Holy Leaking Insulin Batman!

Last Sunday night I went up stairs to check the girls, as I normally do before I go to bed.  I walked in and check Princess first (as normal, I do them in a certain order so I don't forget to check one or the other!)

As I went to take her pump out of her pump pouch to check the CGM  I noticed the pump was wet.  My initial thought was, great, she leaked out of her pull-up already.  (her blood sugar had been high at bedtime) Then when I went to smell to check if that's what it was.  I did not smell pee-pee.  It was insulin. 

What the heck!?  Maybe that was why her blood sugars had been high all day?  But why hadnt' I noticed it during the rest of the day?  So strange...  I decided to go ahead and check Lovebug (after checking Princess) and then unhooked Princess's pump from her and took it downstairs to inspect it more.  

I check the outside of the pump out, it didn't seem to be visibly leaking insulin from anywhere but it REEKED of insulin.  I took the reservoir out to look and it and I noticed condensation on the reservoir.  The inside of it where the piston pushes the reservoir up.  Yep, that should NOT be there.  I called the Medtronic helpline to see what they thought I should do. (besides the obvious, change the reservoir out)  The guy I talked to was very helpful and concerned. He told me he would replace a few of our reservoirs and wanted to send us a new insulin pump.  I told him it was working fine at this point.  I didn't see any reason to replace it when it was working fine.  He told me if the pump started acting funny in any way or we had another leaking reservoir to call back and they would send us a replacement pump.  I agreed I would call back and was a bit relieved we didn't need to go back to shots for a while until we received a new pump. The man was very helpful and with it being my first experience with the Medtronic Helpline, I was more then impressed!  

Everything was fine and dandy until the next night.  Monday night her CGM keept alarming when the CGM screen clearly said that she was okay.  At one point it said LOW PREDICTED and she had double arrows up on the CGM screen.  I was up almost every hour that night clearing alarms and checking her blood sugar just to be on the safe side.  I'm so glad she was sleeping BUT it was tough on me poking her over 10 times that night. By the time 6am rolled around I just disconnected the pump and took it downstairs.  I was going crazy. I decided to check the reservoir again and sure enough, more leakage.  Wonderful. 

I decided at this point that I wanted a new pump. Something had to be wrong with it.  Since they said to call back, I did.  The lady I talked to that time was less then helpful.  She just told me to change the reservoir out and call back if it happened again.  Didn't offer a new pump or anything.  I was NOT impressed with this lady AT all.  I tried explaining to her that this HAD happened before but she was clearly not listening.  I got off the phone and was very discouraged.  

Later that morning I put a call into our Medtronic Rep.  I explained to her what had happened over the past couple days and asked if I should be pushing for a new pump at this point or just wait and see. She told me that I needed a new pump. It is Medtronic's policy that if at anytime you are not confident that your pump is working properly, they will replace it. (within the warranty)  She did not want me using that other one if insulin had possibly leaked into it. Even if it was delivering insulin fine at that point, if insulin leaked into it, it could stop working properly at any time. She was very concerned the second person I talked to at Medtronic gave me the "run around" as she put it.  

My rep ended up calling Medtronic herself and I ended up on a 3 way call with someone from Medronic, myself and my rep.  The lady from Medtronic was very apologetic and they had a new pump on it's way.  They also replaced ALL of my reservoirs I had on hand.  I'm pretty sure the lady apologized a dozen times but I was just happy someone was taking care of it.  I was very impressed with Medtronic and with my rep.  She saved the day!  

The pump arrived by 10am the next day and all has been well with the new one. Kudos to Medtronic for following through and to my rep for going the extra mile.  :)

Oh The Drama!

So I just can't get my mind to concentrate on one thing lately. Every time I sit down to write my mind wanders in 20 million different directions.  It's seriously starting to drive me crazy!  I just want to write and let it all out but none of it makes sense because I am all over the place.  


Maybe I have adult ADHD. I don't know?  I just wish I could concentrate a little better.  It's probably because there are so many thing going on right now that I am trying to focus on everything and yet one thing at a time. Does that even make sense?  


