Tag: diabetes

Desperately Seeking Loopholes

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Not me. It’s TheKid.

After lamenting the fact that today’s snow day had fallen on Mardi Gras, thus depriving him and his classmates of donuts in “at least 3 classes,” he gleefully informed us that since he’s diabetic, he can have all the meat he wants, any time he wants.

NOT.

“You don’t have to fast because you’re diabetic, but there’s nothing in diabetes that prevents you from abstaining from meat for a day,” we told him.

BACON“Yes, there is,” he shot back. “BACON!”

I miss the good old days, when he voluntarily gave up sprinkles for Lent. Sacrifice is a much harder sell for a 12-year-old, especially one who already uses every ounce of self-discipline he has and measures his snacks instead of just blindly sticking his hand into the pretzel bag like all his friends get to do.

But there will be no bacon tomorrow, Kid.

Small Success with a Side of Bacon

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Small-Success-Thursday-400pxThursdays at CatholicMom.com begin with a look at the past week’s Small Successes!

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The Kid’s blood sugar ran high all night and into this morning. We don’t know why. Sometimes diabetes is just random. And frustrating.

BACONSo Hubs suggested that he have a low-carb breakfast instead of his usual meal (a double bowl of instant oatmeal and an over-easy egg).

That meant I made bacon on a weekday.

I hate making bacon because I’m left with a huge mess all over the kitchen. Actually I almost never make the bacon. Hubs makes it. And then I rant that I want him to clean up the mess, and then I wind up cleaning up the mess myself, and it’s never pretty.

But today I maintained a good attitude about the bacon and its mess, and I hope it bodes well for The Kid’s blood sugar later today.

We’re not worrying about cholesterol right this minute. One thing at a time.

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baked salmon 1In other food news, I tried yet another recipe from Jeff Young’s cookbook, Around the Table with the Catholic Foodie. And it’s yet another winner. Baked Salmon with Olive Oil and Salt. Seriously, that’s all you need. No pepper. No lemon. Nothing creamy or fancy. It’s simple and delicious.

Every recipe I’ve tried from that cookbook, so far, has been a great success.

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In the name of cleaning up my act, I tossed a large basketful of the Personal Journal section of The Wall Street Journal. I enjoy reading those, but I got way behind when I was teaching every day, and I would just take the section out of the paper and recycle the rest. Finally I just admitted that I’m not going to get to these ever. And I threw them into the recycling bucket.

That felt good. I wonder what unused stuff I can let myself let go of today?

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Last Minute Shrimp Fried Rice (7)That bacon grease in the griddle pan? I’ll be using it in tomorrow night’s Last Minute Fried Rice.

Waste not, want not.

Share your Small Successes at CatholicMom.com by joining the linkup in the bottom of today’s post. No blog? List yours in the comments box!

The Blessing of Availability

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My flexible schedule comes at a price. If I had a job with set hours, rather than a substitute-teaching job, I’d risk getting fired every time I had a day like today.

5 minutes after I walked in the door after Mass, my cell phone rang. It was the school nurse, calling to tell me that Little Brother had felt woozy during Mass and needed to be taken home.

I made it to school in 8 minutes. I’d have gotten there faster, but cars in front of me insisted on observing the speed limit.

If I’d remembered that the school kids were going to Mass today, I’d have gone there–and been there when the principal rushed him out of church and, in Little Brother’s words, “power-walked” him to the nurse’s office.

apple juice boxHis continuous glucose monitor showed a blood-glucose level in the mid-120s, which the nurse wisely confirmed with a blood test. But since he was “white as a sheet” and really feeling awful, she gave him 4 ounces of apple juice anyway. That’s a quick hit of about 15 carbs.

When I got there, 8 minutes after she called me, he’d dropped another 20 points. While he was lying down in the nurse’s office, I ran upstairs to his classroom to get his backpack and lunchbox.

Getting into the car, he told me, “When I get home, I’m putting on my pajamas and lying down.” But by the time we got home, his blood sugar had stopped plummeting, bottoming out at 102 and leveling off.

