What the girls are reading.

Mckenzie started a new book last night it is one of my all time favorites, Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. She is so enthusiastic about it already. I love to see her face light up when she realizes one of the characters has made an incredibly dumb mistake or an inside joke with another character. She thinks that it is hilarious that the president of a country in this story is addicted to a soap opera. We have her read out loud to me and we talk about the story imagining what the characters see and feel. We do this with CC also. She started a new book tonight. It is a different kind of story but I think she is getting into it just as much. Her book is Smashed by Koren Zailckas. Kevin and I were able to go listen to her speak at Tech a couple of years ago. Her goal is to educate young people about the danger of peer pressure and this book is about her own alcohol addiction. CC read till she could no longer hold her eyes open. McKenzie read till she could no longer talk then she made Kevin read a few pages before she was snoring. Lol I think she will have to back up a page or two tomorrow. I am thankful that they are enjoying this time and that Kevin is such a wonderful dad and influence. We all three love to listen to him read exciting books because he gives each character their own voice and makes it so easy and fun to follow. When we first read Bel Canto, I kept Kevin up really late reading to me because I could not wait to find out what happened next.

Ten years ago today (9/11/2001) I was sitting in my living room in Jacksboro. I had taken CC to school and McKenzie, a year old and I were watching TV when all the channels started showing footage of the towers. My heart dropped and the fear set in for all of the people fighting for their lives, the brave men and women who risked their lives to save them and as the day went on I became more and more scared for my best friend Kevin, who was in Kuwait. I had talked to him on the phone the night before and he was going to call that afternoon. I did not hear from him for two weeks. They had locked the camp down and no phone calls or e mails were allowed. I stayed close to home in case he was able to call. CC knew something was wrong and wanted to know why we had not talked to Kevin on the video cam on the computer. I told her he was just real busy. She said yeah and then would ask again the next day. His time there was extended. I thank the Lord each and every day that he is home safe.  Never Forget.  God Bless America.

We have some work to do.

We just got back from McKenzie’s check up with Dr. Varma.  This was the highest A1C ,(8.4) we have gotten other than when Mckenzie was DKA when all this started in 2006. We had to have, a bit more of a grown up talk then what we usually do.  McKenzie's stance on it all was that she is going to pay closer attention to what she is doing. We will get it down together. We have the greatest team anyone could wish for backing us. We will be on the phone with Nurse Dreama over the next week adjusting the settings in the pump and helping us to tweak everything a bit. I am about to cry. I know things will be ok and we will get this under control but things just got a little more real, if that is possible.  

The love of a sweet dog.

I have not trusted dogs in a really long time. I saw my little brother be attacked by a pit that bit his head and ripped his ear off. That was nearly 25 years ago. My brother was a little guy like 4 or so. This has been a process but thanks to the help and love of a great friend Rebecca White. We have the sweetest most gentle and understanding dog I have ever met. He is so smart. I was real upset last night while talking to my mom on the phone about how my Granny was doing and Zeus was worried and basically held me and let me cry. Sometimes we need to just cry and know it is ok. I could not go back to sleep but needed to let Kevin sleep in case we decided to head to my Granny's this morning, but I was not alone. I finally realized I was taking an incredible child hood experience from my girls. Zeus is their first dog well other than all the dogs they have claimed over the years that live at each of their grandparents. Huey, Daisy, and Elsie, (At Paw Paw Ken and Grandma Gale’s) Sarah and Gizmo (lived at my Dad's) Then they have Delsey (lives with my Mom). Grizz had always been at Kevin’s Dad’s house. Candy Lives at my Granny’s house and of course the big dogs out at my other Dad's Jager and Meister have been “the girl’s dogs” since CC was a baby. It is wonderful to trust and love an animal again. I still flinch now and then when we are playing but Zeus sees me, he immediately stops playing and gives me a full body hug that feels a lot like when a cat rubs against your leg to love on you. At that point I am able to calm, sit down and enjoy his sweet love. We are blessed to have him :)

The PDF Fix.

