Wordless Wednesday: Three-fer

Three different BG checks.  All in the span of 6 hours, with no checks in between.

A diabetes three-fer.



My 48

So it seems everyone in the DOC is doing this 48 questions thing.  And since I've enjoyed reading them, I thought I might enjoy writing one.  Hopefully it will get me out of this writing funk I'm in.  I miss my blog...

1. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE?

Not that I know of... however I have been told I was going to be named Heidi.  Which was our dog's name. Nice (I don't mind the name Heidi, it's just... after a dog?  Really?  Sheesh).

2. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU CRIED?

Probably within the last few days.  Sad song, post-pregnancy hormones, diabetes sucking...

3. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING?

Sure.  Why not?

4. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE LUNCH MEAT?

Is Prosciutto a lunch meat?

5. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

Three of them.  They are presently driving me crazy.  Except for Lucas.  All he does is eat and sleep.  I'm so jealous of his life.

6. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU?

If that other person was exactly like who I am, then sure, I would LOVE me!  But it would really depend on WHO that other person was, right?  I'm sure I'm not everybody's cup of tea. 

7. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT?

Since I am probably more fluent in sarcasm than English, I'd have to say, "uhhhh, yeah!"

8. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS?

As far as I know.  Unless someone stole them while I wasn't looking.

9. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP?

I'm not a big fan of heights, but if it were for a million bucks in a racearoundtheworld... yeah I would!

10. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE CEREAL?

Steel cut oats.  Does that count?  If not, right now I'm loving rice krispies.

11. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF?

I mostly wear birks, or my slip on rocket dogs.  No laces required!  On the odd occasion I do wear running shoes I am far too lazy to untie.

12. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG?

Depends on which day you catch me on.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVOURITE ICE CREAM?

I don't really like ice cream... I'm more of a sorbet kind of girl.  I'm fancy like that.

14. WHAT IS THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE?

Personality.

15. RED OR PINK?

Neither.

16. WHAT IS THE LEAST FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF?

I don't forgive very easily.

17. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST?

I'd have to say my Grandma Ann.  She was always the first person I called to say Merry Christmas to because she lived in the eastern time zone.

18. WHAT IS THE TECHNIQUE THAT YOU NEED TO WORK ON THE MOST?

I don't really know what this question is asking... I suck at folding laundry.  Does that work?

19. WHAT COLOUR SHOES ARE YOU WEARING?

None... we don't wear shoes inside.  It's a Canadian thing.  When I first moved to the U.S. and people would wear their shoes inside my house I thought they were horribly rude.  Then I realized it's just the norm. 

20. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU ATE?

A Hershey's kiss.

21. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW?

My kids laughing and playing together.

22. IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOUR WOULD YOU BE?

I'd be one of those homemade crayons that you make my melting a bunch of differently coloured crayons together.

23. FAVOURITE SMELLS?

New baby. Mountain air. Pine trees.

24. HOW IMPORTANT ARE YOUR POLITICAL VIEWS TO YOU?

I've become pretty apathetic since I moved to the U.S. and don't have the right to vote.  I have my opinions, but try not to push them onto anyone.

25. MOUNTAIN HIDEAWAY OR BEACH HOUSE?

It depends on my mood.  I'm not a huge fan of sand, but I love the sound of the ocean.  But I also love the smells and quiet of the mountains.  In Vancouver, I never had to choose...

26. FAVOURITE SPORTS TO WATCH?

Hockey!  Baseball isn't bad either.

27. HAIR COLOUR?

Red

28. EYE COLOUR?

Blue

29. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS?

Sometimes.  I'm usually too lazy though.  The last thing I want to do before I go to bed is clean my contacts.

30. FAVORITE FOOD?

Italian

31. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDINGS?

Comedy

32. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED?

I have no idea... Fred and I started to watch the Princess Bride the other night.  Inconceivable!

33. WHAT COLOUR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING?

Still in my PJs... which are blue with ducks on a bathtub on them.

34. SUMMER OR WINTER?

Depends on where I live.  Texas in the summer?  Blergh.

35. FAVOURITE DESSERT?

Strawberry Rhubarb pie.

36. STRENGTH TRAINING OR CARDIO?

Sports... which I guess is cardio.

37. COMPUTER OR TELEVISION?

Depends.  If I'm tired, definitely TV.

38. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING NOW?

Some mystery/crime book.  Can't remember the name and I'm too lazy to go find it.

39. WHAT IS ON YOUR MOUSE PAD?

Don't have one.

40. FAVOURITE SOUND?

Silence.

