Mom Wants A Diabetes Cure

Why Do Clouds Float?

2009-12-05T14:28:00.002-05:00

Every kid has questions that form as a result of all of the observations they make about the world around them.

Who do they usually go to first for the answer?

Well, mom and dad of course. And kids have a knack for asking questions that parents don't have the answer for.

Parents no longer have to rely on answers like:

"Because."

"It just is."

"I don't know."

The Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents), Second Edition, by Gina Misiroglu is THE reference book to rely on for answers to questions like:

"Why is the sky blue?"

"What do fir trees and pine trees tell us about the weather?"

"Would it hurt if a plant eating dinosaur bit you?"

"How do clouds float?"

Collected from moms and dads across the country, The Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents) have questions that will enlighten the most inquisitive children and provide answers for grateful parents.

No longer do parents have to look like deer caught in the headlights when their child asks them a question.

The Handy Answer Book for Kids (and Parents) is a great book to give as a Christmas gift. I know my own kids have read it and found it to be interesting and fun to read.

7 year Anniversary :( Eat, Dose, and Be Merry :)

2009-11-25T06:57:00.004-05:00

On Friday, November 27th, Supernanny will be helping parents regain control of their family after their 5 year old son is diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.

http://abc.go.com/shows/supernanny

Oddly enough, this is bringing tears to my eyes because I'm thinking back to the struggles my own family and I had when we dealt with our newly diagnosed son. You would think by now I would be more steeled against being emotional over it.

But, no....the feelings are still raw after all these years.

Wow....... It hit me right this second that it has been 7 years this week since Brendon was diagnosed with diabetes. If it weren't for writing about the episode, the anniversary reminder would've come and gone without notice.

He was diagnosed just a few days before Thanksgiving. That was nothing to be thankful for that year.

But, each year afterward, we were thankful that he was able to regain his health and vigor and live a semi-normal life.

Well, let me fix that....HE was able to live a TOTALLY normal life because he was never phased by having diabetes. He played and did everything he was meant to do in life.

He still lives life on his own terms. Sometimes to our frustration as parents, LOL. But, I wouldn't want my little man to be limited by anything at all....not by diabetes....or his own imagination.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! Eat, Dose, and Be Merry :D

I'm Not a Doctor, But I Play One When I Watch TV

2009-09-01T06:33:00.002-04:00

I'm a regular viewer of Army Wives. It's a cheesy, soapy kind of series on Lifetime, but I like it.

A couple of episodes ago, Claudia Joy would mention how thirsty she was and take a swig of water. It was very subtle and not much attention was brought to it on the show. Not another mention was brought about it following her swig.

But, I immediately zoned in on it and thought, "Ha, I bet she has diabetes."

On the next episode, they alluded to her being told devastating news after a car accident.

I thought, "I'll bet she's diagnosed with diabetes. Now will it be Type 1 or 2. What a cliffhanger!"

During that episode, she complained she wasn't feeling well. And then she asked someone for some water because she was thirsty.

She and one of the Army Wives were driving at night and her vision blurred. They got into an accident after she swerved out of the way of a car whose lane she passed into.

At the hospital, they did regular blood work that night. The next morning, the doctor mentioned that they saw her blood sugar was high and thought maybe stress from the accident caused it, so they did another blood work up that morning and found it to be high again. He told her to follow up with her physician.

I was like, "Damn! I should be a doctor! I'm feeling so House right now."

So, at the end, she's diagnosed with Type 2. It was an educational scene for the viewers. I was impressed that the TV doc was very thorough and pretty accurate with the info she gave Claudia Joy about Type 2 and the fact that even though she is thin and fit, she could still get Type 2.

This past episode shows Claudia Joy taking insulin because the doc wanted to get her started on that therapy right away.

So of course, I'm making sure that the technical part to this scene is accurate, LOL.

She didn't exactly get the air in correctly, but I'll let that pass. No biggie.

She did draw out the insulin correctly, did not tap out bubbles though, and she didn't go nuts over pushing out the insulin to get the correct dosage.

I remember eyeballing the bejeesus out of that syringe to make sure the plunger met up with the correct markings on the syringe. I was always cross-eyed.

OK, anyway, not much TV time can be taken up measuring out the insulin.

