Let’s round out the week by sharing our best diabetes tips and diabetes tricks. From how you organize supplies to how you manage gear on the go/vacation (beach, or skiing, or whatever). From how you keep track of prescription numbers to how you remember to get your orders refilled. How about any “unconventional” diabetes practices, or ways to make diabetes work for YOU (not necessarily how the doctors say to do it!). There’s always something we can learn from each other. (Remember though, please no medical advice or dangerous suggestions.)

Sorry I missed yesterday, life got in the way…

One thing we do is have the Thirty-one Timeless Beauty Bag to put all the supplies she needs with her and stick that in her book bag. This has an extra site change supplies, extra insulin (in the Frio – which we also love), extra lancets, test strips, glucagon, and some smarties for lows. This way we just have one thing to check to make sure its all there before we go.

Also we are flying for the first time since diagnosis and I am a little worried about the process. So if anyone has any advice or tips or links to good posts, please share in the comments.

Managing diabetes during exercise can be tricky, so share what works for you or your loved one with diabetes and maybe it can help someone else. What to do when you want to work out, but your blood sugar is lower or higher than you want? How do you cope with this? Or how do you manage gym days at school for your child with diabetes? How do you stay motivated to work out? Or how do you encourage your loved on with diabetes to get active? What is your favorite kind of exercise – conventional or non-conventional? (Let’s see how many types of exercise we can find!

Doing a wildcard topic today…

My daughter is involved with team sports both Volleyball and Softball. This helps keep her active and in shape. But it can make things hard to predict and manage (even more than normal). She will take her pump off for the whole game – this helps with the lows during the game (mostly) – but can have ramifications. She will then be quite high before bed and we don’t treat because by 1:30-3 she will drop and be low. The CGM helps to least let me be aware, I do sometime catch the low before it happens. Our go to at night is juice followed by a cheese stick when in range. I love to watch her play, I love that she has a passion and wants to play and be active, I just really hate the roller coaster of highs and lows.

We think a lot about the physical component of diabetes, but the mental component is just as significant. How does diabetes affect you or your loved one mentally or emotionally? How have you learned to deal with the mental aspect of the condition? Any tips, positive phrases, mantras, or ideas to share on getting out of a diabetes funk? (If you are a caregiver to a person with diabetes, write about yourself or your loved one or both!)

Like I mentioned yesterday, my daughter doesn’t really like to talk about having Type 1 publicly but with family and friends she is very open and not trying to hide it or be ashamed. I hope that continues. I do worry about her getting depressed or in a funk but I try to stay positive and not dwell on issues. We can only deal with what is going on today.

So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:34 (NLT)

Lets kick off the week by talking about why we are here, in the diabetes blog space. What is the most important diabetes awareness message to you? Why is that message important for you, and what are you trying to accomplish by sharing it on your blog? (Thank you, Heather Gabel, for this topic suggestion.)

I have been quiet on here lately but still want to participate in #DBlogWeek.

So it’s been just over two years since my daughter was diagnosed. And while things are going really good, there is still so much misunderstanding from the people around us. We don’t go around talking about it too much, my daughter really doesn’t like to bring attention to it and I am trying to respect that, but it’s hard sometimes to not share and not explain.

I think the most important message is not “We need a cure” (which we do-I pray for one each day). I think the most important message is we need compassion and understanding. Be kind to each other because you don’t know what is going on under the surface and a little kindness can go a long way.

Thanks everyone – continue reading the great post out there this week!

Maybe there will be a cure one day.  We hope and pray for it.  The technology is advancing too and when it all works right it’s great – but it’s not foolproof.  And I say ‘We’ because right now I am in it with her.  She is growing up and will be doing more and more on her own but I never want her to feel alone.

When my daughter was diagnosed it was terrifying. I didn’t know anything about what was going on and didn’t have anyone to share experiences with.

As a techie, I immediately got online looking for info and found lots, maybe too much, but I still was looking for a deeper connection on sharing information so I started this blog hoping to find that.

It’s not working.

And with so many other activities that are vying for my attention there is no one to blame but myself.

However it is frustrating that finding out some information has been so difficult.

