Ok, so I freaked out!

(This post is written specifically for my non-D family and friends out there.  I wish that I could guarantee that every single person that I care about would read this post.  I wish that they would, in turn, pass this along to every one that they love.  I will be the first to admit that I did not know anything about Type 1 Diabetes before Ally's diagnosis.  And I certainly did not recognize the warning signs and symptoms.)


Ok, so I freaked out!  Lexi has been waking up earlier and earlier the past several mornings.  6:15 am, 5:30 am, 5:00 am, and last night...er this morning...whatever it was 4:15 am. - and we can't get her to go back to sleep.  Keith and I were taking turns rocking her.  It was my turn to try to get a few minutes of shut eye. 


But instead, all of these things keep popping into my mind like a slide show. 


Why does she keep waking up at odd hours, and crying hysterically?  What is going on with this child?


She can now say "Juice please."  "More Wa-Wa."  "Milk!"  I have been thinking that it is so cute that my almost 18 month old will find me, grab onto my pinky and "drag" me to the refrigerator for a drink.  Oh, no. WAIT!


Yesterday when I went into her room, she had soaked through her diaper.  NO WAY!  Please God, NO! (I repeated over and over agian.)  I knew what I had to do.


My hand was shaking...I couldn't even get the darn test strip in the meter.  I hugged Lexi tight, holding her finger steady, while Keith cocked the Delica lancing device.  Click.  Click.  I held my breath...first because I knew she would scream and second because I didn't want to know the answer. 


By the way....She did not scream.  She did not even flinch.  She sat still and watched as we checked her blood sugar.  Maybe because she has seen this so many times as we check Ally's blood sugar approximately 8 times a day.  In Ally's Two Special Sibs, I mentioned that all things diabetes, including blood glucose meters, lancing devices and test strips, have been around our house since before Lexi was born.  They are not foreign to her...they are just life at our house.


And even more importantly, she was 80-something.  I only heard the first part and let out a HUGE sigh of relief.


In November, I wrote about the importance of knowing and understanding the Warning Signs of Type 1 Diabetes.  This month the Diabetes Community around the world is mourning the losses of 6 of our own.

I know that I am not alone in saying that my heart aches for the families of...

...The 24 year old Australian girl, who went into DKA (Diabetic Ketoacidosis), a coma and then passed away.


...The 16 year old boy.


...The 16 year old girl, who did not wake up from a nap.


...The 27 year old, mother of 2.


...The 9 year old girl.


....AND today, my heart is especially aching for the 18 month old, who was misdiagnosed.
I am not alone in this either.  Tracy was also hit the hardest by the loss of this youngest one.


I am so grateful that I did not wait one more day before taking Ally to the doctor.


Maybe my freak out on Lexi was due to the recent news of the 18 month old, whose diagnosis was missed. 

Or maybe it's because, now, I am all too familiar with the Warning Signs of Type 1 Diabetes. 

Either way, it is a reminder to me that I need to educate others about these warning signs.  I did not know before that horrible February day in 2009.  The Kuehl Family did not know.  This 18 month old's family did not know. 

Why did I make it looks so "pretty"?  Well, I'm hoping that you will post this list.  You may not want to post it on your refrigerator, but why not the inside of your pantry door?  Or give it to your neighbor.  It may, one day, save the life of someone that you love!




**Tracy also wrote a really nice in-depth description of the signs and symptoms in One of the 40... back in November, during Diabetes Awareness Month.

Dreamcatcher

The girls were talking to my dad about their dreams, telling him that they have been having some bad ones lately.  And it's true, they have.  The thing is that for some reason, they don't just wake up and tell me that they had a bad dream.  They almost obsess about it for days.  Ally can still recount the "really scariest dream" (her words) that she has ever had.  Well, because Grandpas always make things better, my dad came up with a Dreamcatcher for them.  This is what the card attached reads:

The Legend of the Dreamcatcher

Native Americans of the Great Plains believe the air is filled with both good and bad dreams.

Historically, dreamcatchers were hung in the tipi or lodge and on a baby's cradle board.


According to legend, the good dreams pass through the center hole to the sleeping person.

The bad dreams are trapped in the web, where they perish in the light of dawn.

I've heard the Legend of the Dreamcatcher told before.  In fact, I think I may have made my own dreamcatcher in school when I was young, possibly during a study of Native Americans.  I just read a little bit different version of the legend on this website http://www.dreamcatchers.org.  No matter how it is told, it is an interesting legend.  (Plus, there is no arguing with what Grandpa told them!)

