today was a good day

With apologies to Ice Cube, today was a good day, not because I didn't have to use my A.K., but because it was the first time my kid gave herself an insulin injection. And she did so with confidence and only the slightest hesitation right before the crucial moment.

I had explained to her that even though an insulin pump is in her near future, we still need to have the shots handy, as a back-up system. I also told her that she would probably need to be able to administer her own shots before the doctors would move forward with the pump business. So this morning at breakfast, I asked her if she wanted to give it a shot (HA!); she did. It was an incredible moment, to see her nervousness fade away after she pulled the needle out and watch her face light up with the pride of what she had accomplished. Then she got a twinkle in her eye and said, "Let's not tell dad, and the next time I need a shot, I'll just do it myself and we can totally freak him out!"

Which she did! I think she was more concerned with his reaction than any pain or discomfort from the shot. After she finished and we had explained everything to him, the three of us just grinned at each other for a bit. Seeing both of their faces beaming at me from where they were sitting together on the couch is something I will not soon forget.

Today was a good day.

new friends

A few weeks ago we attended our first Diabetes Support Group and it was a really positive experience. We even ran into a former classmate of L's who also has diabetes, and her family was nice enough to invite us over to their house the following week. While L and her friend S played air hockey and rode RipStiks around the basement, S's mom was nice enough to indulge my many questions about life with an insulin pump, which S has been using for a few years and L is finally eligible for next month. It seems that there will be another rather large learning curve when we transition to the pump, but we feel it will be worth it for the added independence L will eventually have. And she's really looking forward to it. Although it means that we will have to engage in a re-imagining of Insulin Woman! She'll have to come up with a different trademark sound effect besides SCHWING!

So next week we have an appointment at the Clinic and we'll get L's latest A1C level and also get the ball rolling on the whole pump process. On we go...

vorsprung durch technik

A few weeks after L was diagnosed, I was eating lunch at IKEA with a friend. A young family sat down at the table behind me and suddenly, through the ambient noise and chatter of the restaurant, I heard these words as if they were said using a loudspeaker: "Oh, you're low. Do you feel low? Here, have some juice." It was so surreal; I actually thought I was imagining things.

Picture this: One day, someone informs you that you have to learn how to speak German. Fluently. And if you don't, Bad Things Will Happen. And you're like, "Bzuh? German? Never really thought I'd have to learn that but...okay?" And everyone is telling you, "German is not as hard as you think und bevor Sie es kennen, sind Sie ein Fachmann" and you're all, "Um, what?" But sure enough those people were right, and before you know it you're sprechender Deutscher like nobody's business. And one day, you're at a restaurant, surrounded by people who never give German a second thought and through the buzz of regular conversation you hear the person behind you speaking German but you think, "There is no possible way that person is actually speaking German, I mean, maybe I am mistaken" but before you can stop yourself you are turning around in your chair and saying, "I am sorry to interrupt, but I couldn't help but overhear, IS THAT GERMAN YOU WERE SPEAKING?"

Well, that's what happened in IKEA a couple of months ago. The family behind me was speaking my language. And not only that, but they'd been fluent for like two years. They told me about a group of people who meet every month to share ideas to make speaking German a natural part of your daily lives and if you don't mind, I'm gonna drop the foreign language metaphor because I have no clue how I'm going to work insulin pumps into the whole sprechen Sie Deutsch gimmick.

So yeah, this young family in the IKEA restaurant postponed eating their tasty meatballs to tell me about a local support group for families living with diabetes. There is a meeting this weekend, and it happens to be the annual vendor expo as well, so not only will L hopefully meet some kids her age with T1D, but she'll also get a chance to check out the different kinds of insulin pumps on the market. Since our insurance does not cover pumps until six months after diagnosis, she won't be able to try them out for real until February at the earliest, but at least this will give us an idea of our options. Needless to say, we're all pretty excited about it.

Also this weekend, we will finally get around to taking our Christmas decorations down. I'll be happy to see them go, even though they look pretty cool in the snow.



Stay warm! :)