Go ahead punk....

THIS is Rowan....

Stomach Flu..... (uh oh)

Stomach flu's aren't fun for ANYBODY. But if you're a type 1 diabetic, it's slightly more complicated.

When the body is too nauseous to keep anything down, this will wreak havoc with a person's blood glucose levels. If you are on a long lasting insulin, this just complicates things even further.

Before Rowan was pumping, she received a morning "cocktail" of a fast acting and long acting insulin. Novo Rapid and NPH (not particularly helpful, lol). Novo Rapid will peak in the body's system within 30 minutes to a couple of hours, the long lasting NPH doesn't peak anywhere between five - ten hours later. Don't quote me on that, I'm going by a frazzled memory hanging by a thread.

Two days ago, Rowan experienced her first ever, particularly violent stomach flu, since being on the insulin pump. Being able to manage her diabetes and her stomach flu on the pump was a night and day experience compared to when she received cocktails.

On the pump.... if she didn't want to eat, I didn't worry about it. I would reduce the dosage of her basal insulin (the small background amount she receives each hour) and rolled with the punches. In between scooping vomit up with a dustpan. Sigh.

In the days that she received the cocktail, not eating was simply not an option. Knowing that the NPH would be peaking, was enough to fill me with dread and fear. If she already wasn't eating, what on earth would I do once that insulin kicked in and dropped her blood glucose even lower. In those days, we'd have to rely on Gatorade or Ginger Ale. Note to others: when relying on Gatorade to keep a type 1 diabetic with the stomach flu within a safe glucose range, pick a puke-friendly colour. No red's or day-glow blue's. Good luck getting THAT out of bedding or carpet.

As she curled into me in my bed the other day, I told her how lucky we are that she was on the pump and that we weren't having to contend with the effects of NPH. Even she, at the age of 8 agreed. She remembers those trips to the emergency room, to receive a glucose drip IV to bring her levels into safe range. You think it's overwhelming dealing with a projectile vomiting child? Try having that child having to have an IV inserted.

I thought I had already been convinced of the joys of insulin pumping. Then this flu hit, and I was damn near giddy I wasn't having to worry about NPH and her sugars dropping through the floor like a lead balloon.

'Tis true. I have become one of THOSE pumping mothers. The kind that preach the power of the pump! lol

PS: we made it through the flu, and I think we're all healthy again. Best part: her sugars never dropped below 6 mmol/L. Hooray!!!!!

Diabetic Diamonds In The Rough

I have learned from my own personal struggles, the power of positive thinking. If I can identify five things everyday that I am GRATEFUL for, it helps me keep everything else in perspective.

Someone recently asked about the positives type 1 diabetes has brought to our life. Some might immediately say "none", but that isn't the case in this household. The gifts that diabetes has brought to our family I call the 'diabetic diamonds in the rough'. You might not see them, or appreciate them, at first glance.... but they are there if you look hard enough.

Here are some of our diabetic diamonds in the rough:

• the insulin pump is teaching my seven year old to read. She may struggle with "See Jane run. Run Jane, run!" but she can read "Normal Bolus" versus "Dual Wave Bolus"
• Rowan is being taught awareness of her own body. Both inside and out. I'm still learning about mine!
• My children know more about nutrition than the average twenty year old.
• My daughters are being taught to speak up if they feel an adult doesn't know what they're talking about. Note to daughters: stop using this one with your mother.
• My seven year old has learned much about consequences. Particularly before our leap to the pump. You want to eat that great big gooey brownie? Sure.... but you can only have half, and after you're done all that's left for you to munch on is cheddar cheese and raw carrots. There will be no more food for at least another two hours. What's that, have a tummy ache? Yeah.... not such a good idea, eh?
• Schedule and routine. If ever that was lacking, diabetes walked into our lives and bitch slapped it into my reality. We are structured. Beyond a shadow of a doubt, we HAVE structure.
• Living in the moment. I have struggled with THIS one for years. But when the diabetic seas are calm and smooth, you learn to savor every single moment of it. No worries about what happened four hours ago. Right NOW, it's all good!
• An appreciation for our health. Especially my ten year old. Not a day passes that she's not tremendously grateful somehow type 1 diabetes didn't come knocking on HER door.
• Empathy. My ten year old was born with buckets of empathy. My youngest? She's the typical youngest. But when she tests her blood in front of her friends and someone says "Oooh gross!!" she has profound empathy when she meets a little girl in the neighbourhood wearing both a ventilator on her throat and a feeding tube. They stop to show and tell each others site locations.
  
• Gratitude! Rowan survived her battle with DKA in August of 2010. We are profoundly grateful, and I'd like to think we connect with that gratitude daily.
• The generosity of our community has been overwhelming since Rowan's diagnosis. We moved to a new town three, maybe four years ago. I had no idea the level of friendship, support and giving that were waiting us. These people are our angels.
• An appreciation for technology and advancements in medicine. If I have to be raising a type 1 diabetic child, I am UNBELIEVABLY grateful that I have the good fortune to this do today. Not 30 years ago, God forbid, not 100 years ago. I don't have to resharpen syringes for her insulin injections. She gets to finger poke instead of doing urine dips. Her pump can fit in her pocket, not have to be worn like an astronauts backpack. Yes.... PROFOUNDLY grateful for advancements in medicine.
  
