Introducing.....

THE POWER PUMP GIRLS!

 "Annie" is Kaceys new insulin pump. She's only been hooked up for 24 hours but she adores it already! Without this device, she would have to take a shot every single time she wanted to eat. It holds 200 units of insulin and she gets her infusion set changed every 2-3 days.

"Daisy" is her Continual Glucose Monitoring System. This shows us blood sugars in real time and helps us identify trends and Kacey is able to see her blood sugar rising and falling and treat it before it becomes a danger.

"Pippi" is her blood sugar meter and remote. With a few simple touches of a few buttons, she is able to administer her insulin by this remote instead of pulling her pump out. She's only had this device for 24 hours and she's in love with it! She can now have the freedom to tuck her insulin pump away and wear the dresses she wants to without having to go diving up her dress to pull her pump out.

All three of these wonderful girly devices keep Kacey alive every day. We're so thankful to their power and individuality. Each of them plays such a special part in making sure Kacey stays on track with her diabetes care.

We're so blessed to have such a wonderful insurance company. Yeah, I know I've had my share of gripes with them but this time...Blue Cross Blue Shield...you rocked the process! It was only about 2 weeks from the time we started paperwork til the time the new pump was in our hands. We're also blessed that we only had to come out of pocket $102 for a $5000 device. Believe me....the power of prayer WORKS! We prayed every single day about this and I had friends praying for us to make sure this was possible. THANK YOU everyone!!

TRUE LOVE!!

Ping Hookup

Today we had our pump training for the new Animas Ping that Kacey will be hooked up to.

Arriving in the Diabetes Center and waiting for our favorite CDE to come in for training.

Our amazing CDE sitting with Kacey and showing her how to operate the pump. They're linking up the systems for the first time here. Kristen said "They're married" and Kacey said "Nope they're best friends"...LOL!

Kacey holding an Inset 30. She's really wanting to try her sites on her own but doing the Comfort Shorts, she just can't do them so we're thinking about switching to the Inset 30 but Kacey wanted to try it first to see if thats what she wants. After some convincing, Kacey agreed to let our CDE helped me put one in. She was too nervous to push the buttons on her own but she was thrilled afterward and said, "Wow! I didn't even feel it!" Ahhhhhh! We're stepping in the right direction!

Look at that smile! :) I haven't seen that during a site change in a LONG time!!

Pure love!! She's so in love with this new system. I'll admit...I was waiting for some tears when it came time to disconnect "Goober" (her Cozmo pump) but she disconnected and was more than ready to hook up to the new pump.

Cheezin as she shows off the PINK site! She was so excited to find out about the colored sites. Guess we'll be asking for some Inset 30's with the next shipment!

Thank you Kristen for being such an amazing CDE. Not sure how we'd of made it this far without your support! You've been there since Day One and we're so blessed to have you to turn to each week.

Thank you Heather at Animas for crossing your fingers and praying for this to go through. You were there the night Kacey chose this pump system and we're blessed to have you along for the ride of this journey.

Thank you Blue Cross Blue Shield for being a great insurance company and making this process so easy for us!

Thank you to Frankie's work company for offering such a great insurance! So many families struggle without insurance and you all are kind enough to offer it as well as pay a portion of the monthly due.

Thank you to everyone that prayed for us during this process. God heard those prayers!

Thank you to my family and my BFF, Jillie for listening to my complaints, my worries, my hopes and praying for us during this whole process and before.

Thank you God for being YOU! You held my hand through this process and You never left my side. You heard and answered all our prayers about the pump. You are an Awesome God! We're so blessed!

Ping! Pink! Ping!

It's here!! It's here!! It's really here!!

I've never been so happy to see the UPS man. I know he thought I was insane as I danced on the porch when he pulled up. He wouldn't understand, would he? As I signed for it, I explained there was a $5000 piece of equipment in that box. He laughed and I told him it was Kacey's new insulin pump. He smiled and I knew he didn't understand how important this box was to us.

