Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Middle of the Night Club

"In the wee dark hours of the morning, when the whole wide world is fast asleep..."

For tonight, at least, we go the go ahead to skip the 12 a.m. bg check and just do 3 a.m. Whew! We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Daniel is not going trick or treating tonight. A combination of conditions -- diabetes, celiac, and just being 14 year old -- come into play. I'm happy and sad at the same time. Funny, last Halloween we were telling Daniel that we thought he was getting a little old to be trick or treating because once your voice starts changing people look at you funny when you say "trick or treat" in bass tones. Daniel said, as I recall, "NO WAY! I'm going to keep on getting candy!!"

Of course, everything has changed. The funny thing is, he's eating more candy than he ever ate before (a little at a time to correct minor lows). So maybe getting a sack-full isn't that important. He always has candy in his pocket.

One of his teachers, who was handing out candy to other students, gave Daniel a package of peanuts instead. Of course, handing out peanuts in school might not be exactly safe these days, but he knew that Daniel did not have a peanut allergy. And they are gluten free. It was a nice gesture.

I have been thinking about how diabetes & celiac touches everything we do now. We have to be obsessive-compulsive to test at the right times, to plan for the day, to figure out meals, to check the ratios & calculations twice before injecting. It's like we are looking at every minute of every day through a new lens, and, perhaps since I'm the mom & deal with these issues one on one more often, I tend to forget that there's a world out there that doesn't even think about carbs, snacks, gluten, and life & death every day. I was in that world just a few months ago, and I guess my head is still spinning. Not as fast as it used to, but enough to make me dizzy some days.

Okay. Time to get the ghosties and goblins ready for Halloween. Daniel's brother & sister are out to get a major haul!!

6 comments:

Shannon said...

The clock watching. That's what I remember most when Brendon was first diagnosed. Every minute of the day was focused on.

We've had some teens come to the door tonight and it's kind of odd.

He's on to a new era now :)

Naomi said...

Does it change when you switch to the pump? I'm always checking the clock & calling Daniel: "Have you tested yet?" You're right -- we focus on every minute!

Penny Ratzlaff said...

I'm with Shannon. When Riley was newly diagnosed I would sit on the couch and keep looking at the clock, figuring out how long before the next finger stick.

Riley had been diagnosed for 5 months when we went to the pump. We actually test more now than pre-pump. But, I don't clock-watch anymore. It has sadly just become a part of what we do.

Shannon said...

It does change because you can adjust basal rates more minutely and the body reacts differently to receiving fast acting insulin which doesn't have so many peaks and valleys the way long acting insulin does.

Naomi said...

Daniel is just so against having a pump. We'll see how the technology changes in the future, but for now he just doesn't want to have something attached to him. If the pump could be implanted, well, that would be a different story.

It would be nice to be able to make those minute changes.

Penny Ratzlaff said...

Naomi,

The pump isn't for everyone. My older son has 2 boys in his class that have D. They were both diagnosed at 10 and are 16 now. One is on shots and one is on a pump.

The one on the shots says he just doesn't want to be attached to something all the time. But, he's very vigilant with his care and has an awesome A1C. The one on the pump, he's not doing as well.