*Caution: Puke Pic In Post Below. Ye Faint Of Heart Be Warned! ARRRRRGGH!
I am about to share a lot of gross details. Just a heads up for you.
I do not throw up. I hate it. So I don’t do it. I don’t out of shear Quigley stubbornness. In 29 and a half years, the number of times I’ve thrown up due to illness has been less than I can count on two hands. My three pregnancies didn’t add much to that number. Some people vomit well…like Greg for example. He can just relax, get it out, and feel better. For me, it’s violent. Without fail, it explodes out my nose, and brings no relief.
A stomach bug hit our house this past weekend. It’s taken me to a zen, slow-moving turtle place. I stop, breathe and concentrate through the urges to loose it, and then continue on being a mom. …and it all started with this:
This is how we found Eve at 12:30 am Sunday morning. (Who sleeps through that?!) We cleaned her up, and I spent the remainder of the night sleeping on the floor next to her holding a bucket. Dear, sweet girl.
Bright and early the next morning, I got up to shower and go to Stake Conference. We’d decided maybe I should go by myself, and honestly, I was quite looking forward to that. When I was ready to go, I peeked in on the kids only to discover Miles sleeping in a pile of his own vomit. (What the what?! Again, who does that?!!) Poor boy was fine all night, and I felt so bad that I was in the shower when he needed me. My children definitely do not have my iron stomach.
Greg says the best training to be a parent he got, was all his years of working at Six Flags. Cleaning up bodily fluids is just another day at the park. I’m so grateful that he just takes all that stuff in stride. He’s a wonderful man. I knew the children were in great hands as I walked out the door.
I started feeling funny during conference, but I was fairly sure it was due to a hard night. When it took me forever to make dinner that evening, and I could barely eat any of it, I knew I was sick too.
Monday was full of nuggling, (snuggling) watching movies by the Christmas tree, blog reading/writing, friends doing nice things for us, and Greg handling everything when he got home. Basically, we were lazy bums. By evening, the kids were on the mend. I’m not far behind them. Today, I got ready for the day. The wash has been started, meals are being planned, and music lessons will be attended. It’s another day in motherhood. As always, we have music helping us push through it. We took a break from the Christmas tunes this morning so the likes of Eddie Vedder could serenade me. I love his slower stuff…sometimes the harder stuff too. :) I’m sure that comes from years spent in the same house with my brother, Lee.
Hope you are all able to avoid the barfs this season! So sorry to any of you I may have unknowingly infected at Stake Conference. I’m sure you’ll have some extra immunity points because you went. You should be good. *wink* :)
School
I’ve had a bunch of people inquire about how school is going for the boys, (specifically about Miles and diabetes) so I figured I should do an update for all y’all.
In a nutshell: Both boys love school. They can hardly wait to jump out of the car in the morning. For them, school is thebomb.com.
Brenden’s teacher is fantastic. I was a bit nervous to see how he would do this year. He grew so much in first grade. A lot of credit for that goes to his wonderful first grade teacher. I hoped this new one would help keep things moving in the right direction. I’m happy to report that thus far our experience has exceeded expectations. I couldn’t be more pleased with where he’s at. He’s on mark in every way. I’m so proud of him. My schedule has been such that I can volunteer in Brenden’s class once a week. I help run his little reading group, and we’ve both liked it a lot. It’s been fun to be able to observe him in his school world for the first time.
Brenden did get sent to the assistant principles office a couple weeks ago, but since it was for playing his butt like a guitar in the lunch room, we decided not to care. The A.P. made such a big deal out of it that I’m sure he won’t be a repeat offender. Hilarious! I’ve mentioned before that B likes to boogie, right? :)
Miles taught himself a valuable lesson about friction a couple days before school started. He placed his forehead on a rapidly rotating wheel, and gave himself a big ol’ burn. (Good one, Miles.) I wish I had video of the incident. It was really something amazing. Picture a Big Wheel bike upside down on the porch…Miles sitting on a small chair with the hard, plastic front wheel between his knees…both hands on the pedals, making the wheel spin as fast as he possibly can…then slowly bowing his head down to make contact. The look of pure confusion he gave as he came back up has me shaking with laughter now as I think about it again. I guess you probably had to be there. :)
Miles has been ready to attend school with Brenden for two years now. Having Brenden move on to bigger and better things without him has really chapped his hide. To say he was excited to finally start kindergarten is an understatement. It was the best day of his life. It took him about two seconds to make friends with the whole class. He definitely doesn’t struggle in the “putting yourself out there” department. He loves to be in the center of the action.
