Perspective

My perspective on some things has changed drastically this week.  You may remember if you have been following my blog that back in April we gave in to our sixteen year old son's pleas for a puppy.  A beautiful Border Collie/Aussie Shepherd mix became a part of our family and Kihembah (my son named her)quickly made her way in to our hearts.  She was a high energy dog and as she grew did not tire easily making life with her challenging.  Her endless energy and smarts (Border Collies are known to be as smart as a 3-4 year old human) found her getting herself in a world of trouble.

One of my most prized possessions is a wooden horse that my grandpa made for Josh for his 2nd birthday only a few months before my grandpa passed away.  Recently Josh and Jason have been night owls and would still be up with the dog when I would go to bed.  In the morning when I got up, on several occasions I found the horse with chew marks.  I was more than a little miffed that our puppy had defaced this cherished heirloom.

I now have a different perspective on those chew marks.  You see a couple of months ago our precious pup began having cluster grand mal seizures.  She was put on meds and diagnosed with epilepsy.  We heard many hopeful stories from many people who had experienced their dog having seizures or epilepsy and had lived a long life.  Every two weeks the seizures would break through and she would have to go in and be sedated to break the cycle and then she'd come home a little listless but with in 24 hours would bounce back to her usual self.  Then three weeks went by with no seizures.  We were hopeful that we had finally gotten her medication dose down and life could go back to normal.  (a new normal of making sure she got her meds every 12 hours which made having to plan our activities around her medication schedule, being a T1 family we are used to having to plan around medical stuff)

A few days ago, Jason was just getting ready to walk out the door to go teach his class at our local community college when Josh came in and told us that Kihembah was having another seizure.  After the last time she had a seizure break through, we had gotten a prescription for a tranquilizer suppository that was supposed to help break the cycle and keep her from having to go to the vet.  One dose didn't work nor did dose two and three so they packed her up and took her to the vet while I called Jason's boss to inform him of our current circumstances.  In a 20 min period of time, Kihembah had about 8 seizures.  At the vet they hooked her up to IVs giving her a stronger dose of tranquilizer along with more anti-seizure meds.  This didn't work.  Heavily sedated, the seizures did finally stop but then each time the vet would bring her out of sedation, the seizures would start again.

We were faced with a difficult decision.  Do we keep her alive and keep her heavily sedated or do we have her put down and put her out of pain and misery?  We decided that it was time to say goodbye.  It was time to admit that we had tried our best and she was just too sick to keep her alive.

My husband did the tough deed.  He went to the vet and signed the papers.  Josh could not bare to see her again but Jason felt he owed her a proper goodbye.  Jason went in and held her head, tearfully looking her in the eyes and had a heartfelt talk with her to let her know how much we loved her and were sorry that it had to come to this.  I love him and respect him so much that he doesn't just take the easy road but will do the hard thing when it is necessary.

Those chew marks on our beloved wooden horse are now a thing of beauty.  Not only do we have this memoir of my grandpa but there is a special addition where Kihembah left her mark.  Now we get to remember two loves in our lives when we see this horse.  (Josh and my grandpa were super close so the horse will forever be his)

Josh loved his dog and it has been heartbreaking for me as a mom to know I don't have anything to take his pain away.  Its one of our jobs as mommies to make the booboos better and I can't fix this one. 

RIP Kihembah

I chose this picture becuase it shows the relationship between my son and his pup and you can see the horse in the background

The D Fairy

We D moms seem to be able to personify diabetes as if it has a personality or is watching us.  I do sometimes feel as though there is this little invisible to the human eye fairy type that is watching and taking notes to report back to diabetes. 

Last school year every time I went to Costco I would get a call or text with a BG issue.  It wasn't just Costco, haircuts, photos of David all seemed to bring about pump issues or major BG issues.  It seemed like every time I went somewhere there was diabetes trying to spoil my fun.  I even left Bekah with my mom once to got shopping down the street at Target with my sister and Bekah's site fell out (or maybe it was ripped out by the D fairy). 

This school year everything is going great.  No major issues and I feel like I have a bit more freedom.  This week our car insurance was canceled (hopefully it will be short lived).  Yesterday Bekah's BG was in the 400s at the end of the day and I was tempted to break the law and go get her.  I had the teacher do an EZBG correction in Bekah's pump and put her on the bus becuase I could take care of what I needed to at home.  Today was the other end of the spectrum with a stubborn low that kept going lower.  Bus was not a safe option.  So I broke the law (shh don't tell on me) and went to get my girl.  By the time I got there her number was back up to 120 and she was safe but the bus was gone by that time. 

Have you spotted the D fairy in your life lately?? 

