It isn’t just finger pricks & medication

Type 1 diabetes is much more than finger pricks and medication.

It’s changing insulin sites ever 3-6 days. It’s re-calibrating a continuous glucose monitor every 12 hours. It’s making sure you have spare reservoirs, syringes, batteries, insulin, candy at ALL times.

It’s hitting a nerve when you insert a site but not wanting to remove it so you don’t waste it. It’s having a 400 blood sugar after eating a very high carb meal. It’s having a stock pile of supplies in your closet. & it’s poking your finger 4-8 times a day.

Diabetes is hard.

Yesterday I had a pile of garbage after changing my site, my reservoir and my sensor all at once. This morning I woke up with a 400 blood sugar after my pump died in the middle of the night.

Having a high blood sugar feels awful. You have to pee constantly, you have cotton mouth, you have a headache and you feel like you’re going to throw up (& sometimes you do).

Having a low blood sugar isn’t as fun either. You have body shakes, you sweat, your can’t focus and sometimes you don’t remember things.

Diabetes isn’t just hard. It’s scary.

Whether you have a high or low, it’s affecting every part of your body. & it can change into a medical emergency fast.

Going into a coma is a real concern. Not having access to sugar or insulin is a real concern. Not having access to syringes, reservoirs, sites, sensors, batteries, is a real concern.

I’ve been there.

Being in the OR and running out of insulin and not knowing if you have a backup reservoir with you. Being at PT and having a low blood sugar and not having your meter or any candy with you. Or going to get insulin out of the fridge and realizing you used your last vial.

Every day is hard with diabetes.

But having family, friends and coworkers who know what to do is lifesaving.

Be your own advocate. It could save your life.

#diabetes #type1diabetes

Childcare

I thought finding childcare was hard while I was pregnant.

Before I even knew my children. Before I knew they personalities. Their likes & their dislikes.

I was going in blind. Trying to find someone to care for my unborn children whom I had not even met yet.

& then I had to find childcare for my 2 year olds and my 7 month old…

The last few days we have been interviewing nanny’s and let me tell you…

I’d go back to that blind date scenario!

Finding someone to help us with our children who have varying personalities but that we also like is HARD.

We want someone who has the same mindset as us, who will help raise our children into amazing people and who also loves them like we do.

But finding all of that in one person is hard.

Luckily we had found that person during our “blind” search.

But it’s a tad more tough now.

A few interviews later and I’m second guessing my top 2 choices.

Will they care for my children like I do?

Will they stick around?

Will they know what to do in an emergency?

Will they teach them right from wrong?

Do I go with the one with more nannying experience?

Do I go with the one who I personally connected with right away?

Do I go with the one who will do lesson plans or the one who will keep them on a routine schedule?

So many questions. So many what ifs.

My children are my life & picking someone to help me care for them, raise them and teach them when I am not around is tough.

#nanny #childcare #parenthood

Rare Medical Cases

2 calls with my doctor and 1 call with the nurse and I’m STILL the zebra patient.

“I have never heard of this happening before!”

“this is so rare”

“not that it’s a good thing, but I’ll never forget your case”

If it’s rare, I’m most likely to get it. If it’s uncommon, you bet I’ll get it.

It’s always been this way.

At age 18, I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes or AKA juvenile diabetes. It was uncommon to get it at such an old age. But I got it.

With Finley’s pregnancy, I got polyhydramnios. It’s seen in about 1% of pregnancies BUT I had so much fluid that my doctor thought I lost 20 lbs of just fluid when he was born. It was the most she has ever seen.

& ever since I got hurt 5 years ago, I’ve been the “zebra” with my knee.

Nothing makes sense. Everything is the opposite of the way it should be. & NOTHING is working.

And then I get a blood clot. A blood clot almost 6 weeks post op, after I’ve already been on blood thinners and 11 days after I had a negative ultrasound.

Plus, I’m showing signs of complex regional pain syndrome..

So what else is going to go wrong? What else is going to be uncommon? What else is going to be rare?

& will I ever just be normal?!