As far as diabetes goes…jeez, where to begin?
It is…okay?
Yeah, “okay” works.
Well…maybe “okay” is the wrong way to say it.
It’s mostly great…but sometimes really, REALLY awful.
As far as Miles is concerned, it’s been great. He gets a lot of attention from people (kids and adults alike) for his testing skills and knowledge of what he needs. Right now he loves that. Plus, if he ever gets bored, all he has to do is hint something is wrong, and he gets out of class. (A trick he puts to use all too often…already. I expected those kind of shenanigans in jr. high not kindergarten!)
My behind the scenes experience has been a little more bumpy.
There have been bad moments. Like the time I had a feeling to go into school with Miles, and found an unexpected substitute teacher that knew nothing about him, his needs, or anything about diabetes in general. That was pretty fantastic. (I was furious.) There have been self administered guilt trips for numbers that aren’t perfect. (I’ve got to get over that.) There has been unwanted advice, and suggestions from people who have been dealing with diabetes for two seconds. That’s been hard, because I’ve realized Miles will have to deal with stereo-types and people who have opinions, but not necessarily knowledge, for the rest of his life. Speaking of people, there was the day I had to meet with the principle, the school nurse, and the heath tech to discuss how I think the heath tech is incompetent. That was terrible. My Dad’s name is Dale. A favorite Dale-ism is, “You don’t know your butt!” The heath tech is a woman who for sure does not know her butt. Nothing gets me whipped up into frenzy faster than talking about that woman. Say the term “heath tech” around me, and you’re likely to get an earful. There’s just no way to slice it…Miles is not safe in her care.
However, there have been wonderful things happening too. Miles’ teacher might not get it all, but she is supportive and accommodating. Our principle has a child with diabetes also, and I really feel like she has our backs. Having common ground on this issue has made a huge difference. Our school nurse is heaven sent, and is 100% committed to keeping Miles safe and happy at school. She has completely re-arranged her schedule so we don’t have to deal with the heath tech anymore. I feel like we’re on the right track.
One of the nicest happenings has been having people who have been there just when I needed them. Whether it be for watching kids while I attend to issues, lending an ear for me to unload on, or sharing a good laugh. I have wonderful friends.
It is going to be a successful 2011-2012 school year.
Let’s Play Music
I have to apologize a bit for that last post. I didn’t really mean to make this place a space for advertisements, but I wanted to take a quick minute get the word out our rad music classes, and help our friend hopefully rustle up some new students. We didn’t get anything for hosting a class or having people sign up. We just wanted to share. That being said…What a boring post!! No pictures or anything! It made me realize I haven’t posted anything fun all summer. Where has it gone?!! So I figured, Let’s Play Music is actually a great place to start. You’ve heard my little review of the class…now here are some pictures from the recital the boys had. It was only a few months ago. :)
Let’s Play Music is not a performance group, but at the end of the year, all the classes come together to show off everything they’ve learned. Miles was especially excited to be center stage. No surprise there. I love his fearless attitude. Here he and the others are singing a song about three chords they’ve been learning to recognize and play.
I was really proud of Brenden though. He warmed right up, and when it was his turn, he was one of the few kids who remembered to sing and play at the same time. He played the Dinosaur Song. You can imagine by the title that it was a favorite at our house. The cool thing about LPM is each song has all this cool hidden musical information in it. This particular song taught them recognize notes stepping and skipping up and down the music staff and on their tone bells.
Miles got to play next to his cousin, Eli. They both did awesome at playing A Frog Went a-Hoppin’. For this song, they played pretty much three notes in a steady beat, leaping up and down the staff and bells, but learned to harmonize their voices with what they were playing. Cool stuff.
Here the whole group is singing the final number, Do RE MI. (Like the Do a Deer song from The Sound of Music, but the LPM version.) Brenden and Miles are in the back doing the hand signs for the notes. They were on MI. Do you like how Miles took advantage of the elevated elbows to wipe his nose on his sleeve? :) I do.
