Monday, October 18, 2010

Take this D and shove it

Elise starts pre-school tomorrow, and I'm a bit freaked out. And yes, a lot of it is due to the fact that she has never been apart from me (aside from the time I was in the hospital having Mattias).

But most of it is because we have not figured that freaking full-strength insulin crap out. And I'm a little frustrated, can you tell?

I can give her the same dose at breakfast, same food, same EVERYTHING and she either goes crazy low, or crazy high. There is no in between with this stuff. Plus her blood sugar is roller-coastering all over the place. Today, only 45 minutes after breakfast, she went down to 63 and skyrocketed to almost 400 after lunch. I didn't go crazy on the carbs for the low, because Check Spellingshe was 132 right before her lunch.

But on other days, she stays in the 200s right after breakfast up until about 3:00 pm, when she starts to go down.

I don't get it, and I am so afraid to send her off to school if she's having these lows (which she does every other day or so). I don't even know where to start to make changes and I freaking HATE the fact that we can't even turn to the CDEs for help.

I think the worst part is how it's affecting her behavior. If she's sporting any kind of attitude or throwing a tantrum, it's always when she's rising or falling fast on the Dexcom. It's getting downright nasty these days and we're kind of at the end of our rope on how to deal with her.

Part of me wants to go back to using diluted, because we never saw her numbers roller-coaster like this before. But I know we just need to try and figure it out. Right now is just a bad time to be doing it.

To top everything off, Mattias has reflux something terrible. He spits up at least 5 times after every feeding (that's per side, not the whole feeding). He is so miserable all the time, even though he's on medication. I think yesterday I changed his outfit 8 times and it seems that all I do these days is laundry.

I don't think I'd be as stressed about this if it wasn't for the fact she was starting school tomorrow. How do you guys handle making adjustments on days when your kids are away from you? Should I keep her home until we somewhat get a handle on this?

Man oh man... it's a "diabetes-can-suck-it" kind of day.

9 comments:

  1. If it's easier for you to postpone Elise's first day of school, do it! It's pre-school, not Law School. There's nothing Earth shattering that she'll miss. Move away from the stress and towards the calm. If it will bring a small amount of peace to your hectic life, take the time to figure out the insulin issues before she starts spending large amounts of time away from you.
    Good luck! Stay strong!

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  2. Man, I know that roller coaster! That's us all the time it seems. I feel your pain. And the reflux pain, too. Sweetpea had horrid reflux. She lived in bibs for over a year and to this day when I small spray-n-wash I think of her baby days. As for pk, well... Sweetpea's with me a pk so I don't feel qualified to answer. Go with your gut. And hug those sweeties for me!

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  4. Take your time and send her when you and she are ready and stable. It's preschool. Everything will work out. Hope the reflux gets better. I had 2 out of 3 with that and oh the smell! Take preschool one day at a time.

    I don't know if anyone has asked you this and I'm too lazy (there, I said it) to go through your past posts.. but why isn't Elise on Novolog and Lantus? Or maybe she already is on Lantus. Have you tried basal testing her these days? Growth spurt? Can you tell my brain is completely fried??? Thought so.

    And yeah, that was me deleting the first try at this post. It had so many spelling errors it looked like I didn't even go to school. Ever.

    Let's try this again.

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  5. I feel your pain, I decided not to send Miss E to preschool for this very reason. I was so afraid to put her care into someone elses hands and to be completely honost...I had never been apart from her, even before she was dx'd with type 1 diabetes.

    Both of my daughters were on diluted insulin for a very long time and this worked great for us, I found that when going to full strength there was a learning curve for me.

    I never did end up sending Miss E to preschool, she is now in kindergarten and she has been doing amazing! In fact, she is advanced in many of her school subjects. Already she has moved to the top of her class.

    I think that education wise, you can give her everything she needs and then some from home. For me, my biggest worry was the social aspect...she's doing great in that sense too :)

    So, long story short...I think she will be fine if you keep her home, if that's what your heart is telling you to do. It won't hurt to post pone pre-k a little longer. I say, follow your gut and go with what you feel is right for you and your family.

    (((HUGS)))

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  6. I'm the rebel here...I say send her. (I gasped a little myself!) You have Eileen. She will scream if there is a problem! The teacher with type 1 will totally understand the craziness of it all. Try it for a couple days...if it is too disrupting, and too crazy...then postpone. Sometimes the hardest things I ever did started with a deep breath and a step forward into the unknown. There may never be the perfect "numbers" that you want to send her. It is a couple hours. You can do this!

    That being said...I'm not there. I don't know the entirety of it all. If it isn't the right time...it isn't the right time. Sending all my love and good vibes to you! (Say a prayer too...ask for the answer you seek. I bet you get an answer. :)

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  7. I am with Meri...if we waited to get a handle on numbers over here, we would NEVER do anything!!
    At the same time, it is only preK, so don't stress yourself out either.
    Whatever decision you make, it will be the best one. :-)

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  8. I say send her too! It is so painful at first having them away from you and you just worry and worry, but slowly and surely it becomes more comfortable and you realize it is OK. Just keep your phone with you and you can pop over if there are any problems. It is so hard letting go of the control, but for us it has been such a good thing.
    Good luck!

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  9. I had my diabetes-can-suck-it day last week. ::hug::

    Personally, I'd let her run a little high during school hours just for your own peace of mind. Easier to correct a high (nothing too crazy) when she gets home than to have the school trying to catch lows.

    As for the reflux, I totally feel your pain-- both of mine had it! We did a tilted bed, medication, and used bath towels for burp cloths. I remember all too well the days when both of us had to change outfits numerous times. Ugh. I know it doesn't help to hear this right at this moment, but it DOES go away. Eventually you can stop doing quite so much laundry and all your clothes will have clean shoulders, I promise.

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