The BIG one is school.  Decisions have to made about this fall in the next couple months.  I am seriously afraid to send Lovebug to school where Peanut goes now. I seriously don't know what it is but I do know that even though I have her enrolled at one place doesn't mean that's where she is going to end up.  I do know I am filling out re-enrollment papers at the private school too, and see what happens.   


I don't know why I'm not comfortable with Lovebug going to Peanuts school. It's a great school, we love it there. I've been trying to put my finger on it but I just can't seem to figure it out. It's that gut feeling I just can't get rid of.  I know they have other children there with Type 1. For goodness sake, the secretary has 2 children with type 1 and her husband has it.  I know they know how to deal with these things....but why I am so freaking nervous about it?  


Maybe it's just because I'm comfortable where she is at, and I really don't want to change schools for her, even if that means having my kids at two different schools. It might mean that.  Then there is the cost involved. Looking at the budget I have no idea where the money will come from, but I have faith, and if that is where Lovebug is supposed to be things will work out.  While I know this is something that will get answered and I am positive I will have a clear answer soon, it weighs heavily on my heart.  

Then there is Lovebug's blood sugar numbers. They have been ALL over the place lately.  I mean severe lows as well as crazy highs, and for no apparent reason! Breakfast spikes are back!  I am trying something different here and will blog about it later, like after I have experimented with it a little more)   Her night time highs are back as well and I have tweaked the basal rates a little but I am still playing with the doses.  I set the basal rate higher and it keeps her down where she should be when she normally spikes but then she goes low about an hour after that basal ends.  I lowered the that basal following the higher basal and then she just goes high.  I HATE how diabetes is so unpredictable.  This was all working a month ago.  PERFECTLY!  Why in the world....I know, I know. It's the nature of the beast. 


On top of all this I haven't been sleeping well. I know, what D Mama does sleep well but this is worse then normal, which makes this D Mama more emotional then normal. I don't handle things as well when I am sleep deprived. Well, sleep deprived more then normal.  


Needless to say, this is life for me. I'm not complaining, just stating a fact. I have big shoulders and I can carry a lot. The bright side of all this I am still finding my joy!  Seriously things could be a lot worse. But I have all of you out there supporting me and cheering me on!  That keeps a smile on my face through it all. :)

Apples, Cider and Donuts....Oh My!!

Today was Lovebug's FIRST field trip!  To the Apple Orchard!

Lovebug got to ride the bus for the very first time and was super excited! Something her big sister, Peanut is very jealous about since she is in 2nd grade and has not yet had a ride on a school bus. She was a little worried at first that there weren't any seat belts, but she soon realized that she liked that!  I had a hard time getting her to stay seated.  She also asked the bus driver to turn the air on when we were headed home.  Everyone got a good laugh out of that one!

On our way to the Orchard!

The first thing the kids did when we got there was learned about how the apples grow.  Then the got to get on a wagon ride and go out into the orchard and pick apples and pumpkins.  Of course D had to show it's ugly head and we ended up with a low bg of 55 on the wagon ride. Good thing Dexie alerted me and good thing I came prepared! By the time we got done picking the apples Lovebug was feeling better.

Me and Lovebug on the wagon ride.

Picking Apples

She was very proud of her apple!

Then it was off to the pumpkin patch to get a couple pumpkins.  She didn't like the pumpkin picking so much. "Mommy the pumpkins are too dirty"  is what I heard and a little whining because I wanted to take her picture.

picking her pumpkin

The "dirty" pumpkin she didn't want to touch.

After apple and pumpkin picking we headed back for some yummy cider and donuts.

Yummy!!

The rest of the time the kids got to enjoy themselves with the different activities they had around the orchard.  This place seriously has a TON for the kids to do.  Lovebug got to see chickens, goats, bunnies and a "cow" they called Reba.  She enjoyed the goats because they kept "talking" to her.  She thought the bunnies were cute too.  A nice temper tantrum ensued when I decided she needed to move onto other things besides the bunnies. (I"m pretty sure she would have stayed there the rest of the time.  It wasn't a pretty site.

