Catching up

I have thought many times that I would try to blog everyday, every-other-day or at least on a regular basis; but I just don't have anything that interesting or thought provoking to blog about! But just when I think my life is pretty boring, at least to someone on the outside-looking-in, we have some interesting things happen. Not that any of this is interesting to anyone outside, but it is something to blog about!

We have a small town political storm brewing here in Klamath county. Whether or not to merge the 2 school districts. It pretty much has created "them vs. us" and Lucas was joining the 'Vote No on the merger" rally for a walk down Main St to gather at the Court House. I think he was just going to hang out down town! My assumption was proven correct when he phoned and said it was pretty boring, they were going to hang out downtown for a while.

My little protester.

Morgan is almost finished with basketball. So far, the freshman team is 17-1, 10-1 in league play and we have 1 game left. I asked Morgan if he ready for basketball to be over and he looked at me like I had 2 heads....'I love basketball mom, why would I want it to be over?'....uh, because I am ready for Spring? Blood sugars have been tough. What works this week, won't work the next and I really need to check his over night basal rates. Checking his rates during basketball is really futile because there is so much change. Game night is different from practice nights and we just try to temporarily adjust as we can. A few nights over the past week or so he has woke up with some high blood sugars...250+, which, to me means that he has had a rebound from a low blood sugar. Asking Morgan if he had a low during the night gets me no information. He just say's 'No', I don't think he wakes up from his lows, he just sleeps through them. Well, when I went in to check him the other morning I found this....

It confirmed that at least he had a low that night. He chewed up the top to a tube of glucose tablets thinking it was a glucose tablet, we are fortunate that he didn't choke on the thing while trying to treat his low blood sugar! He has his final game on Tuesday. I think I will start testing his rates next week. When I test Morgan's basal rates, I will typically check his blood sugars every couple of hours over night. This will tell me if he is getting too much insulin...low blood sugars, or too little...high blood sugars. I can then adjust his insulin pump accordingly.

We seem to have also found the magic bullet if you will regarding his high blood sugars during games. Adrenaline always causes Morgan to spike during games and he has been very wary to start a game with too much active insulin flowing through his system. During a recent game he had about 5 units of active insulin at the beginning of the game and he never went above 150. AND he played great. So the key for Morgan is to have a few units of active insulin at the start of the game and monitor alot during. Better late than never!

Pat is sick again with a nasty virus settling in his chest. Please pray that he gets over this bug quickly!

By the way, I am voting against the merger

"Take Your Medicine Before Practice....

So it doesn't interrupt our practice."

Now why the hell didn't I think of that? I usually don't have to deal with stupid, stupid comments from ignorant people, but this comment is from someone who is going to be Morgan's basketball coach.

Basketball tryouts started this past Monday. Morgan came out of it with a glucose of over 400. Not good. He can't function well when over 250 and it showed. When I got there to pick him up he was uncoordinated, breathing hard and just didn't look well. I spoke with the head coach, who has known Morgan since 1st grade and is completely on board with Morgan's diabetes. He wants Morgan safe and wants to know what he needs to do to keep him healthy. Basically, it came down to Morgan being uncomfortable taking care of his diabetes in this new 'high school' arena. He wants to participate 'just like everyone else', not be singled out for being different. His blood sugar had been 95, so he downed a ton of carbs and went back to work. With the adrenaline and carbs, he sky-rocketed to a very unhealthy number.

Pat and I decided that until EVERYONE (Morgan, Coaches, Parents) was comfortable dealing with diabetes, I would just attend tryouts this week and help Morgan manage his blood sugars. This way, he could focus on basketball, I could keep an eye on him for signs of hi's or low's, and he could gain the confidence to walk off the court to take his blood sugar and treat it as necessary. Tuesday and Wednesday were great, he stayed below 250, took insulin as needed and checked his blood sugar about every 45-60 minutes. No problem. Until last night.

Morgan had forgotten his ankle braces so I ran home and got them for him, so he was late getting on the court. A little into practice another coach (Coach B) told Morgan that Coach M wanted to talk to him....in the stairwell. I figured he was being scolded for being late and didn't think anything of it. But over the course of tryouts, I had to call Morgan off the court to have him check his blood sugar. He was 135, too low for comfort, but he ate a little and had some Gatorade, they were just going to be shooting and not running. Well, he did end up running and he would not come off the court when I tried to get his attention. When I did, he was 106, shaking and pretty emotional. I could not figure out why he was so upset. I told him that I was there, I wasn't going to let anything happen, he was okay, just sit out and lets get his blood sugar up. That's when he told me about the stairwell....

