The Hand That 2011 Has Dealt So Far....

May 13......D-Blog week was the week that I was going to jump back into blogging. Here it is the very last day...and I here I am. Actually, it's quite appropriate for how my life has been since January 12.
January 12 is yet another day engraved in my mind forever, much like Jada's diagnosis date. A game changer for our family. January 12 is the day that Jeff was involved in a horrible car accident in the middle of nowhere Alaska in 20-30 below temperatures.
He was coming home from Delta Junction (95 miles away) in a Subaru station wagon driven by his friend and co-worker, Luke. They came up over a hill and were going down the other side, when a truck in the opposite lane passed another vehicle in a no passing zone. It was icy. Jeff and Luke had nowhere to go, so Luke turned the car sideways and took the full force of this big truck. What they didn't know, was the "other vehicle" was an ambulance, coming back from Fairbanks. God is so good. Jeff and Luke had immediate medical attention....that doesn't even happen in the middle of a city! The entire left side of Luke's body was broken....from a concussion on his head all the way down to a broken ankle. Jeff was able to walk with help from the car to the ambulance...but was experiencing intense internal pain. He had indeed bruised his colon and broke some vertebrae in his back, and had a concussion.
Jeff was admitted to the hospital and the dr. told him that his colon would most likely perforate...and it did. Two days after the accident, I was getting ready to head to the hospital, and Jeff called. His colon had perforated in the middle of the night and they were prepping him for surgery. The surgery lasted somewhere between 3 and 4 hours and they ended up removing a foot of his colon, leaving him with a temporary colostomy. He ended up being in the hospital for 8 days, healing and learning how to care for his colostomy. Luke just got out of the hospital a few weeks ago, still with broken bones that are healing.
The weeks that followed were all a blur to me. Jeff had business trips to Chicago (because....oh...by the way....the same day he was in the accident he also found out that he got a new position with his current company) that he had to take and then the kids and I took a trip to Iowa to see family before spring break hit all around the country. Traveling stand- by is something you just don't want to attempt at certain times of year!
Somehow, April rolled around really fast. At the beginning of the month, Jeff had an MRI done to see how well his colon was healing. After the initial surgery, they told us it would be 3-6 months before they would re-attach his colon, depending on how well he healed. Well, the MRI showed some good stuff, so he was scheduled for surgery on the 27th of April, a few days after Jada's 6th birthday.
Now...we are on the other side of surgery. Two weeks post-op now and he is completely ecstatic to be done with the colostomy bag, but healing from this surgery has been extremely painful. His surgery lasted two hours...an hour and a half of it was spent cleaning up the scar tissue from all of the abrasions that happened during the accident. His dr. told me that healing was going to be slow and difficult...he told Jeff as well, but for some reason, Jeff thinks that it ought to be moving along a little faster than it is! :)
Lessons learned from this..... 1)Friends and family are CRUCIAL parts of your life. Jeff's sister and husband flew up from Anchorage after the accident. His dad flew up from Iowa to help with the kids. And my church family provided us with meals for two weeks plus I could call any one at any time if I needed anything. I could go on and on with the things that people did for us. It blew my mind. 2) I will never again take my husband for granted. Our marriage has been growing stronger over the years, but this has shoved it forward even more. He is God's perfect gift to me and he completes me in everyway. I don't want to walk through this life and raise our children without him. 3)Diabetes can take a back seat! Blood sugars haven't been perfect (but really...when are they?) but Jada is doing great. I've learned to trust other people with her in ways that I never would have before.
So...this has basically been our life, with diabetes on the side. Accident, surgery, recovery, a little bit of normal...then more surgery and a whole lot of recovery. Life should be getting back to normal for us soon. I'm starting my summer schedule at work...going to nights rather than my typical early mornings. School is out this week...the weather is amazing (after a VERY cold winter) and I'm ready to get back to my real life!!

I Want to Hide in My Room and Cry.......

I don't want her to see the worry...or to ever feel the knot in her stomach that I had when the meter rang up a hefty 540 blood sugar this morning. My first clue when I got home from work this morning was the uber dry lips that she had. We took the older kids to school, then when we got home, she asked for a glass of water. Guzzle. Gone. Then another glass of water. Guzzle. Gone. Or...how about the ultra sweet breath that I haven't smelled in such a long time, but recognized at the first whiff? Blood sugar check. Whew.....540. Gulp. More water Jada? No..but she really had to go potty! Gee...I wonder why.... I grabbed the ketone strips and she laughed.....peeing on those darn things for some reason are SO much fun. Large ketones....not a surprise. Obviously, something was wrong and it was most likely the site. And sure enough, when she pulled it out (which is also a tremendous amount of fun for Jada), the cannula was practically bent in half. Ugh.