Kacey was in school when it arrived but I could hardly contain my tears as I popped open the box. I felt the angels singing when I saw this beautiful little machine staring back at me. I wanted to hold it. I HAD to hold it. I pryed open the plastic and I held it for the very first time. I wanted to put the battery in it right away but I felt like I needed to wait for Kacey and we could do that together. So I pulled out the materials and I spent the afternoon reading. I feel like we're going from a flip cell phone to an iPhone! I'm so excited for Kacey.

I ended up taking to box with me when it was time to pick her up from school. It was so exciting to see her face when she saw the box. She walked out with 4 of her friends. They all knew the pump was coming so they were just as excited to see it.
"Wowww Kacey!"
"I'm so happy for you!"
"Kacey, thats so cool! It looks like a little TV"
"I love the pink!"
Those were all comments flying out of their mouths as Kacey held her pump in the box. We got in the car and she said, "Mom! I wanna hold it! Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee! I just want to feel it!" She took it out of the pastic and held it in her hands. She hugged it. She kissed it. She cried.

Sometimes we forget how attached these kids get to these little devices that keep them alive. Some kids get more attached than others do. Some could care less. Some are too young to understand yet.

I remember when Herbie first arrived. It was like watching that bond form all over again. New pump. New name. New bond. I could barely hold my tears back as I watched her in the back seat. When we got home, she ran inside with the box and opened it up. We put the battery in and gave the pump life.

Isnt this the prettiest pink pump you've ever seen?

Check out that smile! She was so excited to see that beautiful screen lit up! She sat in the chair just staring at it. Then I saw the tears flowing again.
"Kacey? Whats wrong?"
"I love it so much but this means I only have a few more days with Goober."
***crap! I knew this was coming!***
"It does and this means you can cherish those last few moments with Goober before you switch over on Tuesday."
"Tuesday?"
"Yes, I talked to Kristen and we go down to the big hospital on Tuesday."
She smiled through her tears. We have a date set. Tuesday at 10am. We have to make the drive down to the big hospital and thats always a bitter sweet moment because it's a reminder of where we were 3.5 years ago. It's a reminder of how sick Kacey was. When we drive that long hour and a half drive, I think back to the drive we made that day she was diagnosed. I replay the events in my head.

We put the batteries in her meter and we talked about how the system will work. She's excited about the remote. She's excited that she won't have to pull her pump out of she doesn't want to. She's excited to have a new life full of dresses again. Yes my friends....sometimes it's the little things that we miss. She won't have to go diving up her dress in search of her pump. It's going to be nice. Then I got a smack in the face. CRAP! This meter will take One Touch strips and we're using Freestyle right now. So I had to call back to the doctor and have them call in a new script for One Touch strips. I know once Kacey starts using the new meter, she won't want to go back to using the other one.

Now the countdown begins...TUESDAY is the DAY! :)

Report Card Fail

Yes...you see it? There it is...in black and white. See it? That's what Kacey's A1c was this morning.

OK...you can close your mouth from the shock anytime now. I wasn't shocked. I knew it was going to be bad. Her doc knew it was going to be bad. But you know what? I'm ok with it.

Yes, before you bash me let me explain. We've struggled with a balance. The doctor is well aware of the struggle because we email blood sugars in each week and we get help with changes but it seems that hormones and growth spurts are maxing out. Kacey is now 5'1" and 152 pounds. She's grown again and she's remained the same in her weight. Her body is certainly changing (thanks puberty!) and diabetes is rearing it's ugly face with it all. We knew that. We expected the high. I saw it in her numbers! 

Now what do we do to change it?

The doctor adjusted basals...again! We also changed her carb ratio to see if that helps. Unfortunately with Cozmo, the logbook doesn't break things down as good as the others do so we'll make better adjustments once we get the new pump. Only a few more days!!

For those of you with little kids....if you think the growth spurts are bad now...just wait til hormones and puberty hit! You'll be pulling your hair out!!!!