Apparently, Coach M told Morgan in the stairwell that he "needs to take his medicine before practice so it doesn't interrupt"! I could have committed homicide or at the very least ripped the skin from that man's back. I spoke with the head coach, told him what was said. He was furious. He said that there is no room for that kind of prejudice and ignorance on his staff and he would take care of it.

This man has no idea of what he has done. Morgan was just starting to feel like he could take care of himself without having to worry about what the coaches would think. Unfortunately, ignorant people say stupid things and have no clue what it is like to deal with this 24/7. I wish we could just deal with it for an hour in the morning and forget about it until tomorrow. Life would definitely be much easier. I don't know what is going to happen. I think an apology to Morgan is in order. AND a very lengthy coarse in diabetes education.

Prefontaine

So the cross country team headed over to Coos Bay yesterday to run in the Prefontaine Race. I was checking in today to see where Morgan came in. I was told that it was just another fun race and that they were going to dress up. (Is there going to be a serious meet?) I heard that some of the girls were dressing in a 'Wizard of Oz' theme. Well, it took me 18 pages but I finally saw where Morgan finished.....895, right smack in the middle of a bunch of girls....9 of them from home and 3 from Coos Bay and my son. Go figure!

My boys

Lucas did a great job stretching out his snake skins

Morgan did a great job with his blood sugars

Way to go boys!

Raise Your Voice

Today is Type 1 Diabetes Awareness Day. I asked Morgan to guest post for me today. To write something about living with diabetes. This is what he wrote.

Living With Diabetes

Its when I first wake up, I always have to remind myself to check my blood sugar not knowing what it will be. Trying to guess what it will be with how I feel. For breakfast I usually always eat cereal pouring the same amount every morning memorizing the carbs. During breakfast I count the days since the last time I changed my site and arguing with myself if I should change it or go for another day which will turn into two.

School with my diabetes is really nothing until I have been high for a very long period of time and haven’t come down, and reminding myself to check my blood sugar so I can give insulin so I don’t feel so crummy. But one of the main things that I always seem to forget is to check my blood sugar before a test that way I can see what I score with a normal blood sugar or a high one. One thing I love about my friends is that they get involved with my diabetes, everyday at lunch when I check my blood sugar my friends crowd around my meter seeing what I am. And I always hear the same questions everyday… “Is that good?”, “Wow, that’s HIGH!”, or my favorite one, “Oh, your too high to be eating that cookie let me eat it for you”. One class in school that is a little tough with my diabetes that isn’t lunch. It’s FACS or Home Ec. A few things that is hard about it is that it is right after lunch and we cook things that are sooo good (because of the sugar). For example: I could have been high at lunch and given a huge bolus and bam be normal in FACS with a bunch of insulin on board and we are eating something high in carbs. Sports at the moment I am doing track, but I also play basketball and that could mean no insulin given during an AAU tournament, yet, lots of eating. Track I find a lot easier because of the time between each event, and basketball being a starter can be somewhat more difficult for me and my mom. Now let me tell you what my mom does for me.

Now if it weren’t for my mom nagging me to check my blood sugar every second and going outside to play I would be very sick not saying my dad does nothing he does but just keep reading). I think I would have the worst A1C ever, if it weren’t for her. She works my basal and checks me in the middle of the night when she has had a crappy day. And now that I am writing this paper (which my mom pushed me to write ) I see how important she is and yeah I might press buttons on my pump to give insulin to keep me alive, but who is figuring out those ratios, and helping me stay alive and encouraging me to keep going even when she is frustrated. So everything that I have written about diabetes affecting my life yeah that is true. But now I see what has really affected my life…my mom and how much she wants to get involved. But if I didn’t have my mom I would still have my dad to help me out, but it just wouldn’t be the same. So thanks mom for all of your help. And all of you Diabetics out there even if you are out of the house, find someone that encouraged you through those tough times keeping your blood sugars steady. And also for you non-diabetics if you know a diabetic if they need help, help them out either praying for them or just telling them that you are there for them.

By;
Morgan
P.S.
I have finally decided, with the help of this paper, that I am NOT moving out of the house =].

Do I have a great kid or what? I was going to write something as well. What it is like to be the parent of a type 1. I think I will wait for another day.

Down Hill From Here...

It seems that after Spring Break school just flies by. It was really nice to stay home and not have an agenda, though we all did wish for warmer weather and have been teased with the full spectrum here: Rain, Snow and Sunshine. The bulbs are trying to bloom but it really is too cold still. I have some bulbs popping up through my newly laid rock which reminds me that we can grow even in the most difficult of times.


