Virus...Virus...Everywhere!

Yikes! It's been a crazy few days. The word "VIRUS" has circulated through our house and it's making it's rounds.

First, on Friday, my computer started acting weird. I did a virus scan and it locked up. I had one of those "Oh shit!" moments. I tried 3 more times to run the scan with no luck. It wasn't long after that I got a pop-up telling me my computer was infected with a worm and I needed to run a complete scan. Ummmm....I TRIED TO! So I ended up downloading another free scan. No luck! It would get to the end of the download and then tell me it couldn't be downloaded. My browser was hijacked and I couldn't get to any website directly to download another program. So after 3 days of research I finally got Malwarebytes Anti-Malware to download and once I renamed the file it worked ;) Ahhhh the power of the net is a great thing! Virus can kiss my ass! I will now make a vow to run the scan every other day to keep that crap from getting in my computer.

So...then yesterday morning Kayleigh woke up and said she didn't feel well. Since she is due for her time of the month I told her it was probably just that and for her to just take a day to rest. She got a shower thinking she'd feel better but when I heard the call from the bathroom....you know the call... "Mommmmmmmm I need you!" with that bit of panic in her voice. I went running in and she was sitting on the closed lid toilet and said she didn't feel good and everything went black and she was seeing black and yellow spots. The "mommy panic" set in and I immediately grabbed the glucose kit because my first thought was low blood sugar since she hadn't had much of an appetite the day before. It was an 84...perfect for a nondiabetic. She sat there for a few more minutes as this passed and she didn't have anymore symptoms until lunchtime. She said she was freezing and her body was aching all over and when I went to touch her cheeks she was burning up! She was running almost a 102 fever...yikes! No sore throat, no cough, no stuffy nose or drainage, no sick stomach, no loose bowels... I was puzzled! I gave her some Motrin and she went back to bed. She still didn't have much of an appetite. She stayed in bed all afternoon and started feeling a little better by dinnertime. She ate a little bit of dinner and went right back to bed. She alternated between pulling the covers up and kicking them off so I knew she still had the fever. She ran between 100-101 all night and then this morning it was back up to nearly 103! I put her in the bathtub and called the doctor. They got her in right away. The doc tested her for strep and the flu...both were negative (thank goodness!) So what is it? A VIRUS!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh! It's a virus that mimics the flu but without the throwing up and loose bowels. It wipes you off your feet though. She also had protein in her urine and I have to take her back in a few days to have that rechecked. She was quick to tell me there were no traces of sugar (LOL! Duh!) And whats even worse...Kacey just came to me an hour ago and said "Mommy, I don't feel too good." UGH! The doc told me that it would probably go through all of us since it was a virus and there is nothing we can do to prevent it. Ummmm...can you say LYSOL? Hahaha! It just sucks because I know if Kacey gets it then it will throw her blood sugars in a tailspin again.
***sigh***
So thats been my last few days in a nutshell.

As for this week....
Tonight we are spose to be dumped on with about 6 inches of snow. I'll believe it when I see it...LOL! Kayleigh has exams this week so that will throw the exam schedule out of whack for sure. But with all the hustle and bustle of everything going on, it made the days fly by a little faster and we are down to 3 days until Kacey's Endo visit! More to come on that soon :)

Happy 6 month D-Anniversary

HAPPY 6 MONTH D-ANNIVERSARY KACEY!

On this day 6 months ago, Kacey was admitted into the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at CHKD. It was one of the scariest days of my life but as I look back these last 6 months, I can look at just how far we've come on this diabetes journey. I went from knowing nothing and being deathly afraid of needles to educating myself as much as I could about what Kacey is going through and gaining the confidence to give her those shots. I learned so many new words that I'd never even heard before. I know what it means to bolus. I know what basals are. I know what it means to look for trends. All of that was something I didn't understand. I do now! We are going to celebrate tonight with diet hot chocolate (4 carbs) and mini nilla wafers (20 carbs)...wooohoooo! That was Kacey's choice ;)

Thanks again to all of you for your support over the last 6 months! I'd be bald without you all!

OXOX

Diabetes In Pictures

Here is a poster that Kacey made yesterday. She asked for a piece of posterboard and this is what she drew all over it....DIABETES IN PICTURES....

