Feeding my child

Girl Guides of Canada is a wonderful organization, ran by dedicated volunteers.

For ages 7-8 the program is called Brownies, they meet once a week for an hour and a a half.  The focus is to encourage the girls to develop their own identity and positive relationships with others.  The program covers safety, healthy choices, science & technology, the arts, Eco-awareness and camping.

They can earn badges for activities performed as the group or as self learning as well.

As I said earlier, it's a wonderful organization.

When Amy was a spark, ages 5-6, I was one of the leaders.  I was there if anything came up regarding her diabetes care. This year, I'm not a leader.  

I gave my usual diabetes talk at the beginning of the year, and have had no issues until yesterday.

The girls were going outside to play.  No big deal.  Check sugar before hand, carry some rockets (canadian equivalent of Smarties) in coat pocket if needed.

When Amy got home, she told me that they had hot chocolate.  What?  Wait!  You had what?

They had not chocolate, and she looked at the nutritional information and entered 23g CHO.

I asked what was the serving size, how did they measure, how much did she have, was it made with milk or water?

And you know what......she burst into tears!

I had a mix of emotions then.  Proud of her for knowing where to look, disappointed with the guiders/leaders for not contacting me, angry at myself for bombarding her with questions, and just plain sad that something as simple as having hot chocolate after sliding has to be so difficult!

The result of it all........too much insulin for the amount of hot chocolate paired with all the evening activity........being up all night trying to keep the lows away, and a miscalibration of the CGM (which is still wrong at school now)

I've written to the leaders, and have asked that Amy not be given anything to eat or drink, other than water and low treatments, without first consulting with me or her father.  That we are teaching Amy what to do, but she's still 7, she still needs guidance and supervision for these activities.

Does the Worry about Two ever End?

I'm wondering if the worry that your other children will be diagnosed with T1D will ever end.

I look for things.  I don't think I'm trying to spot them, but I'm trying not to ignore them.  Am I making something out of nothing? Is there really something there?  Am I just psyching myself out?

Lately, Rylie has been drinking more.  A lot more.  I'm worried.

Lately, Rylie has been very uncooperative and grumpy.  Not like her.  I'm worried.

Lately, Rylie has been eating more.  Looks skinnier.  I'm worried.

A tummy ache, a headache, anything not normal makes me wonder.
She's almost the same age as Amy was.

So what does the worried parent do?  Check their non-diabetic child's blood sugar when they sleep.

So far everything looks good.  She's had two readings at 6.1 and 6.2, but the rest have all been in the 4s.  I'm keeping an eye on it.  She knows it, and she knows why.

As she took a big chug out of her water bottle while doing homework, she casually says. "I think I'm getting diabetes, that would make both of us, Mom".

My heart sank.  Tears sprung to the corner of my eyes.
 I don't know if I could do two.  I don't know how she would cope. 

I HOPE it never comes to that.

Does the worry every end?

As the Holiday Season comes to an End

What a month December was!

I've been pretty absent around here, I hope I was missed :)

December was pretty busy with work Christmas parties, kids Christmas parties, ballet open house, birthday parties, Sparks & Brownie season end activities.....and the list goes on.

We had a great holiday, school is still out for us and doesn't reopen until Monday.

Diabetes was well behaved most of the time.  Christmas Eve and day was an endless rollercoaster.  I was amazed by the up and down swings, but we dealt with it. We let her be a kid first, then considered the diabetes. 

The girls hanging their stockings on Christmas Eve

 

 

I thought I was going to have to break open the glucagon for the first time.  After the girls were all nestled and snug in their beds, we were waiting for Santa to come.  I went to check Amy and she was 3.3 mmol/L with about 1.5 units still on board.  Since we do have some issues with false low readings with the Enlite sensor due to pressure on it when lying down, I tested to verify the reading.  I went to get a strawberry Nesquick drinking box, which is usually good to bump her up 6-8 mmols.  After waiting 20 mins I went to retest and she was actually lower at 2.2 mmol/L.  I went and got 1/3c egg nog (low treatment of choice over Christmas).  After another 15mins she was only back up to 3.6 mmol/L.  I was tempted to treat again, but decided that Santa needed to come.  Instead, I let the low suspend keep the pump suspend while Santa was busy in the living room.  When it was time for me to go to bed, she was up to 6.5.

At my regular nightly 3am check, I was amazed to see 15mmol/L peering back at me.  With a quick little correction it was back to bed until morning.

The girls got up sometime after 6am and the rest of the morning is a blur of squeals and laughter!

It was nice to have the pump this year and not have to worry about the timing of everything, or when we had to eat, or having to stop opening presents to eat.  We could pretty much do any of that whenever we wanted.

We spent a lot of time with family and just relaxed and enjoyed each other.

Unfortunately, the weather hasn't been cooperating.  It has been excruciatingly cold!  Like more than -50 C with the windchill.  For my American friends, that's -58F.  That's cold!
One of our vehicles has been having trouble going, even when the block heater has been plugged in, water pipes have been freezing in town, and the power has gone a few times.  The worst for us is that it has been to cold to get out and enjoy our cabin.  From a diabetes perspective, its been difficult to get some exercise for Amy.

I'm hoping the cold spell is coming to an end, I think its only suppose to be -20C this weekend.  That will feel like a tropical vacation in comparison. 

On another note, we are going to see the movie Frozen tomorrow night....title is very appropriate!!

Enjoy your January and stay warm!

Christmas Eve Family Picture