We met with Morgan's diabetes doctor over break and found out that the latest A1C was 8.4%...Ouch. That is the highest it has been since diagnosis. I like to see it around 7%. I knew that it was going to be higher as we just had a heck of a time with glucoses playing basketball this year and being in a major growth spurt. Morgan is now about 6'2", but only weighs in at 150lbs and has actually lost a couple of pounds. We also found out that the hospital has closed down the local Diabetes education program. I have been trying to work with the ADA on becoming a family mentor, but they just do not seem to be very organized, either that or they don't want me on their team. This is a sensitive subject for me as when Morgan was diagnosed we got absolutely no education, except what my wonderful SIL Toni gave us over the phone, and what I dug up on the internet. I was hoping that this would be a way for me to help those who are struggling with a new diagnosis.

I have also been spending too darn much time planning this kitchen remodel. I have called contractors, but they don't seem to be too interested in such a 'small' project as they don't return phone calls.


The boys and I also added to the stairs in the garage. Pat has been telling me that he wanted to make the stairs bigger, but just didn't have the time. Yesterday the boys and I dug out the tools and lumber and went to work. It was great! Both boys are taking woodshop this semester and are able to measure, use a tri-square and even use the saw (with supervision). They loved it and it was great to surprise Pat when he got home with a 'new' addition.

Last Travel Tournament

We made one last trip to the valley for Morgan's basketball tournament.  We have been to Eugene and Corvallis 4 times in the past 5 weeks and we are all ready to be home for a while.  While all of the tournaments have allowed our team to play other great teams, this tournament was by far the most difficult for them.  

The team had made a name for themselves, and everyone was gunning for our guys.  Other teams knew who they needed to shut down, the 3 big guys down low and our coach had to work other offenses into the game in order to get points on the board. 

 Our first game against Corvallis was a nail biter, they wanted to beat us and they worked hard to do so.  But in the end, we came up with the win.  (It didn't help that that game started at 8pm)

In the end, our boys came out on top and won the tournament by playing some great teams and awesome basketball.  We are some mighty proud parents.  We still have 2 weeks of basketball left (7 games).  

It will be bitter sweet when this season is over, as this is the last year that they will all play together on 1 team.  They are currently 31-2.  Next year, in high school, they will, most likely be split up onto the Varsity, JV and Freshman teams.

I have a story about Morgan and his blood sugars, but will post it later.

Funny Thing

Morgan had a basketball tournament last weekend in Eugene.  There were probably 20-30 teams, made up of 6-8th grade boys and girls.  I was sitting in the Springfield High School gym waiting for the last game to start when this lady came up to me:

Her:  "Your last name wouldn't happen to be 'Crebbin' would it?"

Me:  "That all depends...."

Her:  "Well my dad is up from Klamath Falls to watch my son play and he saw a boy walk by and said "That is one of those Crebbin twin's kids, go find out which one."  I saw you give him money so I suspected you were his mom."

Me:  "Yes he is mine  and yes he is the spitting image of his dad at that age."

This happened not once, but twice that day.  Someone recognized Pat from Jr High when they saw Morgan.

For those of you family members wondering....it was Cinda H.  who came up to me.  She was amazed at how much Morgan looked like Pat.  I can't remember the name of the man from Jr High.

It was a fun tournament and the boys finished first.  The team is now 25-2. 

When I Move Out

It has been nearly 28 months since Morgan's diagnosis of diabetes.

I will not even begin to count the number of finger sticks he has had in order to check his blood sugar levels. I will not even begin to count the number of injections/infusion sets he has had in the past 28 months.

I could probably count the number of times he has forgotten to check his blood sugar before he ate or I could count the number of times he has forgotten to bolus for something he ate 1-2 hours earlier.

I feel like Nagging Nellie when I remind him to check his blood sugar, or the ever present question in the morning, on the way to school "Did you bolus for your breakfast?" Or the question asked everyday after school "How were your numbers today?"

He has never asked me to back off, or told me "Mom I can handle this." I program his pump; all of the basal rates, insulin to carb ratios, insulin sensitivities....everything. But, I always pull him in and tell him what I did and why. I still check his blood sugar in the middle of the night, when I feel the need. It is only a couple of times a month now, nothing like it was early in diagnosis when sleep was something I only vaguely knew.

The past 6-7 months have probably been the most difficult for me to deal with regarding diabetes and I don't really know why. His blood sugar levels are actually pretty easily managed, thanks to the "spot on" rates I have programmed in to the ever present Minimed 722. We are in the full throws of puberty, but his last A1c was 7.0% so we are doing a great job of maintaining.