I'm very thankful for a doctor that is compassionate enough to tell us, "We know you're doing all you can do. You're a great parent and we know you're staying on top of it. I can see Kacey is testing enough. She's bolusing before every single meal. But sometimes when they hit puberty things get a little wonky but we'll work though it." ......YES we will! We will get through this and we will see that A1c come back down.

Strike One!

I am NOT very happy with Animas today.

STRIKEEEEEEEEEEEEEONE!

When I talked to the rep on Friday, she assured me the pump would be here today. It is now 7pm and NO PUMP! I called Animas and spoke to a really nice man, who explained to me that there was a delay.

DELAY?!?! What do you mean, DELAY?

Something happened in processing, it's not UPS's fault this time. It's stuck in the processing department and the best we can do is overnight it to you tomorrow and you will not get it until Thursday.

WHATTTTTTTTTTTTT?!?!

Do you realize the inconvenience this has now caused? I called and made an appointment with our CDE for pump training at 9:30am and our Endo appointment is at 1:15pm. We live 45 minutes from the sattelite Children's Hospital and if we miss this training then we have to drive to the big hospital which is an hour and a half away (on a good day with no traffic!) GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR! Plus this means I have to cancel the appointment and now the office is closed and our CDE drives 45 minutes to meet us at the other hospital. This inconveniences everyone all the way around. It also means Kacey will miss another day of school.

****breathe****

He assured me they were very sorry and I'd be called by a rep in the morning that could let me know what happened. I agreed and hung up. I turned to a very sad 11 year old that had tears streaming down her face. "Mommy, my pump isn't coming today is it?"
"No"
"So that means I won't be hooked up tomorrow?"
"No"
***cry***
"So when will it be here?"
"Thursday, I promise! But that means you have time to give Goober more kisses and we can prepare for pump training."
***try and keep it positive Jill!***

I smiled and hugged her and told her she'd have some more time to think of a name too! She's changed her mind a few times and she said she would decide when she finally has her pump in her hands.

So for now...it's hurry up and wait! C'mon Animas! We're not starting out on the right foot here!

Faces Of Blue

Happy WOrld Diabetes Day!!

Today is the day we celebrate. A day to thank Fredrick Banting for his discovery of insulin. A day to be thankful for a drug that keeps my daughter alive. A day to wear BLUE to support Kacey on her journey with diabetes.

The 2am check brough is this...

Yeah thanks diabetes! We love you too! Now GO AWAY!

Today I'd like to share some faces that support us....not only today but EVERY day.

 A sign made for Kacey from Nae~Nae

 My best friend Jill and her son Trenton

 Kaceys friends~ Justin, Andrew, Trenton & Elaina

 My brother~ Kacey's Uncle Chuck

 Nae~Nae

 Me, Kayleigh & Kacey

 Brian & Kacey

 Kayleigh

Kayleigh's best friend, Emily

HAPPY WORLD DIABETES DAY from all our faces of blue!!
(BTW, this isnt the greatest picture...Kacey had just woken up to find her Oscar fish dead...not a good way to start the day!)

Unplanned Meeting

Do you sometimes wonder if you were put in the right place at the right time for a reason? Of course you were! God knew He was going to put you there at that exact moment. Sometimes we know why we were put there and other times we don't. Then there are the times when we *think* we know why but then it's not until years later that we REALLY know why we were put there.

Thursday night, youth group night, was one of those moments.

I was sitting at check-in like I always do, and a mother of one of the girls that was visiting for the 2nd time came over to the table. She quietly said, "Who do I need to let know about my daughter's medical problem?" .... "Medical problem?" ....I explained to her that she could let me know and I could let her group leader know. "Ok, she's a Type 1 diabetic and she has an insulin pump." For a split second, my breath left my body!!!! "WOWWWW! I just happen to be the Mom of a T1 too!" "Thats awesome! She's in 8th grade" ...."O-my-goodness! She will be in MY youth girls group too since we have 8th-9th grade girls."

Our conversation seemed to rattle on and youth group was starting so we had to cut it short but there was soooooo much left to say! I was on cloud 9 and couldn't wait to introduce her to Kacey. I do have a confession though....as the preaching went on....all I could think about was connecting with this family. She's only been on a pump for 6 months. They had questions. The Mom wanted that connection and we probably could have talked for hours.