Brenden got super excited about DO. :) Yeah, remember when I said Brenden warmed up to performing? Well, not only did he warm up, he turned into THE Performer. He was absolutely killing us with how much he was getting into it. Brenden is awesome, and he was totally eating up all the attention. Miles started off strong, but ended up having some lame blood sugar issues toward the end. His infusion set had come off (of course the only time I don’t have a spare on hand) so his numbers went really high. We didn’t realize he was having a problem until almost the end. He hadn’t gotten the insulin for his snack beforehand or any base for a couple hours. He was feeling like C R A P by the finale. Still you wouldn’t have really known it until he came off the stage. Then he just fell apart.
You can see it in his face here. Poor kid. Despite lame diabetes, their recital was such a fun cap to a great year with Miss Danicia. I remember her telling me before classes ever started, that the whole mission of Let’s Play Music was to grow intelligence, increase confidence, and bond children to their parents through play and music. Don’t quote me on that, but it’s what I remember. All I know is LPM accomplished all those things for us. We can’t wait to start up again in a couple weeks!!
As Danicia would say: Adios with a ME, RE, DO! :)
important things
We were sitting side-by-side on the couch when Miles leaned in closer to say, “Mom, I love you more than ice cream.”
There’s just something about the way little boys love their mothers. It melts my heart like ice cream in the hot July sun. I could just eat Miles up, I love him so.
I got the children dressed and ready for the day before finding clothes for myself. Eve came around the corner, and took one look at my attire, and declared, “Mom!! We sames!” I love how she says “sames” when she sees a match. It may have just been me, but on this occasion there seemed to be a hint of embarrassment in her voice when she said it. We were indeed exact sames. Black lounge pants with blue Boise State t-shirts. A complete accident even though I had just dressed her not 10 minutes prior. I was too lazy to change, so we laughed about it instead. I’m glad she’s so willing to laugh.
Brenden lost his sixth tooth on the last night he was a six year old. It happened so long ago, and I’m afraid I’ll forget about it if wait to write it down any longer. January marked seven years passing me by in such a rush I could hardly believe it. Now first grade has ended, and he has an independence and fearlessness that I can hardly recognize. I just happened to glance at the class memory book he brought home yesterday. Each child has their own page with a paragraph of important things about them with a black and white picture of themselves underneath. I turned to his page, and found he had already colored his hair vivid orange with a marker. The text read, “The important thing about Brenden is that he has a mom that he likes. It is true that he likes playing video games. He is good at “Portal 2″ and Star Wars. And he is good at listening to his mom. But the most important thing about Brenden is that he has a mom that he likes.” That was the best gift he could have ever given me today.
There are so many things about Brenden at this age that are important to me…like the way he’ll still hold my hand when I offer it. I know the time for that is quickly coming to an end. Did you know that when something really tickles Brenden’s funny-bone, he covers his mouth, and giggles with his whole body? His eyes shine when that happens. I love that. Brenden still draws or colors at every possible opportunity. He reads, reads, READS anything with type on it. He always has a tune on his lips, and a groove to go with it. Nobody moves like Brenden. He has this quirky, jerky style that is so rad. (It’s kind of like if Mr. Robot-o could pop and lock, and had Pee-Wee Herman-esk mannerisms. Awesome.) Brenden will do anything to casually get out of cleaning his room. It drives me crazy, but I have to admire his creativity about it. He’s pretty crafty. B loves to play. I’ll often overhear him challenge his siblings to “Coffee me!” Then I’ll loudly clear my throat, and he’ll say, “Oops! I mean copy me.” I think its so funny that he still mispronounces that word all the time. Brenden’s brother and sister love him fiercely. Eve-E looked at him the other day, and said, “Brenden, you’re so cute!” He blushed, and grinned in a silly sort of way. You could tell he loved her saying that. He leaned over, sniffed her hair, and declared, “Eve, your red hair smells like strawberries.” She’s obsessed with Strawberry Korrcake (Shortcake) so that was just about the best compliment he could give her in return. They are such a funny pair. (I’m glad I overheard that exchange so I had some idea why Eve was asking me to smell her hair today.) Brenden loves his Book of Mormon, and does such a good job reading when it’s his turn. He loves to ask Greg and I how to say random words in different languages. I don’t know why he thinks we speak French! (Pardon my lack of French, Bud. Let’s stick to Spanish or Portuguese.) (…or Canadian, cuz you know they have a “unique” way to say EVERYTHING, eh.)