One of Those Days...

Yesterday was "one of those days".  It has actually been "one of those months" around here.  October started out well.  There was promise from clients and possible new clients of plenty of work to make ends meet.  They all had stuff that came up so the work was elusive and so was the money.  We found our selves at the end of October not having paid rent and our car insurance was cancelled.  It was scary.  Josh's dog has been diagnosed with a seizure disorder and most days it is controlled with medication but she began having seizures again as all of this other stuff was culminating.  One seizure here or there is fine but cluster seizures could be her demise so we have to get them treated by the vet immediately.  Megan also asked me to check her hair becuase it had been itching.  Sure enough there were nits.  (I loathe lice, those pesky little bugs bring me to my knees and make me feel so dirty and gross)

All we could do is deal with each crisis one at a time.  We used the lice shampoo to kill the bugs and then dried her hair and used the lice gel to loosen the nits and combed through her hair with the metal fine tooth comb.  We topped off the treatment by dying Megan's hair to create a hostile environment for the bugs so they would decide not to raise their babies in my baby's beautiful locks.  I then cleaned like a crazed animal and put all of the stuffed animals in plastic bags so they could hibernate for a few weeks.  Bedding will be placed in the hot dryer daily for at least 10 days.  Luckily Megan was the only one who had head lice and hopefully they learned that they made their nest in the wrong house.  This mama shut down their party and hopefully they will not coming knocking again!

Jason and Josh took care of his dog and got her to the vet where they gave her an IV and extra meds to stop the cluster.  She is now doing fine and her daily meds have been changed to meet her needs better or so we hope.

We were able to get loans from friends and family and a grant from the school district for our October rent.  Jason has lots of job opportunities now and might even end up in a career change (we will see how things play out).

I have been so meticulous with Bekah's  care, logging and weighing etc.  We had a couple of high A1Cs (8.2% and 8.0%) and since then I  have been keeping very close track and making adjustments as soon as I see something out of whack.  Bekah's numbers have been amazing!  Her 7 day average was 147 with very few lows.  It was a season when all was right with the world in the D category at least.  I was happy that in all of the other stress I wasn't having to worry too much about D.

Well I think D was feeling a bit left out and needed some attention in the midst of our other crisis.  No car insurance so I am trying not to drive but yes I will break the law to take care of my girl if necessary.   At the end of the day I get a call from Bekah's teacher telling me the last check was 447.  I decided that they should do an EZBG correction and put her on the bus becuase by the time I could get there, it would be time to go home anyway.

Once home we check for ketones and do another BG check.  400 with no ketones.  I decided to changer her site becuase I couldn't think of any other reason that her number would be that high.  Bekah is amazing.  She usually pops those sites in like nothing.  Every once in a while I will hear a little "ouch".  This time we had tears and blood, lots of blood =(.  It took a while for her to work up the guts to put another site in.  She was adamant that she would do it herself.  This time it was good.  It took most of the evening but her number finally went down and she went to bed at 161. (of course we have an endo appt in a week so hopefully the hard work I have been doing was not just dumped down the drain with our high day)

In the end it's all going to work out but I think I have a few more grey hairs than I did a week ago. 

My first encounter

David is (do I dare even type it) almost completely potty trained.  He went on a poop strike (10 days) so I put him back in diapers and decided he won and was not ready.  Two weeks ago he randomly started taking his diaper off and going in the potty all on his own.  Although I am not ready for my little one to grow up, I am so ready to be done with diapers, forever (or until Jason or I need them again in our very, very old age). 


A couple of nights ago David had just done his business when he called for me "Hey mom come look at this MONSTER poop!"  He admires his creations (GI docs would be proud).  I applauded the work he had done and went to wipe him.  (it wasn't big, just a lot and it looked pretty soft) As I threw the toilet paper in the toilet and began to flush simultaneously, he yelled "no not yet!"  It was too late his glorious monster began to swirl down the drain.  He was so angry at me, his face turned red and he screamed and screamed.  His head spun around three times and snakes began shooting out of his eyes (ok that might be a bit dramatic but I seriously began to wonder if an exorcism was in order).   

He was still sitting on the throne at this point so I went in and ever so gently wiped him clean so we could move the tantrum to a safer location.  I looked in the toilet and saw blood on the paper.  I felt my knees getting a bit weak.  I wiped again, more blood.  I coaxed him off of the toilet and had him bend over and then I saw it.  Part of him was hanging out.  It looked like a giant grape was trying to escape from his colon.  I kind of freaked.  You nurses are probably laughing at me.  I had no idea what a hemorrhoid looked like.  Luckily it went back inside before I could rush him to the ER.  I did go visit his pediatrician today to make sure all was well.  She didn't laugh but wasn't very concerned either.  If it happens again or his poop gets firm or big then she'll prescribe something but for now he just got so upset he had a hemorrhoid.  

