Lazy Days

I feel like I was hit by a truck today seriously no fun at all.  We've had a crazy week with lots of lows, lots and lots.  No wonder I feel like total shit I can't imagine what Colin feels like.  His toe is doing great, no reasons for antibiotics or anything and the toenail actually is fine.  That is a HUGE relief to both Colin and I and he actually is going to let me clip his toenails tonight so it must not have any pain either.  We had an "incident" at his school early in the week and it went something like this.  Colin had a juice at school before recess and then came in and ate his whole lunch and still felt funny after lunch so he tested and was 4.3 but feeling really shitty.  He went to the office and his principal asked him what his blood sugar was and he told her.  She said "well that's a fine number, your target is 5-10 so go back to class" and he apparently just stood there with his jaw on the floor.  He wanted to just call me and ask what he should do because he still felt low.  So first of all this lady clearly can't do basic math because last time I checked 4.3 IS lower than 5, second of all his target isn't 5-10 it's 4-8 always has been and thirdly WTF woman the boy needed help and was shu'd away and not given a chance to talk.  I was furious to say the least so I went into the office before school and couldn't get any face-time with her then so I left instructions with the new secretary who also knows nothing.  I was nearly in tears trying to keep from screaming at this lady.  I decided I needed to talk to our nurse/diabetes educator and she really helped calm me down, she answered all my questions and offered to come and do a little D-teachings to the staff if I wanted but she wants me to advocate for Colin mostly on my own.  That scares the crap out of me and she told me that I am a fantastic advocate for my son already and I guess I just never saw it, never looked.  But once I did I realized that she is right and it gave me clarity and peace and I was able to go in and have a great conversation on Friday with the VP and the Principal.  Colin was 2.8 and the VP called me and told me that he didn't have a juice and she didn't know why so I busted it over to the school.  I live literally 7 houses away from the school so its never long for me to get there.  He had had a juice, he was confused when she asked I guess and so we took care of that and the principal came in the room and was apologising right away for her screw up earlier in the week.  I did a few mins of education and they would like to have the nurse in again because of new staff and in the end I felt much better (and I didn't break a sweat) and Colin feel safer again. 

Oh gosh I'm sorry for all the awful punctuation and spelling and grammatical errors int his post but I'm pooped, apparently my brain is too.  I need sustenance maybe that's the prob.  Hope you are all doing great and enjoying your sweeties today.

G.I Joe Said it best..."Knowing is half the battle"

I think back to the days before diabetes was in our lives and I have bittersweet feelings.  Yes we were an almost picture perfect family (who isn't) but I look back and wonder if I had of known more about Diabetes would he have gotten as sick as he did?  I know that's crazy to even think but sometimes I go there.  You know the place where us D-Moms go and wonder if our babies are this way because of something I did, or didn't do, or did wrong.  The blathering in my brain goes on and on in my head like this sometimes; even though I know that this is just something in his genetic makeup that I could never have seen coming or stopped.

Colin was sick for a while before his diagnosis at 5 years old and I thought I was being paranoid  taking him to the pediatrician all the time and nothing was getting better.  He lost so much weight and I just brushed it off as him losing baby fat and being really active over the summer.  Same goes for his appetite and his extreme thirst, I just figured it was because it was so hot and we were out at the park and pool all the time.
I remember him having episodes where it seemed like my little angel was possessed by a demon, crazy mood swings and his breath smelled horrible.  I will NEVER forget that smell, I always give him a little sniff if his sugars are really high cause that's my early warning system lol.  His breath smelled like a sweet metallic smell, that's a bad smell it means we need to be at the hospital.

I was 2 words into this paragraph and Diabetes came a knocking...

Anything below 4 is a low and I hate to even see the 4's to tell you the truth because he feels shaky and sick when he is in the 4's.  But the upside is seeing this face 20 minutes later as he eats his peanut butter toast and relaxes so his sugar up for bedtime.

There he is pointing to this rubber worm hanging from the ceiling lol He looks like he's feeling better but he is just starting to come around, he's a champ.