Lovebug laughing at the goats.

Feeding the "cow"

The bunnies she didn't want to leave. 

Lovebug also enjoyed playing in a GIGANTIC sand box.

This is only half of the gigantic sandbox!

They really had so much there to do that we didn't have time to get to all of it.
Before we took off we got all the kids together for a group picture and they were actually cooperative!

Lovebug's Preschool Class

Overall it was a beautiful day for a trip to the orchard and Lovebug and I had a good time together. :)

A day in the life....

Wake up to the buzzz buzzz of Dexie at 1:30am.  Get up grab meter and go upstairs praying I don't stub a toe along the way. Look at Dexie, 73.  Do finger check 69.  Beautiful.  (thinking to self, I over corrected after her bg of 353 @ 10:30pm, when will I learn to only give half a correction dose at night??) Walk back downstairs, grab some juice and head back up. Wake up Lovebug, she drinks the juice down (I'm pretty sure she does this in her sleep now).  Tuck her back in and then head back downstairs to tuck myself back into bed.  It's now 1:50 am.

Ring Ring...5:30am.  My alarm.  Quick shower, get dressed and wake hubby up.  Get hubby's lunch packed, watch the morning new and send hubby off to work.  

6:30am. Time to get the kids up. (really only my oldest needs to be up but unfortunately they all three share a room and inevitably the other two always wake up and won't go back to sleep) As I walk up the stairs I realize I must have lost a few used test strip along the way in the middle of the night. There is a trail of then up the stairs, in the hallway and into her bedroom.

I fight with Peanut to get dressed while making everyone breakfast.  Check Lovebug's bg, 118 not bad.  Figure out carbs for breakfast, 41 this morning with a waffle, half a banana and a strawberry smoothie. Dose her with 2.90 units of insulin. Get breakfast served. Urge the girls not to goof around at the breakfast table.  Tattle tailing occurs, (as usual)  and a spill or two. I get Peanuts snack around, pack her backpack, fill water bottle and then make sure she is ready to go.  

7:30am Carpool is here.  Peanut is off to school.  Lovebug is STILL eating. I urge her to hurry because we have to get ready to go to bible study this morning.  In the meantime I get Princess dressed. She is not happy with the clothes I have picked out, she want to wear a dress and not jean so upstairs it is to grab a dress and leggings. After Peanut is out the door I get a chance to check Facebook and read a few blog posts.  

Look at clock, 8:00am.  Lovebug is FINALLY done eating her breakfast.  (expecting a low here soon from already dosing insulin Lovebug not eating in a timely manner)  I help Lovebug get dressed, make sure the girls have brushed their teeth then turn the TV on for a while so I can finish getting ready.  

I look around, I can't get ready yet the kitchen needs to be cleaned up so off I go.  Get that cleaned up and it's now 8:20am.  Sheesh.  Okay, I wanted to be out the door early today, that isn't going to happen.  Quick finish getting ready, make sure I have my bible study materials, extra pull-up and diabetes pack.  Check Dexie to see where Lovebug's bg is at 110. A little lower then I would like after breakfast and she will be running around at bible study so I give her 2 glucose tablets (8 carbs) to boost her bg up a little, hoping she won't have a low later.  

9:13 arrive at bible study.  Drop kids off, check Dexie before I drop Lovebug off.  Dexie says 149 and arrow up. Good, hopefully no low today. Head off to my room and then grab some breakfast.  (they serve us breakfast at bible study....it is AWESOME!)  Sit down and "relax".  Well, except looking at phone to make sure I don't get a text message from Lovebug's bible study teacher saying she needs me.  No texts today, that makes two weeks in a row!  We are off to a great start!

11:30am Bible study is over pick the girls up. Check Dexie again, she says 110.  Okay, strange she had a snack she wasn't dose for but hey, no spike isn't a bad thing.  

