Diabetes Blog Week

Karen of Bitter-Sweet says, “Sign ups are rolling along for the 4th Annual Diabetes Blog Week, with about 110 bloggers participating right now.  Diabetes Blog Week starts on MONDAY so please join in!  You can use this form to sign up, preview the topics here, and find all of the details over here.”

Diabetes Co-Stars: Strength In Numbers

“Elizabeth Perkins stars in our captivating documentary about why it’s important to have a strong support system. The documentary also features Diabetes Co-Stars casting call winners.”

“Sanofi US is supporting the Diabetes Hands Foundation with an initial $10,000 program sponsorship. But, when the documentary reaches 10,000 online views, Sanofi US will double that sponsorship for a total of $20,000!”

Watch the 15 minute Strength in Numbers documentary.

Diabetes Hope Conference

“While there is no known cure for diabetes, that doesn’t mean the diagnosis is hopeless. Join us on May 21 at 11am Central Time, when we convene panelists from the medical, blogger and diabetes community worlds to engage in frank and honest discussions about diabetes.”

RSVP for this free event.

{D-Blogging} THREE Items of Interest is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

Always use the consumer package for nutritional information as formula and ingredient changes may occur at any time and may not match the information provided here.

We eat a lot of pancakes and waffles in our house. But I’m finding it not so easy to find pancake mix that doesn’t have milk in it. I don’t shop at Meijer that often, but I’ve been heading there occasionally because they carry a few items that are free of the allergens we are avoiding. I usually make chocolate chip pancakes using Enjoy Life* chocolate chips. But on my most recent trip, I spotted this Meijer Naturals chocolate chip pancake mix. I used soy milk instead of regular milk.

The kids thought they were very good and we all agreed that they were generous with the chocolate chips. I would probably buy this mix again.

I will say that I used the ingredient measurements to make 14 pancakes, used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to pour them on the griddle as instructed, and it only yielded 11 pancakes.

If your child has a milk or tree nut allergy, what are some of your favorite finds?

*Enjoy Life products are free of the top 8 allergens.

Further Reading

More posts about food allergies

More posts about milk-free foods

More posts about snacks

Always read labels of individual products as ingredients and manufacturing may change. Any allergy information provided on D-Mom Blog does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer and consult your physician for any questions you may have.

All images are copyright D-Mom Blog and D-Mom Media and may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.

{Allergy Find} Meijer Pancake Mix is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

Note the time span…the wee hours!

All images are copyright D-Mom Blog and D-Mom Media and may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.

{Wordless Wednesday} Toeing the Line is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

As we approach the five year anniversary of my daughter’s diagnosis with type 1 diabetes, it’s interesting to look back and see what I was thinking and feeling on our very first d-anniversary.

If you are new to D-Mom Blog or to our family’s particular story, I invite you to read my previously written posts, which you can do by visiting the Archives.

Join me each Thursday as I highlight a post from the past.

Happy Anniversary?
originally posted May 2, 2009

Today marks the one year anniversary of my daughter’s diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes.

I began writing a post describing the ups and downs, but I realized that I didn’t really have it in me to dig to the depths of my heart today.

And I certainly am not going to sit here and complain. We have nothing to complain about. Yes, it sucks for my daughter to have diabetes. It sucks for her, not for me. I do what I have to for her and would do even more.

But you know what? I bet if we asked her if her life sucked, she would say no.

Just this morning she announced to the librarian matter-of-factly that she has diabetes and couldn’t have the orange juice they were serving with pancakes. The librarian remarked that it’s great that she knows what she can and can’t have.

And having diabetes did not ruin our morning or our outing.

Yes, we had to rearrange meal and snack schedules. Yes, we had to test and inject in front of a room of strangers. Yes, we had to bring our own syrup.

But in every other way, she was a happy-go-lucky four-year-old participating in a great activity at the library.

At the farmer’s market she didn’t ask for home made sweets, instead she went right to the last row and asked for a bag of sprouts. And that has nothing to do with dietary restrictions and everything to do with her sophisticated tastes.

She and my husband went to the other library in the afternoon for a screening of the latest Scooby Doo movie (her favorite!). I packed popcorn as her afternoon snack.