But when she injected it into her stomach, she rubbed the spot afterwards.

I was thinking, "Don't rub it! You're not supposed to rub it!"

Anywho, yeah...I'm a stickler for accurate diabetes portrayal. This will probably play out for a few episodes and then be forgotten about. But, I will watch like a hawk in the meantime to see if they do the Type 2 justice.

Hey There, Ho There....

2009-08-18T19:13:00.006-04:00

How has everyone been doing? Sorry I've been MIA for longer than I've ever been since starting this blog, but frankly, I didn't know what to write about anymore.

Brendon has been doing spectacular with baseball, not so much with diabetes. We're going through a transition into him receiving more independence with his care and us trying to teach him how to be responsible with his independence.

He'll probably have his worst A1C since he was diagnosed....we have an endo appointment tomorrow. BUT, I'm hoping for better of course.

He's happy, read all of the Harry Potter books since school ended, and has played baseball nearly everyday for two different teams since Spring.

Here is as starting pitcher for the playoff game:

Anyone Know Why the Cozmo Pump is Discontinued?

2009-03-31T09:00:00.002-04:00

We got a letter in the mail saying Smiths Medical isn't providing the Cozmo pump for direct sale anymore. But, they're honoring the warranty for all old and new customers. We have 4 years left on ours, but it sucks that now we'll have to switch after that time.

Has anyone heard about why they've discontinued the Cozmo?

Gettin' The Itch.....

2009-03-17T10:10:00.003-04:00

My poor neglected blog needs some TLC. So here's some cow bell to get it revved up again:

This morning I was awakened to three little munchkins jib jabbering about the leprechaun coming.

"Let’s see if the Leprechaun came."

"The Leprechaun came!!! WOOHOOOOO!!"

"He left us chocolates!"

"The Leprechaun took the money!"

Background story:

Yesterday, Jacob told me that he and his class built a leprechaun trap to leave in class and that maybe he’d leave them gold coins and candy. He was mostly hoping that the trap would capture the leprechaun himself. He’s been working on earning a pet and a leprechaun would be the best pet ever!!

But Jakey got greedy and wanted to build a trap at home too. I didn’t think of the ramifications at the time.

Later that night while I was cooking dinner, he and Jessica constructed a trap made of a cardboard box and some green cellophane wrapping paper.

"Leprechauns LOVE green!"

They wrapped the box inside and out using a whole damned bottle of Elmer’s glue!

Then they set the trap by propping the box up with a green notebook and a gold basketball trophy.

The kids all went to bed and now it was time for the leprechaun to come and trick ‘em!

The leprechaun couldn’t leave candy because there was no junk food to leave. Grrrrrr…..

No Sakajawea coins were laying around. So no gold leave. Grrrr……

ROCKS! Leprechaun will leave them rocks as a trick for trying to trap him.

But all the mangy rocks in the house that were collected by the kids were tossed out. Grrrrr…..

Aha! Chocolates!

So I asked Jeff where he hid my chocolates that he bought me for my birthday and that are offlimits because of all the working out I'm doing. He said they were on his shelf in the closet.

"You’re kidding me! I looked for them there one day and never found them." Grrrr……

He said they were hidden in a shoebox on his shelf.

I got them down and put a few under the box, took the sh*tload of coins the kids left and called it a night.

A Christmas Story(s)

2008-12-23T09:02:00.002-05:00

Jessica: Does Santa go around stealing toys from stores?

Me: No, he doesn't do that. Why are you asking?

Jessica: Then how does he get the toys?

Me: The elves make them.

Jessica: How do they make them look like the ones in the store?

Me: They're magic.

-----------------

(Background story: I was decorating the family room for Christmas and Jacob asked me if the family room were clean, would that make Santa happy. I told him it would make him VERY happy. So he said "OKaaa-aay, I'm going to clean the family room. Sure enough, he did just that and the family room was completely spotless! And he even placed some more decorations around the room. It actually looked really nice for the work of a 5 year old)

Jakey: Dad, will we be here for Christmas?

Jeff: No, we'll be in New Jersey.

Jakey: Then how will Santa give us our gifts?

Jeff: He'll know where you are and deliver them to Aunt J's house.

Jakey: Awww man! Does that mean we have to clean another family room?

