Feelin' So Fly Like A ....G4

Everytime I say "G4", I sing that song in my head and giggle.

DRAMA. Thats the word that describes the process of getting our new Dexcom G4. It all started with a call from Dexcom.
"Hello, may I speak to the parents of Kacey W?"
"Hi, This is Jill, Kaceys Mom"
"Hi Jill, my name is ???? and I'm from Dexcom and I'd like to go over your benefits with you for the new Dexcom G4 system. It looks like your Dexcom 7 is now out of warranty so if something breaks with it then we cannot replace it and since it's getting to the end of the year, most people like to place their orders for supplies since the deductibles renew."
"Hang on....back up....OUT OF WARRANTY?!?! So if it breaks then we're up a creek?"
"Yes mam! But we can get you a new system sent out once they are released and you could have it in a week or so."
"Wow! Really?!? Let's do it then!"
"Ok, let me get some information from you and we'll verify all your benefits and give you a call back"

So I give him all of my information and wait for the call. Two weeks later....I still haven't heard anything and we're on our LAST Dexcom 7 sensor. So I call Dexcom back to order one box. I knew this would get us through til we got the new system. BUT....it wasn't gonna be that easy!

The rep from Dexcom informed me that I could no longer order supplies directly from them. I had to go through Edgepark. They would forward my information over to them and I would need to call them to order supplies. WHAT?!?! We used to have Edgepark before and then our insurance did away with them and now they're back? WTH?!? So I hung up from them and called Edgepark. The first time I got someone I couldn't understand. Now, I don't have anything against accents but if you're a phone rep then you should be able to speak proper English, right? ***GAH*** So, I hung up and called back. I got a really nice lady the second time. I explained my situation and how we needed sensors ASAP since we hadn't been approved for the G4 yet. She took all my information, placed the order and told me it would be shipped next day and since that was Friday, it would probably be Monday before I got it. Easy enough, NOT! Monday rolls around, no sensors. Tuesday, no sensors. By the following Friday, I'm worrying! We had to pull the sensor Kacey had on and she had to walk in a parade with band the next day. WHAT was going on? I called Edgepark back to see what the problem was. The lady says, "There is no record of an order or it being shipped." HUH?!?!? NO ORDER???? So she reviews the account and says, "Since you're a new customer, it takes a week or two for all the approvals and then we can ship it out." ***insert Momma flipping out*** I was pissed! I knew it wasn't her fault but I was having a hard time processing the fact that we had to go through ANOTHER approval even though we were customers before. INSANE!!! So this now meant, we would not have sensors for one of the biggest days ever. Kacey would have to test her blood sugar before she started marching and then it would be over an hour of marching with no way of telling what her blood sugar was until they got to the end. Best case senario....let her run high and work it down as if she was in gym. So thats what I did.

That still didn't excuse the fact that the rep from Edgepark said it would ship out next day. We got the sensors over a week later later!!! Ugh! I called them back to ask about the Dexcom system. They already had the approval on it and we could move forward. EXCELLENT!! So we did the paperwork, faxed it back and got confirmation that it would be shipped out on Friday of last week. It would be here Monday or Tuesday.

Monday arrived and we waited around all day for it. I didn't have a tracking number so I couldn't see where it was. By 4pm, I called to see if we could get the tracking number for it. The lady couldn't tell me if it was being shipped UPS or FedEx but she had the number. I knew by the type of number that it was FedEx so I tracked it. It was sitting in sorting in Norfolk. AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! I knew we wouldn't get it that day but we'd definately have it Tuesday by 4:30pm (according to tracking). So we waited around all day Tuesday. At 4:17, it arrived!!!

One word....EXCITED!!
Thats what my house has overflowed with the last two days. Kacey is IN LOVE!! I took several pictures. But for some reason it's not letting me share them today so I will post them later.

Now...for myine & Kacey's first impression....

Opening the box:
Me: The first thing I notice is it's looks so much like an iPod Nano. It's MUCH smaller that the Dexcom 7. I pull it out and hold the precious little device in my hand and smile down as if I'm holding a million bucks. Yes, for those parents of kids with Type 1, you completely understand how valuable this little thing is!
Kacey: I love it! I love it! I love it! Mom! It's pink! It's smaller! I'm soooooo excited! Can I hold it? Can I turn it on? I want to press the buttons!