Minutes before dinner she told me that she was hungry and needed to eat something. She said she couldn’t wait.

I checked her finger and she was going low. 73 to be exact (her target range is 100 to 200 and anything under 80 is considered hypoglycemia for her).

I reached in the high cabinet for her emergency juice and then poured her a cup of milk.

At not-even-five it’s difficult to articulate how you are feeling when you are going low. But we have noticed that she usually and suddenly feels very hungry.

Today we finally received notice of the school that she will attend for kindergarten in the fall. We got the school that we put down as our first choice. A school chosen by us not only because we loved it when we walked in, because academics seem strong, because there appears to be a real sense of community. But also because my husband and I can get there the quickest in case of an emergency, because there is another diabetic child there now, and because the staff did not skip a beat when we started asking questions about caring for a diabetic student.

A year ago today I was wondering how I could care for a child whose life is literally in my hands. And today I begin wondering how I can trust total strangers to care for her almost seven hours a day in my absence.

I have not even begun to add up our out-of-pocket medical bills from the past year. I am thankful that we have decent insurance.

In the past year we have (minimally)

• Checked her blood glucose level 1,460 times
• Used 1,460 test strips and 1,460 lancets
• Used 1,460 alcohol swabs
• Given her 1,095 injections with a pen needle
• Given 365 injections by syringe

Lather, rinse, repeat. Right?

I could check her BG level in my sleep…and sometimes do in hers.

Last week as I conversed with David the Pharmacist about our co-pays going up and supplies per refill going down, I asked how diabetics without insurance do it.

He said they don’t. It’s catastrophic. They have to go on public aid. Many people aren’t testing as often as they should.

That’s sad. It’s sad that in America people can’t get the medical care they need, that they can’t get affordable prescriptions.

In fact I consider myself a pretty savvy consumer and only found out within the past month of a service that has the potential to save me $50 a month on testing supplies. No one told me about this and I went an entire year without this service.

I don’t think you’ll ever hear “whoa is me” when it comes to my life. Of course it has its ups and downs. Maybe more than some people, but definitely less than others.

So is this a “happy” anniversary? Though it marks something that I would rather not have as part of our daily lives, I am happy with where we are today given what we have been dealt.

Life is good.

{D-Mom 2.0} Happy Anniversary? is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

It’s always encouraging when the blood glucose meter and continuous glucose monitor are spot on.

Twice in the SAME day, no less!

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{Wordless Wednesday} Matchy Matchy is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

What do you see when you look at this photo?

Some d-parents look at it and see a victory, some defeat.

For some families an 8.0 is hard-won. For some it brings up more questions than answers.

Some d-moms sigh in relief because their hard work and sleepless nights have paid off. Some moms go home and cry because they feel that they have failed their child.

Whatever your reaction to the number you see in this photo, I want you to remind yourself that you are doing the best you can. Sometimes it’s good enough, sometimes it falls short. But you can’t beat yourself up about it.

I have a philosophy that blood sugars and A1c’s are not grades or judgements. They are information. You see a number, you deal with it, you move on. That simple.

That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take the time to look for trends or see what you could have done differently. But we have a lifetime to deal with our child’s diabetes (and, of course, empower them to take over as they grow older) and we can’t get so damn emotional all the time.

Dust yourself off and get back in there.

I’m curious: How do you tend to react to all that numbers that diabetes throws at us?

All images are copyright D-Mom Blog and D-Mom Media and may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.

{Diabetes Management} The A1c…It’s All Relative is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

Always use the consumer package for nutritional information as formula and ingredient changes may occur at any time and may not match the information provided here.

My daughter was so excited that the snack served at school one day was not only milk-free, but that the package specifically said that it was made in a facility free of nuts. The school nurse snapped a picture of the box and messaged it to me so that I could remember what to look for at the store.

I looked at every grocery store in town before finally going to Carley’s website. I found out that Menard’s carried the brand…of all places! (Menard’s is a Midwest chain similar to Lowe’s or Home Depot.)

I went to Menard’s in search of these animal crackers and was so bummed that the box stated that it was made in a facility with tree nuts!

It just goes to show that if your child has a severe food allergy, you need to check the package every time.

Q and I popped into Menard’s for something else and I thought I would check out the snacks again. This time the box said that it was made in a nut-free facility. Score!