-------------------

Jessica: Does Santa really exist?

Me: Yes he does.

Jessica: Oh yeah? PROVE it!

Me: I can't. He's magic.

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmahanukwanza.

The List

2008-11-12T09:52:00.002-05:00

1. Brendon's school nurse quit and no one knew about it until the new school nurse was announced over the speaker during morning announcements....this was 2 weeks after she quit. The new nurse never worked with kids with diabetes before. In the meantime, he was dealing with a substitute nurse who called me to tell me what a pleasure it was to work with Brendon.

2. Jessica went to the school nurse with chest pain and we talked about it that night at dinner. Brendon suggested that maybe she has amnesia. He meant pneumonia.

3. I've been going to the gym and have lost 13 pounds. I need to lose more.

4. I have nothing else to talk about.

This video is so twisted, which is probably why I think it's funny as hell.

Puketober Fest 2008

2008-10-03T08:42:00.002-04:00

All day yesterday I was getting calls from the school nurse reporting Brendon’s blood sugar readings and how at one point he looked pale and clammy. I chalked it up to his blood sugar dropping since...well... it was dropping from the last time she checked him. So she treated him with a juice and a snack.

At 3 p.m., she called again saying he never ate his lunch and he was currently laying down in her office and didn’t want to send him home on the bus. He didn’t eat his lunch? Oh, yeah, he’s definitely sick. So I picked him up, got him home, and all he wanted to do was lay down in bed. No fever, blood sugars were good. Maybe he’s catching a cold or something.

Fast forward to 9 p.m. Now mind you, he hadn’t eaten lunch nor did he eat dinner. HIGHLY unusual for this kid, btw.

Back to 9 p.m. He calls out: "MOM!!…I JUST THREW UP!!" (oh yeah, call for mom on that one, haha) and Jeff and I run upstairs to witness him in the bathroom, bent over the tub, with a lake of puke on the bathroom floor. He informs us that he threw up in bed too.

Where the hell did he get all this puke from?? He hadn’t eaten anything all day!

Oh, the joys of parenthood!

So Jeff gets a large trash bag, wraps up the comforter and sheets, and just throws the whole thing out.

Meanwhile, I’m stuck sopping up the damn puke in the bathroom.

But, his blood sugar behaved all night, THANKFULLY, and he's home from school today. He's fine, but I'm making him rest anyway.

I'm missing a lunch date today with a friend of mine....a SUSHI lunch date....and a party in NJ this weekend where all of my college girlfriends will be gathered for the first time in years.

Ah well. C'est la vie. Such is the life of a parent.

Three Little Birds

2008-10-01T04:51:00.002-04:00

I haven't been posting lately because every little thing is gonna be alright and my 3 little birds remind me of that all the time. So, I don't worry 'bout a thing. (even when I pull Brendon out of school early, drive an hour to Waltham for his endo appoinment only to be told as I check in that the appointment was made in Boston. Grrrrrr. I have another appointment made in WALTHAM now in October.)

Instead, I provide you with mindless, funny entertainment. Sometimes we need that kind of escape even if things are good:

I Don't Know How We Managed That

2008-09-20T18:02:00.004-04:00

This summer royally sucked as far as Brendon's numbers go. We saw numbers in the upper 400 to 300 range on a regular basis....just about daily. I don't think a day went by where there weren't those kind of numbers in the mix. There was a week where his numbers ranged from 490 to no lower than 300.

He had some blood work done for his last appointment to see how his cholesterol was doing and they did his A1C at the same time.

I had been convinced all summer that his A1C would be in the 8 range. Completely convinced and so I became at peace with it because we did the best we could. Sometimes you just have to let it go and be at peace.

When we saw his A1C on the results sheet it was:

7.6

I'm friggin happy about that right now.

9/11

2008-09-11T10:31:00.002-04:00

Hey Look! A Gray Hair!

2008-09-10T02:20:00.004-04:00

Jessica (6 years old): Is pot illegal?

Me (in my head): DOH!

Me: Yes. It's illegal.

Jessica: What is pot?

Me: It is a plant that people dry up and smoke like a cigarette.

Jessica: Is it sometimes called weed?

Me (in my head): Wha the fuuuu???

Me: Yeah.