I hope I never see another one and thought my first encounter with one would be on myself not my innocent two year old.  He didn't complain about it hurting and hasn't complained since but I did learn my lesson to let the boy flush his own poop.  (I hope you are not too grossed out and are laughing with me on this one, I had to post it for memory sake) 

Dogs

Two and a half years ago, our beautiful 10 yr old husky began having seizures.  We took her to the vet and they gave us meds for her but unfortunately they did not work.  It was a quick demise as the seizures got closer and closer together and a little part of her was gone with each one.  We had her euthanized on February 10, 2009.  She was such a part of the family and we grieved a big loss.  God is good and decided to bring us joy in the midst of our grief and David arrived 3 weeks early on February 13, 2009 just three day later.

Fast forward to now.  We have 2 new puppies living in our home, an 8 month old border collie/Australian shepherd mix that belongs to my son Josh and a 5 month old black lab that we are training to be a diabetic alert dog for Bekah.  2 nights ago at about 3 AM,  Josh came running into my room in a panic saying his dog was having a seizure.  It was a long day Saturday as poor Kihembah had 6 more seizures inside of 18 hours.  We took her to the vet after the second one where they did blood and bile testing and sent her home.  After 3 more seizures much closer together, Jason and Josh took her to the animal hospital.

My heart is aching as this experience is so reminiscent of when we lost our beloved Dakota and I feel so helpless.  This is one of those things that I can not protect my son from.  His poor little heart is breaking for his puppy. 

The boys came home at about midnight last night and had decided to let the vet try giving her meds and observing her all night.  If this doesn't work we can't afford to do more for her.  We couldn't even afford to do that much but we have generous family that loaned us the money.  The vet called this morning and said that Kihembah has not had a seizure in 12 hours and she is responding well to the medication.  Thankfully anti-seizure meds for a dog are pretty cheap because she will have to be on them for the rest of her life. 

In the midst of all of this stress, Sarah (Bekah's dog) has been my therapy.  Most people think of labs as large dogs and for the most part they are.  The breeder we went through breeds for scent recognition and size is not his goal.  He is meticulous about his breeding protocol and for one reason or another many of his labs have ended up on the small end (50-60lbs full grown).  Sarah was the runt of her litter and is still pretty small (24 lbs at 5 months old).  She fits on one side of my lap so I can hold a child and the dog at the same time.  We have been sitting and rocking and just petting our sweet dog.  When Josh came home from the animal hospital he got Sarah and held her and played with her for a bit.  I love that our sweet little mini-lab is helping all of us through this.  She has a duel purpose indeed =)

This is the most recent photo I have of both of the puppies.  They are resting nicely in their crates.  Kihembeah is about 36 lbs so you can see that Sarah on the right is a petite little girl.  (We love her that way, she has a big spirit and Bekah can pick her up plus she can share my lap with the kids) (the mess in the background is David in a box fort sleeping as well)

a moment of peace

These three (8 month old Kihembah, 5 month old Sarah and 2 yr old David) are all constantly vying for my time and attention.  Here they are pictured all sleeping in their own little "forts" (check out David behind the puppy crates)  I was putting away groceries from Costco and David decided the boxes would make a great fort.  At one point I looked around and said "David, where are you?"  I did not see his little shoe poking out of the fort.  A little voiced piped up "Nowhere".  I love that kid!  When I was done putting everything away I peeked inside and he was out like a light =)  Last night he was playing with a stick horse and Jason said "I think maybe you need to put your stick away, you are getting a bit crazy with it"  David replied matter-of-factly "Daddy, it is NOT a stick, it's a HORSE".  (there is actually a stuffed horse head on the end so he has a point)  Yes, my life is a bit crazy, but its my life and I love it!!  =) 

A brief moment...

I can hardly believe that I have found a brief moment to sit and purge a bit of the excess filling up my swelly brain.  Life has been a whirlwind and at times a virtual tornado as I rip from one activity to the next trying as I might to keep up with my four active children who vary drastically in ages and stages of life.  Add to that two rambunctious puppies and you might be able to understand why this break to sit in front of my screen and type to my hearts' content is a rare indulgence these days. 

I miss my readers and your beautiful encouraging comments and I miss reading blogs and encouraging others.  As for this season I hope you all can have grace and understand that you are not far from my thoughts and when I find the time I do pour over your blogs and love reading your thoughts. 