I checked her at 3 a.m. this morning when I got up for work. She was 300. Lately, she's been high in the middle of the night, so I didn't think too much about it, just gave her a correction and off to work I went. Jeff always takes care of her breakfast, because I'm not home and normally, I communicate with him through a note on the kitchen table about any "action" that I've taken in the wee morning hours, but I didn't today. Looking back through her numbers, I see she was still at about 300 when she ate her breakfast. If he had known that I gave a correction and it didn't work, he most likely would have changed the site.

Guilt. It's what I'm feeling. Not communicating. Being in a hurry...both of us wanting to just get to work and get our day started. I have fought back tears all morning. Jada didn't want to do a site change...they've been a battle and she prefers Jeff doing them. Big, hot, salty tears rolled down her cheeks as she fought me. And I could hardly hold mine back. If it were an option to run to the bedroom and lock the door, bury my face in my pillow and scream....I would have. There are days, like today, that I just don't think I can do this anymore. But I see how well she does this life, and think...how can I not? And I will.

Where Do I Start??

I don't know where to start since I last blogged.....life has been absolutely C.R.A.Z.Y over the last month. I find myself so mentally and physically worn out at the end of the day that I have no energy left over to blog...even though I have blog material coming out of every orifice of my body!!!! So maybe tonight I'll just touch on a few things then over the next few days, get a little more detailed about what we've been up to.

Obviously, our biggest news is Jada starting on the pump. She started the Minimed Paradigm Revel a month ago. The newest member of our family has been named Pinky.....and do we ever love Pinky. Pinky gets sick, she watches cartoons and reads books with Jada. I don't know how we've lived without her! Pinky, with her ability to upload info to a computer, has really been teaching this Mama some lessons! Pinky doesn't lie....and lets me know where I need to do my homework!!! It's called tough love and Pinky does it well........((sigh)).

We also have a new, wonderful doctor! I wasn't sure what would happen after Dr. Woodward passed away, but the clinic shifted Jada's care to other Dr. who takes care of all the Type 1 kids here in Fairbanks. I couldn't be more pleased. And Jada adores him. We've seen him twice since starting the pump and he has her in stitches each time we go in. Dr. S. raised two daughters with Type 1 Diabetes, so he gets it as a parent. He knows about the worry and frustration that accompanies the management of this disease. He GETS IT! I really need that right now, because I am in uncharted territory with Pinky.

School. Jada started the pump on the first day of school for my other three kiddos. Hello. Could I ask for a worse time to start something so HUGE??? I really don't know if it was the best time to start, because I haven't been able to spend the time "tweaking" those dang ratios and basal rates that I should have. Because I'm tired. ALL of the time! Oh and Jada will start homeschooling kindergarten at some point in the next week or two. I'm not ready to send the big D to school yet!!!

Work. I LOVE my job. So much fun...so interesting. I, yes, I, boarded Snoopp Dogg on a plane last month. Anyone jealous??? haha! :D I had been unsure if I would be able to permanently keep the job as I was hired as "seasonal" but last week was told I would be staying on and was able to bid for a shift. I will continue working my early morning hours 4:15 am-8:15 am. These hours can be exhausting, but they work so well for the family. I worked 30 hours a week over the summer, but this week, my hours go down to 20...which is WAY okay with me!!!

Okay...I need to wrap this up. Got to go and meet the hubby. He's been off delivering a load of wood (we'll just call him Jeff the Lumberjack--kind of sexy, eh?) :D . The wood business...something else to blog about and way that God has provided for our family!

Okay..I PROMISE....I will blog more, I will blog more, I will blog more, I will blog more........

Dear Dr. Woodward

Dear Dr. Woodward,

In January of 2009, we began to seriously consider moving back to Fairbanks. There was something big holding us up...and that big thing was diabetes. We had lived here previously and we knew that sometimes medical care could be lacking. After all, Fairbanks is remote. 6 hours north of Anchorage....less than 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle. Jada had been diagnosed with diabetes about 6 months after we had moved back to the lower 48. We felt relieved that we were in a big city with a large hospital who could take care of her and give us some good tools. She was so sick upon diagnosis, that if we had been living here at the time, I don't know if she would have survived. It would have meant Jada being transported by plane to Anchorage or even Seattle for treatment. So, we had some serious concerns about moving back.

However, we really believed that God was calling us back here....and knew that He would provide our every need and that Jada would be taken care of. If anything, we KNEW how to take care of her and if we had to drive 6 hours to Anchorage every three months for an A1C, we would do it. I decided to make a few phone calls. I found out there was a diabetes center...found the phone number and called. That was the most reassuring phone call that I could have made. You see, Dr. Woodward, they told me all about you and Dr. Steiner and how you both had stepped up to the plate and were taking good care of all the Type 1 kids in the Fairbanks area--because there are no enodocrinologists in Fairbanks. I knew then, that, God was giving us the go ahead...that care was available and that the care was good.