Bwahahahaha!! So now that I'm completely off track here, you can see how diabetes does that to your life...ALL THE TIME.  But we roll with it :)

Bottom line here folks here are the signs and symptoms of Type 1 Diabetes, please read them and share with other Moms, Dad's, Grand parents and Aunties and Uncles.

Knowing the warning signs for type 1 diabetes (juvenile diabetes) could save a life.

Warning signs of type 1 diabetes (these may occur suddenly):
Extreme thirst Frequent urination Sudden vision changes Sugar in urine Fruity, sweet, or wine-like odor on breath Headache Bed wetting (thanks Jonah I forgot this one)	Increased appetite Sudden weight loss Drowsiness, lethargy Heavy, labored breathing Stupor, unconsciousness Pain in the abdomen

If you or someone you love exhibits one or more of these symptoms, call a doctor immediately.
Colin exhibited ALL of these symptoms except bed wetting and we just made it to the emergency room in time that they were able to save his life.  If someone hadn't said "diabetes" to me that night as he went to bed I don't know if  would have made it to the hospital on time.  I am so glad that I had heard that and looked up diabetes and realized that he was experiencing 6 of the symptoms and we got him to the ER.

I don't want to hear about another child going undiagnosed and dieing, it breaks my heart and I think everyone should know what to look for.  Please share this information with all of your loved ones.

You could save a life.

xoxoxo

If you still feel like reading here is the beginning of Colin's story. I can't bring myself to write the second part yet.

Sharing Sunday

Happy Sunday to all of you out there in the interweb :)  

This is my sweetie pie Lola Bella aka Beaner, Beanzooks, ElleBee, Beany, Bean (I am sensing a pattern here) Dookers, LaLa and Sweetheart.  Ain't she purdy?

She is my dog and I am her person, I think she's very happy having me as her person.  We sleep under the covers together and she loves when I throw her some "salami bombs" while I'm making Colin's lunch for school in the morning.  She is very barky and I love it, it makes me laugh.  My neighbours who live below us may not feel the same way though.

This is me and Colin, my reason for living.  

I have no idea where I would be or what I would be doing if I wasn't blessed with having Colin.  He saved my life and he doesn't even know it, maybe he never will and that's ok with me because I know. 

Yesterday when we were out getting him supplies for a class project he had a bad low, it was one of those lows that I should have seen coming because all of the classic symptoms were there but these are not HIS usual symptoms.  He was every irritable, rude and emotional.  Then we turned down an isle and he said the dreaded words "Mom I feel really funny" normally it's "Mom I feel funny" but real funny, uh-oh.  He asked me to get his kit ready for him which he usually does on his own and he just flopped down on the floor so I just knew.  Clean finger, poke finger, test strip in.  .   .   .   .   . 2.4 OMFGSHITNO! 

I calmly got out a juice for him and he sucked it back with no straw in it, really no straw wow.  He wanted more and since the junior juice boxes are only 12 carbs  gave him a few glucose tabs and he layed down oh his coat in the middle of the fake flower isle at Michaels Craft Store.  He always ask me for more than he really needs and I hate making him wait that 15 mins to see if he's coming up, what if he's going down?  But we wait.  It is 40 mins till snack time for him and I only had 2 juices with me and a roll of dex I was praying that this wasn't going to be a time where I need glucagon.  I have it AT HOME!  Colin felt really shaky and weird for being on the floor so I got right down and layed with him till he came up to 3.8 and he was sitting on the floor now.  No one said a word or even came down the isle the whole time we were there, they just let us be without making any strange faces so that was nice. 

Fast forward 25 minutes and we are sitting both chowing down on bagels from the great Canadian bagel that was next door to the craft store, Colin was very happy about that.  Phew crisis averted, pat myself and Colin on the back and back in the car we get only to have him get the biggest nose bleed in history.  I had nothing to sop it up with so he used his coat OMG! 

All in all it was a great day, he did have another low but he just bounces back like nothing happened most of the time, he's so strong. 

You are my hero Colin I love you.