New Year, Fresh Start

I've been absent from blogging for a while, and today seems like a great day to get back to it!

First and foremost - Seth was featured in the blog Happy Medium last Monday!  Stephen is doing a series of blog posts about Champion Athletes with Diabetes.  You can read his awesome article here.  I'm so proud of Seth and his accomplishments. Thank you Stephen, for recognizing these awesome type 1 athletes!  Leave a comment on Stephen's blog thanking him, if you don't mind. And read the others in his series.  There are some type 1 athletes out there seriously KDA every day!

Second - last semester in school was really difficult.  Jason and I were both taking a graduate chemistry course and it pretty much consumed every spare second.  Also, starting back at the beginning of the school year, Jason is now the swim coach for our campus (assistant coach for the district). That takes quite a bit of our time as well.  Grad school is over, at least for now, so hopefully I can get back to regular posts.  As I'm sure you know, diabetes has not been silent or easy these last few months, so I have lots to tell!

As a preview (and because I think every post needs a picture), here's a pic from our recent vacation.  Cruising with diabetes is definitely a challenge, but what isn't with diabetes tagging along?  That's just one of the things I have coming up to write about!

Happy 2015!  May it be the best year yet!

Long Distance Carb Counting

Have you ever tried to count carbs from a menu without ever seeing the food?  It's hard!!  Seth is on a trip with his high school band, and that's what I've been doing for 3 days.  They have been eating at great restaurants that I have menus for (I was able to find the group menus online), but no nutritional information.  So....I've been guessing portion sizes and estimating carbs for him. I know the menu pictures are hard to read, they just have my scribbles of carb guesses on them.  So far, I think I've done ok.  He'll be home tomorrow night, and I'll be so happy to see him!

Getting ready to leave.
1 bag of clothes/toiletries.  3 bags of diabetes supplies and snacks.

Getting away, Part 2

I wanted to update everyone on our trip. It was great! Blood sugars ran a touch high for both of my guys, but I'll take it! Several people wanted to know what the event was all about, so I'll do my best to describe it. Our lives do not revolve around diabetes, but they pretty much revolve around lifeguarding during the summer.

We were able to eat some good seafood and go to the beach before the games started. We also drilled the team with first aid flash cards pretty late the night before.

We overslept the morning of the competition.  The hotel room alarm clock was set on radio, not alarm. Not on a radio station. And at lowest volume.  So, the start of our day was a bit frantic. The team got there on time; they were in their own vehicle.  We got there a little bit late, but before the opening ceremonies.

First event was CPR. It was pretty straightforward. The team just had to demonstrate their knowledge of CPR skills. 

The 2nd event was first aid. Each team member had a different "victim" and each victim had 2 things that needed attention.

Next, there were 2 in-water scenarios. No instructions were given. The lifeguards had to assess the situations and respond appropriately.  The first scenario had a spinal injury, 2 shadows in the pool to find, and an asthma attack. Possibly something else I didn't catch. It goes quick!

The last scenario had multiple victims as well. Choking, passing out in the water, active drowning were all in this scenario. Again, there was probably something I missed.

It was a fantastic experience, and I hope to be able to go again next year!