The first time I met you, I was even more reassured. Jada was so shy...and you were so patient with her. You won her over the first time you brought a sample pump out and she held it in her hands....and then told her they came in pink. That first visit, Jada had a low blood sugar and you were more ready than I was. You quickly disappeared into your office and brought back a juice box with Bert and Ernie on it...her favorite kind. When Jada's A1C came back at 6.7...you were just as excited as I was. The next visit when it rose to 8.0.....you weren't critical...you were encouraging...and we carefully evaluated her numbers to see what changes we needed to make. And we did well....the next A1C was 7.6.....and you were so happy with it. When I failed to thoroughly log blood sugars, you didn't jump all over me..actually, when I apologized, you smiled and told me that you knew I would do better next time...that I was busy and that I had my hands full with 4 kids plus a new job.

You were a student of this disease. As a matter of fact, you only prescribed one pump to all of your patients...because you were the ONE person in town that we would be able to get some help from if something went wrong. You listened to me.....you understood that I was the primary care giver and that ultimately, her care was in my hands on a day to day basis. You were my cheerleader and sounding board.

And now you're gone. It's been a shock...I've had a hard time processing it this week. Where do we go from here? Do we give Dr. Steiner a try? Do we go to Anchorage or Wasilla? All I know is that I really would like to have you back! Jada's pump arrived just a few days before you passed into eternity......I was so looking forward to this journey with you. Your amazing staff, however, is pressing on and taking care of all of your kids. I found out today that there will be 2 other kids close to Jada's age taking the pump class with us. Do their moms feel as I do? Like we're starting this journey without our greatest advocate? I know we'll figure it out...and I know that we'll press on...but it won't be the same with out you......

You are much loved and missed.......

Amy

Dr. Marianna "Missy" Boaz Woodward passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, July 25, 2010, in Fairbanks.
She is remembered and mourned by countless family and friends in Alaska and on both coasts of the United States.
Born in Charlottesville, Va., on Jan. 27, 1951, Missy grew up on her family's apple farm south of town in Covesville. She graduated from Lane High School in Charlottesville and attended Agnes Scott College in Atlanta one year before transferring to Davidson College in North Carolina. When she graduated with honors in 1973, she was the first female graduate in the school's history. She and her husband, Kes, who graduated with her from Davidson the same year, were married in 1971.
The couple moved to Alaska in 1977, living in Juneau and Anchorage before moving to Fairbanks in 1981. An art major at Davidson and full-time studio potter during her first few years in Alaska, Missy decided to become a doctor and completed three years of undergraduate science courses in Juneau and Fairbanks before entering the WAMI medical program. She received her medical doctor's degree from the University of Washington in 1987 and completed her pediatric residency at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center in Hanover, N.H. in 1991.
Missy joined Tanana Valley Clinic in 1991, and in addition to seeing pediatric patients, served as the clinic's president and for several years as its first medical director. She continued to practice with the remarkable staff of TVC and Fairbanks Memorial Hospital at the time of her death.
Missy was preceded in death by her father, Emmett Daniel Boaz Jr.; her mother, Marianna Wilson Boaz; and her sister, Ada Cornelia Boaz.
She is survived by her husband, Kesler Woodward of Fairbanks; son, Eli Woodward and his partner Becca Lang of Seattle; brothers, Emmett Daniel Boaz III and Wilson Ashby Boaz of Virginia; sister, Emily Katherine Kroehler of Virginia; treasured nieces and nephews now living in Virginia, Texas and Fairbanks; and her husband's family in South Carolina.
A memorial service for Missy will be held at 4 p.m., Thursday, July 29, at Zion Lutheran Church, 2982 Davis Road, with Pastor Susan Granata of Christ Lutheran Church officiating. A reception will follow at the church.

It's HERE!

What else to bring me back to blogging...but our pretty little pink PUMP!!! After what seems like waiting ETERNALLY for insurance approval, I received an email 3 days ago from UPS telling me that they would be delivering a package on the 22nd of July from MEDTRONIC! AND...that it would require a signature...so I knew instantly what it was. Waiting for the last two days has seriously been a little like waiting for Christmas!

I rushed home from work yesterday morning (I work from 4:15 am-9:15am) in hopes that the UPS man wouldn't beat me. And I determined to stick myself to my house like glue so that I wouldn't miss him. We were told that delivery would happen between 10 am and 7 pm..gotta love that! Basically...I couldn't go anywhere! Which was okay, because honestly, I'm rather tired on a daily basis because of the hours I work. Such a great excuse to take a nap. However, my nap was only half there, because I was afraid I would miss the ring of the door bell! Of course, the kids kept their eyes open for me. Jada kept coming inside to ask if that "big brown truck" had brought her pump yet!

