gave herself another correction so I told her to wait 20 more minutes and call me back and let me know if she was coming down. At the 10 minute mark my phone rang again....Jill, shes a 490 now and shes trying to drink water and feels like shes going to throw up. I'M ON MY WAY!!!! I packed up and rushed to her school. When I got there, she looked like she was going to puke any second. She started to cry and I felt horrible. Yep...give me the Mother of the Year award :( I should never have let her go to school. When we got home, I checked her again and she was coming down so I had her drink some Crystal Light instead of plain water. We immediately did site change. Something about that site was weird to begin with and I felt like that was what was causing this hurricane of crap. After that, she got in my bed and she started to cry again. I asked her what was wrong and she explained that she was scared. Scared? "Yes I'm scared because I remember being in ICU and being so sick. I remember feeling bad and I feel like that now." Oh geesh! My heart broke into a million pieces for her. She may not remember life before diagnosis but she remembers that day VERY well! I reassured her that as long as her sugar and ketones were coming down then she was good. Two hours after coming home, her ketones were gone and her sugar was 286. And then....sleep! She slept the morning away and it was almost as if her body said, "Enough!" but for a Mommy it's a scary time. I remeber that scary ICU feeling when she slept. She looks so peaceful but yet there is a hurricane happening inside.
So all of this combined with field trips, rehersals, baking, birthday parties, food parties, pool cleaning, house cleaning...and much more....we've been BUSY again! One thing is for sure....when I see this picture below....ITS ALL WORTH IT!
Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers and stand in mothers out there!
1 comment:
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