Ninja Support - Day 3

Day 3 -– Your Biggest Supporter. Sure, our diabetes care is ultimately up to us and us alone. But it’s important to have someone around to encourage you, cheer you, and even help you when you need it. Today it’s time to gush and brag about your biggest supporter. Is it your spouse or significant other? Your best friend, sibling, parent or child? Maybe it’s your endo or a great CDE? Or perhaps it’s another member of the D-OC who is always there for you? Go ahead, tell them just how much they mean to you!

This week is easy.

My wife Jasmine, my son George, and my daughter Gillian are my biggest supporters, without a doubt.

If it’s picking up prescriptions, grabbing my machine, or knowing what to do when I am low my family is on it.

There have been times I am running late (like always) and I can shout, “Gillian can you please get my stuff together for a site change?” Never an attitude. Never a huff or a puff. Just, “Okay Dad.”

Sure enough when I am running out the door she had my infusion set, reservoir, insulin, IV Prep, and my Quick-Serter all ready to go.

George is infamous for saying, “Dad, your pump” alerting me to the blaring alarm in my pocket. I miss that high alarm all the time and George can let me know when he is a mile away. Plus both him and his sister have gotten me stuff for a low a countless number of times.

My wife has saved my life so many times I cannot even count. Times I am lying in bed shaky, sweating, not knowing what was happening or what to do and yet she is on it. She feels the covers get kicked off onto her side and instantly knows I am low (since I am always cold). She will get up and stay up with me until my low is gone and even prepare those scrumptious Eggo’s for me long before the sun comes up.

The thing I hate about their support is how diabetes ends up affecting them.

All I will want to do is shoot some hoops with my kids and no sooner do we start really playing that my sugar drops and I have to stop. My kids will get me tabs and the whole time I am apologizing for ruining the fun and they reassure me that it is okay. “Don’t worry dad,” they tell me but I do. I worry that I am taking so much away from them. I worry that they have to worry too much. Because of something none of us ask for our supporters suffer. At least in my eyes they do.

Jasmine is beyond any support I could imagine. How’s this for an example. When we went to my pump class, before I was pumping to see what it was all about, Jasmine was the only non-D in the room that was willing to put on a Saline pump with the rest of the diabetics. She got major cheers from all the PWD’s in the room that day!

I think about when I was in ICU fighting DKA and Jasmine wondering if this was it. If I was going to make it. If my fear of leaving them early was going to come true. If that fear that she never shows but I know is there was happening. It kills me to think what went through her mind. All of our plans for the future would have been dreams lost.

I say all these things about how I wish my family did not have to deal with this stuff but you know what, they don’t care. They love me and would do anything for me. Just as I would for any of them. We do not choose what challenges we have in life, we can only decide to let them tear us down or make us strong for standing up to them. Without my family I would probably be torn down but with them, and only with them can I find the strength to continue you on.

Take that diabetes. 

You Tube Tuesday #170 - Making the Low Go

Since it is both You Tube Tuesday and Diabetes Blog Week I think I found a way to take care of both. Here it goes…

 

Day 2 – Making the low go. Tell us about your favorite way to treat a low. Juice? Glucose tabs? Secret candy stash? What’s your favorite thing to indulge in when you are low? What do you find brings your blood sugar up fast without spiking it too high?

Typically during the day I just use glucose tabs for lows. Orange glucose tabs to be exact. I have tried sour apple which makes me pucker long before I can chew the thing up. I have tried grape which makes me sick! YUCK! (this picture is from the Mall of America when I had a low. Scott only had Grape tabs and I had a tough time not spitting them out.) So Orange is the flavor we go with.

During the middle of the night when I know I need something to last a while, even after a few tabs, I go with my favorite thing. Sure I wake up high the next day but these round yummy warm pucks of goodness make waking up at 2:15 in a sweaty shaky mess not so bad.

A day in the life...with diabetes - A Ninjabetic Night

It’s day one of D-Blog week. Thank you Karen for coming up with such an awesome idea. There are a GRIP of D-Bloggers out there participating so check them out! 

Day 1 - A day in the life . . . with diabetes. Take us through a quick rundown of an average day and all the ways in which diabetes touches it. Blood tests, site changes, high and low blood sugars, meal planning, anything that comes along. This can be a log of an actual day, or a fictional compilation of pieces from many days.

Instead of a log of a day I will give you the highlights of the beginning of a day I had over the weekend. And here’s the thing, I am currently not in a happy go lucky mood so I apologize in advance for the ‘tude.

**CLANG CLANG CLANG**

"What the hell is that noise?” I turn over in bed and hear a weird sound. The clock says 2:33 at me which I know means it’s really 2:18AM. Why I move the clock forward to trick myself when a 15 minute subtraction problem doesn’t require too many brain cells is beyond me. Since the noise stopped, I turned over and instantly felt a tug on my stomach.

“Crap. My pump.” I follow the tubing from my stomach down the side of the bed and feel Master P clanging up against the bed frame. A Bungie jumping pump. Perfect.

While I was awake I figured I would take a quick glance at the CGM and see where I was. 164. At this point I felt like I should just get up and do a finger stick just to be sure. Plus that last diet coke was ready to evacuate the premises. I grabbed my machine after losing my soda weight and my blood sugar was….

386!

BOLUS PLEASE!

Back to the bathroom I went to look at my CGM sensor. It looked fine. No blood. Nada. I was so pissed that I just pulled the thing out.

My wife asked what was wrong. I told her it wasn’t a low or anything and that she didn’t need to worry.

I went back to sleep and woke up at 6:30 (6:15) to get ready for my day. I feel like a train hit me. My blood sugar was still in the high 200’s regardless of the correction bolus I did during the night. It was now the beginning of the actual day and yet diabetes had already set the pace. I spent the day feeling run down, tired, and fighting ups and downs trying to get my BG to cooperate.