LOL...at least she knows what she wants! ;) **take note** she even drew a diagram of a belly with a site on it!

A self portrait...it is her talking to her doctor.

This is a picture of her doctor telling her that they will find a cure (*cry*)

Self explanitory!

I giggled at this one... its glucose gel, glucose tabs, insulin pen, lancet and test strips with blood on them.

Science Project - 6 days in

Kacey started her Science Project 6 days ago. She planted lima beans into 10 different cups and she is testing to see which bean sprouted the fastest and what it sprouted in. The beans in the wet paper towel sprouted first but the beans planted in the mulch and rocks have seemed to grow faster. And FYI, beans put in plain water end up swelling up and turning to mush and then the water smells like a rotten goldfish bowl...haha! I couldn't figure out what the stench was in my dining room until it was time to water them yesterday and I SAW it! YUK! Haha!

Here are a few pictures...This picture is all of the cups together. Sand, Dirt, Mulch, Paper towels, Rocks, Salt, Hand lotion, Hair gel, Plain water and Dogfood (haha!)
The lima bean planted in mulch on Day 5

The lima bean planted in rocks on Day 5

The lima bean planted in mulch on Day 6 ... I see leaves!!

More pics coming in the next days....

A New Pattern

Kacey's CDE called today and I was able to speak with her about the 48 mg/dl she had the other day. She was just as stumped as to why she dropped but she said not to be alarmed because we test often enough and we would of caught it before it got too low. How low is too low? I thought anything below 80 was low so what is too low? She reassured me that Kacey is fine and not to be alarmed when we see those 40's. It is something we're going to see on a regular basis. (yikes!) So she went on to tell me that Kacey was definately through her honeymoon. Made me want to cry but at the same time be happy. Reason being...we were told no pump until she was through the honeymoon so this means we have a green light for the pump but at the same time it means her pancrease is completely broke :( It's not spitting out anymore insulin and now she's completely dependent on the shots (not that she wasn't before...but its more final now) So...I'd call it a "bitter-sweet" moment. I did express (for the thousandth time) how we were really pushing for the pump and I told her about Kacey asking Santa for one. We had an "awwwww" moment and she told me that when we go to see Dr. R next week, to let him know Kacey was more than ready for the pump and since Santa couldn't give it to her for Christmas then maybe Dr. R could give her a great birthday present ;) (her bday is Mar 8th) She said we were doing an excellent job testing through the day and the more she tests the better they can adjust her dose. That really made me feel good! She did have one concern though. It's a concern that I brought up before but then was quick not to "make excuses" for the highs. Her concern was this... when Kacey was home for those 2 weeks for Christmas break, her blood sugars were nearly perfect! We had nothing over 200 with the exception of Christmas Eve and New Years Eve (totally understandable) but when she started back to school last week her blood sugars went wacky again and she's been bopping around in the 200's and then at dinner time she drops drastically. For instance, yesterday she went from a 269 @ 3pm (2hrs after lunch) to a 68 @ 5pm and so I threw a mini pizza in the oven and while waiting for it to cook she said she felt REALLY low and she dropped to a 60 in 10min. So she asked me... Is Kacey anxious at school? Is she under a lot of stress at school? Maybe changing classes is something that is making her feel anxious and stressed and she just doesnt know it? Can you think of anything that would make her bounce in the 200's through the day with absolutely no change in her regular diet? My reply....No. Her teacher had mentioned back when we did the 504 Plan that Kacey seemed to get a headache or tummyache when it was time to leave class. Mrs. M thought maybe it was because she was feeling insecure. As I mentioned before, Mrs. M's husband is Type 2 and Kacey feels very secure with her. It's like she knows Mrs. M is going to be able to take care of her if something happens because she knows what diabetes is and how to handle highs/lows. She told me that with lots of positive encouragement, Kacey finally started to leave the room without "feeling bad". She hasn't mentioned anymore about it so I assume that she hasn't had anymore problems with it. I really never thought about stress making blood sugars go up. I knew I had read it but I think I just automatically associated stress with adults. Shame on me! I guess I never considered Kacey to be stressed over anything. When I asked her if she was feeling ok this afternoon, she said she had a great day and so I asked her if she had anymore issues with feeling bad when she changed classes and she told me no. So what do I do? She doesn't appear to be stressed and she loves school. She actually cried the day they left for Christmas break because she thought it was the end of the school year. Sad huh? LOL! My question is this...those of you with kids...do their blood sugars run higher at school than when they are home? Back to the high and drastic drop....for the last 3 days, she will run high in mid-high 200's 2hrs after lunch and then make that drastic fall to the 60's. Her lunch ratio is 1:10 and we have to keep it at that to keep her from spiking at 3pm. So I made a suggestion to the CDE... at 3:30pm when I pick her up from school, should I give her a snack and then do dinner about 6:30pm instead of coming home and doing dinner at 5pm? I'm trying to figure out a schedule that would work best for Kacey. She said to keep the same schedule for the next week and see if she drops every single day at dinner. If she does, then I can switch the meal times up and play with it til I get the timing right.

