B is for (low)Blood Sugar....NOT Barbie.....

Today we celebrated Jada's 8th birthday with her friends.  Last week she told me she wanted a Barbie party.  I'm not too much of a planner, so I didn't think it would be a problem.  Barbie is everywhere, right?  Well, Barbie herself is everywhere.  Barbie birthday party decor is NOT.  At least not in Fairbanks, Alaska.  Yes, we are remote, but we have more here than where I was from in Iowa, so I was a little miffed that I couldn't find anything to fit her theme.

So, I was going to have to get a little creative.  It wasn't too hard as Barbie is nothing but pink, pink and more pink.  Throw in some black and white zebra stripes, and you have a pretty cute little party going on.  She didn't want cake, because she won't eat it, but asked for cookies instead.  This is what we ended up with.  Throw a big pink "B" on those cookies, and voila!  Perfect Barbie cookies!

The party was today at 3:00 pm. I was going to finish the cookies when we got home.  Jeff and I had a brunch to go to this morning, so we left around 9:30.  Jada's blood sugar was high...without looking at her meter I want to say it was around 300.  I gave a correction, then left.  Our oldest is 14 and can take care of her just as well, if not better than any adult I could leave her with.  That, coupled with the fact that I could check on her constantly via phone, left me feeling okay with leaving with for a few hours today.  We got a phone call more than halfway through the brunch that she was still high. As a matter of fact, she had jumped up to over 400.  They gave a correction and I knew that we would be home within the hour.  On our way home, Jada called just to lsee where we were and how long it would take us to get home.  At that point, we were less than 5 minutes away.  When we walked in the door, Jada was sitting on the couch, a pasty white face, meter at her side.  She looked at Jeff and said, "I'm low".  45.  And falling. Fast.  I run for the juice.   She refused it.  Chocolate milk.  She refused.  She got combative. And sweaty.  Oh...so sweaty.  Her hair was wet with sweat.  Jeff grabbed the pink frosting intended for the cookies and she shoved it away.  At that point,he grabbed her, held her hands down and I grabbed the frosting and squeezed it into the side of her mouth.  She tried to spit it out.  My baby girl was completely out of her head.  Crying, screaming.  I managed to get more into her mouth and after what seemed like forever, but less than 30 seconds, she was reasonable again.  And she drank the juice, then ate a bowl of cereal.

And I sat back and tried to comprehend what had just happened.  What if we had been delayed by 5 minutes....what if we had been delayed by even 3 minutes?  I might have walked into my house with Jada having a seizure.....or worse.  And then the guilt sets in.  I shouldn't have left her with a high blood sugar.  I should have come home immediately with the news of a 400 blood sugar.  And the what ifs and the I should haves just kept coming....and coming....and coming....   Even after things had calmed down and we had guests here for her party.  They kept coming until I decided I needed to put it to rest until I could really deal with it.

The party was great.  So much fun for her to celebrate with her friends and I had a blast catching up with these moms that I only get to see for a few minutes at a time usually.   It ended up being a great day.  And she didn't get the "B"on her cookies.  Instead, that frsoting was used to combat a  potentially deadly low.

Now that I've had some time to think about today, I know what I would do differently.  I would have made sure to tell her to wash her hands and recheck that 400.  I might have told her to eat something when she corrected that 400, because it had been several hours since breakfast.  

And there's this.  Jeff and I haven't been away even for a night together since diagnosis 5 years ago.  So, getting out for a few hours with each other has been something we've been doing consistently since our oldest was of babysitting age.  We've always stayed with in a 10-15 minute drive and the phones sit next to our plates if we're at a restaurant.  But still, I have to question myself.  Is this an ok thing to do?  We all know what a difference just a moment can make in the treatment of a low blood sugar.  It's not the norm for Jada to have these frantic, crashing blood sugars, and her highs and lows usually follow some sort of pattern that I can anticipate.  But not today.  It's days like today that make me question all that I am doing.  It reminds me that this disease is such a BEAST and that she is forever subjected to what this beast is going to dictate in her little body.  