12pm. Arrive home and lunch time.  Check Audrey's bg with a finger check.  259.  WHAT?!  Oh, yeah the snack she had a bible study must have kicked in.  I look at Dexie and sure enough there is a huge hill instead of straight line.  Dose her for a bg correction and for 21 carbs for lunch which includes a lunchable and a glass of milk. 3.20 units of insulin. 

12:30 Dexie is beeping at me.  301 and double arrows going up.  Wonderful.  Kick in already insulin!  

1pm. Nap time and Dexie is saying 320 but steady. Well, hopefully that means the insulin is starting to work now.  

Quiet afternoon. Watch TV for a while eat lunch and take a nap. Girls wake up from naps at 3pm. Dexie is saying bg is 180. Good, no finger check needed.  

3:40pm Peanut and hubby arrive home from school and work.  

4pm.  Preheat the oven for dinner and blog in the meantime.  

4:30pm Put fish in the oven for dinner and continue to blog.  

5:00pm check Lovebug's bg - 82. Dose for 35 carbs which include breaded fish, a California mix vegetable and a banana.  1.75 units of insulin.

5:30pm Kids go outside to play.  Lovebug runs around with her sisters for about a half hour. Praying that doesn't drive her low.  Lovebug decides to take a dive onto the cement too.  Nice.

6:00pm  Inside to watch a movie with Daddy and soak Lovebug's infected toe.  Which doesn't look infected to me at all, but then again. I'm not a doctor, just a pancreas.

Lovebug's bg - 140.  A great number to go to bed with.

I'll do one more bg check around 10pm before I got to bed and then pray that Dexie doesn't wake me up a couple hours later.  And maybe tonight I will remember to give her a half of a correction dose instead of a whole one because I would bet her bg will be over 250 when I check her at 10pm.

A day in my life. It was a quiet one today. If only all of them were this quiet on  the diabetes home front.

A Case of the Mondays

Any of you watched the movie Office Space?  One of my all time FAVORITES!

Today I had a serious case of the Mondays...

It was not good.

Between Lovebug's roller coaster numbers, a scare at preschool today and a mess up with my medical supply company I am at my wits end.  Not to mention everything I need to get accomplished tonight, before 8pm. I would REALLY like to sit down and watch Chuck tonight.  Only 50 minutes to go. At least I am checking one thing off my list by blogging now!!

Back to the day's events.  Lovebug woke up with a great bg of 139.  It went downhill from there.  No pun intended.

She had a low of 43 at preschool this morning.  I got the call she was low and they gave her some Smarties and a juice pouch.  I told them I was on my way over because they couldn't get the meter to work. They were going by what Dexie said her blood sugar was.  After arriving at the school, I walked past the preschool room and down to the office where Lovebug was at.  The preschool teacher stops me and told me that Lovebug threw up.  Oh wonderful.  Great, her first stomach flu bug since being diagnosed. I had all these "wonderful" thoughts running through my mind.  You see Lovebug doesn't get sick very often and when she does she gets REALLY sick.  So, when her teacher  told me she threw up I was scared. I was thinking emergency room this afternoon and a possible hospital stay.  Not exactly what I had pictured my Monday to look like.

Well, I got to the office and Lovebug was her normal happy self. Thank God. Come to find out she didn't throw up at all, she was just gagging and saying her tummy hurt. She was also walking around in a daze and seemed to be confused.  Crap. I knew they were going by Dexie because they couldn't get the meter to work, which meant Lovebug was much lower then the 43 that Dexie said she was.  SCARY.  It made me think of Wendy and her experience with Glucagon just a couple days ago.