Turning it on:
Me: Since it was in her hands, I let her turn it on and press the buttons. I watched her navigate through it like a pro. It was pretty much the same as the Dexcom 7 sysytem except the beautiful color screen that pops up.
Kacey: Oh Mom! This is SOOOOOOOOOOO cool! It's so pretty! I love the screen! It's just like my other one. What does this button do? New alerts! MOMMMMM....IT SINGS!!!! I want THAT setting!!!

Sensor & Insertion:
Me: The insertion for the G4 is the same as the Dexcom 7 system. We're pro's with that and so I was happy to see it was still the same. The one thing I immediately took notice of was the size of the transmitter. It's a little larger than the Dexcom 7. I kinda frowned when I held it in my hand but I guess you have to take more GOOD with it than BAD.
Kacey: Mom, this transmitter is bigger. It looks like.....like a BUG! So thats what it was immediately named "Bug". We inserted the site and hooked up "Bug". It stuck off, more than the Dexcom 7 did. She frowned and grumbled. I wanted to grumble with her but instead I made a joke and said, "Let me see your wittle baby bug" ***said in a baby voice*** She laughed and we moved on! Excitement turned back to the receiver.

Start Up:
Me: The whole start up process from beginning to end might have taken 20-30 minutes. It was as simple as turning it on and the process was basically the same as Dexcom 7.
Kacey: Mom, I love this so much better! I love Daisy Dexcom but THIS is so much nicer! It's smaller and it's PINK!!!

Day 2:
Me: Once the sensor finally went through the 2 hour process to start up, Kacey had to calibrate it with a finger stick. Her meter read 108 and G4 said 103. Not bad....not bad at all! :)
Kacey: Mom! I love this color screen! I love how small it is! Did I mention I love PINK?!?! I'm so happy! Thank you Mommy for all the troubloe you went through to get it for me! Thank you, thank you, thank you for spending this much money righht after Christmas! I love you Mom!!!! Oh yeah, guess what? Dexcom sang to me in the middle of class today ***giggles*** Mrs. J didn't know what it was and I laughed and said "It's just me!" and she laughed too. I love those singing alerts. If I'm high then it sings highhhhh and if I'm low then it sings lowwwwww.  (listening to her tell this made me laugh) Oh and the vibrate is MUCH better! And, and , and (she was so excited and out of breath) it was sooooooooooooo accurate Mom!

***sigh*** And that my friends makes it ALL worth it! :) All the trouble, all the tears, all the worry, all the running around....EVERY SINGLE BIT was worth it. Yes, she HAS to be connected to an insulin pump. No, she doesn't HAVE to be connected to Dexcom.....BUT it gives us peace of mind and it's worth every stinking penny! So there ya have it...reviews from the Mom of a Type 1 and a 12 Year old Type 1.

I'm sure there will be more reviews, trials and excitement as we move forward with this journey.

Dexcom 7, we love you and we're glad you gave us GREAT times but we're lovingly retiring you with Goober (her old Cozmo pump).

With love,

Santa, Are You For Real?

Christmas was a bit different this year. We lost a little bit of the "magic" and a huge chunk of reality set in for me.

On 12-5-2004, Kayleigh (who was only 10 years old at the time) came to me with a question. "Mommy, is Santa for real?" It was something that deep down I knew I would have to tell her but I wanted to hold onto every bit of innocent that she was. I knew I had to tell her the truth so I went to the book shelf and pulled down a book that I'd been harboring on the top shelf, completely out of sight of any little eyes. It was called "Santa, Are You For Real?" by Harold Myra. As I sat down on the couch with her, I told her I had a book to share with her. She was old enough to read it to me so we sat there together and with my arm around her and her snuggled up to me, she read out loud.

The story is about a little boy who questions if Santa is real. His friends told him Santa wasn't real and through colorful pictures it tells the TRUE story of Saint Nicholas. She learned he WAS real, he DID give gifts and WHY he gave the gifts. It also explains keeping Christ the center of Christmas and how we can keep the magic alive in our hearts.

After we read it, she cried but she was relieved to know the truth. From Christmas 2004 til Christmas 2012, Kayleigh has played "Santa" for Kacey. She goes shopping with me each year and we carefully choose things off the long Christmas list. The one thing I've made completely sure of for the last 8 years is that we still keep that same magic alive for her. She still gets surprises from "Santa" and it's still a magical time since Kacey was still insisting there was a Santa.

