she is

Last weekend, we got together with friends to create postcards for the World Diabetes Day Postcard Exchange. In the past, John has joined in, but this year he was inspired to write a poem instead. He has allowed me to share it here.

She is

The phone rings, I answer.  On our way to Children’s, see you in 10 minutes.

Fear, Strength, Courage

I say hello- I smile, I wink, I hold her hand, and I show her courage.

We sit in the room.  Cold light, cold air, cold bed.

We wait, we silently fear.

Dr. John walks in, solemn look, Type 1 he says.

I turn and smile, I wink, I hold her hand, and I show her courage, and silently fear.

Nurse walks into the room.  First shot, She shows no fear, she is courage.

First night in the hospital, She is quiet.  She sleeps with no fear. I am cold, I do not sleep.  Silent tears fall, I have fear, I have no more courage left. She sleeps.

Home

Days, turn into weeks, into months.  Her first shot on her own, she shows no fear. She is courage.

She is strength, she is courageous, she shows no fear.  She is shy. She is brilliant.

She is the light that shines in dark places. 

She is more than Type 1.

halloween 2013

Trick-or-Treating was postponed to November 1 this year due to storms and high winds. Luckily, the weather on Friday was clear and warm and perfect for spending a couple of hours outside with friends.

L's costume was a Starship Ranger from the StarKid play called Starship. Here's a photo of some of the cast in action, to give you an idea of what she was inspired by.

 

And here she is, in character, obvs.

 She wasn't alone on her quest for candy.

Pip as a Holy Cow

A as Claire Kent

Happy Halloween 2013!

first day of school - 2013

 [better late than never]

ffl2013

I had grand plans of being fully caught up on reading blogs before I headed to Florida next week but that was clearly a foolish pipe dream dale. The fam and I are so excited to be heading to the Friends for Life conference in Orlando for our third year in a row. If you're also heading down there, drop me a comment or shoot me an email. I wish everyone in our online community could make it there, just once. But until that happens, I'll do my best to post a recap that does it justice.

In the meantime, here's a happy little song that reminds me of the DOC.

The Friend Song by EleventyFour

roid rage

Seems I'm still too busy to stay properly current with all my DOC peeps. Sorry for so being absent, pals! But my occasional forays into twitterville tell me it's D-Blog Week, so even though I'm not participating this year, I am looking forward to all the bloggy blogs waiting for me when I have the time.

Anyway, this isn't about that. I'm looking for advice, friends. The L-ster has some sort of croupy cough that her pediatrician saw fit to treat with steroids (prednisone). It's helped her cough a bit but oh em effing g, it has wreaked havoc with her BGs. Under direction from her endo, we have changed her sensitivity and increased her basal and are checking ketones blah blah blah but I was wondering if any of you with more experience than us can chime in with some handy hints to minimize the insanely high crap we've got to deal with for the next three days.

THANKS, GUYS. For your enjoyment, here's a pic of my goofy-ass family on my birthday.

placeholder

here is a picture of my kid laughing and trying to avoid spoilers just so anyone who pops by doesn't have to see my last post, which has been sitting here for three months.

new content to resume shortly. hopefully. happy spring!

diabetes art day 2013 reminder

Diabetes Art Day has moved! From now on we will celebrate it the first Monday in February! OMG! That means DAD2013 is THIS MONDAY, FEBRUARY 4, 2013! If you have time this weekend, I encourage you to get together with your friends and/or family for some good old-fashioned art therapy. Then upload images of your artwork to the official Diabetes Art Day website.

My family has participated with varying levels of involvement over the last few years, and I have found it to be a really positive experience. Here are my previous posts:  2012 // 2011 // 2010

Tune in next week to see what I come up with this year. As of now, I have no idea what I'm gonna do. Just gonna see where inspiration takes me. I hope you join in and share what you come up with.

As always, thanks to Lee Ann Thill for creating Diabetes Art Day!

comfort x 2

comfort 1 - sad/mad but glad to have a partner

At 7 o'clock this morning, I was sleeping in on my day off and heard John moving around the room. I jerked awake, realizing I had missed the 3am check. L has been running high lately and she was 204 when I checked her at midnight. "I must have slept through my alarm! What's her BG?" I asked, mentally crossing my fingers. John said, "332", and all the air left my lungs. GUILTGUILTGUILT SHE'S GONNA HAVE A TERRIBLE START TO HER DAY AND FEEL SLUGGISH ALL MORNING WHY DIDN'T I WAKE UP I COULD HAVE PREVENTED THIS AUUUGGHHH.

I said to John, "Oh my gosh I am so so sorry I didn't wake up, I could have fixed it." And he said in the most calm and reassuring voice: "That number isn't your fault any more than it's her fault." And he was right, of course. But sometimes that's hard to see in the dark of the early morning, when you have just blown the night watch. So I let out the breath I didn't know I was holding and went back to sleep.

Thanks, John.

comfort 2 - joy/relief/appreciation

Several weeks ago L started a weekly class that takes place every weekend in 5-hour blocks of time. As we were dropping her off for her first lesson, I realized I had neglected to contact someone in charge to give them a heads up about the diabetski and to prepare them for The Glucagon Instructions I would be imparting. When we arrived, I asked to speak to L's group leader, and was introduced to a lovely young woman. I clutched the clunky red box tightly as I started my spiel, "Hi, sorry to spring this on you, but my daughter has type 1 diabetes and..."