I want so bad to freeze this gap-toothed little boy in my memory so I’ll always have this time with him.
I am so blessed to be a mom.
The key to the tones
Miles woke up with a blood glucose level of 432 this morning. He had a serious problem, and I didn’t know how to fix it.
Miles’ numbers have been phenomenal for the past month. PHENOMENAL. BETTER THAN EVER! Even right through the holidays he stayed consistently in the low one hundies. Then the numbers started to creep up this past Thursday. We’ve all been horridly sick since New Years, and it’s pretty normal for BG’s to run a bit high with illness. I couldn’t get him to come back down though. Friday was spend in the 300’s, despite us using all our usual tricks. After a night of the same, a test on Saturday morning confirmed the presence of keytones in his system. I will refrain from typing any of the number of expletives that come to mind when I think about this. I’m beyond bummed that we can no longer say he’s never had keytones.
For those of you who don’t speak diabetes, ketones are a bi-product of the body burning fat for energy instead of glucose. Keytones are very hard on the body. It is very similar to acetone. (You know, the stuff that takes your fingernail polish off. Yeah, imagine that coursing through your blood stream. No bueno.) High BG levels, and keytones also walk hand-in-hand with dehydration. The body is desperately trying to rid itself of the toxins and excess sugar, but can’t get ahead of it. It’s a vicious cycle that, if unbroken, quickly leads to danger. High levels of ketones can lead to diabetic coma or death. Not wanting things to get to that kind of level, we started seriously increasing his insulin to bring his numbers down. He’d come down a little, and go right back up again.
(Totally fell asleep typing last night. So tired. Story of my life.) (*yawn*) (Anywho….)
Again our attempts failed, and when Sunday morning brought 400’s, I was sure the day would end in the hospital. We had to get his numbers back down so his body could flush the toxins out. We got even more aggressive. REALLY long story short, it took almost three times his regular rate of insulin to bring his numbers down. He was at 80 when we tested him in the afternoon. (And the heavens parted, and a host of glorious angels sang HALLELUJAH!! …………in my mind.)
I’m not sure how it all started. I’m sure we did a million things wrong. It is so nerve wracking to give your child extra insulin! The fear of making him go low is just too ingrained. I swear his diabetes just likes to mess with us.
I guess I can say that I’m grateful for the experience. Greg and I learned a lot, and I’m confident we’ll be able to avoid a similar situation in the future. I’m just thrilled that we are back to normal! Miles, of course, was a champ through it all. He.is.awesome.
A tale of unders and a snowy day
****I’m not sure why I’ve had this post saved as a draft for pretty much a month. Better late than never. =) ****
Eve likes to fake potty training. It’s pretty cute, and annoying. I’m probably the worst potty trainer ever. My boys were both awful, so I’m taking an entirely different approach with Eve. We’re in no hurry to officially start, but I decided awhile ago that whenever she asked to “go” I’d accommodate. My goal is to be patient, and follow her lead. She asks all the time to use the toilet, and LOVES it. However, when her unders go on, she pretty much refuses to use the toilet. That’s so Eve. She really likes things to be on her terms. (No idea where she got that from.) After a day without diapers, we are back in them, and still practicing in the toilet whenever she wants. I’m ok with moving on her terms in this case. My boys have scarred me. :) Isn’t she cute in underwear though?!
I am loving December so far. It started off with a bang…eight inches of snow and a school cancellation. YAY! Wednesday December 1 was the first time my kids have experienced an official snow day from school. I think every kid can agree that there’s nothing quite so awesome as a snow day. After a slow paced breakfast, we suited up in our snow gear, and went out to enjoy the source of our mini holiday. It was perfect-for-play wet snow, and we had a blast.
I adore Eve’s snow kissed profile.
We got cold just in time for lunch, and a mug of hot chocolate warmed us up quickly. Hot chocolate is a big deal at our house. I’m so glad for modern advances in medicine. It makes it possible for us to enjoy a simple thing like hot chocolate as a family. Diabetes stinks, but life with chocolate is still good.
The balance of the day was filled with Christmas movies, blankets, and imaginary play. This classic Christmas special is a favorite at our house. I just about started crying when I discovered it again this year. I LOVED Grampy when I was a kid. I always wanted snow to stick on my boots the way it does on his. :) Anyways, as an adult I find the whole thing hilarious so I’m glad my kids love to watch it.