The Kindle is amazing but a lot of research articles and different things that I need to be able to read, are only available in PDF Format. Kevin found the fix, The Adobe PDF converter. You simply upload your PDF and it converts it to Word or Excel then, you save it again. The Kindle will then read it perfectly. You lose any graphics but you can keep the PDF format to follow along with. This is extremely helpful for anyone with low vision. This would be very useful for a teacher who is working with a low vision or blind student. Many people are dealing with disabilities other than low vision that may run into this same software issue when using screen readers such as ZOOM, JAWS, or MAGIC. In the time it took me to write this (about 5 minutes), I have converted 3 PDF research articles that are about 30 pages each to Word format and saved them onto my Kindle. I am impressed with how fast the process is and that you don’t have the spelling and character recognition issues that come along with many of the OCR (Optical character recognition) programs we have paid much more for.

“Bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing.” Abraham Lincoln


https://www.acrobat.com/exportpdf/en/convert-pdf-to-word.html

Blest

Man, I have never heard anyone snore as loud as Kevin is tonight. The last week or so has been nonstop stress. Kevin and the girls handled themselves with class and gave nothing but respect even when it was not given to them. We treated ourselves and the girls to Bahama Buck's Snow Cones once everything was calm this afternoon. Yummy. With everything going silly around us McKenzie forgot to bolus for lunch. We talked about how much to bolus for but she never entered it into her pump. Her blood sugar got a bit ugly for a couple of hours before we realized it while ordering snow cones. She got a sugar free one and was happy with it. She is doing good now. Miss CC is going tomorrow to have Color Guard pictures taken at school. She is going to look so cute. I am already excited to see the pictures. Mom, Ginger, and Delsey the Dog made it home safe. I enjoyed a nice long talk with my Granny tonight. We have not talked much in a while so It was wonderful. I can't think of anything we didn't talk about. ha ha I love those unexpected calls from her. She has a way of giving advice without ever saying a word. Somehow I always remember what is most important in life and have a weight lifted from me after dumping the stressful things that aren't or that I am not in control of anyway. We have our moments and we don't always agree about everything. She is going to be 83 and is and will always be one of the most wonderful people in my life. I miss her and am ready to jump in the car and go crawl up in a pallet in her bedroom floor. Yes I know I am almost 33 year old but that I will never out grow. I miss my Granny Joyce and the talks we use to have. I know she is watching down over us all and I sure hope she is proud of what she sees. I guess I will go get a little sleep. These guys are sleeping so hard they are going to be rested and ready to think of something crazy to do tomorrow and early I am sure. I am extremely blest to have each of them.

CareLink Technology.

This is wonderful news and looks very promising. McKenzie has used the CareLink Technology with her insulin pump for almost three years. The software is a great way to keep accurate and very detailed logs of her blood sugar numbers, how much insulin she gets with how many carbs and different trends. I am glad they will be using this technology to study and some day find a cure but for now keeping my baby girl healthy and strong.




McKenzie's UltraLink (Meter that she checks her blood sugar with) wirelessly updates the pump with her numbers so when we download the pump also wirelessly all the information is in one place. There is no getting anything by us ha ha poor kid.


I like the reports you can generate and print quite easily.


No need for keeping up with a log book all the time and writing every little thing down because really what 11 year old is really going to do that? I love the way we walk into Dr. Varma's office for 3 month checkups and Nurse Dreama holds her hand out to McKenzie and without a word Kenz hands her pump over. Nurse Dreama will ask her "how do you think your A1C is going to be?" and McKenzie will say "good, I hope". She has done great and only getting better at handling things all on her own. We are very proud of her and extremely thankful for the technology that she has been blessed with.




The CareLink system is 100% web-based and you don’t have to download a thing outside of maybe having the latest version of Java or something


http://www.diabetes.org/for-media/2011/Medtronic-Research-Grant-Release-2011.html

Compare Lancets.

Compared the OneTouch UltraSoft Lancets that we have always used to the new OneTouch Delica Lancets.

The Delica by far have allowed McKenzie’s fingers to heal over the last few days.

Delica Price- 12.99 for 100 lancets at Wal-Greens

Delica Price- 18.75 for 100 lancets at Wal-Mart

UltraSoft Lancets for 100 UltraSoft Price- 13.99 at Wal-Greens

UltraSoft Lancets for 100 UltraSoft Price- 11.96 at Wal-Mart

The Delica requires a different lancing devise but it is cheaper and easier to replace.

OneTouch Delica Lancing Device 19.99 to replace. At Wal-Greens

Our insurance covers either choice.

We would love to hear which device and lancets you like the best.

