Betes is Sick

It's one thing to have a sick child; Lorelei had a stomach virus that had me up at three in the morning cleaning puke off the bathroom floor, throwing rugs and pajamas in the wash and shampooing then braiding her long hair away from further spew. It sucks. Ashton now has that virus. He's in bed with a climbing fever and a stomachache.

It's another thing to have a sick Betes. Betes is in bed with a dropping blood sugar. And so the dance begins. I've lowered the basal. Waited and BG checked- time for juice. I wake Ashton up and he's a champ, getting about a third of it down before he can't sit up any longer. I put the straw down to his lips and he sips, and sips, and ever-so-slowly sips until he has most of the four ounces down. I lower his basal even more. Then I try with my ever-failing math brain to try to figure out if this is enough. I know that after about 10 minutes his blood sugar will start to rise. I know that 10 minutes after that I'll have a good read at where his blood sugar is heading. But if he pukes before that initial 10 minutes, how much sugar did he get? What if he keeps the juice down and I lowered the basal too much and his sugar starts to spike? That could also make him puke. So, if Betes is on a train from Detroit heading to Baltimore and stomach virus just left Baltimore heading toward Detroit at twice the speed of sugar, collision time would be...

The answer is No Sleep. I gave Ashton the juice and started the stopwatch on my phone. As of this moment he has kept the juice down for 17 minutes. That's a promising start. Soon I will check again. I will check an hour after that. Then an hour after that. Hopefully, we can avoid more sugar. And hoping beyond that is that I didn't lower his basal too much, but that too can get adjusted. And then I will check again, and again, because Betes is very temperamental when he gets sick.

Betes Beware

I love this picture because it shows my strong boy in his football gear while wearing his insulin pump. Yes, diabetes adds an element of difficulty, but we do what we have to do to let Ashton be "normal."

He wears his pump until its time to "hit" and the pump comes off- we don't need that to get crunched! I stay through every practice in case I have to treat a low BG, but that rarely happens. I'm the only mom on the field at halftime because I need to hook his pump on, check and bolus. His coaches are great, they always put his health first. And Ashton acts as though I'm not even there, his head is in the game.

And the best part? My son has earned an Iron Man award both seasons he's played. That means that he's never been absent to a practice or game. EVER! Even one time of high ketones during his first season. He had been puking and weak all day. He insisted that he show up to watch, learn & support his team. We got to the school, he threw up in the parking lot and I asked him if he was sure he wanted to stay. He said, "of course. I'm not missing this." And it was the right decision. He had to sit on the sidelines, but he was still there and he wasn't about to let Betes take that from him.

But Betes beware, when Ashton's on the field he visualizes the other team as diabetes and he tackles with all the strength he has. If Ashton ever gets the chance to actually tackle diabetes- well, that would be the end of that story.

Rufus

Chadd met a woman at a JDRF Walk event through Ford, who hooked him up with a bag full of diabetes goodies (that really sounds like an oxymoron, doesn't it?). Anyway, the best part of the package was this bear named Rufus. He wears a JDRF t-shirt, a medical bracelet and has patches where all the various pokes can occur.

This 12 inch bear has been more than a cuddle buddy for Ashton- he has become the family member that understands. Rufus is there for site changes, high ketone vomiting and even gets injections when Ashton does. I think it should be standard procedure to send a Rufus from the hospital with every child diagnosed with this disease. 

This is a bitter-sweet photo for me. I love that Ashton has an object that comforts him, but I'll love it even more when Betes is eliminated from our lives and we can put Rufus into retirement.

JDRF Family Fun Day @ Ford Field



 

We attended the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Family Fun Day in preparation of the upcoming JDRF walk. There was a wonderfully motivational presentation that made me feel very inadequate. I always have a head full of grand fundraising ideas, it's the plan of execution where it all falls apart. Oh well, the presentation was still good.

 

After the presentation we were directed down to the field for fun Lion's football related activities. And we didn't even think of this until a volunteer stopped Ashton and asked if he was wearing a Favre Vikings jersey- He's Not! He is wearing his own Byron Eagles jersey.

 



Ugh, not again

Why, oh why, do pump sites always have to come out right before bed?

@$$^&*%#^$

I hate diabetes.

Sweets vs. Sours

When I write or talk about diabetes I adjust my lingo to accommodate whom I'm speaking with. If I'm speaking to someone who is part of the "in crowd" of diabetes, I don't have to do any explaining. I can talk about BG's, A1C's, ketones, Glucagon, types of insulin, pumps and meters; no explanation required. If I'm speaking to someone who is not a member of the "in crowd" I have to explain what I 'm talking about, or just not say anything at all. This is how people have been divided in my mind as 'sweets' and/or 'sours.'

"But, Melanie, how do I know if I'm a sweet or sour?"

If you live the lifestyle of a person with too much sugar in their system, you're a sweet. If you are the caregiver of the person with too much sugar in their system, you're a sweet. If you are the significant other of a person with too much sugar in their system, you are also a sweet. I think you get the point.

If you don't worry about diabetes on a daily basis, you're a sour. If you occasionally put up with the constant worry and anxiety of a person or caregiver with too much sugar in their blood, you are still a sour (though your listening is always valued and appreciated). Not that people without too much sugar in their systems are "sour" people in the sense of being unpleasant; they just don't have too much sugar in their system. And therefore are excluded from the diabetes "in crowd" and the rest of us are stuck there. If you are reading this and you are a sour: please do not be disheartened! Us sugars would rather not be in the "in crowd." I prefer to think of myself as spicy (wink, wink) but whatever. The majority of us don't get to choose what we are, although a few select individuals do.

There is a special category of people who are 'sweet & sours.' These people are sours by nature, but choose to live closely knit into the sugar lifestyle. An example of these sort of sweet & sour people would be Ashton's nurses, Amanda and Jennifer. I've often referred to them as Earth Angels, and they are. They just choose to be immersed in a world where they don't naturally belong. And I am grateful for that because I don't know what I would do without the sweet & sours in my life.


So there you have it. You've heard before my opinion on how to mathematically figure out how many children you have and now you know another cultural subcategory that you fit into. Your welcome.