Lovely Young Woman: Oh so she'll need to have some shots today or something?
Me: No, well, she's on a pump, so that's not it...
LYW: *reaches into her back pocket and pulls out an insulin pump the same model and color as L's*
Me: O_o
LYW: Where is she?

Smiling and speechless, I pointed to L and LYW went over and flashed her pump. L smiled and pulled hers out and they totally did a pump bump. I laughed with relief and hugged the LYW because, come on.

Thanks, universe.

48Q

What better way to get back into the swing of blogging than to do one of these silly questionnaires.

1. Were you named after anyone?

My dad was overseas when I was born and when he flew home to meet me he passed through Shannon airport in Ireland.

2. When was the last time you cried?

When Jodie Foster spoke about her mom at the Golden Globes on Sunday.

3. Do you like your handwriting?

It’s ok I guess.

4. What is your favorite lunch meat?

OMG do you guys remember olive loaf? What the fuck was that about? (the first thing I thought of when I read 'lunch meat')

5. Do you have kids?

Just the one.

6. If you were another person, would you be friends with you?

Shah.

7. Do you use sarcasm a lot?

Totes obvs.

8. Do you still have your tonsils?

Yep.

9. Would you bungee jump?

I did one from a crane at a fair one time with my dad; it realigned his back like a chiropractic adjustment.

10. What is your favorite cereal?

You can’t make me choose just one. My addiction is Seinfeldian.

11. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?

Nah

12. Do you think you are strong?

Not physically

13. What is your favorite ice cream?

Jeni’s Salted Caramel omg           

14. What is the first thing you notice about people?

Shoes, usually

15. Red or pink?

Red, like my kid’s hair

16. What is the least favorite thing about yourself?

Procrastination

17. Who do you miss the most?

My mom

18. What is the technique that you need to work on the most?

See #16

19. What color shoes are you wearing?

White socks

20. What was the last thing you ate?

California roll

21. What are you listening to right now?

Kid talking to John

22. If you were a crayon, what color would you be?

Cerulean blue

23. Favorite smells?

So fresh and so clean (on second thought, I should have answered every question with song lyrics)

24. How important are your political views to you?

On a scale of what to what?

25. Mountain hideaway or beach house?

Beach hideaway

26. Favorite sports to watch?

My kid’s indoor soccer games have been fun to watch

27. Hair color?

Depends on my hairdresser’s mood

28. Eye color?

Blue/green

29. Do you wear contacts?

No

30. Favorite food?

Cereal

31. Scary movies or happy endings?

Happy Endings (which is a great tv show btw)

32. Last movie you watched?

Sleepwalk With Me (highly recommended)

33. What color shirt are you wearing?

Blue

34. Summer or winter?

Summer in San Diego

35. Favorite dessert?

Probably ice cream

36. Strength training or cardio?

Jazzercise           

37. Computer or television?

Sophie's Choice

38. What book are you reading now?

‘Out of my mind’ by Sharon Draper is on my nightstand but I haven’t started it yet. The kid rec'd it.

39. What is on your mouse pad?

Is it 2002 up in here?

40. Favorite sound?

My kid laughing

41. Favorite genre of music?

Irish, apparently

42. What is the farthest you have been from home?

Boarding school at age 13 felt the farthest

43. Do you have a special talent?

Ethel Merman singing ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’

44. Where were you born?

Newport, RI

45. Where are you living now?

It’s high in the middle and round on the ends

46. What color is your house?

Beige with green shitters (lol typo, I’m keeping it)

47. What color is your car?

The same Honda grey as 79% of all minivans in my township

48. Do you like answering 48 questions?

Settle down, questionnaire. You weren't so bad after I changed your ALLCAPS OF NEEDINESS.

And because I like pics in my posts, please enjoy this photo I snapped yesterday. I am doing my impression of Elf on a Shelf.

 

break

Fun Fact About Me: If I am behind on reading and commenting on other people's blogs, I find it very difficult to update my own blog. Even if I have a bunch of things I want to post about. I just can't do it. So my mental list of posts-to-be-written grows, but not nearly as fast as my RSS feed of posts-to-be-read does. And I get further behind and feel worse about being out of touch and soon enough it's the middle of January and I haven't posted since Halloween.

I think I need to just get over it. So here we go. Just a quick one with some recent news, then I'll work my way backward over the next several posts.

L broke her wrist last month while roller skating with some pals. This wasn't as upsetting as it may have once been, since it's the third time she's broken her left wrist, and luckily it's not her dominant arm. It didn't slow her down very much; she continued to play indoor soccer. She just had to put bubble wrap around her cast, which made a fantastic sound when players from the other team rammed into her. She got the cast off today, so it's back to basketball tomorrow.

March 2003 - fell down the stairs at home

December 2009 - tripped over a stool at school

December 2012 - fell while roller skating

Based on those dates, it seems like there's probably some sort of equation to tell us when we can expect the next break, yeah? Get on that, math nerds.

And with that, I'm back in the blogging saddle. Perhaps tomorrow (or the next day) I will write about #WDDPE, a mere two months after the fact.