Bekah started second grade just a few weeks ago.  I am happy to say as I sat in that meeting this year before the first day of school with the teacher, nurse and principal that a tear or two might have run amuck down my cheeks but I did not sit and sob through the whole thing.  I handled it in a cheery tone and I think it went well.

The school year has been going well.  I have continued the communication sheets that I got from Reyna and they work awesome!  Last year Bekah's teach was well versed on Diabetes care and how to creatively manage blood glucose levels.  This year's teacher is a quick study who thinks on her feet and is a great communicator.  Bekah and Mrs. B make a great team and I am happy to say that I have not felt anxious to run errands this year nor have I had to be at the school other than the first few days.  (I like to be there doing copying etc for the teacher just to make sure that she gets it and that Bekah will speak up when she needs something ie. feels low)

I have had many inquiries about the dog.  Our Sarah came from Warren Retrievers in Virginia and has an amazing temperament.  She loves riding in the car.  When Bekah gets out at school (Sarah nor Bekah are ready for the responsibility of having her at school) Sarah barks and then once the door closes she whines until we leave the parking lot and then is quiet the rest of the ride home.  Sarah is a typical puppy and has challenges like yesterday when I found her on top of the table eating David's lunch.  On top of scent training (that part almost comes naturally to her) we are service training Sarah.  It is quite a challenge to take a strong willed, loud, creative toddler in public especially when I have the puppy with me.  We do have a trainer that is amazing at what she does  that comes out quarterly to work with us and Sarah.

Just a note about Sarah's alerting.  She licks Bekah's face mostly to alert us to low and high BG levels.  If she is in her crate Sarah will bark a high pitched ear piercing bark.  Sarah has alerted to my mom who is a T2,  a friend's son who came by to pick up some Lantus we didn't need, a man we came across at a car show who wanted to say hello to our puppy and me yes your read that right me.  I am pre-diabetic (self diagnosed since we have no insurance for my husband and my self) I had GD, my mom is a T2, I am over weight and my fasting BGs are 105 on average.  We had eaten dinner out and I had eaten a high carb meal (a rare thing for me).  Sarah barked her alert bark at me as she stared me down then I took her out of her crate and she licked my face (she never licks me).  I checked and sure enough my BG was 167 more than an hour  postprandial.  I'll be taking it easy on the bread sticks from now on. 

Our puppy has proven to be a blessing in so many ways.  She fits our family well and brings us lots of joy.  We still have quite a ways to go to get her paid off.  The whole process has been quite amazing.  It has taught me a lot about myself. 


David is awake now and wreaking havoc so I must bring this post to and end.  Hopefully I will be able to update again soon.   Much love,

I think I might be loosing my mind...

Sorry I have been a bit MIA.  Between puppy stuff and keeping a family of six healthy and happy and sort of clean, I have been busy!  My two year old is going through a stage where he likes to get in your face and make the most annoying sound ever. He does it to all of us and he gets a reaction so he keeps it up.  It's wearing on me (and everyone else as well and since I am the mom they think I have control over his antics so they whine to me about it).

Bekah is going through what I think may be a growth spurt.  Her numbers have been scary high.  No ketones (we check those often too)  I am going to bare all here...7 day average is *gulp* 256  *gulp*  I have changed sites and locations of sites, changed insulin and tweaked basal rates like a crazed honey badger and still Bekah's last check was 444.  ACK!  I am determined to get this (insert profanity) tamed!  My plan is after doing more tweaks today (I am sticking with the 3 day rule) to see what tomorrow holds and if things are not better then making an appointment to have a bone scan done to see if early puberty is the culprit for making insulin act as water in the house. 

On a positive note, I made a video to help raise money for Bekah's dog, Sarah.  It turned out pretty cute I think except that the music track is a bit off. 

missing my girl

I woke up this morning thinking it was Thursday and tomorrow I would get to see Bekah.  Then realized it's only Wed and I have 2 more days to wait.  I have been doing pretty good with her being gone until last night when I just wanted to cuddle with her.  I dreamed that her BGs at camp got up in to the 600s. 

Today I just keep thinking about her and wondering how her BGs have been.  How did her site change go?  Has she lost any sites, did I leave enough?  I keep wondering if she is missing home or having the time of her life.  Or a bit of both? 

I have a ton of stuff to do today as the stomach flu finally made it to my husband and now he is better.  Bathrooms, laundry general disinfecting are all on my agenda today.  I think I will wash the car and try to reorganize the girls' room as well.  (Bekah's bed is too high for Sarah to sleep with her so we have to come up with a solution...I'm thinking IKEA but that takes money so I'll let my creative juices flow and see what we can come up with)  Sarah starts puppy kindergarten tonight as well. Hopefully all of that will keep me too busy to miss my girl too much.