Jessica: Is it a poison weed?

Me: Yes. It's poison.

Jessica: Does Nana have any of the poison weed?

Me (in my head): Whaaa? LMAO.

Me: Uh, you know. I don't know.

Jessica: Why aren't cigarettes illegal?

Me: Because tobacco isn't illegal and too many people make too much money off of it.

Me (again): Where are you getting these questions from?

Me (in my head): And why am I getting the munchies?

Jessica: NEVERMIND!

I turns out she has seen commercials about "It's never to early to talk to your child about drugs". I will remain calm and openminded about questions that pop up.

SAME DAY

Jacob (5 years old): What does illegal mean?

Me: It means if you do something that is against the law then you go to jail.

Me (in my head): Why not just cut to the chase with the kid.

Jacob: I want Brendon to do something illegal so he goes to jail. And then he'll have to work in a restaurant.

Brendon (8 years old) (Laughs): That would be so cool to work in a restaurant!

Me: What!? No it wouldn't!

I Poop On You

2008-09-07T12:12:00.002-04:00

I saw Triumph the other night on Conan O'Brian and I was hoping HOPING that there would be a Youtube clip available. It is a must see.....

"Fox News....you swing to the right more than Ann Coulter's strap-on."

How They Found This Blog

2008-09-03T06:18:00.002-04:00

Note: Brendon's first day of school went well. I received a call from the nurse saying he was a 60 after recess. She treated with a juice and after that, his numbers were awesome. In fact, all of his numbers were awesome yesterday.

Now for some interesting terms people Googled that led them to my blog:

wife wants vagina stretched
10-4 rubber duck
coneechiwa
diabetic feminin itch
moms saggy ass
guys saggy ball pictures
men in feminine hygiene ads
i hate shannon lewis

And then some others that have something to do with diabetes.

WOW WOW WOW. The Times They Are Achangin'

2008-08-29T13:05:00.002-04:00

We'll either have the first black President in the history of the United States, or the first female Vice President in our nation's history.

The Downside Of Nanny 911

2008-08-28T23:53:00.001-04:00

Jessica (age 6): Mom. Why do I want to watch Nanny 911?

Me: I don't know. Why?

Jessica: So I can learn how to be bad.

I Shouldn't Think About This While I'm Tired

2008-08-27T22:24:00.003-04:00

Today was a "Meet Your Teacher Day" where parents and kids go to school to meet their teachers. We met Brendon's teacher in a new school with a new nurse. So explanations needed to be gone over with Mrs. S. She seemed very understanding and was willing to work with us. She was sweet. I'm meeting with the nurse tomorrow to give her supplies and a once over of the 504 Plan.

As we walked through the halls, I said hello to people we knew, stopped to talk for a while and was so envious at how carefree they were. They just had to breeze in, meet the teacher and walk out again.

I, on the otherhand, was tense about making sure the teacher knew everything she had to know about Brendon.
Make sure to send him to get tested at the nurse's office if you notice him to be very agitated. That could be a sign he's low. He generally knows he 's low, so make sure to have him tested if he complains he feels that way. He's to be tested before lunch, before and after recess, before and after gym. But I'm sure the nurse will go over everything with you and work out a plan for you two to follow. Don't worry. It will all be fine. I don't think there was ever a major problem that the other school had to deal with.

Ugh. One explanation after the next while hoping we weren't overwhelming the teacher with information.

I just wanted to go to the school and meet the teacher. That's all.

Drink Me. Eat Me.

2008-08-26T23:13:00.002-04:00

He eats too much.

He doesn't eat enough.

He drinks too much.

He doesn't drink enough.

Demolishing the highs.

Building up the lows.

Round and round the carousel goes.

Too Much Anatomy

2008-08-17T21:52:00.002-04:00

What is UP with banana hammocks?

The first beautiful day we had in a loooong time was spent at the beach, today. The beach was really crowded because everyone was taking advantage of the beautiful weather while they could.

We found a primo spot right next to the jetty so that it would be easy for our kids to find us and it’s a built in playground if they get sick of the sand.

We settle in nicely when who shows up but Banana Hammock Man. He was about 60 years old, tanned, leathery, and short. But not fat…just saggy.

