Saturday, July 3, 2010

Things I learned about Diabetes this month... June edition

- Furniture shopping with Elise will make her BG go low during the night. I can't remember how many nights we were out looking at sofa after sofa... but every night that we did, we had a long night of crashing blood sugars ahead of us. Let that be a lesson to all future furniture shoppers out there...

- My child knows how to check her own BG. I didn't know this until a few weeks ago until I went to check her and she grabbed the lancet out of my hand proclaiming, "I do it!" She then proceeded to correctly do everything she needed to, in the right order. She still has a bit of trouble lining up the test strip with her finger to get it to suck up her blood, but it's pretty good for a not-quite 3 year old. She loves to ask what the number says, and then asks if that's good. Awwwww, so sweet.

- Diabetes affects ALL areas of our lives. Everything we do is influenced by the disease. I can't think of one single area that we don't have to take diabetes into consideration. For example:
  • When I put together a weekly menu, I try to make sure each dinner is pretty balanced and doesn't have too many high-carb items in one meal. Or that we don't eat things that send Elise's BG into the stratosphere two nights in a row.
  • When we go out, do we have enough supplies? Food? Change of clothes and underwear in case her BG is high and she has an accident? Enough emergency snacks in case her BG goes low? How much food we bring is often determined by how much activity Elise will be doing.
  • When we get Elise a water from a restaurant, should we be worried that it goes through the same fountain that full-sugared pop does? Have no idea what I'm talking about? Read this.

  • Simple things like Elise riding her bike entails a BG check first, maybe a snack, and a check afterwards. She can't just be a kid and go off on a bike ride on a whim. That sucks.
There are so many more examples, but most of you already know them. I guess what I'm trying to say is that Diabetes is always on my mind and I hate it.

- If we don't get Elise on a CGM soon, Fred and I will not live to see our 40s
; having either died from sleep deprivation or killing each other. Okay, that last part about killing each other was a joke, but lately we've been getting about 2 -4 hours of sleep a night and we are so completely exhausted that tempers are a wee bit short these days. Elise's BG does funny things at night and is completely unpredictable. Some nights it won't go above 100 no matter how many carbs we give her. Other nights if her number is below 80 at midnight and we give her a few carbs, she skyrockets into the high 200s by morning. We even had one night where she hovered at 90 all stinkin' night. We didn't give her any carbs, but still felt we needed to check her almost every hour to make sure she wasn't dropping. I need sleep and I need it soon. Thankfully, our CGM trial is just around the corner.

7 comments:

  1. Kids are amazing for sure... even when we don't think they pay attention :)

    Furniture shopping too huh? I found a stroll around the mall will spack you with a low also. WEIRD!!

    I don't even want to read the soda thing, but I know I wont be able to resist clicking on that link.


    I hope the CGM brings you guys some much needed rest. I am banking on it myself... I too have been a sleep deprived crank pot ;)

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  2. The furniture thing cracked me up. I can totally see it happening though. People (non-Ds) must think we are certifiable, but truly this kind of stuff messes with wee one's blood sugars for sure.

    Good luck with your CGM trial. We are still Rocking with Dexter, but I do still tend to wake up at 3am every night. I need to find the software to download him to see Joe's trends through the night...the software is in a box somewhere around here...still unpacking from the move.

    XOXO

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  3. wow what a post ? it is awesome and yeah definately know about sleep deprivation . I hope you and fred get some much needed sleep soon .

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  4. I hope the CGM works out for you.

    I really want Matthew to get one. I think when he's at a friend's house, or at school, it will make him feel more in control of his diabetes.

    And ummm....I'm sleep deprived, too! : )

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  5. Elise is amazing...really! Checking her own sugar so young? So awesome! You really have a special girl here. She is going to be a brilliant big sister!

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  6. We're looking into the CGM as well, just waiting to get the word from insurance.

    Got your note on my blog posting today - yes we are walking again this year, we're going to be in Plano this time. I hear that's where all the cool people will be. We are going to be at the kick-off dinner, will Team Elise be there too?

    I look forward to seeing you all again - seems like it's been forever! You look fantastic in your pics and I cannot believe how much Elise has grown since we first met her.

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