D camp

Yesterday, late morning, Bekah and I loaded up to meet one of her diabuddies and one of the most amazing D-moms I know.  We girls along with another family rode the hour or so together to our local diabetes camp.  We made a pit stop for a special treat lunch at McDs and got to camp just as registration began. 

The girls picked their bunks and began setting up their little homes while we moms waited in the lines.  Standing in line, I did feel a few butterflies from time to time becuase I knew in a couple of hours I would be leaving and my baby girl would be staying there.  She has never been away from our family overnight.  I knew though that she was in good hands.

I did pretty good and only had a few tears as we parted ways but my eyes were dry before we got too far down the road.  A caffeine stop for us moms (Starbucks) and we headed home.  I pulled in around 6:00ish, so it was a whole day event.   

I have to be honest and tell you it is 4:45 AM and I can't sleep.  I am missing my girl right now.  I can't hear the slight snore of her breathing.  I can't go check her BG to make sure she is ok.  I don't get to see her sweet smile today. My arms ache to hug her and kiss her on the top of her head.

Here are a few photos I took of the day

Diabuddies!

look at that smile

one last shot before I left (bye Mom)

Looking at these photos puts my mind at ease knowing she is having a blast!  I love that she gets to have the memories of camp.  I never got to go to camp.  I love that there is a place where diabetes is the norm for a few days.  No one is going to ask awkward questions that she doesn't feel like answering becuase they all live this reality as well.  Everyone will be checking their BG before meals and at bedtime.  The counselors will be checking all of the kids BGs at midnight and 3AM.  Bekah will be having too much fun to miss home much.  I am not sure what the week holds for me yet but I will keep busy and try to get in some one on one time with my other kids. 

a nasty bug

Ever since Bekah was dx in March of 2010, I have been afraid of the stomach flu.  I knew it could land her back in the hospital and I am not sure why that scares me, maybe because when she was at the hospital for dx we were close to losing her or the fact that illness brings on ketones and ketoacidosis is the number one cause of death in T1Ds.  What ever the reason, the flu and T1D are scary (I'm pretty sure I am not alone in feeling this way).

We made it through "flu season" and she just happened to be absent on the two days when kids in her class threw up at school.  I breathed a sigh of relief when school was out thinking I had until "flu season" again to worry about  nasty tummy bugs. 

Last weekend we had made a quick, last minute, trip to Tacoma to visit my sister and her family.  After we got home, Megan began feeling icky.  She is 13 and a bit dramatic so I just figured it was cramps becuase her period was coming.  A few hours later she began puking.  I still thought it was her period maybe mixed in with some car sickness until at 1:00 AM when David began puking. Being only 2 he had no idea what was going on so I just held him and let him spew all over me (sorry if you have a weak stomach).  I knew I was probably a goner but I did take extra D and C along with probiotics to help boost my immune system (couldn't hurt). 

I spent the day Monday and Tuesday disinfecting the house and washing all of the "sick" laundry.  I was still hoping not to get sick and more than that hoping Bekah wouldn't get sick.  Tuesday night I woke up in the middle of the night with my gut aching.  Crap!  I got sick (I'll spare you the details).  I spent the entire day in bed on Wed.  I did come down stairs to watch AGT (America's Got Talent) with the family.

In the middle of AGT, Bekah began to complain of a tummy ache.  I knew we had some zofran that her pediatrician had prescribed before she had oral surgery last summer so I gave her one hoping it would do the trick.  I was still feeling under the weather so I was amazingly calm as I decided to take her to my bed where we'd hang for the night.  I got her up stairs and checked her BG 92 with 1.90 units IOB (0.0 ketones).  Crap on a stick!  I got the regular 7-up out and had her sip on that to keep her BG up and began to pray that some of the carbs she had eaten for dinner would begin to absorb or her liver would kick in some sugar. 

I went down and grabbed the gluc and some pediatric syringes just in case.  I decided that if she began puking and went low I wasn't going to mess with trying to get honey or frosting to absorb through her cheeks and gums I was just going to do the mini gluc and then call the endo on call. (I probably should have called as soon as she began getting sick so we were on the same page and had a plan in place but I didn't)

An hour or so later, the puking began.  After each session I would check her BG and ketones.  BG 96, 0.0 ketones;  BG 98, 0.1 ketones; BG 115 0.1 ketones; BG 123 0.2 ketones.  Then 2 hrs went by with no puking BG 223 0.8 ketones correction given. It seemed as if the worst was over (it was but I wasn't letting my guard down). A check every hour to two hours after that showed her BG stable and ketones going down.  All day we just kept checking and correcting her BG and ketones (it never went above 230  with 0.8 ketones) as she sipped on G2 (low carb Gatorade).