Yes my friends.....at 12 years old, she STILL believed in her heart that there was a Santa. Now, don't think for a moment that I haven't wanted to tell her the truth and share the same book with her. In fact, I wanted to do that in 2010 when she was 10 years old, the same age Kayleigh was when we told her....BUT....as she looked at us with true innocent eyes, I couldn't bear to break her heart....especially when I saw her light up when she saw "Santa" knew her name when we met face to face with him walking in Walmart. How could I take that magic away? ***sigh*** She is now a 7th grader, will be turning 13 in March and it was time! On 11-21-2012, I had asked her if she was ready for Christmas? The twinkle in her eyes made my heart smile as she talked about things she was putting on her list. I asked her if her friends had said anything about "Santa" and she proudly proclaimed that they had talked about it and they told her Santa wasn't real but she told them that they'd never met the REAL Santa and she had! ***gulp!*** She smiled and continued on about how she knew Santa was real and didn't care what her friends thought. Ohhhhh geesh! ***Please God give me the strength to make it though this conversation.*** I knew the right thing to do was tell her because as Christmas got closer I didn't want her trying to defend the fact that he was real or not and then be teased by friends. Let's face it....Kids in middle school are CRUEL! The weeks leading up to this, we'd joked about different things she had asked for on her list and every time she asked for something I would say "You better ask Santa!" So when she asked for an iPod Touch, it was no different. I told her to "Tell Santa!" and winked at her. A few minutes later, I got a text to my iPhone saying "I would like an iPod Touch for Christmas." I laughed and figured that was her way of saying "I'm telling Santa now!". So I got up and pulled the book back down off the shelf. I asked her if she felt like reading a story with me. I had this lump in my throat and choked back tears. WHY was I so sad? WHY did I feel like Niagra Falls was about to come out of my eye balls? I sat down on the couch with her and showed her the cover of the book. She smiled and I asked her if she would read it to me. She started to read and the more into the book she got, I started to tear up but held them back and composed myself. When she got to the end, there is a part that says "As the family sat around and talked half the night, Todd thought he saw, in the snow and moonlight...a bright eyed Saint Nicholas with his sack looking in, and a wide across his face, a jolly old grin." She closed the book, turned to me and said "See! I told you he was REAL!" I nodded and then quickly realized that she REALLY believed he was STILL a real person. HOW was I going to break this to her? I flipped back in the book to the page that talked about Saint Nick living hundreds of years ago. I had her read it out loud to me again and then.....the puzzled look....the tears....and then full blown crying! It was done....she knew. She sat there for about 15 minutes crying uncontrollably. I hugged her and she wiped her tears. I kept asking her WHY she was crying to hard? WHY are you so sad? She would try and answer and just start crying so hard that she couldn't talk. I sat there with tears rolling down my face. Did I make the right decision? Of course I did! She can't be a teenager and still believe in Santa! Thats ridiculous! But WHY was I crying too? I knew I'd hurt her. I knew at that point that she still really believed. I thought she might have known when she texted me so thats why I figured it was time too. So there we sat, for ONE FULL HOUR, crying together. As it set in, she finally got to the point that she could talk again. She then said, "I wish you would have told me sooner. Thats why I'm so sad. I really thought he was real!" We talked some more about how he was a real man, how he gave gifts to make people around him happy and how we continue the magic for those around us. In our hearts, we're ALL a Santa. We talked some about Jesus and his birth and the three wise men bringing gifts. Once she came to terms with it, we talked about how all the magic wasn't lost. For the last 8 years, Kayleigh has been "Santa" for her and now it's her turn to be "Santa" for Kayleigh and others around her. She smiled and got a little excited about having some shopping time without her sister. BUT.....WHY was I still sad? I had this overwhelming feeling of reality setting in. My babies were not babies anymore. They both knew the truth about Santa and there would be no more "magic" in our house until grandbabies. Thats a very hard pill to swallow! No more babies....no more Santa...I had to find a way to keep this spirit alive in our house.