5 o'clock rolled around and nothing yet. I had to go and pick Jeff up from work and I JUST KNEW that it would show up while I was gone. I actually asked my neighbor to keep her eyes open for the UPS truck and asked her to sign for it! The suspense was killing me! Fortunately, Jeff works close to home, so I was only gone for 15 minutes. I kept looking for the truck in my neighborhood as I drove so that I could chase him down if I needed to!! :) And yes...I would have!

Jeff and Eli had football and I was supposed to be having my recovery group at the church office at 7. It was nearly 6 pm and nothing yet...not even a sighting of the "big brown truck" in our neighborhood. Jeff left and I called my gals and said that I was moving the group to our home for two reasons....no one to watch the girls AND that pump had not yet arrived!!! So..I commenced with my rushed cleaning and the ever frantic watching out the window for the big, brown truck!! At 6:42 pm exactly, Jada, standing in front of the window, jumps up and down and begins to scream, "It's here....it's HERE!"

I fought back tears while I signed for it....the UPS man was a little baffled by all of the emotion...Jada's excitement, my teary eyes....but I explained to him what it was.....and yet, he still didn't quite get it! :)

Jada could hardly wait to tear into the box...I couldn't either. It was full of so. much. Finally, we found the box that said "Mini-med Paradigm Revel"....there it was....the cutest little pink pump I've ever seen. Of course, Jada wanted to put it on right now and then I had to explain to her what we had to do to start wearing it. She wants signed up for a pump class...like, ummmm...YESTERDAY!

So, it's here. I called the dr. today (and of course she's NOT IN) to let her know we received it and that we are ready for pump class. I hope to hear something back soon...because I'm ready to get going...and Jada is too!

A1C, Lovin' My Job and MORE SLEEP PLEASE!

My training schedule for work has been 6 pm to 1:30 am....leaving me pretty darn sleep deprived and tired. But...seriously....sleep deprivation is nothing new to me!!! Ha. I find myself waking up between the hours of 10 and 11 am...my kids full well into their day and ready for lunch while I'm eating breakfast. I leave for work at 5:15, so it seems as if there is never enough time to get anything done. Today my house is a mess and Jeff may be on his own for dinner tonight. I've been trying to have something nearly cooked so that all he has to do is finish it up and feed the kids. Not today, though. I'm thinking it's going to be left over spaghetti!!! I'll be wrapping up training this week, then a whole new schedule will set in. My main shift is going to be 4 a.m. to 9:15 a.m., with the exception of Saturday, which will start at 5 am and end at 3:15 pm. So, I'm actually pretty happy with it...I get my days and nights with the kids which is what I wanted.

I love the job! It's a lot of fun and so far, customers have been very patient with me! :) There is SO much to learn and so many regulatory things that I have to follow, that it can be overwhelming at times. My uniform should be here this weekend, which is good, because I'm tired of trying to figure out what to wear every day!! :)

Jada had her check up last week. It went great!! A1C was 7.6 down from 8.1 in January. I was so happy about that. Overall, the last several months have gone well. Of course, I asked about her pump...and apparently, the paperwork got lost and is being resubmitted. We are going to stick with the Minimed. And yes...I'm making a follow up phone call at the end of the week to make sure the paperwork was indeed found and has been submitted!!!

So...that's it and that's that. We're good. All is well.

Time to Update.....

Hey everyone....I'm back. :) I guess one thing is certain, if I'm not writing something, then things are going pretty well! We have had a lot going on, so I guess that can be my excuse for not sitting down and taking the time to blog.

1)Jada...that little girl is doing GREAT! The numbers are looking good....maybe more days on the lower side, but overall very good. I will get the true picture tomorrow when I sit down to finish logging her blood sugar numbers which I'm HORRIBLE at doing. We have our 3 month check up next week, so it's time to get my stuff in order! I'm having second thoughts on the Medtronic and am thinking about pushing for the OmniPod, because rumor has it that our dear Dr. has prescribed one to another child!!! We shall see.....hmmmmm.........

2)My job. Since my last post, I've been hired and already trained as a Customer Service Agent for a certain airline that is big in Alaska!!! :) I spent Sunday, Monday and Tuesday of this week in Seattle training for my new position. This coming Monday, I start on the job training and am SO excited. I'll be working up to 30 hours a week, so it will be a pretty big adjustment for our family, but I'm up for the challenge. A highlight of my time in Seattle was spending time with Jeff's cousins and aunt in Seattle. I just love them so much and am so proud I'm part of the family.

3)SUMMER! Summer is here! All light, all the time! 80 degrees this week and gorgeous. I'm enjoying my kids and the fact that I can kick them outside whenever I want to! :) haha! I kick myself out with them when I have the chance. With both of us working, it's going to be hard to get away, but we are looking forward to the chance that my sister and her family may get to come and see us!

That's it...that's what's up. Summer, new job and good numbers. What more could I ask for? I'm just extremely grateful for all we've been given and the life we've been blessed with!