• Also very grateful to be living in Canada with standardized health care. I cannot express again our grateful that the overwhelming costs of living with type 1 diabetes has been miniaturized by our counties health care. Further, I am grateful to be living in a country where my 'access to insulin' is never in doubt.
  

Talking to a friend the other week, she identified a profound one for me. She says "I'm amazed that Rowan, when she's hypoglycemic and in trouble, ALWAYS finds her way to you before her legs go out from under her. Not every child feels that their parent is "a safe place". It's clear she does with you"

I'm sure that there are more diabetic diamonds in the rough. Perhaps I haven't stumbled onto them yet. But I'm always on the look out.

What positives did type 1 diabetes bring to YOUR family's life?

Wishing you good health, and cooperative numbers!

Krystin
Woman.... Artist.... Mother.... Advocate.... Artificial Pancreas..... and everything in between!

Emergency Preparations

I am a single mother of two beautiful little girls, ages 10 and 7.

My 7 year old was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic 08/09/10, after nearly losing her life to ketoacidosis. An often fatal consequence of undiagnosed type 1 diabetes. She pulled through, and not a day will pass without me expressing my gratitude to the Universe.

As a type 1 diabetic, she is forever more dependent on insulin. Whether that be through daily injections, the use of an insulin pen.... or an insulin pump. She will continue to be dependent on insulin until a cure is found.

I have usually prided myself on being prepared for an emergency. Living on a fault line, you are always warned to be ready for a substantial earthquake. But this week, my little family living in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia BC had a different sort of emergency: the Snowstorm of 2012. Schools have been closed all week, roads largely inaccessible. Myself, my vehicle has taken up full time residence in a brine solution soaked snowbank on the side of the road. I have been trying to dig it out for days. It is still there.

I have insulin.... I have lancets..... I have resevoirs for her insulin pump..... I have insertion sets for the pump... I have spare batteries... I have juice boxes... I have test strips.

Wait! I *did* have test strips. Until yesterday afternoon Rowan announced "they're all gone". Dread filled my chest. We had to go outside in THAT! I had to dig out that dang car! I've not had much luck so far with the car excavation.

Since switching to the insulin pump, Rowan will test her blood glucose via a fingerpoke 10-14 times a day. Before the snowstorm, I had more than 100 strips at home. Even my supply of juice boxes (used for treating hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar) was beginning to be depleted. I didn't know what caused me more anxiety. Having a low, and having to pour maple syrup into her mouth. Or suspecting a low, and not being able to confirm it.

I thought I was ready for an emergency. The snow storm of 2012 proved me wrong (lesson learned Mother Nature, thank you for the fire drill! Lesson learned... lesson learned!)

Evidentally, my emergency plan B (loot the pharmacy) wouldn't even work.... as I had no means of GETTING to the pharmacy.

It took three families in my small town rallying together to collect Rowan's test strips from the pharmacy. The first family, their vehicle wouldn't start in these subarctic temperatures. First family notified second family. Second family, while their vehicle would start.... couldn't get said vehicle out of their ice lined driveway. Second family recruits third family. Third family arrives on the horizon like the gallant rescuer that they were, collects member from second family. Proceeds to pharmacy, then delivers to our humble abode.

Have I mentioned that I've learned my lesson in being prepared?

What I *haven't* mentioned? The g-r-a-t-i-t-u-d-e I have for ALL families involved in this dramatic feat of purchasing test strips. Yes.... they even brought four packs of juice boxes with them.

So please.... if you have a loved one living with type 1 diabetes. Or ANY loved one living with any demanding illness. Please consider my plight. Please review your own emergency preparedness.

Wishing you good health, cooperative blood glucose levels, and a warm heart on a cold winter day!

Much love and respect for you on your various journeys,

Krystin and her LadyBugs
Woman.... Artist.... Mother.... Advocate.... Artificial Pancreas..... and everything in between.

Never Dreamt I'd Become An Advocate For Anyone Other Than MY Child

When my daughter, then six, was diagnosed as a type 1 diabetic 08/09/10. I recognized that the three of us, as a single parent family, had to make a choice. I could either raise her to be a victim of diabetes, let her use her medical condition as an excuse for potential shortcomings. Or I could raise her to fight. Fight for awareness, fight for equality, fight for fund raising, fight for ongoing research into a cure.

I had absolutely NO reservations whatsoever, to step up and speak up on her behalf, because after all, age six is pretty young to be able to speak out on your own sometimes.

I realized, that in becoming HER advocate, I would also become an advocate for Type 1 Diabetes in general. Actively involved in an advocacy for Type 1 Diabetics in elementary schools across British Columbia, Canada. Proud annual participant of the TELUS Walk To Cure Diabetes (find us on Facebook, Rowan's Recruits: The LadyBug Brigade)

Yet Type 1 Diabetes only represents ten percent of the total world diabetic population.