If you have to poke your fingers or especially some tiny fingers you might check out the Delica Lancets. I have been amazed with the difference.

Good Luck and God Bless.

McKenzie's "D Team" appointment March 22 2011

We went to visit McKenzie's “D team” today. AKA the greatest Nurse and Endocrinologist in the world. Kenz is doing great, we need to tighten up a little bit and get back under a 7 on the A1C but she is doing great for her age. We came to an understanding in the waiting room. McKenzie asked another young lady if she had a pump. The young lady, who was maybe 16 simply said “I DID” Kenzie’s eyes got big and she sat and listened to her new friend’s Dad explain that he took the pump away from her about a year ago. We joked and traded candy hunt stories. Turns out McKenzie did not invent the “in the pillow case hiding spot.” That cracked me up. I told him how we let McKenzie keep a couple of blow pops in her room in case of an emergency low. He said oh yeah his daughter also has emergency candy. I am starting to think the candy is sweeter if it is a challenge to get away with. We met a 20 or so year old young lady at IHOP in San Antonio. She had the same pump that McKenzie has. She broke the complications that could happen if blood sugar levels are not controlled down for Kenz real quick and from a firsthand perspective, in only a couple of minutes. I don’t like scare tactics when it comes to children. I am however starting to think the only way to get McKenzie’s attention is to inform her. We have a bit over the past 4 years, but have not let the scary stuff be the focus for her. Knowledge is power and I want both our girls to be powerful. I can talk to anyone about diabetes and how to control and fight it. I can explain how little researchers know about the cause. I can walk you through it all step by step, except the complications of uncontrolled diabetes. I have decided this is a problem that I can fix. I plan to educate myself and not shy away from that part of the fight when it comes up in conversations. I tend to get a big lump in my throat and listen only until I am able to change the topic or find a reason to remove myself from the conversation all together. When we go to the School Health Advisory Council meetings, it is just understood that Kevin will be handling that part of speaking. He does a wonderful job. He is able to show concern and you can tell how hard it is for him to talk about but he focuses and makes sure everyone present receives all the information necessary to make good choices that protect our children. I can and will do better. This is my promise to my brave, strong, and sweet young lady.

Hard Mommy Day.

How do you explain to an 11 year old that the choices they make today will negatively affect their health when they get older. I am extremely thankful that we are going to see Dr. Varma tomorrow. Miss. McKenzie is in need of a reality check and I am not getting through to her. I dislike talking about complications that uncontrolled blood sugars cause. I will set aside my protective mommy instinct and break it all down for her however. I love her so much and do not want her to ever have to miss out on anything. I am confident that when she gets a little older she will understand how important good control is and why I am being so “mean”. She decided at bedtime last night, she wanted a snack. Well when she checked her blood sugar she was over 300 so she bolused for 30 carbs and gave herself 4.3 units of insulin without telling anyone. She got distracted and never went to eat anything. I had no clue she had given herself so much or that she had snacked an hour earlier and also bolused for that. CC took me aside and said that she thought Kenzie had done something with her pump. We went through her pump and realized what all she had done. I spent the entire night checking her and giving her milk and cookies in her sleep because she kept going low. She was exhausted for school this morning. I would never ever complain about staying up to check her but I cannot allow her to be dangerous with her pump. As much as I dislike the thought, we may be looking at going back to shots for a bit if we cannot get this under control. We have never had to punish her or even really get on to her at all. She has always taken the lead role in fighting this. We have been her backup. This is scary and I do not like it at all. I don’t know what the best response for her is. At this point she is grounded from the computer and the phone. That was really hard for me to do only because it has to do with something she did not choose to have to deal with. I am venting at this point. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I could cry but that is not what she needs from me. She needs expectations and motivation. Oh parenting is hard but some days it is ugly. McKenzie if you read this someday I pray that you are healthy and still as strong and stubborn as you are right now.

Both girls are getting glasses

CC's eyes. Her left eye is not dilated and her right eye is

Kenzie's eyes right after the dilation drops went in

Kenzie's eyes 10 minutes after the dilation drops.