Inspired by all the holiday merriment, Brenden ( aka: Mr. Can-A-Costume-Out-Of-Anything) decided that Christmas was to be the theme of all games, and he wanted to be Santa.
He wore an old black leather belt wrapped twice around his not-so-plump belly, and his paper hat was too small for his head so he taped it to a bandanna. :)
Brenden had Eve wear her Christmas dress so she could be Mrs. Claus. She was all about dressing up, but basically ignored everything else. Playing with our LittlePeople nativity scene almost always takes precedence.
Miles plays a naughty elf really well…maybe too well.
Amen!
Wednesday afternoon I found myself looking through this month’s New Era for a thought to share at our youth back to school party. Just as something caught my eye, Eve walked in, flipped the magazine closed, and said, “Amen!” Of course, then it became a big game of “don’t let Mom read.” Amen after amen, she laughed and laughed. So did I.
I love being a Mom.
Life is in full swing these days. Brenden is officially a first grader. The first day of school was a week and a half ago! So early this year! I don’t know where our summer went. B’s loving class though. He has the sweetest teacher, and seems to be making friends. I won’t lie though, it’s super weird having him gone all day. We all miss him…a lot. It does have it’s nice points however. For example, Eve and Miles have started playing really well together. Greg and I are loving that. I’ve been enjoying the late summer days with only two kids to manage too. I’ve tried to minimize Brenden’s time away from home by opting to drive him to and from school everyday. I actually really like the flow it gives to the day.
The other day, picking Brenden up got a little interesting when Miles suddenly announced that he had to pee. Miles has this horrible habit of waiting until the last second to tell me he needs a bathroom, and it’s usually when a bathroom is hard to reach. We were kinda stuck in a parking lot full of people. Brenden was going to be coming out any second. Leaving wasn’t really an option, but the look in Miles’ eye told me I had better do something fast. I scanned the surroundings for ideas, and then I saw “it” in the back seat. I thought to myself for a second, “Are we really going to do this? Hmmm….yup.”
“Miles,” I said, “drop your drawers. You’re gunna pee in this bottle.”
I picked up the empty kid-sized water bottle, and showed him. I might as well have told him Santa had come early. See, that’s the great thing about having boys. Peeing in weird places is like THE MOST AWESOME ADVENTURE EVER. They are a bizarre breed.
When the bottle reached half full, and he was still going strong, the OH CRAP!’s starting racing through my mind. I was pretty sure we were going to have ourselves a Dumb and Dumber moment…minus the surplus of empties. Mercy! Thankfully he topped out at a little under 3/4’s capacity. Don’t think we’ll try that one again. (I shouldn’t say that…I’m sure now we will.)
You’re so welcome for the disgusting cellphone pic of pee in a bottle.
Welp…I think I’ll leave ya on that note. Happy Labor Day weekend! =)
Alturas Lake
I’m getting ahead of myself here. Eve’s birthday letter is half written, and “saved as draft”. Oh, and I had a birthday (shout hooray) as well. Summer is here, and it seams that everyday there is something going on worth writing about, but lets just forget all that for a bit, and take a moment for now.
Last weekend we had an awesome extended family reunion for my Dad’s side of the family. Here are a few favorite memories I want to keep fresh in my mind:
1. Miles was so excited after gathering up candy from a busted up piñata. He kept smiling and calling for me to look at how much he got. Then knowing he couldn’t just dive into it, he went back to his seat and started offering pieces to my aunts and uncles. When I came over to talk to his about his haul, he picked one out special just for me. Sweet boy. We agreed that he could eat two, and save the rest for later. After getting some insulin to cover his treat, we were walking toward our cabin, and I said, “Miles, I’m so proud of you for sharing your candy so nicely. Thank you for being so kind.” His eyes lit up, and he said, “Yeah! Thanks Mom, for letting me give one to you! Did it taste like jelly?! Did you like it?”
He…wow…he is awesome.
2. Brenden is old enough to not be close to me all the time. It’s good for him. It’s hard for me. He’s darn smart, but he processes things a little differently than others. I worry…will he know when he’s gone too far, will he stand up to his peers if they are making wrong choices, how will he really respond if he gets in to an emergency situation? The latter is a big one since Miles likes to follow him. (Being willing to let Miles roam is a wholenotherenchilada. Can you say fried nerves?) Last year B loved exploring the grounds, but was cautious. He liked being close to the lodge. He took his time at meals. He wanted some space, but not too much. This year, different story. This year we had to hunt him down for every meal. Then he’d woof his food, and be back out the door sometimes faster that I could get my own food. Not just out the door either, but gone. Exploring went to a whole new level. I think it’s called “little boy heaven.”