As many of you know (or perhaps not) Type 1 is very different from Type 2, particularly in HOW the disease is developed. Type 2 is brought on largely by genetics and lifestyle. Type 1 is an auto-immune disease. Unpreventable. These Type 1 Diabetics no longer produce insulin on their own, and are therefore DEPENDENT on insulin, either by injections, pens, or an insulin pump.

As a mother of a Type 1 diabetic, I have spent MUCH time trying to educate the public that Type 1 is NOT the same as Type 2. However, because the population of Type 2 diabetics is so vast, there is much confusion and misinformation surrounding Type 1.

I didn't think I would ever see the day that I would put down my Type 1 torch, and choose to carry the torch diabetes awareness (in general).

Lesson learned: by embracing Type 2 and the wonderful people within the diabetic community as a whole, my reach for awareness of Type 1 seems to have broadened.

When my daughter Rowan lay there in the hospital bed fighting to survive, I never dreamed I would step up and want to be an advocate for ALL diabetics. I wanted to fight for her. But my fight for her invited me to fight for everyone..... and so, here I am.

Yes.... diabetes is serious. Yes, the complications of mismanagement are rather terrifying. But there IS beauty within all of our own individual diabetic journeys. Things that once may have been taken for granted, are sweetly savored. This path has introduced me to so many people that I would not have met any other way.

Thank YOU for being part of my journey..... part of this diabetic advocacy.

Now let's get out there AND BE HEARD! The most remarkable journeys always start with a couple of small steps. Never underestimate your ability or potential. Diabetes... or not.

As a wise man recently told me "we aren't looking to change differing minds.... we are looking to find SIMILAR minds... and build momentum"

May peace and good health find you all.

With much love and respect,

Krystin
Woman.... artist.... Mother.... artificial pancreas.... advocate.... and everything in between.

PS: I invite you to check out our movement....
http://www.facebook.com/?ref=hp#!/pages/NBC-346-Million-People-Deserve-An-Apology/210826292341284

Ladybug, ladybug, fly away home... and take T1D with you!!!

In some parts of the world, it is believed that when a ladybug lands upon someone who is ill, when it takes off in flight, it is said to take the illness with it.

We'll try anything!

I felt bad, feeling something on my arm, and going to flick it away, thinking it was a mosquito. Instead, I look down, and there's this itty-bity little ladybug. I have always called my daughters my 'ladybugs'. For less than endearing reasons: a) they're girls or ladies, and b) sometimes, I'll admit, they BUG me!

I lovingly moved the sweet little critter onto the top of my littlest head. My beloved cherished Rowan, my youngest l'il ladybug. My type one diabetic ladybug.

The girls thought I was nuts, but I told them to hold the potential for magic in their hearts, if for nothing more than my sake.

Now it's your turn l'il ladybug friend. Fly away home, and would you please take Rowan's type one diabetes with you? I'm sure I heard that little creepy-crawly whisper to me as she departed from Rowan's sweet head, that a cure was on its way. Godspeed ladybug, from your mouth to God's ears.

I Wish For You

I wish for you, my youngest daughter
A twisted sense of humour
To help you leap future hurdles.

I wish for you balance.
Happiness can accompany hardship
Dawn always follows the darkest of nights.

I wish for you loyal friendship
With another Type 1 diabetic child
Who knows the path that you walk daily.

I wish for you understanding.
Knowing that the tears I hide
Aren’t anything that you’ve done to me.

I wish for you tenacity
Never giving up, never surrendering
Never letting Diabetes have the last word.

I wish for you a discovery of faith
Faith in a higher power
You may have feel condemned you.

I wish for you nerves of steel
for the 26,280 finger pokes
You will have experienced by age nineteen.

I wish for you a long happy life
Overflowing with good health and contentment
I wish for you a cure tomorrow.

I’d sell my soul for one today.
Just for you
Without hesitation.

Sweet Child O' Mine..... Where Do We Go From Here?

Puh-leez DO NOT feed the bears (or my diabetic)

What is Type 1 Diabetes?

Type 1 Diabetes (aka Juvenille Diabetes) is an auto immune disease in which the pancreas, for one reason or another, stops producing insulin, or no longer produces sufficient insulin. This is not a lifestyle disease. It is not because you ate too much McDonald's, or spent too much time in front of the television, it is not because your parents are horribly inadequate. A major digestive organ has stopped working, and, as being diagnosed, you are now and forever dependent on insulin injections.

This condition is very much a ticking timebomb. For even if medical professionals knew that your child would develop it, there is absolutely nothing they could do to prevent the onset.

Only ten percent of all diabetic cases are Type 1.... but out of that small ten percentile, 90% are children.

There is no cure for this condition. A child will never outgrow it. We can only hope and pray that the wonderful foundations that are spending millions of dollars researching this disease will be able to find a cure..... and they are close. Just not close enough.