After being an emotional wreck after that I came home to find out supplies for Dexie had come, along with some supplies the supply company kept NOT sending me.  I have been fighting with the for the past 8 weeks to send me the blood ketone strips that I was due. My insurance says I can get one box a month. Well I get three months of supplies at a time so I should have gotten 3 boxes of ketone strips back in July.  Nope, I only got one and I have been fighting to get the other two ever since.  They FINALLY worked it out and I got them today only to find out whoever packed the box put Blood GLUCOSE strips in the box instead of Blood KETONE strips.  AAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Called them AGAIN and it is fixed but I can't get them until I send the glucose strips back to them. Seriously, it wasn't my mistake, it was yours folks!!! Why should I have to wait because of YOUR mistake??  Oh, well. Hopefully when I get them they will finally be right, or maybe that is too much to ask?  I don't know.

All I know is right now I have a whole list of things that need to get done before 8pm and I now have 35 minutes.  Ta Ta for now friends!

Making The Low Go...

Part of Diabetes Blog Week!

Sugar and spice and everything nice, that is what my little girl is made of!

If it was up to me, I would treat lows with Milky Way Midnight Chocolate Bars.  Yep, I have a sweet tooth that LOVES everything dark chocolate. I would keep all sorts of candy bars, and the like in the house.  I also love candy and Skittles and Starburst are among my favorites.  It's really not a good "habit" to have.

Seriously, I really try not to keep candy in the house so usually we just use the old "standbys" for treating a low.  Audrey's favorites seem to be glucose tablets. I believe she has called them giant smarties.  They make me smart, right mom?  Sure kiddo, whatever you say!

Another favorite of Audrey's is fruit snacks. Oh how this child loves her fruit snacks.  This one is a hard one for me though, because fruit snacks aren't the most healthy thing on plant earth.  There is so much artificial stuff in them, but fruit snacks sound more healthy then Starbursts or Skittles. (not that I don't occasionally use Starbursts or Skittles to treat a low.)

There is also juice.  Audrey LOVES juice.  She would live on it if she could.  I have definitely had to come up with creative ways to let her have her juice.  I don't mind "light" juice but I try not to give her foods with artificial sweetener in them too often.  I think it's very hard to avoid it. Audrey will have to have more of that stuff when she is older, might as well keep food at natural as we can until then.  I pretty much stick with 100% natural juice, and add filtered water too it to keep the carbs down.  I also try to make sure she just has it at meal times.  It's a good thing that she also loves milk so I can usually steer her away from the juice (unless she is low) at meal times. 

That really is all we use to treat lows.  I have a hard time with this because I really don't want her to have candy all the time but I don't want to deny her the candy either. I want to keep it a special treat, like it was before Diabetes took over our lives.  

So, that's what we do to make our lows go, what do you do?





 

A Day in the life of....Diabetes (featuring Love Bug)

Part of  Diabetes Blog Week!

Creeeeeek.  There's my wake up call, my noisy door. Mom's coming in to get my big sister up for school.  I have to get up with her because I hate missing out on anything.  I sit up looking very disheveled.  Mom calls me "crazy hair kiddo" when I wake up. I guess my hair must look pretty bad in the mornings.  I give her hugs and kisses then head downstairs for breakfast.  This morning mom has my favorite; pop tart and banana with glass of milk.  Mom gives my my favorite cup, the pink one.  Time to check my sugar. I'm 241 this morning and breakfast is 57 carbs this morning.  Mom says I'm a  little high.  I'm still learning what that means.

After breakfast Mom gets me into my normal routine.  I go to the bathroom, brush teeth, then get dressed.  Mom always has my clothes picked out for me. I tell her that I would like to wear my butterfly shirt, not my pink shirt. I like to get myself dressed, but I still need some help.  I like to try very hard not to ask Mommy for help, to the point of throwing a fit about it sometimes. I like to be independent!  Mom laughs at me struggling, being stubborn (just like Daddy, she says) not wanting to ask for help. I don't find it very amusing (that's a fancy word for funny. Did I mention that I LOVE Fancy Nancy!)

This morning I am going to bible study with Mommy.  I LOVE going to bible study.  Most of all I love playing in the Gym.  I love it that I get to play and have fun while Mommy learns about Jesus and how to be a better Mommy.  (at least that is what she tells me) My teachers, Miss Janet and Miss Veronica, are great.  They help me take care of my Diabetes too. They like to hear about how my sugar is.  They make sure I don't eat too much and watch out for low and high blood sugars. They also are really good at sneaking me my exercise snack before we go to the gym to play.

