My list has just begun...

Aaack! I know I'm missing something. And this is just for the D-bag. Must find a VERY LARGE D-bag. Ugh.

Vacation coming up...

Ah, summer.

We have been keeping busy - it seems busier than normal between summer school for the kids (ceramics for Sydney and a fun Pre-K) for Adam and lots of swimming, playdates with friends and mini-vacations. I feel like a taxi sometimes! Plus, it's ridiculously hot here - I think we topped 111 degrees today.

That said, we are ready for our yearly trip to the Northwest...specifically, Oregon! We always plan it for July when the heat is at its worst in Arizona. We are meeting up in central Oregon with Jason's family for a week - we all stay in one big house and have a great time with lots of cousins and fun activities. Adam is particularly excited about fishing with his uncle! Renting a boat and spending a lot of time outside...something the kids just aren't able to do right now in AZ.

Me...I'm stressing about our first big trip with diabetes. How much do I bring? How much insulin? How many infusion sets? I have a large bag dedicated for his "d-stuff" that I'm starting to pack. Should I get a loaner pump from Animas? So many questions...should I bring some Levemir just in case his pump fails...or just because? When we have a "d-disaster" here, I feel comfortable because I have access to everything I need, but far away from home...I'm feeling a bit nervous about it.

I've been thinking about our trip last summer - we went to Portland, Seattle and Vancouver. That was our last "vacation" without diabetes in our life. I can't believe we are coming up on his 1-year anniversary. It brings tears to my eyes when I think about it. Last summer was so nice in some ways, and now that I think back on it, I feel sick to my stomach, knowing just how sick he was becoming right before my eyes.

On an entirely different note...we had an amazingly good diabetes day today. Every time I checked Dex, I was amazed at how even his numbers were. It's funny how ONE good day can make you feel so good. I'm sure it will all go to hell and a handbasket tomorrow, but I'm relishing today.

Nova Max! Just in the nick of time...

 

Guess what we got in the mail today? Our FREE Nova Max blood glucose/ketone meter. I learned about this from Tracy on Facebook a few weeks ago. I loved the idea that it was a blood glucose meter AND a blood ketone meter all in one. Haven't got one yet? Get yours here: http://www.novacares.com/cwd/

Anyway, the best part is that it also came with 10 free test strips and 2 blood ketone strips. And if you read yesterday's post...we are scrimping and saving our test strips until our shipment from Medco arrives on Wednesday. (Yeah, I called first thing this morning to find out where it was!) 

We used it tonight and I wanted to do a side-by-side comparison of the Nova Max and our One Touch strips. Here are the results (from the same blood drop):

I've never compared two meters before, so I don't know if this is a good comparison or not...but they're 30 points apart - not TOO bad, I guess. Now I wonder which one is really more accurate!

Either way, I'm grateful for 10 extra test strips to get us through the next few days! :)

$33.99

How did I end up with $33.99 as the title of my blog post?

A busy weekend of fun, swimming and SWAGing food. Used the last test strip at a restaurant before we returned home. Bedtime - Dex so lovingly throws me a sensor error #0 and realized that Adam's canister of test strips in his room is empty as well.

I thought I had to have just one more canister left...SOMEWHERE in the house. Nope. Ran to CVS at 8:03pm. Pharmacy is closed. Googled where the nearest 24-hour pharmacy is and finally found ONE box of One Touch Ultra test strips for $33.99. That's for 25 test strips, folks.

Goodness gracious. Here's to hoping that our shipment of 900 strips arrives within the next 3 days...

But it was all for a good cause. :) We took the kids to Tucson for the weekend, to visit the University of Arizona - to show them where mommy & daddy met. Yeah, they could have cared less, but it was fun being there again WITH our kiddos! I think I may have two future Wildcats on my hands!

It's a Small D-World

Ahhhh....I haven't blogged in so long, I think I may have forgotten how to do it! :)

Today I had the pleasure of meeting up with a local D-mom from Facebook (Hi, Jeanie!). We met with all the kiddos at McD's so they could play and the mommies could chat!

I have to say, I am amazed sometimes at what a small world it is - even the diabetes world! I found out that Adam and her little girl were diagnosed ONE DAY apart! At the SAME pediatrician's office! And they were in the hospital at the same time. How crazy is that? And we swapped stories about the kooky endo we saw in the hospital. :)

It is always so nice to sit down and chat with another mom who "gets it." We both agree that there are so very few people in our lives who get what we and our kiddos go through every day - and what they'll go through in the future and why we worry about it! To be able to sit down and talk and just nod your head in agreement to what the other is saying is priceless. Sometimes I feel like Facebook and social media is just too much...but then I think how great it is because it brings people together in ways that they never would have met otherwise.

After our lunch, we walked out to the parking lot...and realized we both had the exact same SUV, right down to the color! I think it was destiny that we met up, don't you think? :)

Summah...

My blogging is lacking, but we've been keeping busy doing this every day:

Swimming has been interesting with diabetes. I can't figure it out - some days he'll start out a bit high and stay there. Other days his BG will dump within a half an hour. There is no rhyme or reason to it! Our activity levels are SO varied each day...so it's hard to stay consistent anyway. I'm sure I'll have it all figured out just in time for him to start school. :)

I Hear a Pump!

It's funny the things your ears are tuned to once you are a D-mom. Our lives are full of distinct buzzes and beeps...ones that only a diabetic would recognize.

Tonight we hit IHOP for dinner (Woot for Kids Eat Free!) and were seated in a booth across from a dad and his two boys having dinner. We went about our business - I was checking Adam's blood sugar while Jason asked the waitress for their nutritional information pamphlet. I dosed Adam upfront for about half of the carbs I figured he'd eat and there was some beeping from his pump as the bolus got canceled and I had to pull it out of his pump pack. I noticed the dad in the booth across from us looking, but I'm used to it, so I didn't think anything of it.

While we were waiting for our food, I hear a pump beeping again. I was thinking, "Dang it, really? WTF is wrong with his pump now?" As I was digging for Adam's pump again, Jason looked around and then kicks me under the table and says, "He's got a PUMP!"

I said, "The dad or the kid?" And he said, "The dad!"

We both sat there for a minute and thought how cool it was. :) I wanted to strike up a conversation, but our food came at that point and we started eating. I pulled out Adam's remote and dosed him for some more of his dinner, and the dad caught my eye and asked me which pump we had!

So we all showed our pumps! I nudged Adam and said, "Hey, that dad over there has a pump just like you!" And he got ALL excited and pulled his out and says, "Mine's green! What color is yours?" (It was a purple Medtronic!)

Then Adam stands up and pulls out Dex and says, "Look at my Dexcom! Where's yours?" I didn't think he'd have one, but the dad said, "I left mine at home!" Adam thought it was so cool, that he's pulling up his shirt, saying, "Dude...hey, wanna look at my pump site?? And here's my Dexcom site!" He was totally thrilled to share the "pump stuff" with someone. And yeah, I need to work on my 5 year old calling grown-ups "Dude." Totally not cool. :)

Anyway, it was a very neat moment. The dad was diagnosed when he was 15 and has had T1 for 27 years. He said he was a camp counselor at Camp AZDA here in Arizona  for years, and encouraged us to send Adam when he was old enough.

It was just neat to see a grown up, having lived with T1D for 27 years, just having a normal dinner with his kids...and made us realize that Adam will do the same thing when he is older.  And it was neat to see Adam so animated about it - often other adults will want to see his pump site and pump and he's reluctant to show it off...he had NO problem sharing with a fellow T1D!

It's little moments like this that make you feel not so alone in all of this.  There are others out there...and you never know where you'll meet them!