102 is a healthy blood sugar. He’d spiked after breakfast (something we’re trying to figure out how to prevent) and during Mass his sugar began a free-fall.

Thanks to the principal and nurse’s quick actions, he stayed within a safe range, though the rapid drop made him feel (and look) as though he wasn’t.

And he’s been fine all day. He did have one workbook home (because he didn’t pack it yesterday) and he did have homework tonight in that workbook, so I made him do that, but otherwise he’s just been hanging out.

He apologized a few minutes ago for making me come and get him. I’m just sorry I hadn’t been at church when it happened. And I’m sorry he has to go through this at all. But I’m glad I was available to get him when needed–that all that was interrupted was cleaning the bathroom.

I may daydream about having a day job, but right now it’s all about the flexibility.

Trust, Insecurity and Double-Checking

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My child’s life depends on double-checking.

He has a continuous glucose monitor that constantly checks his blood sugar–but at least twice a day he has to do a finger stick to double-check that the monitor is correct.

dexcom g4When he leaves the house, we’re always asking him if he has his supplies (and the receiver to his monitor, which he removes from his pocket when he comes in the door. His routine:  take off shoes, take monitor out of pocket.)

I’m OK with that, because he’s a kid.

But when someone double-checks ME, it never fails. I get all bent out of shape, and I react in a manner that’s WAY out of proportion with the situation.

Just this morning:  I woke Little Brother up in time for him to get ready to go to theater camp. I asked what he wanted for breakfast and we figured out the carbs. As I scrambled eggs, he gave himself a shot. I wrote down his blood sugar, carbs and dose of insulin and went back to the stove to finish the eggs. Hubs walked in and asked Little Brother if he’d had a shot yet.

“I’m RIGHT HERE with him,” I yelled.

It’s not Hubs’ fault for double-checking. This is MY problem. Double-checking is important, but when someone double-checks me, I get all sorts of offended and upset. I feel like they don’t think I’m good enough to manage the task on my own. I feel like I’m not being trusted to do it.

There is no room for insecurity like that when it comes to dealing with diabetes. Hubs and I need to work as a team–and we need to be able to double-check each other and communicate well.

I could have just answered, “Done.” I could have said, “I wrote it down.” I could have just given a thumbs-up and turned back to the stove.

What am I so afraid of, anyway?

Fighting the Fear

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What a difference a year makes.

union soccer schoolsLast summer, Little Brother spent a week at a soccer day camp affiliated with the Philadelphia Union pro soccer team.

This summer, he’s doing the same, starting Monday.

Last summer, all I had to worry about each morning was whether he had enough to drink to prevent dehydration.

If this summer were just like last summer, I’d be telling him that he’d be packing his own lunches this year.

But this summer everything is different. This summer there’s an insulin pen and a continuous glucose monitor to think about. This summer I have to pack enough food and Gatorade to keep his blood sugar stable during a very active day, and he has not had a day this active since his diagnosis in November.humalog kwikpen

For me, that’s scary.

I don’t want him to be scared. I’m trying to keep all of that emotion hidden from him. He’s 12. He should be excited and ready to have fun, meet other kids who love soccer as much as he does, and learn skills that will help him play his favorite sport better.

But he’s going to need to take care of himself this week, to check in with the nurses during breaks, to eat and drink enough to fuel the activity and the adrenalin. He’s going to have to be “different.” This camp has nurses, and I’ll meet them on Monday and hand them his care plan, and then I’ll walk away for 7 hours and spend the day wondering if his sugar is dropping.

I’m thankful that the camp is less than ten minutes away from home. But I’m terrified, and I don’t want to let that show.

dexcom g4Those easy camp dropoffs are a thing of the past, and I regret that I ever took them for granted. I feel like we have taken a huge step backward in terms of the independence Little Brother is developing and we are allowing him to have. I want him to be able to do things on his own, but at the same time I can’t help wanting to hover over my kid and the glucose monitor that helps us keep him on the right track–that helps us keep him alive.

I’m not writing this to ask for pity, but I’m not too proud to ask for prayers–for a safe week for Little Brother and for peace for this mother’s heart.

