Day 5 Diabetes Blog Week: Foods on Friday

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

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Day 4 Diabetes Blog Week: Changes

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.

Day 3 Diabetes Blog Week: Clean it Out

Today’s topic: Clean it Out

Yesterday we kept stuff in, so today let’s clear stuff out.  What is in your diabetic closet that needs to be cleaned out?  This can be an actual physical belonging, or it can be something you’re mentally or emotionally hanging on to.  Why are you keeping it and why do you need to get rid of it?  (Thank you Rick of RA Diabetes for this topic suggestion.)

Even though we’ve only been doing this a year, we already have so much hoarded.  I would say we have 9 glucose readers with their lancets and some test strips.  We have lots of papers, manuals, instructions, etc.  We bought a special cabinet for the supplies to keep in my daughter’s room and it’s overflowing.  It’s so hard to throw these things away because ‘what if’ we need them.  I can only imagine the collection we’ll have in another few years.

Day 2 Diabetes Blog Week: Keep it to Yourself

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.

Day 1 Diabetes Blog Week: I Can

Today’s topic: I Can

In the UK, there was a diabetes blog theme of “I can…”  that participants found wonderfully empowering.  So lets kick things off this year by looking at the positive side of our lives with diabetes.  What have you or your loved one accomplished, despite having diabetes, that you weren’t sure you could?  Or what have you done that you’ve been particularly proud of?  Or what good thing has diabetes brought into your life?  (Thank you to the anonymous person who submitted this topic suggestion.)

Last year when my daughter first found out about being diagnosed with type 1 she thought about quitting softball, a sport she truly loved, because there was just so much to deal with and she wasn’t sure if she could do it. I encouraged her to really think about it and to take her time making the decision.  After a week, she went back to attending games and practices. After a few more weeks, she was determined to continue playing and played for the summer league.  I really think that by choosing to play instead of quitting, she told herself and Type 1 that she can do anything. It gave her something to look forward to, something to take her mind off of things, it gave her motivation, and it gave her hope.

Diabetes Blog Week May 11-17

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.

Z is for Zig-Zag

 

It’s the last day and I am glad to have completed the challenge.

Today I chose Zig-Zag.  One thing I noticed when I look at my daughters CGM charts is the zig-zag effect. Eat they go up, take insulin they go down.  Get excited they go up, rest they come down. Sometimes there is a big Zag that takes a while to come down or that’s unexplained.  It can be frustrating when that happens. As we continue on the journey there will be plenty of zigs and zags in our future but hopefully we will learn something and make new friends on the way.

Y is for Yay!

Yay! Only one more day of the challenge.    I think it was good to force myself to write everyday but I don’t think I am cut out to do this everyday.  I will be doing the Diabetes Blog Week May 11-17 and then take things from there. I started writing after my daughters diagnosis because I couldn’t find any blogs by parents with newly diagnosed teenagers.  I have found more blogs in the past year, but none that really speak to the same issues.  I am still working on being a part of the DOC.

I have started following a few blogs from the challenge and maybe gained a few more followers (thanks!).  So I will call it a success. I know I need to work on expressing my thoughts better and finding my voice so we’ll see what happens next.

X is for Xanadu

This is a the most difficult one so far.  Seriously ‘Xanadu’ is the only thing I can think of so here goes….I love Olivia Newton John.  As a child of the 80’s, she was my idol and I wanted to be her.  I watched all her movies including this one. Grease is one of my favorite movies but this one, um wow.  I re-watched it a few years ago and man is it crazy bad.  But like most 80’s cheese movies, as a kid, I loved it. This movie has everything —  Roller Skating, dancing on the ceiling with Gene Kelly, fantasy, love story, music…I still love the song ‘Magic’.

Here are the lyrics:

Come take my hand, you should know me
I’ve always been in your mind
You know that I will be kind
I’ll be guiding you

Building your dream has to start now
There’s no other road to take
You won’t make a mistake
I’ll be guiding you

You have to believe we are magic
Nothin’ can stand in our way
You have to believe we are magic
Don’t let your aim ever stray
And if all your hopes survive, destiny will arrive
I’ll bring all your dreams alive, for you
I’ll bring all your dreams alive, for you

From where I stand you are home free
The planets align so rare
There’s promise in the air
And I’m guiding you

Through every turn I’ll be near you
I’ll come anytime you call
I’ll catch you when you fall
I’ll be guiding you

You have to believe we are magic
Nothin’ can stand in our way
You have to believe we are magic
Don’t let your aim ever stray
And if all your hopes survive, destiny will arrive
I’ll bring all your dreams alive, for you
I’ll bring all your dreams alive, for you

You have to believe we are magic
Nothin’ can stand in our way
You have to believe we are magic
Don’t let your aim ever stray
And if all your hopes survive, destiny will arrive
I’ll bring all your dreams alive, for you
I’ll bring all your dreams alive, for you

Powerful stuff!

W is for Weekend

I love weekends.  We’ve already covered that I am lazy so this should be no surprise.  I usually cook a lot on the weekends cause I am not home much during the week. I started out the weekend getting some baby love from my nephews.  They are just too cute.  On Saturday we did some community service at a local park, doing cleanup. That evening I did some cooking and kitchen cleanup. Sunday was church, more cooking and some television watching. It wasn’t a bad weekend at all.