He plants his reclining lawn chair right. next. to. my. chair. No buffer zone to speak of. Didn’t even try to even out the spacing between my chair and the people next to us.

OK, who the hell brings a lawn chair to the beach?

And then he just stands there….back to the sun….ass facing me….face level. It was fabulous to have a saggy ass smack dab in my facial space.

Jeff came over after playing catch with Brendon and mouthed to me to look behind me. I told him I was absolutely aware of the violation. I didn't want to come face to ass with the guy.

BHM stood there for an eternity. The kids started asking why he was standing there. Never moved. Never adjusted his footing. Ugh.

Finally he lays on his chair and begins his sun worship. He couldn’t get any tanner than he already was. He was a tanorexic.

So he’s laying there and every time I returned to my chair after being in the water, I had to witness his saggy ass. I have to tell you how ill I felt. I tried not to look, but it was right there. Damn…….

We finally started packing up to leave and he adjusted his positioning so that now he was laying on his back. Not only was he laying on his back, but his legs were spread wide open with his feet planted on the sand so that the insides of his saggy thighs could get some rays.

And his saggy ball sack was just laying there all lumpy and disgusting.

Jeff said the guy was a P-I-G. I thoroughly agreed.

The Idiot Apple Doesn't Fall Far From the F***ing Tree

2008-08-14T19:55:00.003-04:00

The time has come when I must clean up my language. I know......I know.

When you hear "Jesus Christ" and "idiot", it's not so bad. But when they come out of an eight year old's mouth, it sounds pretty damn bad. Particularly when he's saying it to his friend in front of his friend's mother and grandfather....with me right there.

Those words come from this scenario everytime I'm out driving with them:

"What are you doing, you idiot?!", I ask through my windshield to an idiot driver.

"Jesus Christ. When is the light going to turn green?"

Fuck has the highest ranking of swear words. When it comes out of an eight year old's mouth, it makes me feel like a failure of a mother.

"Fuck!", Brendon exclaimed when his golf ball missed the hole when we were out playing miniature golf.

Yeah. It's time.

Our Meet And Greet With Carey And Family

2008-08-12T07:23:00.003-04:00

I've tried to think of clever ways to write this post. I wrote versions in my head on the way back from meeting them. I wrote yet more versions in my gray matter on my 6 hour drive back home.

But let me get to the point:

Carey and Susanne, their kids, as well as Carey's mom are just the nicest goddamned people you ever want to meet.

Cases in point:

Originally, we were going to meet at a restaurant....6 kids and 4 adults. Need I say more?

But, Carey's mom suggested we all meet and have lunch at her place. Which I must say put my mind at ease that they didn't think I was a blogging weirdo... :D

That's nice, isn't it?

I shook hands with Carey who looks just like his pictures and did NOT sound like Mike Tyson at all. I had imagined that there has got to be something about him that blogging doesn't reveal and thought, well maybe he sounds like Mike Tyson. But, he has a very nice sounding man-voice.

Susanne is the nicest person and has the most gorgeous bone structure....as well as beautiful curly hair...(damn her!). We have much more in common than we'd like. We're the mothers of two boys with diabetes who like to negotiate the hell out of everything ;)

Carey's mom. What can I say about her other than she is no typical Nana. She had just gotten back from the gym when we got to her place. She's 30 going on 21. And she wants to get a tribal tattoo across her lower back. My kids pretty much adopted her as their own Nana. She's beyond cool.

So, I have admit there was some nervousness on my part. I have my 3 kids in someone's beautiful house...I prayed that they'd be on their best behavior. Jeff and I are meeting Carey and Susanne for the first time....I prayed that I would have plenty to talk about and not sit there staring at them trying to find things to talk about.

Well, I'll tell you that conversation flowed nicely (it's all about nice here). We felt comfortable and at ease.

The kids got along great. Other than Maeve coming to us saying the boys (meaning Charlie and Brendon) were wrestling with her for no reason, they became fast friends.

After lunch we walked to the boardwalk for fun and games. I talked with Carey's mom. Carey talked with Jeff. I talked with Susanne. Carey's mom talked with Jeff. I talked with Carey. Everyone mixed and mingled as we walked.

Since there were 6 kids, there was a natural pairing off.