It could be that MY own honeymoon with diabetes has worn off. I don't research the net as much as I did before, looking for ways to handle post basketball highs and lows....I know how to handle them. I am not researching insulin pumps...He loves MM722. I am not reading up on Section 504.... been there, done that, have one. CGMS?...he doesn't want any part of that.

I am not a newbie anymore.

What I have been doing is reading about people who live with this, day-in and day-out. Reading about their daily struggles and triumphs; coming to the realization that this is for real, this is for life, this is forever. I always try to maintain a positive attitude regarding diabetes, especially in front of Morgan. Getting down about isn't going to help him one bit and I don't want him to adopt a 'poor me' attitude.

In reading the many blogs and forums, I have found many wonderful people from the diabetes online community (D-OC). People like my wonderful SIL who have helped me muddle through the first year of the diagnosis fog, those who unknowingly helped me thrive, grow and become more confident in the second year and who I am sure will also unknowingly help guide me through the teen years of dealing with diabetes and beyond! Thank you!

I asked Morgan a while back "When do you want me to hand this diabetes stuff over to you? When do you want me to back off?"

His response: "When I move out."

I know even when he does move out, I will never be free of worrying about diabetes because neither will he and maybe that is why it has been so difficult.

Black & White

For 2 years we have never had any problems in the school system with Morgan and diabetes. For 2 years he has been able to take care of himself and do what he needs in order to survive. That has been put to the test the past 3 weeks. Unfortunately, one of his teachers only sees things in Black & White, there is no gray area in her line of sight. With diabetes, everything is gray. Especially for a boy in the throws of puberty where control of blood sugars can be a crap shoot.

We decided this year that we were going to have a 504 Plan put in place for Morgan. A 504 is a plan that the school and teachers have to legally follow. It allows special accommodations to kids with disabilities. Like being able to test your glucose whenever and where ever you need to, going to the bathroom, getting a drink, going to the office, ALL without penalty. We had a 504 meeting on Tuesday and everyone was on board and agreed with all of the accommodations that I wanted for Morgan. Or so I thought. The next day incident number 2 occurred. Just one teacher, 3 incidents in 3 weeks. Who he has for 2 periods every day.

It is very frustrating for all of us. Morgan has been very responsible regarding his care and has never abused the privileges he needs in school, so this is frustrating for him and brought him to tears yesterday.

On one hand, I want her to understand and make her see that diabetes is never black & white but on the other hand this is my son's life. We have already made the decision to move him out of her classes at the semester, but I think we need to do it sooner than that.

Please keep us in your prayers.

Bye, Bye Summer Vacation

It is amazing how fast summer has zipped by. School started yesterday for Lucas and today for Morgan. I am trying to get meetings in with the nurse & teachers regarding Morgan's diabetes, hair cuts, clothes shopping, laundry...the list is always endless and in the meantime we are tearing out our deck and putting a larger one with patio doors out of the master bedroom and our family room. Crazy...I know... but Pat thinks we can have it finished before the first snow...hopefully that will be later in the season.Our mess 'during' construction.

Here is proof that Pat actually CAN work in the yard!

Morgan is also playing football this year. He is shocked at how exhausted he is in the evenings and how hard it is go get up in the morning. On a side note...I wrote this post last week and then promptly forgot about it. Well, on the 4th day of practice Morgan, ever the injury prone kid, dislocated his shoulder. He is fine and his shoulder should be fine, but for now, his football career is over!

I am also trying to get my scrapbook of China finished and a power point presentation done before September 9th, that is when I get to give a presentation to one of our Sunday school classes at church, 1.5 hours. I feel truly honored, some other people in our group only get 5 minutes. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by. United Evangelical Free Church-9am on September 9.

I am also seriously looking into becoming a Family Resource Mentor for the American Diabetes Assoc. A mentor is someone who will come along side newly diagnosed families or even families in the area who have lived with diabetes for a while.

A few pictures of Morgan at Cascade Sports Camp. He had a great time and I even think he may have learned a thing or 2!

I will be leaving tomorrow afternoon for China. I thought I would leave a slide-show up of pictures that Morgan took from around the house. Especially since all of the flowers might be dead by the time I return!

Graduation!

This week has busy for the boys and not necessarily busy by means of school work. Morgan had finals on Monday and Tuesday. On Wednesday his school had their 'rewards party' for those kids who didn't have any detentions and Thursday there will be a school dance and BBQ.

Lucas had a field day on Monday. Tuesday was a pool party and BBQ.