41. FAVOURITE GENRE OF MUSIC?

A little bit of everything except country.  Or rap.  Or death metal.  Or regular metal, for that matter.

42. WHAT IS THE FARTHEST YOU HAVE BEEN FROM HOME?

Somewhere in Europe... Austria maybe?

43. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT?

This is lame, but when I go grocery shopping I can tell you how much my total will be within a few dollars.  I also know when I've been overcharged for an item (which is good because our grocery store gives you the item for free when they charge you the wrong price).

44. WHERE WERE YOU BORN?

Montreal.

45. WHERE ARE YOU LIVING NOW?

Texas.

46. WHAT COLOUR IS YOUR HOUSE?

I don't know... Is that weird?  We've only lived here for a year and a half.

47. WHAT COLOUR IS YOUR CAR?

Again, I don't know.  We have one that is blue, but we just bought a minivan (kill me now) after Lucas was born.  Not sure of the colour on that one.

48. DO YOU LIKE ANSWERING 48 QUESTIONS?

Meh, it was a little long.

I've got some 'splainin to do

Oh my.

These last few months have been... tumultuous. 

I feel like I can hardly catch my breath.  Especially when it comes to diabetes.

You see, we have been seeing some crazy numbers lately. 

Highs.

Lows.

And everything in between.

Numbers that make you say, "what the frakity FRAK?"  Because nothing makes any sense.

There are no patterns.  She'll be high all night one night, then low the next two. Then high again. Then one of those feeding-her-all-night-and-not-getting-her-above-70 extravaganzas (and don't you just loooooove those?).

And because there are no discernible patterns, and my life is filled-to-the-brim full of other stuff,  I feel helpless to do anything about it. The best way I can explain it is like this:

Have you ever seen that "I Love Lucy" episode where she gets a job in a chocolate factory? She is supposed to wrap the chocolates as they come by on the conveyor belt.  Except they start coming faster and faster until she can't keep up anymore.  And hilarity ensues.  See for yourself:




I feel like Lucy, and those chocolates flying by are Elise's blood sugars.  I know I shouldn't let them pass me by without doing anything about them, but they're all coming at me too fast.  All I can do is stand there and stare at them.

Or I just end up shoving them down my shirt and in my mouth... metaphorically speaking, of course.  I pretend that they are not even there.

On the surface, it all looks okay... her PDM is showing her average BG to be around 130.  But if you were to look in my bra, you'd find a whole lot of unwrapped chocolates in there.  And I'm betting it would be a bit of a mess; all melted and gooey.

I just wish I knew what to do.  I wish I could stop the conveyor belt so I could catch my breath for a bit.  And I wish I could find a resolution in just 30 minutes (well, 22 if you count commercials).

But most of all, I wish Elise's BGs really WERE chocolates.  Because that would be kinda cool. 

Have yourself a Merry little Christmas

A little late, but better than not at all.

Merry Christmas from Fred, Joanne, Elise, Mattias and Lucas!

Things Diabetes has taught me this month... December edition

I never got around to posting November's "Things"... I know I had a bunch of them, but then I had a baby and gave birth to what was left of my brain. I'm a few days late with December, but at least I'm making the effort, right?  Here goes...

-Always be prepared when it comes to D. Heck, when it comes to ANYTHING. But ESPECIALLY when it comes to D. I haven't shared much about Lucas's birth, but I went into labour while we were an hour away and had to drive straight to the hospital. I walked into L&D with nothing but the clothes on my back. There wasn't even a bag prepared at home for Fred to get. We had nothing ready for the baby either... The bassinet wasn't set up, we had no newborn diapers, no car seat... The only thing I had done was wash his clothes. But worst of all, we had to fly by the seat of our pants with Elise. We had no one to take care of her in the days following Lucas's birth.  Her care manual was still a few pages away from being done. We were lucky to have insulin and an extra pod with us the night Lucas was born.

-Have a back-up plan to your back-up plan. And another plan just in case. We weren't totally unprepared when it came to Elise's care. In the event Lucas came early, we  had approached a few friends that had an inkling of how to care for Elise to see if they were comfortable staying in the waiting room while Fred was in the OR with me. Unfortunately, friend #1 was out of town. Because it was getting late, friend #2 took Mattias to his house. Thankfully, friend #3 was able to get up to the hospital about 30 minutes after I went into surgery.