Today is a good day :) The reason...because I feel like I do have control of Kacey's diabetes, despite the highs and lows she is having. I feel like I understand things so much more and I've certainly come a long way and learned ALOT in 6 months. I am thankful to have one CDE call me every week (God I hate change!) I used to get frustrated when we had 3 different ones calling and none of them really knew us. I've built a nice relationship with our CDE and it was actually nice to sit and talk with her for 15 min on the phone today. I didn't feel rushed and she was really open to my ideas. When she told me I was doing a good job managing things I felt a beam of sunlight :) Thats a great feeling! LOL I giggled and told her the true test would be that "report card" we get next Thurs! She reminded me that we were only 6 months into this and not to expect to have that 6.0 and I said anything lower than the 10.5 she had in the hospital would be great with me ;)

Tomorrow is a big day for me. I will be substitute teaching all day for my internship. I am shadowing a great 1st grade teacher :) I've already popped in to tell her I was going to be in the class with her and she was thrilled to know the name on the email she got was me. (Can you say....confidence boost!) I'm really excited!

JDRF Awards

As most of you know, last night was the JDRF Awards ceremony here. It was our first time attending. I must say that it turned out to be quite an emotional evening. We arrived in Va Beach about 45 minutes before the ceremony was due to begin. During that time, I started chatting briefly with others mingling around. I got to meet Lori Camden. Lori is the one who mailed us the Bag of Hope, the bag with Rufus. She recognized Kacey from pictures I've emailed her, and of course, the event wouldn't be complete without Rufus in tow. I stood there talking to her like I'd known her forever.
Then there was an artist that brought a canvas with fish drawn on it. Each child had a chance to paint a fish. This painting will go to auction and the money raised will go directly to JDRF. How cool is that? Last year, the painting was sold for $7000! The buyer of the painting, Kacey's Endo doc office. Very neat!
About 20 minutes before the ceremony was due to start, the people really started to show up. I had no idea that this was a catered event either! I was just blown away at how nice everything was. So we're sitting there waiting for Kacey's name to be called and this man walks over to our table. He speaks to the other woman sitting there and she goes on to introduce him to Kacey and tell him she was only diagnosed 6 months ago. He knelt down beside her and began to tell her how his son was 16 and diagnosed at 3. He is on a pump and does everything any other child does. He asks her if she's on a pump yet? Her reply, "No, not yet and I wanted to ask Santa for one but Mommy said Dr. R had to give it to me." This grown man actually teared up! He kissed her forehead and went on to tell her that they were doing all they could to raise money to find a cure. He walked over to me and said "You must me Mom?" I laughed and he bent down to my ear and said "You make sure that little girl gets her pump and if you run into any financial problems with it then you call me personally! My son is 16 and was diagnosed at 3 and the pump changed our lives and I want to see each and every child have the same chance as well as every parent getting the break that I did!" I was floored! Who is this man? He went on from table to table talking to people. Many seemed to know him, but I didn't. Why didn't I know who he was? So I asked the lady sitting at our table who he was and come to find out he was the president of the board. Wowwwwww! He then asked for all of the people with diabetes to stand up. Thats when I got really emotional. About 50% of the room stood up. Some wore their pumps proudly where they could be seen while others hid them in nice dresses and others were not wearing pumps at all. I was shocked to see that there were as many adults standing as children. Adults that had lived with diabetes for 20-30 years just like my fellow D-bloggers. This was the first time I'd been in the company of so many diabetics in the same room. And...I was just amazed at the outpour of love and support in that room!

