Endo craziness

What do you do when you just can't get in to see the endocrinologist? Daniel is supposed to have an appointment every three months to check his A1c, go over his blood sugar history, and have a quick check up. I usually make the appointment three months in advance -- at the end of whatever appointment we're at. But we had a major FAIL this time. My husband took Daniel to his appointment in November. I didn't tell him to make a new appointment before he left. So here it is, 2 months later, and I started thinking hmmm. When is Daniel seeing the endo next? Yikes!

The next available opening is in May. MAY! I took it, of course.

Since Daniel was diagnosed, we've only had experience with the endocrinology department at Children's Hospital. I love the staff, the nurses, and especially Daniel's endocronologist. But it is so hard to get an appointment there! It seems like you have to have an emergency to be seen sometimes! At some point in the not to distant future, Daniel will grow out of the Children's system. I don't know at what age they no longer consider him to be a "child." I wonder where we'll go, and whether we'll have to wait 3 - 5 months to get an appointment.

GF Goodness in Stamford, CT

A couple of weeks ago when we took a drive up to visit my in laws in Connecticut, we stopped in Stamford to take my husband's aunt out for lunch. I Googled around looking for a place with a gluten free menu, and found a place listed right in Stamford where we were stopping. It is called Frascati's, and it is at 581 Newfield Avenue.

Frascati's is a small, Italian restaurant with a great GF menu. Daniel ordered a pizza (they use the Still Riding pizza crust, which we also can get here at restaurants in MD). But they had more than just pizza. They had a full GF menu with GF pastas, appetizers, and a warm delicious GF brownie for dessert. Daniel split a calamari in tomato sauce appetizer with my husband. We found out later that, even though it is not on the menu, we could have requested gluten free fried calamari, and the chef would have prepared it. Daniel hasn't had that since being diagnosed, and I think we might make the trek up to Stamford again just for that!

It is just so nice to go to a restaurant where we don't have to worry, and where everyone in the family can find something they can eat. Thanks, Frascati's, for making it easy and delicious.

At last!!!

Daniel got his braces off today. Phew! Poor kid has had an appliance of one sort or another in his mouth for the past nine years -- longer than he's been alive! Of course, he still has to wear retainers, but still -- what a relief. At least those can come off!

I told Daniel my retainer story. I had mine in junior high. I took it out to eat, and put it on a napkin on my tray. When lunch was over, I forgot about the retainer, and dumped it into the trash everything else. A class period or so later, I got that "UH OH" feeling... and not too long after that I was digging through enormous trash cans looking for my retainer. I found it. I boiled it...

Today when I was at work, I saw another teacher walking in front of me. She had pump tubing coiling out of her back pocket and then going under her clothes. The coils were sticking out quite a bit, so I tapped her on the arm as I was walking by and said, "hey, your tubing is sticking out." She said thanks, and tucked it in. I walked back to my classroom, sat down, and thought, wait... maybe that wasn't the right thing to do! It's something I do automatically when I see Daniel's spilling out of his clothes, because he tends to catch it on door knobs or drawer handles. He's ripped a couple of sites out that way, ouch! Anyway, I'm his mom! But until the moment this afternoon when I saw the other teacher's tubing, I didn't even know she was diabetic. Should I have said anything?

Speaking of pumping, Daniel has really taken over his diabetes management over this past 6 months or so. I used to tell him when it was a site change day. Now he tells me. He mostly does that himself as well, unless he's inserting into a place that's difficult for him to reach. I wonder how diabetics who live on their own reach the back of their arms, or other difficult spots, for that matter. I'm sure some have partners, roommates, moms, or other friends who help them out with the "ka-chunker" (as we call it) to insert the infusion set. But what if you live on your own? Daniel can twist around and get his hips pretty well, although he has to look in a mirror. The arms are practically impossible for him.

In any case, it's been wonderful for Daniel to take charge of his care. It makes me feel better about the looming college separation. Now if he would only take on gluten free cooking...

I guess I'll search youtube for how to self administer infusion sets in difficult places -- you can find almost anything on that site.

Keep smiling!!