Thursday, September 29, 2011

Crazy Day

Well today had its ups and its downs. When Aly had her 930am check she was in the 40's, the nurse was able to get her back up, got another call in the afternoon that she was in the 70's and this was about an hour or so before she would get on the bus so we gave her a snack to keep her in range until she got home. The rest of the day was great.

We had a 6 foot banner made for the advocacy that we do in the community and got to pick it up today. We were excited, it looks pretty awesome.

Overall ok day


Wednesday, September 28, 2011

3 hours

Last night it took us 3 hours to get her low to get to 155, it is nights like these that are the hardest. Mommy only got 4 hours of sleep, Aly had to get poked 9 times for blood sugar checks, and she had to eat cake icing. I really hope we can curb these nighttime lows soon

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Why?

Well Aly had a good day blood sugar wise until bedtime. At bedtime she was in the 80's so I lowered her basal to 80%, normally this helps bring her sugars back up into normal range without having to have her consume a fast acting carbohydrate ... there is always an exception right?!? Well tonight it one of them. I was getting ready to go to bed and decided that I needed to check her to make sure the temp basal was working ... boy was it not! Aly was at 55. So now begins the long night, will recheck her in 20 minutes and go from there..

AAAHHHHH

Good night

Last night was a good night in the diabetes realm for us. Aly was 150's at bedtine and woke up at 92 this morning. I was able to get a full nights sleep and so was Aly. YAY :)

Monday, September 26, 2011

Good Day

Today was a good day! Aly's blood sugars were in range all day at school and was on target when she got home... YAY!

What is Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes, formerly known as juvenile diabetes, affects children, adolescents and young adults. An autoimmune disease, Type 1 has no cure and is not contagious.

People with Type 1 diabetes must control their illness with diet, exercise and insulin. The cause of diabetes is unknown. Researchers believe the body's own defense system attacks itself, destroying the pancreatic cells that produce insulin.

Insulin is a hormone produced by a healthy pancreas to convert blood glucose into energy. If you do not have diabetes, your body maintains a perfect balance between what you eat and the amount of insulin you produces.

A Type 1 diabetic must test their blood sugar often, and give themselves insulin to maintain such a balance.

Blood sugars that are too high or too low can be very dangerous. Untreated high blood sugars can eventually cause a serious condition called ketoacidosis, resulting in coma or death. Extremely low blood sugars can cause a person to lose consciousness and die as well. Hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) is a very common problem in children with diabetes, and must be treated immediately.

As children grow into adults with diabetes, they may no longer recognize the symptoms. This can be very serious. A few adults in this situation now have dogs (D.A.D - Diabetes Assistance Dog) that live with them and can recognize when their blood sugar is dropping, by smell. Dogs are trained especially for this task. This can be a life saving tool for those who no longer feel their low blood sugar.

People with Type 1 diabetes must inject insulin with needles or use an insulin pump. An insulin pump is a small computerized device that contains insulin. The pump secretes small amounts of insulin every second through tubing attached to the body. Insulin is also given to match the amount of carbohydrate a person eats. This is called a bolus. Too much, or not enough insulin can cause life threatening conditions.

Signs and symptoms of the disease may include extreme thirst, weight loss, frequent urination, drowsiness, lethargy, sudden vision changes and increased appetite. If you notice these symptoms, you should take your child for medical care immediately. In most situations, children are hospitalized until blood sugars are stable and families are educated on how to manage Type 1 diabetes.

Children with Type 1 diabetes can live a normal and fulfilled life. They just have something extra to tend to. They can participate in sports and many other activities like other kids. There are strides being made every day so children do not have to live with this chronic disease.

Good day so far

Knock on wood but so far today Aly's blood sugars have been good. She did go into the nurses office at about 10:30 saying that she didn't feel good, her bg was 109, most of the times when this happens her blood sugar is on a rapid decline but is not low yet. I went ahead and have them give her a 13g snack without dosing her hoping that this will ward off a low but also hoping that it doesn't send her up too high either.

This is a game and I will win!!

Start to the day

Last night we ate at Longhorn and unfortunantly mommy's SWAG on her lemonade and sweet potatoe was not enough so she ended up with blood sugars in the 300's (we don't always get it right). Got that corrected and had a good night otherwise. No lows thankfully

When she woke up this morning her blood sugar was 142, we did a site change, I am going to run a 90% temp basal for school to try and curb these lows that show their ugly head during her school day. Let's hope this helps!

Sunday, September 25, 2011

Today we start

Today we start our blogging experience. We started this blog in 2008 when Aly was a mere 4 years old and we were still some what new to type 1 diabetes. We are now 2,074 days into Aly's long life battling this diease.

So far in these 2,074 we have had our ups and we have had our downs but every day we get to understand her disease more and more and learn how to make her life the best that it can be. It can be very scary like it has been lately when she is having a bunch of lows, it can also be scary when she is having a bunch of highs. Diabetes is a 24/7 very evil game that has no set rules, no referee, and things change at the blink of an eye.

I hope this blog helps me get out my feelings about dealing with a child with juvenile diabetes but also helps others.