#SingForNicole

Seth was sick last night.  I was up most of the night making sure his blood sugar stayed in a safe range.  My mind automatically went to this story....

It happened again a little over a week ago...a life cut short by type 1 diabetes.  This time, it was close to home.  Nicole's family lives less than an hour from us. I have no details, other than she died in her sleep.  About 5-6% of all children and young adults with type 1 diabetes die in their sleep.  That sounds pretty rare, and it is.  But it is enough to cause many sleepless nights for d-parents.

Nicole was a huge fan of the band One Direction.  She had tickets to attend their concert this summer.  After she passed, her sister began a campaign on Twitter to ask the band to dedicate a song to Nicole at that concert.  I hope they do.  Nothing good can come of a child dying from this terrible disease.  We can only hope that awareness can be raised.  Awareness of how terrible this disease really is.  Awareness that we desperately need a cure.

I don't want to sound all gloom and doom.  We have a good life.  Seth and I were discussing just a few days ago that for the most part diabetes is just an inconvenience in life.  Some days are rough, like last night.  But most days are just regular days, interrupted only by the nuisance of carb counting, blood testing, and insulin injecting. A cure would relieve us of those inconveniences, as well as rid us of the constant fear lurking in the background.  But until that happens, we will continue to KDA every day.

Graduation Day #1

Seth has graduated from the pediatric endocrinology clinic. His endos (his endo has a fellow, who has been his primary doctor since diagnosis) had nothing but nice things to say about how well he has managed, wished him well for the future, etc.  It was a really nice appointment. Now the search is on for an adult endo.  We have a list, but how do you even begin to choose?

A1c was awesome, and he has gained 8 pounds since last time (yea!).  It could have been from all the Cajun food on his band trip. 

We celebrated the day by eating at his favorite BBQ place before the appointment, then had a few minutes to walk around one of the city parks for. It was a good day.

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.

Wifi hotspot?

Seth has convinced some kids at school that his Dexcom transmitter is a mobile hotspot. He even named the hotspot on his phone DexcomG4##### (seriel number). Here's how the conversation went down, paraphrased.

Kid: What's that? (Pointing at transmitter.)
Seth: My mobile hotspot.
Kid: No way!
Seth: (Shows receiver) This is the controller. Search for Wifi on your phone and you'll find it.
Kid: OMG, there it is! Where did you get it??
Seth: My mom got it for me. My dad has one too.

How hilarious is my kid???

He wears his Dex sensor proudly!

DI Competition

A couple of weeks ago, Seth competed in Destination Imagination (DI).  It was his 8th time to compete; he started in 5th grade.  4 of the team members have been together since 6th grade (7 years). They are an amazing group of teenagers!  They are going to do awesome things in our world. 

Here's a glimpse into the world of DI.  The kids do EVERYTHING, including writing the script, designing and making the costumes and props, creating a soundtrack, and performing.  Everything!  There is an adult manager there just so they aren't unsupervised.

Shopping for costume ideas.  Seth got a little bored and started stacking golf pencils.

Final night of practice before the big competition.
Seth loves the tricycle for some reason.
 I think I have a picture of him on it every year.

This year's competition involved choosing a work of art, then centering the entire performance around it.  I had seen the work of art prior to the competition, but didn't know what all was going on with it.  DI is kinda like fight club.  The kids don't talk about it outside of DI.  The only thing I really knew was that Seth needed brown shoes for his costume.

The artwork inspiration for this year's performance.

The kids do ALL of the costume prep.
 If you'll look closely on the back of his arm, you can see a little bump that is his Dexcom sensor.

The  competition consists of 2 parts - a performance and an Instant Challenge.  I don't know much about Instant Challenge (think fight club again), but I know they have a problem to solve in a set time with limited supplies.  This is the hardest part of the competition for Seth's team.  Spectators are not allowed for the IC, but are allowed for the performance.

The performance was fantastic! The appraisers (judges) had awesome things to say about their performance. The engaged and delighted the audience from beginning to end.  There was humor.  The team used their musical talents as part of the performance.  It was just wonderful, beginning to end.

Team picture with their manager after the performance.  They nailed it!

There is a big awards show at the end of the day.  The scores from performance and IC are totaled and medals are given for each category.  Seth's team placed 3rd in their category overall.  BUT, they earned a DaVinci award.  DaVinci awards are given for excellence in their performance.  The appraiser's sheet for the DaVinci award had nothing but great things to say about their performance. This is only the 2nd DaVinci award ever earned by a team from Seth's school.  The first one was earned by this same team 2 years ago!  Like I said, they are an amazing group of kids!

At the awards ceremony with their DaVinci award.

Diabetes did not play into the day much at all.  Other than his Dex sensor showing and having to do an injection in the hall for his lunch, it was not much of a factor.  Seth tamed the D-beast like a boss.  He watched his Dex trend graph and took appropriate actions throughout the day.  I just wanted to share his amazing accomplishment.  With diabetes along the path is a little trickier, but with careful management he has been able to continue doing all of the same activities he did before d. Not only does he do them, he ROCKS them. KDA every day.

Adventures in Wisdom Teeth, Part Deux

So far, so good!  We made it to the oral surgeon's office on time AND in the blood sugar range he wanted.  What are the chances of that happening??  The procedure went well, and we are back home.  We were gone from home just about 2 hours.   Crazy, right?  Feeling is coming back, blood sugar is coming back down.  Hopefully, recovery will be smooth.  As much as I hate this painful part, the sedation/surgery itself is the most worrisome part for me.

Adventures in Wisdom Teeth

Tomorrow marks another new adventure with type 1 diabetes....wisdom teeth removal.  Jason and I have both had ours removed, as has our older son.  But this is the first time we've experienced it with diabetes.
The oral surgeon was awesome at our consultation.  He had a plan for insulin management for the day: he wants Seth over 150 tomorrow morning, regular Lantus tonight but no Humalog in the morning (duh, no food), and they will have a glucose drip handy for his IV just in case. He also thought Dexcom was really cool and saw that it would be a useful tool during the procedure.

I've been to the store, so I think we have all the soft foods on hand that we may need.  Mashed potatoes, yogurt, cottage cheese, tuna, ice cream, popsicles (regular and sugar free), pudding, jello (regular and sugar free), and Powerade (regular and sugar free).  We've picked up his antibiotic and pain pills from the pharmacy.  What have I forgotten?  If you notice anything, please comment!  We still have tonight to pick anything up.  Otherwise, I guess we're ready for tomorrow.  Ready to KDA in yet another new area.