New Blog

I am now a blogger over at OnTrack Diabetes so please come follow my blogging over there! :)

Where did you come from?

Ok seriously where in the world did this test strips come from? Aly has been gone at diabetes camp since Sunday ... we have not used a blood glucose machine or test strips in umm .... 4 days .... I vacuumed this afternoon and somehow there is a test strip at my feet on the living room floor. Geez diabetes never really goes away even when the diabetic is not home :/

Diabetes Camp Drop Off

Yesterday afternoon we dropped Aly off about 45 minutes from our home for a week long diabetes camp that is put on by our local American Diabetes Association

We will miss her but I know just great this camp experience will be for her in regards to her diabetes care management and meeting new friends who are "just like her"

I will stay strong and try not to feel too anxious with her not being here with me. I hope diabetes plays nicely so she doesn't miss any fun activities

Diabetes Camp

My 9 year old daughter Aly leaves for a week long diabetes camp in a mere 5 days. This is only the 2nd time that she has gone to a camp without a family member going with her. This summer we braved sending her to church camp that was 2 hours away .. no nursing staff .. only a college age staffer and the knowledge that I taught her. I will say this that it truly was one of the hardest times since diagnosis for me, I generally am not an emotional person but when she left my care on that Sunday night I was an emotional wreck. I just wanted to cry, I was going through all the what if scenarios in my head, and thinking the worst! They did AMAZING, did a site change, had some lows but all were resolved, and Aly had a FABULOUS time and is ready to go again next year.

Now I know with diabetes camp she is going to be under great care ... endo's ... nurses ... other kids with t1d ... she will be in great medical hands, now I have to say that I am still freaking inside. She will not be around me, her mom, who takes care of her T1D 99% of the time and rarely asks for help. I am sure that I will try to go check her sugar when I go to bed only to find her bed empty, I will go check on her in the morning only to find her bed still empty, but I will remember that my daughter is having an amazing time. I hope that with this experience she becomes even better with changing her own infusion sites and carb counting. She will be able to have the experience again this year like she did at diabetes day camp last year where EVERYONE is checking their sugars for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack, and before exercise ... They will check ketones if needed ... They will ALL be counting the carbohydrates that they will be consuming with each meal and snack ... and they will ALL know what it feels like when their blood sugars are out of whack either high or low.

For this week I will keep my feelings to myself and let my child have an amazing life experience and feel like the "norm" instead of different.

Time to start packing my princess for diabetes camp.

Face the Facts

As the parent of a child type 1 diabetic and the creator if the Facebook page Type 1 (Juvenile) Diabetes Facts and Information; I reach out daily online to at least 3,500 people that may or may not be affected directly with Type 1 Diabetes.

As the parent I get that we do not want to hear the down right bad things about Type 1 Diabetes and we want it to be all rainbows and candy canes but seriously people, DIABETES SUCKS!! None of us asked for it, NONE of us want to deal with, and WE ALL want it to go away and a CURE to be found .... BUT until then the cold hard facts are there and we need to look at them and face them head on even though they are ugly monsters that we would rather turn our heads to.

It is a FACT that:
 

- Type 1 diabetes is a devastating autoimmune disease caused by the immune system mistakenly turning on itself, destroying beta cells within the pancreas and removing the body’s ability to produce insulin. Insulin allows the body to process blood glucose to create energy. Without insulin, the body literally starves as it has no fuel.
 

- People with type 1 diabetes cannot survive without insulin that has to be injected up to six times a day or continuously infused through a pump, as well as check their blood sugar levels up to eight times every day just to stay alive.
 
- People do not outgrow diabetes.
 
- Each year, more than 15,000 children and 15,000 adults—approximately 80 people per day—are diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in the U.S
 
- As many as three million Americans may have Type 1 Diabetes
 
- The rate of Type 1 Diabetes incidence among children under age 14 is estimated to increase by 3% annually worldwide
 
- Type 1 Diabetes accounts for $14.9 billion in healthcare costs in the U.S. each year
 
- There is NO break from Type 1 Diabetes

 

Now I get that we need to think positively to keep going forward day to day but there are times that we just need to face the facts and not get so pissed off when posts are made that make us stop and think a little bit about the disease from a medical perspective and not from an emotional perspective. 

 

I know this is a debbie downer post but I just had to put it out there and let my feelings out plain and simple 

 

 

 

I have a dream

As most of you are aware I am really big on Type 1 Diabetes Education and Support. Well this momma recently got a new set of wheels and I have a dream

I have a dream to have my 2012 Mazda 5 wrapped in Diabetes logo's and awareness so that every where I go people look at my vehicle and ask questions .. Even if they ask me why ... oh ya will they get an ear full!! I want to be a rolling diabetes awareness momma :)

THAT is my dream!!

:)

It is a nice blank slate :)

If you or your company is interested in sponsoring this dream you can contact me at hopeforaly@gmail.com

Most Happy Without You

Dear Diabetes,

I don’t know why I’m writing you. Its like you’re the ex- that never goes away, the one that you have to see and awkwardly say “hey” to in the street but are secretly screaming “run, run away!” inside.

Life was great without you. Heck, aside from being tired, I can’t complain. You’ve made me rethink my daughters diet, her life, you made me who was a C math student into a A math wiz (counting carbs, insulin ratios, blood sugar levels, fractions, addition, subtraction, multiplication yup I can do it all), I have become an unintentional unregistered nurse and have lost more sleep than I care to even know.
Just so you know, I’m telling all my friends about your dirty tricks. You won\'t be able to sneak up on anyone anymore like you did to us! They will know you are there. Unwantedly there

Just leave. No one cares about you anymore.

No wants wants you, no one needs you, and we just want you GONE FOREVER!

Katrina