Kacey received the Golden Sneaker Award but then we had no idea that our team would be getting an award as well. Our team got the Silver Award and we got a really nice hanging plaque. We got some really good fundraising ideas and I'm looking forward to starting them this year.

We got in the car to come home and I heard sobbing from the back seat. I turned back to see Kacey crying. I asked her what was wrong and it took her a few minutes to compose herself enough to tell me "I'm just so happy!" it wasn't long before I ended up in tears as well. It seemed to be an emotional evening for all of us :) but definately an evening full of wonderful memories and Kacey is excited to start fundraising this year too!

The Lowest Yet!

We had a rough morning yesterday! Kacey woke up at a 127. She's been waking up with some really great blood sugars and she's still had a great streak of daily blood sugars. When we went shopping on Saturday, Kacey has been asking for syrup. Syrup = every diabetics nightmare. Ugh! So I decided to take a look at some of the sugar free ones. I know those can be just as bad! But it's hard to eat waffles or pancakes plain. So there I stood in the aisle at Walmart scanning the labels of syrup with Kacey beside me grinning. Pancake & Waffle Syrup = 53g carbs (OMG!) Pancake & Waffle Light Syrup = 26g carbs (getting lower...but still OMG!) So then I spot Sugar Free Butter Flavor Low Calorie Syrup from Maple Grove Farms. Hmmm... made with Splenda...ohhhh then I spot where it says "supporter of Children with Diabetes" (cool!!)...turn it over 12g carbs! (wow! much better!) So as a parent, what do you do? Make your child eat plain pancakes or give in and bolus for the sugar free stuff? I gave in! I explained that because it was sugar free then it might not taste as good, but she'd adjust to the flavor. That brings us to breakfast yesterday. She wasn't very hungry and said she wanted waffles. Ok, 2 waffles, 30g carbs. Plus syrup, 12g carbs. Spray butter, 0g. Thats 42g carbs and I've got a smiling child. She loved the syrup! I tasted it and it wasn't bad at all. I could actually switch the whole family over to that stuff. This was at 9am. By 12pm, Kacey came in and said she was hungry. Well all she had was 2 waffles so since it was lunchtime, I told her to go test. The result....

This is been Kacey's lowest yet!! Umm, Kacey do you feel low? No. Do you feel shaky? No, I'm just hungry. I quickly got her something to bring her up. 15 min later, 88. Wow! By then she was getting fussy and wanted lunch. So she had lunch and tested 2 hours after that and she was an 81 (and falling). So her body decided to do something silly yesterday because then once we got to the JDRF Awards, she was running in the 200's! What scared me was she never felt the low! Thats really low for her and she wasn't having any symptoms!

Golden Sneaker

Today is a very special day!

We will be attending our first JDRF Awards Ceremony in Va Beach. Kacey will be receiving the Golden Sneaker award for raising almost $2500!

When Kacey was diagnosed, I knew we had to start doing something positive like these walks. It would be something she would take interest in as well as raise money for a cure. We set our goal at $500 because we didn't want Kacey to be disappointed if we didn't make that goal. By the walk day at the end of October, we had raised $1500. She made an appearance on our local radio station as well as in our local newspaper. The day of the walk we raised another $900!! I was so overwhelmed with the support we had. We had over 40 people show up to walk with our team, "Diabetes Sweeties". I couldn't believe the outpour of generosity we had over those 3 months. And it didn't stop there! We're still getting more love, prayers and support than I ever could have imagined. After the awards ceremony today, we will begin our new journey for the 2009 Walk to a Cure.

You can still visit Kacey's Walk to a Cure page and donate. For every $25 donation, you will be sent a "Diabetes Sweeties" t-shirt (new shirts coming this year!) and I will ship them to you free!

Thank you to everyone that has given us support! We hope to double that goal in 2009!