Both CC and Kenzie are getting glasses. CC's are just to protect her eye. Kenzie's are to see better. They really like the new eye doc his name is Dr. Cockings. He made the visit fun but is really smart. He knew more about our eye issues than any eye doc we have seen before and was able to tell me stuff I didn’t know. He is having a sonogram done on CC's eye humm that’s one I have never heard of or had done. CC asked him “so really you are going to put gel in my eye?” I said no no CC nothing like that, thinking it would be from the side or something. lol He said well actually yes. This will be interesting. He had McKenzie check her blood sugar before he dilated her eyes. That impressed me. If her sugar was high and he dilated her eyes, it could have caused a problem. Her sugar was at 70 though so she was good to go and have a snack too. Before we left Kenzie asked the doc if when they have to get another check up in a year could they come back and see him. He said sure if you want to. Awesome experience. Once again we are blessed to be in Lubbock. He knew the girl’s specialist, Dr. Varma, Dr. B and even Dr. Hurst. Other than the girls not caring for their eyes being dilated, they are happy and ready to go pick out glasses.

Christ our Healer

I just finished reading a book that I had looked forward to buying for a few months. It was worth the wait and I will for sure read this one again. The last few days have been difficult. We made a bit of an emergency visit to see my eye doctor yesterday. She is concerned about the pressure in my eyes once again, that explains the pain anyway. The last time the pressure in my eyes was too high I ended up having to have eye surgery and having my eyes bandaged for several weeks. This is scary to say the least. I am not supposed to be on the computer but I do have my eyes closed, that should count for something. I am bored and with nothing to keep myself busy my mind starts to worry about the worst. I had the ebook “Christ our Healer” already on my Kindle so I set my Kindle to read it to me for the second time. I cannot say enough about this book. It has helped me deal with not only the challenges I am facing right now but those that have already been handled and those that are not going anywhere anytime soon. Sickness and religious views together quickly became a subject to avoid with many people I have come across. I actually stopped allowing the two subjects to be discussed together with the exception of a couple of trusted people in my life. I was able to visit with my Rheumatologist this afternoon. He is also pretty concerned about my eyes at this point. The plan at this point is to use the steroid drops that my eye doctor prescribed twice a day for one week. I will give my eyes lots of rest and pray for the Lord to relieve the pressure. I am confident that when I go back in a week everything will be drastically improved or we will form the next stage or the plan. Either way the Lord will provide the healing and use the doctors to fight the disease that has harmed me. I am so thankful for Kevin and our girls for being so sweet and supportive. The really do love and care about me. It is funny at times what they will do to protect me or make me smile. I love the three of you more than you will ever know. 

http://www.amazon.com/Christ-our-Healer-ebook/dp/B004LB4Z96/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1297191639&sr=1-2

Ultimate Honor

Kevin and I were honored beyond belief, when asked to be the guest speakers at a SHAC (Student Health Advisory Council) meeting last week. The meeting went wonderful. We spoke to a Doctor, the director of the American Diabetes Association, Martha who we had worked with before, the director of ARAMARK foods services. She prepares the menus of what the children will have to choose from in the lunch rooms in Lubbock Independent School District’s school cafeterias. The head health director of Lubbock ISD who is above all the school nurses was also there, she playing an instrumental role in insuring that McKenzie’s school nurse would be on campus five days a week this year. This was due to a few problems we encountered last year when she was only there three days a week. The head coach of all the Lubbock elementary school’s physical educational program AKA, McKenzie’s Coach Peirce helped to lead the meeting. She was also the person who invited us to speak, about diabetes and the different challenges McKenzie and so many other children face while attending school. We are very blessed to have a “D- Team”, that is proactive and who genuinely loves and are concerned about McKenzie. Not every child is that lucky. Kevin did a great job of covering all the everyday routine stuff and the standards that have worked so well for us. We were able to offer a few ideas that would help the staff at the schools out and make it easier for them to help children but still allow them to gain the independence they must have, in order to win the fight that each of them are dealing with. Kevin also did a great job of addressing the long term affects that uncontrolled blood sugar levels would have later in life. These are difficult for anyone to think about much less talk about. These people who have earned my total respect and appreciation asked us questions and used our answers to form a plan that will help educate teachers, school nurses, and even administrators so that they may be prepared if a situation came up that they needed to handle. I was ready to cry at the thought that we had been able to help in all of this even a little bit. Then the ultimate honor in my opinion happened. I was asked to be a Co Chair of this Council. Wow I am still in shock. I accepted of course and will do any and everything I can to help not only kids fighting diabetes but any challenges that they face.