Mostly it was awesome for me too. On Sunday afternoon however, I started to get nervous. I hadn’t seen either boys for two or three hours. I thought they were with Greg, but I found him asleep with with Eve. Of course, the worst started running through my mind…. Is Miles having a massive low, laying on the forest floor unconscious? Is Brenden lost and confused/scared? Bears? Wolves?… Lions? Tigers? Ok ok, I really didn’t consider animal attack, but I was starting to freak a bit. Miles turned up quickly, but I was still really unsettled about Big B. I needed visual confirmation. I looked around all the cabins…nothing. Finally, after I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest, I spied a blue striped shirt cutting across the dirt road that leads up to camp.
(Breathing slowed. Heart rate calmed. Smile on my face. Prayer of thanks.)
I walked down to see what he was up to. From a distance it was obvious to see that he was having the time of his life. I called, “Hi Brenden!” He beamed, and returned an exuberant, “HI MOM! Eli and I are having an ADVENTURE!” (Eli is his cousin and bestest buddy.) Simultaneously, they both started rattling off all the details of the imaginary world they had created.
Instantly I was back in my childhood…. I was tromping through the forest on a covert mission with my little brother, Morgan, and cousin, Nathan. I was paddling a canoe (poorly) along the shoreline with my cousin Molly, trying to avoid the where the water turned dark because it was evil. Sharese, Lorisa, and I were peeing off the porch of the cabin we shared, because we were too scared to run through the trees to the bathrooms in the middle of the night. (Yet for some reason, a “bear” still peed in a bucket on the floor inside during the night. Hmmm…Reese?) I was listening to summer thunder storms pound upon a tin roof. I was in a water fight, and everyone was using spray bottles. I had a pleather pouch full of spray-painted gold stones. (What was that for? Don’t remember.) I was singing in the showers. I was a master at horse shoes. I was eating ice-cold watermelon on the beach. I was sneaking cookies. I was riding bikes. I was tagging along with my older cousins. I was laying on the dock, watching the stars, and listening to the water softly lap against the wood.
I could go on and on, but the point is, there in all his excitement, Brenden was me as a child at Alturas Lake in Idaho’s beautiful Stanley Basin. What a blissful place to be a child! Honestly, some of the best times of my life. Now my heart was beating fast again as I listened to my own son tell tales of slaying dragons that terrorized the very same woods. Mid-sentence he was distracted by a mysterious hole. Both boys got down on all fours to see what lived inside. They decided it was a snake hole, and filled with rocks to kill the foul beast.
Pure imagination and joy. That. was. a. great. moment.
3. Eve.
Eve spontaneously holding hands with her cousin, Maryn, as they followed me to the lodge. Eve getting so excited when we’d go to find her other cousin, Claire. Eve trotting up and down the wheelchair ramp. Eve squealing with joy while playing in the ice cold lake. Eve sleeping in a normal bed for the first time. Eve being my own personal echo. Eve dipping her licorice in her water, and taking a bite….over and over until the licorice was gone. Then drinking the red water. Weirdo. Eve running with arms wide to her daddy, screaming, “I get you!” Greg’s face as they laughed when she got him. Auntie Reese calling her hair carrot-y. I love carrot hair.
Eve was so sweet this trip. Independent and sassy as ever, but in an even more endearing way that usual.
4. Best part of the talent show? My Grandpa doing his military march. He is the most adorable man.
5. Second best part of the talent show? (that was probably actually the best part) My immediate family singing 42 sharp-toothed buzzards. I caught my brother’s eye while trying to figure out my mom’s crazed math, and started crying laughing. Guess you had to be there. Lemme tell ya though, the whole thing was epic.
Family reunions are great. I wish we could have had more time. I feel like I barely got to talk to my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins. It was so good to just be with up there with them though. I love them all! Thank goodness for the internet so that I don’t feel like we’re strangers.