Like I heard about nightscout and loved the concept but it only seemed to apply to the dex and we already had the medtronic system … now I am hearing that it does work for medtronic but I already shelled out the money for the MiniMed connect.

The connect is a great concept but not geared to the caregiver which is what I am and what we need right now.

There is no app for the caregiver, only a mobile site that requires a log in Every. Time.  Seriously? at 2am this is not fun. Now seeing it on the website is pretty good which is fine at work but when I really need it is at night, and that not so much. There really needs to be an app for caregiver like the user.

And the connect is not really easy for a middle school child to keep close by…the hole that I guess is supposed to be used to attach to something is too small for most things…it would be great if the tubing could fit thru it or a carabiner.  I guess I need to buy her a fitbelt to store it all.

Today’s topic: Foods on Friday

Taking a cue from Adam Brown’s recent post, write a post documenting what you eat in a day!  Feel free to add links to recommended recipes/shops/whatever.  Make it an ideal day or a come-as-you-are day – no judgments either way.  (Thank you, Katy of  Bigfoot Child Have Diabetes for this topic.)

This is a typical day of food for my daughter:

Breakfast:

Peanut butter on wheat toast
8oz milk

Lunch:

School lunch (can not talk her into taking her own but the school does provide carb counts on a menu)

Dinner:

Usually a protein(Chicken/P3/Ham), salad, strawberries
or sometimes a single serve lasagna since the carb count works well for her

Bedtime snack:

something carb-y(crackers, chips, cake) with some cheese and pepperoni

Today’s topic: Changes Today let’s talk about changes, in one of two ways.  Either tell us what you’d most like to see change about diabetes, in any way.  This can be management tools, devices, medications, people’s perceptions, your own feelings – anything at all that you feel could use changing.  OR reflect back on some changes you or your loved one has seen or been through since being diagnosed with diabetes.  Were they expected or did they surprise you?

One thing that has changed for me personally as a parent is sleep! I get up to check on my daughter every night at 2 am.  The CGM helps but there are nights when it goes off with false alarms and there are times when I  don’t hear it (and it’s a life saver then).  So that leads to a change I would like to see being able to access the information from other devices (and I know there are some who have been able to achieve it but it’s not a perfect system available to all).  I think it will get there and that will be wonderful.  I also pray for a full cure but love the technological advancements being made in the meantime.

Today’s topic: Keep it to Yourself Many of us share lots of aspects of our diabetes lives online for the world to see.  What are some of the aspects of diabetes that you choose to keep private from the internet?  Or from your family and friends?  Why is it important to keep it to yourself?  (This is not an attempt to get you out of your comfort zone.  There is no need to elaborate or tell personal stories related to these aspects.  Simply let us know what kinds of stories we will never hear you tell, and why you won’t tell them.) (Thank you Scott E of Rolling in the D for this topic.)

I don’t know that I blog enough to feel like I am keeping things to myself but sometimes I don’t share everything with my family and friends – I guess because I feel guilty or scared like I am the failure or I don’t want to seek sympathy for the sake of getting a pity party.  Sometimes I can over-share too or come across as aloof when I am really hurting and don’t know how to express it. Since my daughter is now a teenager, it’s harder to share things because it’s about her and not about me.  She doesn’t like me to post on anything about her or Type 1 on Facebook.  I recently changed my profile pic to the JDRF shoe since our walk is this weekend and I was using the app to try to get a few more donations – she wanted me to change it but I am waiting til after Sunday’s walk. I post on this blog since it’s a little more anonymous than Facebook and I haven’t shared this blog with family and friends.  I also haven’t come right out and shared my daughter’s (or son’s) name or any pictures.  I feel this blog is about how I am dealing with being a parent and not over-sharing personal details about my family. Hopefully I am achieving that balance.

Next week I will be participating in Diabetes Blog Week sponsored by Karen.

Last year I started blogging right after my daughter was diagnosed with Type 1.  Yesterday we found out my husband has Type 2.  Right now I don’t have anymore information as he was told over the phone and needs to go in and see his doctor but I feel like this is a whole different ball game.