Mommy checks my sugar when we get there and lets Miss Janet know how I have been and if she needs to watch out for anything.  Mommy checks my sugar again when she picks me up.  I am a little high today. I was 241 when I got up and still 228 now.  Mommy gives me a dose of insulin with my meter and  sends me off.  This morning I had to tell Miss Janet that my tummy hurt.  I started screaming because it hurt so bad. I felt funny too. Miss Janet went and got Mommy.  Mommy checked my sugar and I was low, 56, I hear her say.  Mommy gives me some glucose tablets (watermelon ones are my favorite!) and a juice box. I felt much better after that.  I heard Mommy tell Miss Janet that lows scare her.  I don't like it when my Mommy is scared. 

Mommy picks me up and checks my sugar again, 181. That is right in range.  "Hooray!", says my Mommy.  "You are right on target".  Home again we go.  On Tuesday's we get a special treat for lunch, Lunchable's!
I'm so excited! Mom checks me again before I eat, I'm at 179.  My lunchable with milk is 35 carbs for lunch.

After lunch I lay down for nap time.  When I get up from nap I'm really whinny.  Mommy says I didn't take a long enough nap.  She checks my sugar and I am 281.  Mom sighs, a little high. I don't like it when she sighs. It makes me wonder if I did something wrong. I start to cry.  She sees how sad I am and tells me not to worry, it's not my fault.  I didn't do anything wrong.  Mommy is just upset with my diabetes.  I want fruit snack for a snack, but Mommy says no, my sugar is too high.  I throw a fit.  I want fruit snacks!!!  She makes up for it by giving me the next best thing, cucumber slices and a cheese stick.  The yellow cheese sticks (Colby jack my mom calls them) are my favorite.

It's a nice day out so Mom says we can go outside and play.  HOORAY!  I get my shoes on and head outside.  Today I want to play with sidewalk chalk.  I really like to draw.  I also get my bike out and ride bikes with my little sister until my big sister gets home from school.

At dinner time Mommy checks my sugar before I eat.   It is 278.  Mommy can't believe it's that high after running around outside. Dinner is 67 carbs, it's taco night!  The soft shells are my favorite but Mommy wishes I liked the hard ones, she says there are less carbs in those ones. 

After dinner I get my books out while Mommy cleans up the kitchen and helps big sister with her homework.  I love to "read:" books. Especially Fancy Nancy books!  I memorize them so I can read them to Mommy sometimes.  She really likes that and I like it too.

Tonight, I get to do something special. It's my turn to go for a walk with Daddy.  Mommy checks my sugar before I go, 221.  Not too bad, it is only an hour after dinner.  Off I go with my Daddy.  He takes me to the park by the river.  It is really close to our house and one of my favorite parks.  I like to ride my bike on the bike path and stand on the bridge and look for fish.

When we get back from our walk me and my sisters wrestle with my Daddy for a while.  At bedtime Mommy check my sugar, 301.  She give me a correction dose and tucks me and my sisters into bed.  I snuggle in for the night with my pink puppy and my bug bug blankie. 

At 11pm Mommy comes up to check my sugar.  It is higher, 392.  I don't even wake up, but Mommy says that I put my finger out for her in my sleep now.  I guess I am getting used to my Diabetes.  Mommy gets back up again at 2:30 am.  I am still high, but a little better at 298. Mommy tries to give me another correction dose but my insulin pump won't let her.  She doesn't want to wake me up to grab my pump out of my pouch so she lets me sleep.  She says that I get woke up enough at night lately that I don't need to get woke up anymore.

Mommy goes back to bed until her alarm goes off at 6am.  It's a short night for her and me. We are both really tired in the morning.  It is a new day though and maybe, just maybe, my sugar will cooperate today. (cooperate is a fancy word for being good).