This year, we continued Christmas as usual. Kayleigh bought for Kacey....Kacey bought for Kayleigh....We bought some goodies for them both...but on Christmas Day, we decided that next year we'd start a new tradition. They're both old enough to understand the REAL meaning of Christmas and with the cost of things going up, we thought next year we'd do something a little different. We focused on the Bible and the Three Wise Men. They came bearing gifts for Jesus but they didn't come with a large sack full of more toys than you could possibly play with. They came with THREE gifts. So next year, we're going to do "stocking stuffers from Santa" and each person would get THREE gifts. One from each member of their family. So for instance, I would get one gift from Frankie, one gift from Kayleigh and one gift from Kacey. Thought needs to go into these gifts, just as thought went into the gifts the Three Wise Men brought. They didn't just bring Jesus dirt, rocks and sticks. They brought him nice gifts with meaning. And then, each of us would be responsible for doing THREE Acts of Kindness for someone else. Thought has to go into these acts and they must be of equal value that you spend on your family member. Everyone was so excited about this new tradition and we have an entire year to think about what our acts of kindness will be. Also, we're going to do the 12 Days of Kindness leading up to Christmas. Each of the 12 days will be a $5 or less act of kindness and that will serve as our countdown. Although....I'm thinking it might be fun to share some "magic" for 25 days instead of 12! So we might just extend it and that will be my entire blog for December. And then....we took it a step further and decided that we just might do this for Easter as well! We acknowledge the Birth of Jesus so why not acknowledge His Death on the Cross for us?

And there you have it.....our feel good magic of Christmas was back! And what did we learn? YES Santa WAS real! NO we don't need all those presents to make us happy! YES it feels good to make others happy BEFORE ourselves! YES we WILL put Jesus FIRST and we will tell the world of His Birth, His Death and His Love & Forgiveness! So be watching for our 'Acts of Kindness' for Easter.

All my love,

JOY

JOY:

Noun

A feeling of great pleasure and happiness.     Our youth pastor preached a sermon a few weeks ago that really struck something with me. The word JOY and what it stands for. Not the feeling of JOY but the real meaning of JOY.   Experiencing true JOY is putting Jesus first....Others second....and Yourself last. JESUS FIRST That is pretty self explanitory. You should have Jesus first in everything you do. When you have Jesus at the center of your life then things start to fall into place but the moment you waiver from that then your life seems to be a disoriented mess. Maybe thats why this struck something with me. Lately I'd been living my life as OYJ....Others, Yourself, Jesus. I was doing for everyone else, then myself and then what time was left I gave to Jesus. Wrong....all wrong! I had to get back to JOY and things would start to come together again. OTHERS SECOND I'm a people pleaser, always have been and always will be. I like for those around me to be happy and I will do what I can to make the people closest to me smile. I've never had a problem putting Others before myself but I needed to put Jesus ahead of all of that! YOURSELF LAST I was putting myself before Jesus. Wrong again! I put others before myself so why wouldnt I put Jesus before them? After all, He is the reason I am forgiven. He is the reason that I can live my life. He is above all....FIRST! Thats where He needs to stay. My needs will come LAST in everything I do. Once you put Jesus FIRST and Others SECOND....then your needs and wants WILL be fulfilled even though YOU are LAST :) So today....I choose JOY.....How about you?

Happy New Year

New Years bring Resolutions....something I've never been able to stick to. I guess when I say it to myself, my mindset makes it a "chore"...something I'm required to stick to. Then I find myself stressing over the whole thing when I fail. So this year, I am NOT making any resolutions...heehee! I'm going to pray about things and deal with the life God is giving me.

Life....it seems so busy these days and when my head finally hits the pillow at 11pm, I feel like there is a tornado in my brain some days. I find myself not being able to shut things off and relax. So much to do, so many things going on and just not enough hours in the day. I used to have such a clear head....WHY can't I focus anymore? Ummmmm....maybe it's because I stopped putting my feelings here. I stopped getting all the rubbish out of my head and kept it all inside. So yeah, it's time for a change. I've said it over and over and where do I end up? I guess part of it is still the fact that I had so much drama on my page from family and coworkers reading it. I bottled up and felt like I couldn't share here anymore because they were all reading my thoughts. Then once I was threatened with my job as a school employee, it made me clam up even more. I'm no longer a school employee. I chose to close that chapter and choose my life over that job. I'm not sure who from my family still comes here to read but I'm sure they've lost interest by now since it's been 2 years since we've spoken to them.

So for 2013, I'm turning a new leaf :)

It's time to jump back in with both feet. Diabetes was pushed to the back burner and we've not made it the first thing we think about anymore. It's something we live with but it doesn't control our family like it once did. Maybe thats another reason I had a hard time writing. I just didn't have anything to say. The posts seemed to repeat....high sugars, low sugars, A1c's, pictures of pumps and dexcom, sickness, symptoms, JDRF....ahhhhhhh!

My goal for 2013 is to find some new topics dealing with diabetes to blog about along with a mix of old ones and things non-diabetes related. So be prepared! :)

I hope each of you has a VERY Happy New Year full of joy!

Lots of Love,