Friday morning I was awoken to a smiling girl saying "good morning mommy I feel better today"!  My heart was happy that we had made it through our first bad bug and my girl was doing well. 

It could have been worse and I know many of my friends in the DOC have had much worse experiences with tummy bugs.  In some way it is a relief to have that under my belt.  I know I can make it through with out losing my marbles. 

Camp starts tomorrow.  Can I leave my baby girl for 5 nights with out losing my marbles? 

Road trip, the final days

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back to finishing up our road trip adventure.  We got our puppy and were super busy with the trainer and then got plagued with the stomach flu.  One at a time we dropped like flies.  Luckily I was on the mend when Bekah got it so I could care for her.  That is a blog for another day, now on to the finale of our road trip...

Yellowstone Natonal Park was our next destination.  We spent the night in West Yellowstone and the next day touring the park.  The sulfur and I did not get along well.  As we approached Old Faithful, I began to feel achy and nauseated.  I thought I was coming down with the flu.  I began to panic with my first thoughts going to Bekah.  Managing D on the road is tough enough but an illness and D was more than I could wrap my little brain around.  As we left Old Faithful I began to feel better and then as we would approach spots along the road that had more sulfur, the symptoms would come back.

You'd never know how sick I was feeling just by looking at this photo of my sister and I by Old Faithful

Our stop for that night was Idaho Falls.   On the way to the hotel from Yellow Stone, our transmission crapped out on us.  We had 2nd gear so we eeeked our way to Idaho Falls to the hotel.  The next morning was Saturday so many places were closed.  After doing much research and brain racking we decided that the best option would be to rent a U-haul big enough to tow our car home and then rent another car to drive.  Jason and Josh drove the U-haul and my dad decided to drive me and the other kids in the rented car.  We could have traded off but he insisted on driving the whole time.  We got home safe and our tranny was under warranty so we got it fixed with in a few days at no cost to us. 

All in all our road trip was an amazing unforgettable experience!  We had some good, bad and ugly all in the mix but that is what makes the adventure right?!  I am so thankful to my parents for giving us such a great family gift to get to go on this trip!  It was absolutely incredible!

Back to the road trip...Minnesota reunion for 4 days

Only 3 hours of driving...woohoo!!  We ended up in Osage, MN on Straight Lake where my dad grew up.  My grandma, aunt, uncles, and cousins all joined us and we packed every one in tight.  We had 3 cabins, one very large one and two tiny ones but we all seemed to have a bed to sleep on.  My dad BBQd while we were there.  Walleye, ribs, burgers and bacon.  We all pitched in to help with food prep.  It was a wonderful time!  The kids played on the play ground and in the lake and had a blast!!

yummy, grandpa's BBQ

grandpa's ribs are finger lickin good

This was my first time managing D on the road other than day trips.  I packed a ton of stuff too becuase you never know what is going to happen with D.  We did temp basal increases for the time in the car.  Our endo recommended for Bekah to go +110%.  I was nervous, especially with no CGM but it worked like a charm.  The challenge was then the activity once we got to the hotel with swimming and laughing with cousins we had a few lows before I had a plan.  Bekah wore her pump in the pool and the lake and I wasn't sure if she would so I had a frio pack for it to go in to keep the insulin from getting skunky.  I kept the extra insulin in a frio pack when we were on the road and put it in the fridge on the days we were at the cabin.  I had Lantus and Novolog just in case of a pump malfunction. 

Minnesota was a different ball game becuase the activity was constant so we did temp basal decreases of 60% (it wouldn't let me go lower becuase her basals are tiny) and then we had to wake her up for a juice most nights on top of it all (not low but 80s).

I chose to do my best to keep D in the background.  I wanted Bekah to live and have fun and not have be the center of attention as I carefully weighed all of her food.  I swagged every meal (and did great! sorry to brag but I was pretty proud).   We just rolled with it the whole time.  I had her kit with her at all times but didn't make a big deal of it.

the two Jasons just hangin

my grandma in the middle with 6 of her 8 grandkids

There was one time when Bekah was playing on a swing that hung from a tree when she hit the tree and her site pulled out.  I felt terrible for her in that moment.  The kids were all staring and worried (other than family) and wondering what was going on.  Bekah hates attention so I nonchalantly answered their questions, cleaned up the blood and mess and she put in a new site.  Then she went about her business playing.

