Which comes first...

... high blood sugars or not feeling well?    In our house, it's always a guessing game.  Sometimes, high blood sugars for a couple of days seem to come just before Rosie starts showing symptoms of the flu or a bad cold. 

Other times, like today, she just doesn't feel good... achy, tired, headache... but I blame that on being mostly in the 300s all night long last night.  I would imagine I wouldn't feel very good after staying that high for 8-10 hours, either.    I'm going to change her site and crank up another temp basal after she finishes breakfast. 

At any rate, we're home today to monitor for ketones and get some rest. 

 

"Magic Cure" Comments

Today I received a new comment on an old post over at my other blog with someone claiming that the Lord led them to a healing center where they were cured of diabetes, and all I need to do is have faith and get to that place. 

Now, don't get me wrong, I am a firm believer in the power of God... but comments like that, especially anonymous comments, really bother me.    I'm offended both as a d-caregiver and as a Christian, because I don't think things like this do much for promoting faith to those who are not believers.   In fact, if I wasn't a Christian, I'd probably chalk this up to just another one of those crazy "church people".  

I'd be willing to bet that the person was "cured" of Type II Diabetes, not Type I, which either means that they didn't read enough on my blog to notice what kind we're dealing with, or, they  have no idea what the differences in the two types are.

If I, or a family member, had truly been miraculously cured of something, you can bet my name would be on any comments or references I made to such healing.  My name and comments of praise would be all over the DOC and anywhere else I thought I could reach people.  The fact that this comment is anonymous seems fishy to me... even more so since it's on an old, old post that has nothing to do with diabetes. 

Grrrr.  Anyone else tired of these kinds of comments?   Or am I just especially tired/grumpy/cynical?  ;)

It's not you, it's me.

Sometimes, I make myself scarce around the DOC.   I click the "mark all as read" button in my blog reader instead of reading my favorite d-blogs.  I stay away from Twitter.  I don't visit the forums of CWD. I delete d-related emails from various companies, unread.  

It's not that I don't want to connect, or learn about the latest study, or pray for the latest family in need.... it's  just, well, sometimes, it's just all too much.   Sometimes, just taking care of Rosie's d-stuff is all I can handle.

So, I pull back.  I take care of Rosie and my family, I do what I need to do, and I go about our normal life.   And then, a few days or even a few weeks go by, and I find myself missing it.  Missing the connections, the support, the knowledge that there are a lot of others out there fighting this same battle.  It's a strange thing, this DOC of ours... but I'm so thankful to be a part of it.  

15 carb Juicy Juice Deal

EDITED 11/18/12: This is one of my most visited posts, but sadly, Amazon no longer offers this "subscribe and save" deal on Juicy Juice.    I'll update again if I find a similar deal.  

 Juicy Juice 4oz boxes are one of those things that it seems nearly every diabetic child I know always has on hand.   (If you're not familiar with these, they are the toddler-sized juice boxes... perfect for a diabetic who is low and needs about 15 grams of carbohydrates to bring their blood sugar back up.)  Unfortunately, they are not the cheapest thing to have on hand, and we go through a lot of them.

Locally, I can buy an 8-pack of the 15 carb Juicy Juice boxes for around $3.99.  I generally wait until they are on sale if I can, but if we're out of juice boxes for school, I wind up paying that $3.99.  Ouch. 

Amazon sells the Juicy Juice Apple, 8-Count (Pack of 5) for $11.12, which breaks down to $2.22 per 9-pack.  Other flavors are the same price, but Rosie is partial to the apple. Five packages of the 8-packs at my local store would be $19.95.... so we're already saving money, right?  

It gets better.   Sign up for the "Subscribe and Save Program" to save 15%, and your total price drops to $9.45.  You can set it to automatically ship another box to you once a month, every other month, every six months... whatever you choose.  Or, you can simply cancel after the first shipment.. you're not obligated to continue.

AND... you don't need to pay shipping!   The juice boxes are eligible for Super Saver Shipping, so if you spend $25 in that transaction, they ship for free.  Or, you can join the free Amazon Mom program (you don't need to be a mom) and get free shipping any time with no minimum purchase.

I am a member of the Amazon Mom program, so we're paying $1.89 per 8-pack  and we receive free 2-day shipping... or $9.45 in total for 40 juice boxes.   I've been doing this deal for a couple of months now, and it works out great for us!     Check out more Works for Me Wednesday tips HERE!

Disclaimer: Obviously I have included some Amazon affiliate links here.  Nobody asked me to link up or post about this deal.  I would make a few pennies if you choose to purchase something through my links, but that's not why I've linked up... I truly feel that this is a great deal on a necessary d-supply, and I wanted to share!

Meltdown Week

Long story short: my patience was all used up with the school Clinic Lady (not a nurse) by about Tuesday of this week.  I have had numerous problems with this woman and her attitude in the past, but up until now, I have tried to remain fairly polite and respectful.  However, I pretty much lost it on Thursday.

Clinic Lady called me at work on Thursday to tell me again that Rosie wanted Motrin  (she gets bad headaches when her blood sugar comes down quickly) but she doesn't have a doctor's order for it.  I say again, because this was at least the fourth time this year that we have discussed this issue... twice I had other witnesses present.  The doctor's order was faxed to the school along with all her other orders on August 11th.   I was very short with her on the phone, trying to maintain my cool, and reminded her that indeed she DOES have an order there.   Clinic Lady proceeds to dig through Rosie's chart  while I remain on the phone and finally, guess what... found the order.   Argh.  She also repeatedly tells me that she doesn't remember ever talking about this before, she doesn't understand why she doesn't have the order, blah, blah, blah.   I remain very short with her and get off the phone to return to my work day, but I was mad.

The repeated conversations about the Motrin order was just the latest in a long string of "forgotten" things, misunderstandings, and blatent disregarding of my directions regarding Rosie's care at school.  Earlier this week Clinic Lady treated a low blood sugar of 40 with only TWO glucose tablets.  Another day she messed up Rosie's carb counts and blood sugar, reversing the numbers.   I understand that we all make mistakes, but this stuff has become a serious pattern, and the attitude that accompanies all of it is completely unacceptable.  I've had enough at this point and I decide to call Clinic Lady's supervisor, a nurse in the school system.  

As I am on the phone setting up a meeting with the nurse, Clinic Lady calls me back at work, so I get off the phone with the nurse.  Clinic Lady then proceeds to tell me that I WAS RUDE TO HER and she feels the need to "clear the air".   Yep, that's when I totally lost it.   Rude??  Really?  I have never said most of the things that go through my mind when I deal with her.  Being rude would be the least of her problems if I did! 

We proceeded to "clear the air" in a conversation that lasted about half an hour.... I covered the many reasons I no longer feel that Rosie is safe in her care.  She came back with plenty of excuses and plenty of comments about not knowing what I wanted her to do.  (Reading the one-page very simple school plan I wrote and actually following it would be a good start!)  She ended the call with telling me that she thinks we both need to "learn not to over-react".   I was furious, but I could see that the phone call wasn't getting us anywhere.  

On Friday I met with two nurses from the school district and we covered all the things that medically need to happen to keep Rosie safe.  They weren't especially interested in my concerns over Clinic Lady's attitude, but I understand that they probably had already been told by Clinic Lady that I was a psycho mom or something along those lines.   The nurses will be stopping in at school twice a week for a while, and I'm to call them if things aren't improving.   We'll see....