Wednesday was 6th grade graduation and a 6th grade party after school.

Thursday will be the school BBQ.

Tell me...Why can't school finish up at the end of May? I can quite honestly say that they really haven't done any true school work for almost 2 weeks.

Morgan wasn't able to go go to his reward party because he got a detention last week. For talking. Which is no surprise, but...he has been talking all year. The teacher even said so, on every one of his progress notes and report cards. So why a detention now?

So instead of sitting at school, watching TV and doing crossword puzzles in class, I made him perform community service and serve punch at Lucas' graduation.


He had a great time, I think he would even say so.

Morgan especially can't turn down a beautiful brunette with big brown eyes!

56, 58, 60....

just a couple of Morgan's blood sugar readings from last night/early this morning.


You see, his numbers have been awesome this week. Hardly any highs, maybe 1 or 2 lows.

I knew to be on the lookout. Numbers like the ones he has been having usually come at a price.

He went to bed with a blood sugar of 109 mg/dL after having 'dessert' but with about 4 units of insulin still coursing through his system, so I knew that we would need to check him in a couple of hours.

When Pat came to bed at 11:30 (2 hours later) he checked Morgan and was clocked in at 56. We give him 4 glucose tabs.

A re-check at 11:45 shows a whopping...58. I give him 4 glucose tabs and found another one in his sheets....he only got 3 the first treatment.

12:00 AM check....60....4 glucose tabs.....I really hope this ends soon and without the help of glucagon. Turn down the basal rate on his pump to about 50%.

12:15....54... O.M.G.... I really am praying at this point.
4 more glucose tabs and a sip of milk....his mouth has got to be like chalk dust. I'm not sure how much more sugar he can eat and am seriously considering giving him a little glucagon.

12:30...94....FINALLY....1 cup of milk and 2 peanut butter crackers.

Final count: 15 glucose tablets.. or about 60 grams of glucose. YUCK.

He woke up this morning with a blood sugar of 178, which is really quite impressive since he had 50% of his basal insulin all night long and there really wasn't a 'rebound' from his overnight low.

In the mornings, I always check his blood sugar and bolus for him. He always eats the same amount of carbs so I can get away with this and it kills 2 birds with one stone: 1) I can pre-bolus him to help with his breakfast spike and 2) it actually forces him to get out of bed!

So, this morning after I checked his glucose I was greeted with a much needed hug and a "you are the best Mom, thanks for taking care of me, I love you!"

Diabetes is that way. Keeps us guessing and on our toes.

Note to self: buy more glucose tablets and make sure glucagon is up-to-date.

Broken Arm, Blood Sugar & Testosterone

I had always heard to anticipate high blood sugars when Morgan was stressed. But through the last 18 months of dealing with his diabetes I never really saw it, even when he broke his arm last spring his blood sugars were easy to maintain. But with this last break I saw just how much insulin he could require, add to the fact that he is in the full throws of puberty and it seemed that high blood sugars were the norm and not the exception.

So a few days after he broke his arm, I finally got fed up and became ultra-aggressive, in my eyes, with his insulin. I upped his basal rate to 150% of normal. That was nearly 1 unit of insulin per hour, on top of what he was giving for food. He still ran a little high, but much lower than before. I could finally get some sleep.

Also, since this was Morgan's second break in 10 months the doctor decided to do some mineral absorptions tests. We were slightly concerned that maybe something was wrong, other that the care-free, 'I am invinsible' attitue of a teenager.

All of the tests came back normal, except for the Vitamin-D, which was slightly low; no sun this past winter, and his testosterone level. If there was ever any doubt, it was confirmed that Morgan is definately in the full throws of puberty, with a testosterone level almost double that of normal for his age.

He made his daddy proud!

I just saw more sleepless nights ahead.

Reduction:

The restoration, by surgical or manipulative procedures, of a part to its normal anatomic relation.


Can anyone guess what this is?

If you guessed one of my children's arms...you are correct!

If you guessed Morgan....you are correct again!

Can you see the fracture on the radius, just below his thumb?

6 minutes into his final basketball tournament of the year, having the game of his life, scoring 11 points thus far.

He breaks his arm in Lincoln City.

I heard it snap. Pat was sitting next to me and I said "He broke it. You had better get down there."

Once again, Pat was able to reduce the fracture (set it) before swelling set in and became too painful.

But unlike the other times, we had no connections at the local hospital and had to wait nearly 2 hours before we saw a D.O. for 3 minutes.

It is good to know people, especially orthopedic surgeons, whom we will see on Tuesday for a nice pretty cast.