Our days sometimes start long before the alarm goes off and the sun comes up. Diabetes is there lurking all the time and sometimes, it gets to work fighting us before we have a chance to fight back. 

A Truth Revealed

I am a sightseer. If I am on vacation, you can bet I know all the tourist traps and “must see” places. I will have fit them into an itinerary that will allow me to maximize my trip and see the most I can in a short amount of time. I always say, “Who knows if or when I’ll be back?”

This trip was very different.

With all of the weird health stuff going on with me, the chest pain and nausea, and my plate being fuller than one of my trips to a breakfast buffet in Vegas, I figure I better make this trip lo-key. Not to mention, my reason for going was simply to hang out with my friend and his family.

And that’s what we did.

First thing you should know is that my insulin intake and blood sugars were much better than they have been. I know I was waking up later and not eating as much but even still, my overall BG’s were lower which I think has a lot to do with the whole stress thing.

The other thing is the chest pains and the nausea were gone. Completely gone.

I know most of you think, “duh George, maybe if you weren’t all stressed out you wouldn’t feel sick,” but honestly I thought I kept stress in a place it would not affect me physically.

I was wrong.

Now that I am back in the swing of things I feel like I have the upper hand because of this knowledge. I have had a few serious curve balls sent my way that BV George (before vacation) would have flipped out about but AVG (this is lame and I will never refer to myself this way again) recongnizes that stressing out is going to mess him up physically.

When this has happened, I have stopped what I was doing, stepped back to assess the situation, and then figured out why I was stressed and how I can get the task done without having a stress attack.

The pressures of life will always be there for us, but the way we respond to it and let it affect us is in our control.

No longer can I let stress take a hold of my life.

Do you have a way you deal with stress?

MN Meetup Recap

While I was vacationing in Minnesota, Scott had planned a meet-up to happen on Saturday at the MOA (Madhouse Mall of America). The plan was for everyone to meet us in the food court (lots of diet pop refills) from 1-6 and just hang out.

The first to show up was Molly from Dam Diabetes. Molly brought her dog Dixie who is no stranger to meet-ups but I will talk about her a little later.

Dave, a friend of Scott’s and a former co-worker was there. Jim, another type 1 in the area, and Dean who hangs out on Diabetes Daily were all there right around one.

Once again, no weirdness, no awkward moments, nothing. It was a table with a bunch of people who all shared one common thread, type 1 diabetes.

We laughed a lot and talked about our treatment. Frustrations that were mentioned were understood. Everything was understood and it was so safe and comforting to know we are not alone.

After a few minutes Molly tells me I should test my blood. You see, Dixie is a service dog and alerts Molly when her blood sugar is low, high, or is dropping. I looked at my CGM, and it said 153 with two double arrows down. A finger stick came in at 120 and as soon as I put my machine away, I began to sweat and shake. I was low.

“She’s never wrong,” Molly said. Dixie was lying down and was satisfied that her job was done and I actually checked my blood.

The table started talking about how amazing it was because this was not some fluke, she knew. Dixie came over to me and I started to pet her when something hit me and I started to get a little choked up. This dog knew my body better than I did. I felt so scared and yet so thankful that Molly had Dixie to protect her. It was a weird moment but one I will not forget.

Not too much time went by after I corrected my low when Molly nudged me and looks down next to her. There, giving me a total stare down is Dixie. I sat there looking into her big brown eyes and she never took them off of me. She stared me down. I took out my machine, tested, and was well over 240. No sooner did I lick the blood off my finger did Dixie lie down.

Molly explained that she alerts her if she is out of range at all. High or low. This is not like anything I have ever seen. Dixie is amazing.

Dave, Jim, Dean, Molly, and even Dixie were all so great. We all were cracking up and sharing our lives with one another and it was comforting. I am already looking forward to the next time I get to MN to hang out with them all.

Scott from Strangely Diabetic and Chris from Type 1 Tidbits told us they were going to come up from Kansas for the meet-up! I was shocked that they would come from so far away but then again, I think I win for distance traveled. :)

They got to the mall right around 4PM and quickly they were introduced to the group. Another 2 PWD’s and it was all good.

      

Scott brought me a very unique gift from Kansas. Check out this awesome Zen cow! He is currently sitting on my desk and keeping my mind at total peace! Every Ninja should take time to meditate so this cow totally fits! Thanks so much Scott, I really dig it!

Right around 6 we all said our goodbyes (kinda sad) but since Scott and Chris had come such a long way, we made plans to meet in the morning and hang out until they had to leave for home. They weren’t in Kansas anymore right? Right? Get it? :)

We met Sunday morning at IHOP and had the most awesome waitress, Susan

She hooked up carafes of Diet Pop and made our breakfast most excellent. She brought Chris 8 strips of bacon so how could I not love her?

After breakfast we went back the MOA to hang. After making a fool of myself out front, I continued to do so as soon as I entered.

This is me checking my blood sugar with the help of Mr. Shark.

  

 Even Chris got into the fun!

We walked around and tried this Nascar race simulator. It was pretty cool and I was so stoked that I won. Well, I came in 10^th but I beat these guys! LOL I think they all were out of range or something.

The Bubba Gump Sea Monkey looking dude was chilling outside the restaurant so I asked for a picture. As soon as I posed I decided to make sure I let the camera know how I really feel about big scary Shrimp Sea Monkeys. Look at my face! I am terrified! LOL

We laughed a lot. We talked a lot. We just hung out and were normal. Normal in our D-lives together and it felt really really safe.

Once again, a good time had to come to an end. We said our goodbyes as the Kansas duo headed off into the sunset.