The drive back was long. I didn’t feel like leaving. When we finally got home, Greg carried up the children. It was late, and they had been asleep for a couple hours already. I tucked in Eve, and the boys were instructed to get jammied up. When I came back to tuck them in, this is what I found:
Miles asleep in his closet. Sign of a good time. :)
Meet Blue
Blue is Miles’ new insulin pump. It’s already gone by a few other names: Pumpy, Smurf, Smurfy to name a few. I’m partial to “Ping” as the name. Miles is not. He likes Blue.
(He’s Blue da ba dee da ba die…name that song. Miles loves it. After a couple weeks of the boys singing it non-stop, I’m not a huge fan.) (But I digress…)
We have been very excited to get Blue. It’s been such a process to get it approved by our insurance, do the trainings, wait for chicken pox to clear up, and finally hook it up with insulin. Last night, Greg and I did a run though to be sure we were ready to go live with insulin this morning. We practiced loading it up using saline instead of insulin. Everything went well…until we went to hook it to Miles. He didn’t want us coming anywhere near him with the infusion set.
This is the infusion set. A tiny catheter is inserted under the skin, and the tubing carries the insulin from the pump to the insertion site. It sits on the chub just under his waist band, and he hardly even notices it. It looks really intimidating before you put it on though, and last night he would have no part of it. It was so weird, because he did very well with it in our training. I was fulling expecting it to be a breeze, but no amount of negotiation or play would work. I started getting really nervous. Then Greg offered to let Miles put it on him. Without any hesitation, Miles agreed to poke Daddy’s bum. With a hint of buyers remorse, Greg turned around and dropped his drawers.
Miles laughed. I laughed. Greg tensed.
He did a really good job at looking like he wasn’t bothered a bit though, and it turned out that he had nothing to be bothered about. He said it didn’t hurt at all, which actually put my own mind at ease. I’ve had people tell me it hurts like the dickens. In fact, that’s probably one of the big reasons why I hadn’t pushed for a pump sooner. Anyways, Miles thought it was great fun, and agreed that if Daddy could do it, he could do it in the morning. I love Greg. He’s such a good dad. (Way to take one for the team Babe!)
After all that, Miles was still a bit hesitant this morning at his pump start. It was only when the pump nurse used a visual lesson that he finally complied.
She showed him how on the current system of syringe therapy, he was getting a minimum on five shots a day. Over the course of three days, the number of injections came to 15!
Then she showed him how with the pump, he would only have to change his infusion site about every three days. That meant he could minus 14 pokes, and just be left with one that was just about the same size as his old needles. Of course Greg and I knew all this, but I could tell that it really sunk in with Miles. He knows about getting pricked all too well, and she wasn’t even mentioning all the finger pricks! He wholeheartedly agreed that getting rid of all those shots was a great idea.
The rest of the appointment went really well. Near the end we tested his glucose level, and he was at 234. That’s quite high, but we agreed we shouldn’t try to adjust it until lunch. (It’s pretty normal for him to take a long time to come down from breakfast.) When we got home an hour and a half later he was at 38.
THIRTY EIGHT.
That’s with no correction! I don’t even want to think about what would have happened had we given him a bolus of insulin.
I know most of the people who read this do not speak diabetes, but 38 es no bueno. It’s not even close to bueno! HELLO. Wasn’t expecting that! We had been warned (as parents) to expect some of the same emotions we experienced when Miles was diagnosed when we started pumping. I had prepped myself for weeks, maybe months of fine tuning all the pump settings. I knew it was going to be a little bit of a crazy time, but I really couldn’t see myself feeling the way I had nearly two years ago. I don’t feel the sadness and mourning at all, but the fear and worry came back so fast I can hardly believe it. Oi! We had a system, and now it’s gone! I’m so excited for the pump, it’s really going to make life easier for all of us, but right now, I DON’T KNOW THE SYSTEM. Freakin’ me out a little, but we’ll get through it just like before. Thankfully this time, we are far from clueless. It’s just going to be a matter of figuring out how to use the device to its’ potential in the way that works best for Miles. It really is a fascinating piece of machinery.
Miles thinks it’s all awesome. He’s been a happy, normal kid all day long.
As for me? I’m exhausted. As soon as I publish this post, I’ll go in and test him one last time before bed, and I’ll set an alarm for one of us to test him at 3am. Wish us luck! I don’t know if I’m going to be able to sleep. :)
just (me)linda 