Children with Diabetes and Halloween

So our first Halloween with this disease is approaching. Isabelle started getting really excited about Halloween last year so this year she has been counting down the days. I don't know if it really is the candy or just being out after dark with Mom and Dad all dressed up in a costume, but she is excited.

All of that candy gives us another problem. How do I get rid of all of that candy without huge fits and without adding another 5 or 10 lbs to my butt and hips? Thomas can only take so much candy to the office. I was surfing around in the d-world and I found the d-bloggers on d-life. I found a link to a newspaper article about a department store in Pennsylvania (I think) that takes candy from children with diabetes and gives them a free toy in exchange. How cool is that!!!!! http://www.republicanherald.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18934521&BRD=2626&PAG=461&dept_id=532624&rfi=6

Now I ask you...why can't every department store in this wonderful land of ours do this? How much money can it really cost them? I can only imagine the good press they would get out of this. Does anyone who reads this blog know of any other places that do this? I am working on writing Toys-R-Us, K-Bee Toys, Wal-Mart, Target, and K-Mart about starting this kind of campaign. Even if it is only a $5.00 toy wouldn't that be great? I haven't had any time to research this on the web to see if there are more programs out there, but I hope to get that done in the next few days. Maybe next Halloween will be different for a lot of boys and girls with d.

Yet another Izzyism

Izzy came into my room the other day when she was supposed to be napping. She had one arm pulled into her shirt and she said, "Mommy...My arm is gone!!! Help me find it!!!"

I almost laughed myself silly. Hehehehe.

Feeling a little out of control

Lately things have been so crazy. I know...half of my posts say that. I'm trying to get better about posting the good things instead of just using this blog to gripe. But it seems to me that as Izzy's bs's get crazy I get crazy. I just constantly feel like everything is out of control. The house is crazy...I can't seem to get it straighten out. Izzy's behaviour has been nuts lately, but then again I know I would be really mean if my bs's were that nuts. Alex has even gotten into the act. He has suddenly hit the beginning of the terrible twos. He is pulling everything out of drawers, the pantry, laundry baskets...pretty much anywhere he can get his hands. He is also moving the rugs that are in the kitchen all over the place not to mention throwing things over the railings from the second floor.

Lovely.

Wonder if I'll be bald

by the time my kids are off on their own? LOL! Isabelle's numbers have been extremely crazy lately. They have been seriously out of control for over two weeks now. I keep faxing the endo and we keep trying new things. They work for like a minute and then BLAM!!!! Crazy again. It makes me feel like pulling out my hair.

I looked back over her stats for the last week and we have numbers ranging from 24 (yeah...you read that right...24!!!!) to 450. I am completely exhausted trying to figure out what is going on. I know that she has a cold and has had one for a little over a week. I sent her to school today because she has been feeling better and got a call around 11:00 saying that they tested her because she was acting weird and she was 301. I went and got her and called the peds on the way. I got her an appointment for the afternoon and when we went in they said that yeah they can tell that she has a cold but it doesn't look that bad. But, her numbers should not be that crazy just from a little cold so we have to put her on meds in the hopes of getting her better quickly and getting her blood sugars back in control. So, here we go again. I do have to say that it has been around a month since we have had to make a visit to the peds. Yeah for me.

The timing is really off for this illness. Izzy has an endo appointment for this Friday. Since her numbers have been so crazy the last couple of weeks I bet her A1C is going to be way worse then the last time. Maybe it won't be so bad.

Oh yeah... the 24. Yesterday she went to school. I went in as usual at lunch time and she was in the 200's ( can't remember exactly and am too lazy as I write this to get up and look at the log) so I did a correction for the high and gave her the right amount of insulin for the lunch. After we came home we layed down for a nap and Izzy woke me up saying that she felt low. I checked her and my heart lept into my throat as it does every time I hear the monitor do that special low beep. I looked at it and almost fell over. It did come up fairly easily though. A half hour later she was at 180. I just have to feel for her though...I can not imagine how I would feel if I were the one that had to deal with that change in blood sugars.

She has been really crazy behaviour wise lately. She has been defiant and mean and of course I am the one that she takes it out on most of the time because I am the one that is around her the most. She is usually pretty good at school...or at least that is the story that I get from her teachers. But when she gets home...man! She is talking back and yelling and pushing her little brother. I don't know what to do with her. I am sort of pulled in two about how much to discipline her. I know that she has to learn how to control her emotions and her temper no matter what her blood sugar is, but I also think that it has got to be really hard to do that when you are going from 24 to 300 in a little over and hour. Right now I am just trying to keep her in check without freaking out too much until she is a little more in control.

Small Successes

Sometimes you really do have to start small. As most of you that read this blog with any regularity know, Isabelle has not been sleeping. Like for months. Which means I haven't been sleeping because who better to be your middle of the night buddy then your mommy? Well, we have been trying lots of things to get her to sleep. She keeps saying that she is scared so we have been talking a lot about why she is scared and how to be brave and that God is always watching over us and keeping us safe. Last night she only got up once!!! And she went right back to sleep after I tucked her back in. It was really great.

I think I actually logged 6 hours straight without being woken up. It has done wonders for my mood. Who knows...I might actually turn back into the mommy who doesn't yell about everything. ;)