There was one time when I thought I was going to pee my pants.  I was the only adult at the playground watching David.  Bekah's sugar stash was gone (didn't realize that) in her kit and she had a low.  All I could do was put my 9 year old niece in charge of David ( and Bekah)and run back to get some sugar.  I had to pee but didn't want to stop for that luxury (when your child is low and you gotta pee there are priorities and it doesn't matter how bad you have to go, peeing is not a priority at that momnet).  Luckily my bladder held out until Jason got back from the store to check on me.  It was close though.

While we were in Minnesota we went to a parade in Park Rapids.  My uncle has a store selling pellet stoves and he had a float in the parade.  He had restored my great grandpa's tractor and was driving that with some stoves on the back.  It was a very fun small town event on the 4th of July.

Uncle Bob driving the rebuilt tractor

All 17 of us

The Plane is on the Ground

We interrupt this road trip to bring you some current news.  We picked up our pup on Monday night at PDX.  The local news was there and they did a little story.  I look like a total dweeb in part of it where I say "the plane is on the ground".  My husband won't quit teasing me about it.  He will randomly chat or text me "the plane is on the ground".  He is not trying to be mean, he knows it'll make me laugh.  I was so impressed at how well my shy girl did at talking to them and the edits they made to make her look like a pro!  Unless you know her, you would have no idea how super shy she is.  I wanted to share it here (many of you have already seen it on FB) along with some puppy love photos.  Click here for the news story.

here comes Dee Boghetti our master trainer with Sarah in hand

hand feeding to create a good binding experience

Road trip day 5 (not so boring South Dakota)

As we parted ways to go to our rooms on Day 4, my sister said, "oh yay we get to drive through boring South Dakota tomorrow."  Day 5 our final destination was Fargo, ND.  We got up and left at different times.  One sister and her family wanted to stop at Wall Drug and the Corn Palace.  The other sister's kids had not had much swim time so their goal was to get to the hotel as soon as possible so they could swim.  My husband is a night owl and just wanted to take our time getting out of the hotel so he didn't get sleepy while driving.  For our family stopping as little as possible is what works best.  Once the two year old is out of his car seat then he is done and it is a fight to get him back in that seat.

I don't recall now what time we left the hotel, just that it was much later than I wanted to leave.  My sisters had looked up the hotel the night before and seen that our next stop had not just a regular pool but a water park.  I wanted the kids to get to swim too although they had had a lot of that since we started in the lead and stayed at an extra place along the route.  I was grumpy and irritated and like any husband trying to appease his wife who was in a hurry to get where we were going, my husband put the pedal to the metal.  We were traveling only a tad bit faster than traffic (going about 10 over) when we saw the lights and heard the siren behind us.  Once pulled over the cop kindly asked my husband to step out of the car and follow him.  It seemed like an eternity as I looked out the back window at not one but 3 cars, with drug sniffing dogs and the whole nine yards.  Bekah starts crying.  David is screaming to get out.  A little more excitement than I would like. 

Finally Jason returned to the car, ticket in hand.  Apparently there is a drug ring out of Washington state traveling across the country smuggling drugs.  It was the Washington plates that tipped the cop off and he was ecstatic to have pulled over a family from Washington and interrogate them. (I bet he got a bonus doughnut for that one)  We were stopped for about 15-20 minutes total.  (Remember that it is important later)

Determined not to speed anymore we set the cruise for 4 over so we could still make some progress.  As we were traveling we could see the clouds getting darker.  My sister sent me a text to turn on the radio.  There were storm warnings that soon turned in to tornado warnings.  We trudged ahead.  My parents along with one sister were about an hour in front of us and my other sister was with in a couple of miles after they had to stop for 15 to 20 minutes for my nephew to poop.

We got to a place on the road where there were 6 semi trucks flipped over, one right after another.  They all didn't even have emergency teams there yet.  We missed the tornado/high winds by about 15 minutes.  Chills??  I still have them when I think about it.  $150 ticket might have saved our lives and poop saved my sister and her family.

Once we got to Fargo we all breathed a sigh of relief and gave my sister a bad time for calling South Dakota boring.  The kids played for 2 hours in the pool.  It was so fun!!

cousins after swimming

A storm chaser video taped some of the storm that we drove through click here to view it

Today is THE day!

When I saw Meri's Lawton on her blog, the dream of having a diabetes alert dog for Bekah began.  We still have a ways to go with fund raising and the company we have chosen to go through has been amazing. 

Today Bekah turns 8!  Today our new alert dog will arrive!  Today we launch a website that my husband made for Bekah to help pay off her dog as well as educate and keep those who are curious up to date on our progress and life with our new service dog.

http://www.bekahssupersniffer.com

Stay tuned for many pictures and fun experiences with our pup!  I will share here some but mostly doggie stuff will be shared on that site.