-Nurses are the bomb-diggity.  I was seriously in a panic about what to do with Elise. If Lucas had waited until his due date, my mom would have been here to look after the kids. But the doc wanted me to get into surgery ASAP and our friend couldn't be get there right away. The amazing nurses in L&D stepped up and offered to care for Elise until B could get there. One even stayed past the end of her shift. And as I quickly went over her pump,CGM and the glucagon with them, I wasn't met with blank or confused looks.  Love those ladies! And what better place for Elise to be, right?

-Sometimes D has to take a backseat. This last month has been coo-coo bananas. Lets review:

• Lucas was born a month early
• He spent 9 days in NICU
• My mom couldn't fly in until 2 days after he was born
• Mattias got sick
• Elise got sick
• Fred got sick
• Fred and I had to split our time between the NICU and home. The kids started acting out and crying every time we tried to even leave the room
• My mom got sick and ended up in the hospital with pneumonia
• I got sick
• I got pink eye in one of my eyes
• Lucas came down with some sort of funk
• At one point I had three doctors appointments in one day, making it a grand total of five for the week.
• I got pink eye in the other eye.

During all this, diabetes was being a jerk. And I feel awful saying this, but I had no time or energy to try and fix it. It really took its toll on poor Elise.


-I am so thankful for the pump.  We were still on MDI when Mattias was born and it was hard.  I think it would be almost impossible this time around.  I am still trying to learn time management with three kiddos, and dinner time is HARD. I had planned on preparing some meals and freezing them for Lucas's arrival, but I never got around to it. Now that my mom has left, things are still so crazy that dinner time sneaks up on me and I don't have anything made. Needless to say, we've been getting a lot of take-out.  I just need to figure out a rhythm to this three kids thing. Or hire a professional chef.  Anyway, I'm thankful that the pump makes mealtime a little less stressful.
 
Whew... That was a long one. And I'm pretty sure I forgot some stuff. As long as this was, it's probably a good thing I did.

My blogging hiatus

And the reason...

Welcome to the world, Lucas Andre... you sure were in a hurry to get here.

But I'm awfully glad to see you.

Lucas was born Saturday, December 8th, after a frantic 60 minute, 100 mph drive to the hospital.  I told Fred that if I had a baby in a car on the side of a road I would kill him.

Lucas came a month early and because of premature lungs, he is still in the NICU.  We are hoping to bring him home today.

Need I say that we are hopelessly in love?

We have a winner!

Sorry I'm a day late... I've been a bit busy feeling sorry for myself.  You see, I'm 35 weeks pregnant, uncomfortable, AND it's been 80 degrees here the last few days.  It's December for the love of all that's holy.  DECEMBER!  Today our church had live Christmas music after service, as well as tables laid out with cookies and hot chocolate to enjoy while listening to said music. 

Did I mention that it's 80 freaking degrees?  This is not natural.  And to all those reading this who live in colder climates and are saying to themselves, "what an ungrateful cow!  I would give anything for some nice, warm weather in December!"  Let me assure you... no, you wouldn't.  It would be okay for about 30 seconds, and then the tiny life you are incubating inside you would make you feel as if you are going to burst into flames at any moment. 

Now that 've had my hormonal rage for today, onto happier things!  Like drawing the winner of the WDD Hope sign...

Mixing up the numbers... we're a high tech household.

She took her job as number picker very seriously...

And the winner is.... comment #4!  Sarah from the Ethan & Issac Show!

Congrats Sarah, just email me your address by clicking the "contact me" link, and we'll get the sign sent out to you.  Or maybe I'll just come up there and hand deliver it.  I could use some rain right about now.

Just call me MacGyver

That, my friends, is a lot of tape.  It worked though... this pod made it the full three days. 

And don't forget to leave a comment on my Special Sib of a D-Kid post if you want to win this.  Adorable boy giving the stink-eye NOT included...

Special Sib of a D-Kid day - two years later

Two years ago, I wrote this about Mattias on the Special Sib of a D-kid.  He was only two months old at the time.

And now, at the age of two, some of those things are beginning to dawn on him.

He loves her.

He hurts with her.

He's there when she needs him.

The rest will come later.  For now he'll continue to do his thing.

Hugging her when she cries.

Watching her be brave during pod/dex changes.

Learning to check his own BG so "he can be wike Eweese".

And occasionally stealing Smarties (that we use for lows) from her diabetes bag.

He's Mattias... that's how he rolls.

And on this special day, Mattias would like to let you know that we're doing a giveaway here on Death of a Pancreas.  My talented friend Marla made this in honour of World Diabetes Day (yes, I know... I'm so very late posting this) for me to give to one lucky reader. 

