Summer time may mean more time!

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Hello everyone! Wow this place is rocking! So many more members since the last time that I visited tudiabetes and hopefully more people that I will be able to connect with. With me being a teacher, I’m glad to see the school year end. This past few months have been quite frustrating and stressful and I’m glad to have summer here to relax a little. Olivia is doing well - we have had our ups and downs lately, but she is good. Some highlights (and not so highlights from the past few months) are…

  1. My girls are continuing to learn about one another. Olivia being four years younger than Gwen, is at the age of learning new things. Gwen, on the other hand, is the teacher. She is teaching Olivia new things like how to floss, how to stay in the lines when coloring, how to build things with blocks, etc. Gwen is also learning patience!! LOL! Some days they are best friends ~ laughter, giggles, etc. and then there are those days where they strive to annoy one another. This day was a good day ~ just hanging out at home enjoying one another.

2. Gwen and Olivia both planted their own apple trees (with a little help from daddy and his tractor). It will be neat to compare their size to their tree as it grows and hopefully produce fruit. Here is Olivia standing by her apple tree.

Here is Gwen standing at her apple tree.

3. Olivia made it through her first year of preschool. The teachers and staff (and parents) at her preschool were so friendly and understanding when it came to Olivia's diabetes. We almost went through an entire school year without any major problems. I say almost because this spring I took both of the girls to the dentist. It was Olivia's first dentist visit (which went very well! ~ no fears, but she did sit on my lap through the entire exam. LOL!). After the appointment, we ate lunch and then I took both girls back to school. It was then going to be a nice relaxing afternoon because I took the entire day off of work. Well, my two and a half hours went by like a flash! It was time to pick up Olivia from preschool. When I got there, her teacher told me "Oh, Olivia just woke up! She fell asleep right after you left and didn't wake up until now!" I asked, "What was her blood sugar at snack time?" Their response was, "We didn't want to wake her up!, We know how grouchy 3-4 year olds can get sometimes, so we just let her sleep!" I asked, "did she have her snack?" Their response, "NO"! Inside I felt like screamming "WTF - are you crazy", but I calmly stated that they had to be more educated with a child who has type 1 diabetes - they could be falling asleep because they are yes, tired or they could be falling asleep because of a low blood sugar. I was pretty calm, but stern because I could see Olivia and she looked fine so I wasn't panicing or anything, but I just couldn't believe it. I gave them signs and syptoms (in our training at the beginning of the school year and in poster form) of low and high blood sugars and they total missed the sign because out in the car I checked her blood sugar before we went home and it was a 32! After I treated her, I went back into the preschool and told them that she was only 32 and how we were lucky that nothing serious happened. I told them, "if they are unsure to check her, if she is tired or feels like sleeping ~ check her, if she fights being checked, etc ~ to call us immediately!, if she falls alsleep ~ check her, when in doubt~check her.....check, check, check!!! It was disappointing because before this, I felt like they were on top of things. It also makes me afraid and worry because it only takes one time to let your guard down with this disease and then it kicks you right in the ■■■! Of course that night I just cried all night (while everyone else was sleeping) because all the "what ifs" came into my mind! Olivia will have one more year of preschool, but with every year no matter what grade she is in.....I will continue to educate.

  1. We think Olivia might also have Celiac disease, which is allergic to gluten. This disease is an autoimmune disease that effects the lining of the intestines. See more information here. Her blood test results came back borderline in April so our endocrinologist wants us to keep her diet the same and they will retest her for Celiac disease at our next appointment ~ July 8th. Diabetes and Celiac ~ complete stress and frustration. If there is anyone out there who is in the same situation, I need your support. I pray that it is not the case, but would like to be pointed in the right direction just in case it is. We already have a hard time with Olivia’s diet!!

  2. To make matters worse, Gwen, Olivia’s big sister, was diagnosed with Alopecia two days ago. Alopecia means unexplained hair loss. See more about it here. She has two significant bald spots on each side of her head. Right now they have not grown anymore, and we hope that it grows back. Luckily, her top layer of hair hides it pretty well. Sometimes stress comes into play for a cause, and we wouldn’t be surprised if this was the case because Gwen constantly worries that she may also get diabetes one day. She asked us if she could ever get diabetes and we told her that she couldn’t catch it like a cold, but her body could develop it just like Olivia did and that we could not promise anything. Now she worries. For right now, we are giving her vitamins and applying hydrocortizone cream each night. I told my husband, “What the hell, our genes are just not meshing well together!” :slight_smile: Anyway, the doctor decided to have blood work done on Gwen just to make sure that there is nothing else going on inside of her (like thyroid problems, etc.)

  3. My husband ran over our dog in our driveway! Completely accidental and he felt horrible about it! Our dog ran out in front of him and it was raining and we think he slipped in the gravel and then couldn’t get up out of the way. We immediately took him to the vet. No broken bones, which is amazing to us, but did dislocate his hip. Dr. Wiggers had to suture his muscle around the hip bones to keep it from dislocating. He “Shadow” is doing well. He is the best dog and it would of been devestating to loose him.

7. Olivia held a kitten for the first time! Yes, I know we already have a cat, but our cat is 12 years old! There is nothing so new and so excited for a little girl to finally hold a kitten for the first time. This picture just makes me smile!

8. My husband and I are going to start working out together!! I just bought him new dumbells for an early father's day gift and then in the basement I'm going to dust off the treadmill and stepping machine that we have. We are going to try to get into better shape and lose some weight this summer!! We are going to try to make it fun!

  1. I got nominated for Pennsylvania State Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance ~ Elementary Teacher of the Year 2009! I just sent in my application form and we will find out this fall if I receive this award. I would be very honored to receive this award. It is very humbling, but very cool!

  2. Summer time is here, which means the list of things (fun and not fun) is quite large. I plan to blog more often this summer.

Till the next blog,
Take Care,
Ronda

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Thanks for the great update Ronda!!! Sounds like you have indeed been busy, including all the health related stress!

We have a group here for people with celiac and diabetes. You might find some useful advice there.

How scary about the pre-school incident… sounds like you handled it very calmly (which amazes me), but I can understand the tears all night. I would have been a wreck!

And exciting news about the nomination for the award! I’m amazed by ALL that you do!