 

 

 

Walking a Fine Line

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For the last two months or so, Little Brother has benefited from some wonderful technology that helps with his diabetes care.

dexcom g4

This continuous glucose monitor checks his blood sugar every 5 minutes, allowing us to get ahead of highs or lows–and those lows are happening with greater frequency now that the weather is fine and he’s spending hours on end in the pool. In addition, the routines and schedules around schoolday mealtimes are not in place in the summer, so we can use all the help we can get.

But I got a phone call yesterday from the manufacturer of this device, informing me that our insurance won’t cover it because the diabetes medical provider used a certain diagnosis code. If a different code were used, this would be a no-brainer. Our provider used a code that means “diabetes with no complications.” If they had used the code that means “diabetes, uncontrolled” we could have the CGM.

So basically we’re too good at caring for our child to qualify for the technology that helps us care for our child.

Little Brother has a picture-perfect A1C (an average blood sugar over 3 months). For 2 of those last 3 months we have had the CGM to help us keep him there. But in the last few weeks, his sugar has been on a roller coaster, what with swimming and backyard soccer and sleeping late and eating at friends’ homes where Guess The Carbs is a spectator sport. In the past 2 weeks he’s had several scary lows, including last night when he “pinned” that meter at 40 for more than 10 minutes (a blood test, at one point, showed his glucose level at 37).

If that’s not “uncontrolled,” I don’t know what is.

We need all the help we can get, and his provider and the insurance company are making it really difficult for us to do that without incurring crazy out-of-pocket expenses.

Diabetic Negotiation

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Little Brother almost always eats the same breakfast:  an everything bagel with butter and two scrambled eggs.

This morning he was looking for something different.

eggo chocolate chip“I got some chocolate-chip Eggo waffles at the store,” I said.

We checked the label. Two waffles have 31 carbs. Four waffles have 62, which is almost exactly the same as his bagel-and-eggs combo.

“I’ll have four waffles,” he decided.

I asked him if he wanted any eggs, reminding him that without them, he might find himself hungry later this morning.

“There’s protein in the waffles,” he said. “It comes from the chocolate chips.”

I Am Mommy. Hear Me Roar.

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On Tuesday, Little Brother is going on a field trip. That’s the kind of thing that happens in May. Since we live very near Philadelphia, his school often schedules field trips that take advantage of the many historical and educational resources of that city. This year they’re visiting a seaport museum and wrapping up the day at City Tavern, where they will be served a Colonial-style meal. city tavernThe students will dine on Tavern Country Salad with raspberry shrub dressing, lightly-breaded chicken breast, mashed potato, vegetables, Thomas Jefferson biscuits, Sally Lunn bread, and fruit cobbler.

That’s a far cry from the brown-bagged PBJ, juice box and granola bar he usually gets on a field trip.

I got in touch with City Tavern to ask for nutrition information about their food. After playing phone tag with their events coordinator for several days, she finally called me back this morning and very sweetly assured me that she’d speak to the chef and find out what I needed to know.

Two hours later she called me back and informed me that I was out of luck. While she could list all the foods they’d be eating, she couldn’t get me any nutrition information. Since they’re not a chain, they don’t have to provide that, and clearly they aren’t interested in doing so.

It’s really not fun to play Guess the Carbs in a restaurant, and I was hoping that since we’d inquired ahead of time (and I made the first call more than a week in advance of the trip) that the restaurant could help us figure things out.

denied

The restaurant’s website urges visitors: “In order to help us maintain a historic atmosphere, please refrain from the use of cell phones.” Well, that’s NOT going to happen, since Hubs will need to consult the Calorie King website to try to figure out what the restaurant refuses to tell him, despite the other thing they mention on their site:  “Should you have any culinary requests, please do not hesitate to ask any member of our staff.”

I guess nutrition information isn’t considered a “culinary request.”