Even though today had it's formidable challenges, I am so thankful we made it through.  Her blood sugars were all over the board today,  but not scary low like the first one.  Most of all I am thankful for 8 years with this little girl...who told me the other day that I was her "BFF".   I am one lucky mama!

A Test Strip in My Shoe

 A while back, one of my D-mom friends posted that she found a test strip in her shoe.  We all know they show up everywhere.  The shower, the bottom of your purse, the front step.  You name the place, and I've probably seen it there.  I once found a test strip on our favorite hiking trail.  We had been there a few weeks before and I'm just assuming it was ours.  Well, I got to work last week, took off my street shoes, and there under my heel, was a test strip.

Jada loves to peel the test strips apart after they are used and this particular test strip in the bottom of my shoe was one she had dismembered.  My first thought was to peel it off and throw it in the trash can.  But I couldn't do it.  I've been walking around for more than a week with the sticky part of the strip in my favorite pair of Danskos.  I cannot, for the life of me, bring myself to throw it away.

It kind of puzzles me.  I'm not sure why.  I don't know if I feel guilt for leaving her for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week while I go to work.  Maybe it's my way of carrying her with me while I'm gone?  It's oddly comforting to me to see that strip in the bottom of my shoe when I have to run back to my locker to get something.  Perhaps, I'm afraid I'll forget to call and check on her when I have some down time and seeing that strip is a reality check for me.

Perhaps, this disease has just really done a number on me and now I'm really weird.  My coworkers have probably seen it and wondered what the heck it was.  They must think I'm REALLY weird for having such a thing in the bottom of my shoe.  They might not even know what it is, but if they did, they might think I was more than REALLY weird.

So, I have a test strip in my shoe.  I might be crazy, I might be weird, but that little test strip represents so much in my life.  First of all, it represents the fact that she has probably checked her blood sugar more than 18,000 times since diagnosis. 18,000 TIMES! (yes...that's why her fingers are black and blue!) How about the  weight of diabetes that never leaves, even when I am away from her and at work, attempting to keep my mind off of it and then, the guilt that I can't fix her pancreas and BE the perfect pancreas for her.  Or, how about the fact that she has an older brother who worries excessively about her and he has no real peace either.  It breaks my heart.  Jeff and I haven't been away on a trip together since diagnosis.  This disease can take a toll on a marriage.

Until we can say diabetes is no more, I will most likely keep the test strip in my shoe.  I do believe that day will come, although I don't know when.   Until then, we'll keep testing, keep living and trying to make the most out of what life has handed us.

Cabin Fever

Wow.  Almost two years since I've blogged.  I think my last post was May of 2011 and that was my lame attempt at jumping back into my blog.  It is now April 2013.  It's supposed to be break up here in Alaska.  You know, melting snow, mosquitos as large as sparrows beginning to appear, children playing outside, windows being opened on warm afternoons.  Old Man Winter should be well on his way out the door.  Not so.  We are in a winter weather advisory, it was -20 this morning (yes 20 below zero) and I feel like I am losing my mind!  Cabin fever has set in...not just for me, but countless other Alaskans.

cab·in fe·ver  

Noun Irritability, listlessness, and similar symptoms resulting from long confinement or isolation indoors during the winter. This is very much me right now.  Irritable....yes.  Noise levels in the house tonight were almost more than I could handle and no one really wanted to go to bed.  Of course, it doesn't help that we have 14 hours of daylight and our bodies are already beginning to adjust to that. Listlessness? Yes....I don't have a whole lot of energy to tidy the house up or do the laundry or cook meals.  Sorry honey and kiddos.  Maybe when the temps hit 25 above and it quits snowing.  No one is starving yet and they all have clean underwear. I have stuck my proverbial blogging toe back in the blogging water.  It was all Shannon's  idea that I do this again.  Perhaps, next time, I'll jump all the way in.