I thought Charlie and Brendon would hit it off. They did. Being the only two girls in the bunch, Maeve and Jessica hit it off to my relief. Jessica can be a little shy sometimes (understatement). The age difference between Jacob and Ben isn't far, but with the ages that they are right now, they just couldn't relate to each other...yet. But, I see it happening in the future. They're the quintessential 3rd child...and they need each other ;)

I don't know at what point this happened, but there was a shift in the pairings. Brendon and Maeve drifted together. And Jessica and Charlie were connected at the shoulders. This was how it was basically the whole time we were at the boardwalk.

In fact, Brendon felt so comfortable with Maeve, that when Susanne asked if she felt like she was getting sunburned, Brendon...being oh so protective of his new friend, pulled away Maeve's spaghetti straps to check for signs of sunburn. "No", he said, inspecting her skin. "She doesn't look like she's burning." He's a smooth operator.

Brendon' s blood sugars started dropping while we taking them to the rides and he became uncertain about the speed of the Merry-Go-Round that he and Maeve were waiting to start on. So he got off the horse. We gave him juice, cut back his basal, and gathered the kids to get on the train together. But he was uncertain about the speed of that too. His blood sugar was messing with his head. He's cautious by nature, but being low exaggerated it to the Nth degree. Maeve asked Jeff if Brendon was going to be O.K. She was concerned. She was a good friend. He eventually snapped out of his low induced speed cautiousness and eventually was able to relax and have a great time.

Charlie wanted Jessica to go on the motorcycles with him. She happily went along. He wanted her to sit on the back of HIS motorcycle. Jessica wanted her own. But he insisted that it was important that she sit in the back of him and hold on. They were buddies and it was essential that they not leave each other's side.... But they were separated for all of 5 minutes. Jessica hopped onto her own bike.

Picture time came. I forgot my camera, but being the awesome blogger that he is, Carey brought his.

There is a picture you may see soon of Brendon and Charlie standing side by side. Before the picture was taken, Brendon's shirt was haphazardly showing off his pump pak. Charlie noticed this and said, "I want to show my pump too". He lifted his shirt and tucked it in back of his pump, put his arm around Brendon and smiled for the camera.

I turned to Susanne and told her what I saw and heard. I told her it was cute, but bittersweet. We both agreed that it was sad. The boys don't know any different. There is a 2 year age gap between them, but they were diagnosed as toddlers in the same month...different year, I believe. I think Charlie was happy to have something in common with another boy for the first time.....despite the meaning of it.

I don't know about them, but I honestly felt completely comfortable and at ease with every one of Carey's family members, Carey included of course ;)

I was happy we all got to meet and I hope we can do it again sometime soon.

If I Were A Hipster, I'd Be Diggin' The Irony

2008-08-05T08:28:00.002-04:00

But when you have a kid who tells you his blood sugar is 30 and he has 3 units of insulin on board (meaning in his system), the irony sucks.

The other day, Brendon informed me of what his blood sugar was. Of course we had just run out of juice the day before and I keep junk food out to the house, so there were no foods with simple sugar. I had already given him honey that morning for a low and he could barely swallow it...he hates the stuff. So getting enough of it in him wasn't going to cut it.

I gave him what I thought was enough carb loaded foods...along with jelly to keep him from dropping any further. All was well in the end.

Here's where the irony comes in: This morning, I was refilling the sugar bowl with Splenda and when I took the big ol' bag of the stuff out of the cabinet, what do you think was behind it?

Two juice boxes.

Third Time's A Charm

2008-08-03T15:41:00.002-04:00

Jessica lost a tooth on Thursday.

She received $3.....one dollar for every night the tooth fairy "forgot" to come. She almost received $4.

I think she knows the truth because cousin Elizabeth told her the tooth fairy isn't real.

I tried to convince her that she IS real.

Jessica seemed skeptical when, in the middle of the day after Jeff asked if I put money under her pillow and I raced up to do it, I asked if she checked under her pillow to see if the tooth fairy came.

"No, I looked when I woke up and my tooth was still there."

"Go check now."

She went upstairs and came down with $3.

She didn't seem excited about it.

Mmmmm....Garbage Tastes Good.

2008-07-31T13:22:00.002-04:00

I Suppose You'd Use a Dual Wave/Extended Bolus for These Food Items??