Marla takes pieces of old wood and re-purposes it into art.  You can check her out here.  It doesn't come with any hardware to hang it, but you could certainly add it yourself, or just prop it on a mantle.

To win, all you have to do it leave a comment.  I will draw and announce the winner on Dec.1st.

Good luck and Happy Special Sib of a D-Kid Day to all the amazing siblings out there!

A tale of two Dexes - My thoughts on the G4

Thoughts.  Not review.  Mostly because my brain can't handle a full-fledged review at this point.  My melon is far too consumed with growing a baby to be very coherent these days.  So the following is the best I have to offer...

Lunchtime with the Dexcom G4

Let me start of by saying I love me some G4.  So much so that I want to run off to Hawaii, marry it and have a whole generation of little G4s with it.  Does that make me weird? 

What has me swooning:

-The range. Oh-sweet-Lord-in-heaven-above, the range!  The G4 boasts a range of 20 feet, but we have seen  far better than that.  In fact, we can keep the receiver in our room at night, and it picks her up over 20 feet away and around a few corners.  I nearly peed myself with excitement when I realized this.  Although the peeing itself is not so special in that it doesn't take much these days.  Seriously, a stifled giggle is a huge problem.  All the Mamas in the house know what I'm sayin'.

What was I talking about?

-The size.  When I saw side-by-side comparisons, they did not do justice to just how much smaller the G4 is than the 7+.  Gone is the cumbersome oval-shaped curiosity (most people could not figure out what it was... one woman asked if it was a GPS for Elise), and in it's place is a sleek, Ipod-esque receiver that most people don't give a second glance to. It is lighter, thinner, and overall has a nice feel to it.



You'd think I'd clean off my counter to get a decent shot...



-The colours.  The interface is pretty much the same as the 7+, but the colours make it a whole lot easier on the eyes.  The reds for lows and yellows for highs irk my husband, but I'm coming around on it.  I like being able to look quickly at the graph and see the trouble spots in plain view.


The prettiest 24-hour graph I ever did see.  Yes, I am bragging!



-The COLOUR.  As in pink.  I'm not such a fan of the pink as I am the marketing geniuses that made it attractive to my daughter.  As I've said before, well played.

What makes my bum itch

(as an aside, this is why I could never be a professional reviewer.  Seriously, what company would want someone who talks about marrying inanimate objects, incontinence, and itchy bums?)

-The alarms. Not the fact that they exist, but the ear-splitting annoyance of them.  You have a few more to choose from, but I find the new fancy-schmancy alarms to be worse than the originals.  I am still in favour of being able to upload music and use those for alarms.  Since it looks like an Ipod, couldn't it sound like one?  I would go with "Low" by Flo Rida for lows, and "High" by The Cure for highs.  Not too original, but I think it shows off my diverse musical tastes, don't you?

-The rashes.  You'll remember that Elise used to get horrific rashes from the adhesive when we were using the Dexcom 7+.  It was one of the main reasons we didn't fight her when she wanted to stop using the dex.  I was so tired of looking at her swollen, red skin.  So far the rashes haven't been as bad, but you need to read my next point to find out why.  I just wish they could figure out a way to make the adhesive hypo-allergenic.

-The failures.  We are two-for-two on sensor failures so far.  The first sensor lasted only two days.  The second, five.  Now I will say that Dexcom is GREAT at replacing these sensors, but they still bug me.  Leading up to the failure, we usually see an hourglass in the upper right-hand corner, followed by the dreaded ???. Each time, the Dex came back, only to fail outright a few hours later. Still, this doesn't deter me from loving the G4.

-The transmitter and how freaking hard it is to remove it from the sensor.  I don't remember having as much of an issue with the 7, but both times I've changed the sensor, removing the transmitter has been a fight.  I can't even use the designated remover-thingy (not it's real name), because it broke when I tried.  We use baby oil or unisolve to take the sensor off of Elise's skin, so that doesn't make it any easier.

Things that make me say "meh"
(in other words, things that don't bug me)

-The transmitter size.  Yeah, it sticks out a bit more, but if that's the trade-off for better range, I'm all for it.


Old on the left, new on the right

 -The transmitter life. Only 6 months compared to the 7+'s 18-month life.  Again, if that's the trade-off for better range, I'm okay with it.

-The insertion device.  Some people hate it, and seem a little ticked that it hasn't changed.  I have no issue with it, and Elise barely flinches during the insertion, so it's no big thing to us.

So... those are my thoughts on the G4.  I'm glad Elise happened to be looking over my shoulder when I was reading about it, because I never would have pursued it on my own.   We took a break from it last night after the sensor failure and I miss it already!