The girls were so excited to hang the dreamcatcher in their bedroom.   This is the answer to their prayers.  No more bad dreams in this perfectly purple little room!  Now, where to hang it?  The discussion began.  They thought that it wouldn't be fair to hang it on the bed post of only one of their beds, so first they decided to hang it on the ceiling right in the middle of their two beds.  Then Jessi was afraid that IF, maybe, a bad dream "leaked" through the hole, it could still fall on them...so that was a no go!  They eventually decided to hang it across the room. 

This particular dreamcatcher has chimes hanging from it.  The girls tell me that when it "catches" a bad dream, the chimes will ring.  So after the first night with the dreamcatcher, I asked if they had good dreams.  Of Course they did!  Jessi asked Daddy if he heard the chimes last night because she did.  She said that she heard it catching a bad dream, but couldn't wake up.  Daddy told her that he heard it too, only he thought it was the alarm on Ally's CGM going off! 

Last night Ally told Daddy that she wished that the Dreamcatcher would catch bad thoughts too.  Wouldn't that be great?  I often wonder what goes through her mind, as a 7 year old with diabetes.  Once in a while she will really shock me by telling me something that she was thinking about.  I hate that she has to have these thoughts. 

It would be amazing if a Dreamcatcher or rather Thoughtcatcher could prevent those scary, unpleasant thoughts from ever entering her mind.  Well, if we can't have a cure yet, why not?  A girl can dream, can't she?

Ally's TWO Special Sibs

Back in November, Alexis of Justice's Misbehaving Pancreas and Sherry of Jennas Pet Monkey declared a very "Special Sib of a D-Kid Day."  The purpose of this special day was "to recognize those special kiddos who sometimes do get left out, sometimes may wish they got some of the attention D does....but still always keep a smile on their face and love in their hearts!"

 

Well, I'm only a little over a month and a half late on this one...but I thought it was such a sweet idea that I wanted to post it anyway.  So, today is OUR Special Sib of  a D-Kid Day!!

Ally has two younger sisters.  Jessi, 5 years old, is in kindergarten.  Lexi is 17 months old and Ally's BIGGEST fan. period.

I'll start with Lexi.  I was about 4 months pregnant with Lexi when Ally was diagnosed.  The poor baby started getting the shaft even before she was born!  I did not focus on this pregnancy as much as I had my first two.  I didn't get as much rest as I should have as a pregnant mommy...and my head was constantly full of worry.  But somehow, she continued to grow into a perfect little human being.  God works in mysterious and wonderful ways!

Lexi LOVES her big sister so much.  She loves both of her big sisters really.  Jessi entertains her and makes her laugh day in and day out.  But she has a special bond with Ally.  I think it is because Ally is so nurturing.  She watches out the window as Ally gets on the bus in the morning.  And asks a million times a day "Where'd Alla go?" (Wish you could see her cute shrug of the shoulders and twist of the wrists as she's asking!)  As soon as I mention that it's time to watch for the bus...she starts saying Ally's name and smiling.  She squeals with delight when Ally finally arrives home from school.

Blood Glucose Meters, bloody used up test strips, the smell of insulin, site changes, insulin  pumps, glucose tablets, sharps containers, Walk for a Cure (I could go on and on!) will all be just a part of life for Lexi.  They have been around our house since before she was born.  They will not represent anything foreign or out of the ordinary to her.  They won't even represent "life with diabetes" to her....just life, the only way she knows it.

And here she is at 14 months ready to RUN for Team Ally!




Grandma and Lexi at 2 months old - ready for her 1st Walk for a Cure!



Ally's second special sibling is Jessi.  You've heard about Jessi before. 

In an old post, My Big Sister, My Hero, I wrote about just how much Jessi looks up to her big sister.  I told about how cute it was when she wore a pump pouch and packed her own "diabetes backpack".  And again, just this week, the girls were BOTH sporting a TummieTote from Tallygear.  Jessi had a paper CGM (attached with scotch tape - ouch!) to her bum, just like Ally.  As Ally checked her pump for me when I asked her what her CGM said, she looked at Jessi and said, "Did you check your CGM?"  They even had a pretend log book to record these numbers from Jessi's paper "CGM". 

And in another post, Swedish Fish, I talked about some of the ways that D has affected Jessi and Lexi too.

Driving in the car yesterday, I overheard Jessi say, "You know Ally, I would do ANYTHING to make your diabetes go away."  (I think she has heard me say this before:)

Ally:  "Aww..that's nice of you."

Jessi:  "I would even rip my whole arm off if your diabetes would go away."

Ally:  "I WOULDN'T LET YOU!  I'd rather keep my diabetes than have your arm ripped off!"

Jessi:  "Aww..that's so nice of you."

 

Love these super sweet siblings!