After youth group was over, I met with her Mom. We exchanged numbers. We exchanged some brief stories. The girls shared pumps. It was a REALLY neat moment.

As we drove home, Kacey rattled off about how cool it was to have someone else in youth group with diabetes. She doesn't even have that connection at school because the other 2 boys there are 7th grade, both on shots, no CGM and could care less that she wants to discuss diabetes. So it was fun to have someone so close to share this with.

Unplanned on my calendar but perfectly planned on God's calendar.

PINGGGGGGGGGG!

Did you hear that sound? Shhhhhh! Quiet! Listen....

*ping* *ping*
*Ping Ping*
*PING PING*
*PINGGGGGGGGGGGGGG*
*PINGGGGGGGGGGG*
Yep thats such a sweet sound rolling off my lips. It's the sound of the... PINK PING being stuffed into the box and shipped to our doorstep!!!

You all will probably NEVER believe the way things unfolded but I have to tell you all what happened.

I blogged about the pump yesterday. I blogged about faith. I closed my computer and I prayed about it. Yep, I've prayed about it alot lately but yesterday was a little more heart wrenching. As I sat in prayer, I asked God to please make things financially able for us to make this happen for Kacey. I put my computer away and went to pick the girls up from school. As we arrived home, my cell phone rang. Normally I wouldn't answer an unfamiliar number but I accidently clicked answer instead of ignore.

"Hello?"
"Hi can I speak to one of the parents of Kacey"
"This is Jill"
"Hi this is XXXX from Animas and I just wanted to go over your benefits with you."
***holds breath** (insert the sound of my guts swirling because I'm about to find out how bad this is gonna sting)
"Ok"

So the nice rep goes on to explain
"You have a $500 deductible before the insurance will pick up the 80/20% and you've already met that deductible so that means you will be responsible for 20%."
*puke*
"Ok so how much will that be?"
"Well the pump is $5075 and normally your responsiblity would be 20%...."
(before she went on I felt like I was gonna vomit)
"Ok"
"You have an out of pocket copay of $1000 and after that then it's covered 100%"
**I continued to listen**
"As of right now you have $898 toward that."
"So what does that mean?"
"Well that means that you've almost reached your max so you would only have to pay $102 for a new pump"

Ok so at this point I got completely choked up and I wanted so bad to tell this woman about answered prayers and all that but all I could do was cry! I composed myself and explained my excitement.

"I can make your excitement even better because we're going to give you a $700 credit for her Cozmo and there will be a $0 balance"
"Wait! So we can just pay $102 and we can KEEP her Cozmo?"
"Yes"
"Can I pay it NOW?!?!"

She giggles and said they would take a down payment and then bill me for the balance. I couldn't even begin to explain my joy. She was clearly excited for us as well.

"So how does Wednesday sound as a delivery day?"
"Ummmm as in NEXT Wednesday?"
"Yes NEXT Wednesday."
"Wowwwwww! Thats the day we go to the Endo so that would be great!"
"So how about Tuesday then? That way you will have it to take it with you. Just give them a call and let them know you're expecting the pump and they can set up training for you when you go."

OHHHHHH------EMMMMMMMM-----GEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Could this really be happening?!?! So we finished up our conversation and I hung up the phone and began to cry. Thank you Jesus! Thank you for answering our prayers! Thank you for making me strong enough to hold up!

I walked out into the living room and the girls were watching TV. I asked them to mute the TV because we needed to talk. I turned to Kacey and said "I just got off the phone with Animas." She had this worried look on her face. "Ummmm....how does a delivery of NEXT Tuesday sound for a new pink Ping?" Her jaw dropped and she jumped off the couch and began crying. I tried to pry her away from me but she continued to cry. She was thrilled!

Can you believe the way things happened? Like I said....they happened the way God intended them to. So for that, I'm very greatful! Thanks again to everyone that kept us in their prayers. And now....as Misty said....P is for PARTYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!