We can guess on things like mashed potatoes and vegetables and even the chicken. But Little Brother has eaten there before on a field trip (before diabetes) and he was all about the bread. I did a simple google search on “Thomas Jefferson biscuits” and the third result is that restaurant’s own recipe.

nutrition city tavern philly Jefferson sweet potato pecan biscuitsIt took me less than three minutes to plug that recipe into the analysis tool at Calorie Count and generate a nutrition label. I’ll be printing it out, along with the recipe, and packing it with Little Brother’s diabetes supplies that Hubs will be carrying on the trip.

I hope Hubs hands them that piece of paper on his way out.

If he doesn’t, I’m mailing it in.

All I requested was information. Not trade secrets. Not recipes. Just nutrition information because my child has a medical need that requires me to know what’s in the food he eats. And as I just proved, this information is not difficult to acquire.

You’re next, Sally Lunn.

I’m Hitting the Wall Right Now, God

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Yesterday at our Secular Franciscans meeting we had a guest speaker: a Sister who works at a local retreat house. She gave a presentation about practical ways to pray constantly.

francis house of prayerHere’s one of the recommendations she gave us:

  • What is the one sentence I’d like to say to God right now?

I just used that technique, and I have to say, there’s comfort in it.

I’m in the middle of some red tape on the medical-provider end of Little Brother’s diabetes care, and the idea of the confrontation I’ll probably have to have in order to untangle this mess has ratcheted my anxiety level into the stratosphere. Suddenly I just stopped what I was doing while waiting for the phone call I’m dreading and said, out loud,

“I’m hitting the wall right now, God.”

(Fortunately no one else is home right now.)

It helped a little, though, just to get that out there. I can kind of feel my jaw unclenching and my fists opening up–just a bit.

And then, the tears. Not tears of despair, but instead that almost-relief when you know in your heart that God’s got this.

image source

Small Success: Midweek Crazy Edition

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I’m glad to be linking up again at CatholicMom.com for one of my favorite features:  Small Success Thursday!

Small-Success-Thursday-400px

It’s been a kind of crazy week. From 3:15 to 7 PM each day I’m at the high school serving dinner to 100 kids. (My poor husband is fending for himself this week.) Little Brother comes along, because he takes the school’s slogan to heart:

you belong here

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I am doing what I love this week. The spreadsheet just might kill me, but I’m sorting out drinks and paper plates and condiments and forks and what-goes-where and how-much-we-need and finding creative ways to use leftover food (taco beef from Tuesday is in the freezer, waiting to be part of Monday’s chili) and brainstorming with moms about chili alternatives because not everyone eats chili.

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I am managing to be super-flexible this week, which for me is huge. When a few other moms approached me about chili alternatives I didn’t blow a gasket. I was only a tiny bit insulted (mostly embarrassed because I hadn’t thought of that, and my job this week is to be the Mom Who Thinks Of Everything.) Of course, I can only be flexible in this situation because I have been so busy Thinking Of Everything…so we’re going to have Chili/Dog Night on Monday. Hot dogs, 4 kinds of homemade chili, leftover mac & cheese (we had 4 pans too many last night), chips, salad and quesadillas.

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I just gained 30 minutes a day. Little Brother had an appointment at CHOP yesterday with his endocrinologist nurse practitioner. She amended his glucose-testing schedule because of the timing of snacks and meals during the school day–so he won’t be testing at lunchtime. This means I can show up at 10 for the test-and-snack-and-argue with the nurse routine (Little Brother, not me) and then be done until 3 when it’s time to pick him up after school. Little Brother will have to see the nurse to get insulin to cover the carbs in his lunch, but I don’t need to be there for that. Overall, they are pleased with his progress–his A1C was 6, which translates into a blood-glucose of 120 on average for the past 3 months.

I had been going to school (at my child’s request) at 10, again at noon, then at 3 to pick him up. That’s a lot of time, a lot of gas, a lot of knowing I had to drop what I was doing soon and get back to school. So I am hugely relieved. I will be there for the 10-AM test because there will be a judgement call involved and he’ll argue for something that is not always the best alternative. I’m kind of the mediator between him and the nurse!

I know how I’ll spend my extra 30 minutes today–exploring the rest of the Small Success posts! Do you have a Small Success to share? Stop over and link up or leave a comment at CatholicMom.com!