Road trip days 3 and 4

(This post is picture heavy, I found my camera hiding in the stroller when we got home.  I put it there in the Black Hills so this is where most of my photos are from)
We woke up in Butte, MT on the third day of our road trip and went downstairs for breakfast (we had free continental breakfast at each place we stayed and this one was a huge buffet).  As Bekah was checking her BG I could feel the elderly man at the next table watching.  In a minute he got up and came over and talked to us.  "That's not new to me, I have had the sugar for many years. I was 43 this morning, plumb nearly passed out."  (read with a not think drawl but slight southern accent) He was so cute and so sweet. (His wife was equally as cute and sweet) We talked D for quite some time.  He was very interested in Bekah's pump and I gave him quite an education about it.  He left excited to talk to his doctor about getting on a pump himself. 

Today our mission was to drive to Keystone,WY.  We got there in time to enjoy some delicious pizza along the "strip" in Keystone.  I love the Old West atmosphere in Keystone.  We stayed the night and spent the next day doing the tourist thing.  Mt. Rushmore was first on the list and my brother-in-law is an 8th grade history teacher so we didn't just do the "hey looks it's 4 heads on the side of a mountain" thing.  We went on the guided tour around the mountain and really got in to it.  David was not really in to it so I skipped some of the tour to keep him from completely melting down.

Mt. Rushmore in all her glory

Megan is into planking (this is a bust of the creator of the beautiful detailed work on the mt)

Cousins resting

the Timm clan

our tour guide

Josh loves video editing so he was getting some footage

poor little bored guy

my little planker

Bekah posing for a photo op (I cut the heads off of the mt but got the important part, my girl ;) )

my parents with all 9 of their grand-kids

Bear Country was next.  We started out seeing some random wildlife.  Then we turned a corner and there were bears everywhere! 

nice rack

oops I accidentally caught this guy relieving himself

bring on the bears

you'll have to excuse the quality these were taken through the widows in the car (I'm no fool)

a random bison

I could have watched the baby bears all day

pretty scenery all over

Next we hit downtown Keystone to do some window/souvenir shopping and get some dinner.  We started at a buffet and saw the prices so we went across the street to Teddy's Deli.  Best decision ever!   The service at Teddy's was great and the Reuben was the very best I have ever had.  Yummers!! 

"honk"  David had to honk Abe's nose

my brother-in-law and I enjoying the best Reuben either of have ever had

We  were going to head to Mt. Crazy Horse next but got caught in a down pour and enjoyed watching the thunderstorm instead.  The next morning at breakfast I spotted a teenager with a pump clipped to her jeans.  Megan was mortified (she is 13 I guess it's allowed) that I got up and went to talk to this family.  The mom was a bit caught off guard but was friendly none the less.  Her daughter was dx 10 years ago.  She assured me that packing and trips become second nature just like bolusing for a meal is now.  I would have loved to share pics of those random D meet ups that we had but I didn't want to come across as a total freak so I kept my phone in my pocket.  =)

Road trip

Two weeks ago today we returned from the most amazing road trip!  13 days prior to that 17 of us (my parents, my sisters and their families and our family) packed up and went about 1,800 miles to the lake my daddy grew up on, Straight Lake in Osage, MN for a family reunion and then back again.  We had three vehicles, 2 mini vans and an SUV along with a U-Haul trailer to carry extra stuff.  We made stops in Butte, MT and then spent a day in Keystone at Mt. Rushmore and the Black Hills.  We stopped for the night again in Fargo and then hit our destination for 4 nights.  Back on the road we stayed in Dickenson, ND, West Yellowstone stopping most of a day, Idaho Falls and back home. 

I wish I would have taken more time to make notes so I could do a better job blogging it all.  I will try over the next few weeks to throw in a bit here and there about our trip.  One post won't do it justice. 

My family of 6 had the most children in one vehicle and we decided to leave the night before everyone else and stop half way in Coeur d'alene.  It was a great decision.  We had spent the whole day packing and loading and the kids were excited to get going.  We spent the late evening traveling across the state.  This was good on so many levels because being the first leg it got the kids used to being in the car, it was night so they slept most of it and it made for a shorter trip the next day.  The best part of staying in Coeur d'alene was that we got to have lunch with a dear friend whom I had not seen in about six or seven years. 

I did not take any photos in this spot but I found this one on-line and I think this is the exact table where we sat and ate a picnic lunch at City Park.

After lunch we leisurely made our way to Butte, MT to meet up at the hotel with my parents, sisters and their families.  It was a great start to what could have been an arduous day.