We put four boxes into our cart, lol!

I will say that although we couldn’t purchase too many of the Carley’s snacks because they either had milk or were made in the same facility as tree nuts, I am completely impressed that the company has very thorough labeling, far exceeding government standards. If only every company cared enough to actually label for potential cross-contamination.

That afternoon I did a little math to determine the weight of a 15 carb serving and made up a bunch of single-serve bags.

(Carley’s is actually part of Pures Food Specialties, Inc.)

Further Reading

100-Calorie Snack Packs (15 carb make-ahead portioned snacks)

More posts about food allergies

More posts about snacks

Always read labels of individual products as ingredients and manufacturing may change. Any allergy information provided on D-Mom Blog does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer and consult your physician for any questions you may have.

All images are copyright D-Mom Blog and D-Mom Media and may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.

{Snacks & Allergies} Carley’s Animal Cookies is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

I blogged recently about our Mega Smarties find. We often use Smarties to treat lows. We even used Smarties on the cover of Kids First, Diabetes Second. Our friends at Smarties saw the post and asked if they could send us a “sweet” thank you. Much to our surprise, a rather heavy box appeared on our doorstep. When Q saw the contents she declared them to be a “lifetime supply!”

Of course the kids wanted to sort them and do a taste test. I started doing math to figure out just how many carbs there were total. My answer? A LOT.

Disclosure: Our friends at Smarties sent us this thank you gift with no expectations and did not ask me to write about them. No monetary compensation was received and opinions are always my own. Please read the full disclosure statement.

All images are copyright D-Mom Blog and D-Mom Media and may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.

{Almost Wordless Wednesday} Lifetime Supply! is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

If you are new to D-Mom Blog or to our family’s particular story, I invite you to read my previously written posts, which you can do by visiting the Archives.

Join me each Thursday as I highlight a post from the past.

Yo-Yo Effect
originally posted July 5, 2009

I’m awoken in the night.

“She’s at one.”

“What do you mean she’s at one?”

“She’s at ONE.”

“Get the cake icing.”

I go to her bed and feel for her in the dark. She is in the corner, as still as can be. I take her jaw in my hand and start oozing bright yellow, super sweet cake icing into her cheek.

I’m awoken in the night. I had only been dreaming. But I sat upright in bed. I asked my husband to go check on our daughter. She was just fine. Her number typical for 4:00 am.

We had adjusted her correction the week before trying to bring her back down from slight high’s a little more quickly. It seems like it takes her a few mealtimes to come back into the 100′s after being in the 200′s. A little more fast acting insulin may do the trick. But more insulin could swing her too far, too quickly. Yo-yo-ing up and down.

We’ll try this new correction for a while and see how it goes, fine tuning if necessary.

We had been at the pool the day before. Morning swim lessons hadn’t seem to be affecting her blood sugars. But our nurse had advised me in a recent phone call that she get 15 grams of carbs for every hour of swimming.

We had lunch and headed off.

We splashed in the baby pool for a while. Before heading to the lazy river, I handed her a “fruit smoosher” (13 carbs). Twice we went down the slide, plunging into the river and slowly drifting around in large circles. We went to the deep water and practiced front and back glides, floating, and paddling. We returned to her brother and daddy in the baby pool and I decided to check her finger.

59

Not good.

I retrieved a juice box, which she slurped down quickly, wanting to return to the warm water.

She felt fine so I let her skip back to the water.

After about 15 minutes I coerced her out of the water to check her again.

Low 100′s.

Good.

As we left the pool a bit later, she was still very hungry (severe hunger is her signal that she’s going low). I handed her a tiny box of raisins (11 g).

Later as we laid together on the sofa watching Tinkerbell, she told me she was still hungry. I retrieved five Letter of the Day cookies for her (about 8 grams carbs). It was still an hour until dinner time.

It is too easy to overcompensate for a low, sending sugars well above their range again.

She fell asleep, head in my lap, as the fairy finally made it back to the mainland.

{D-Mom 2.0} Yo-Yo Effect is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

New from D-Kid Blog

Q has her own website with d-kid-friendly content and video. Check out her latest posts:

{Allergies} Easter Candy (Allergies and diabetes at Easter? No problem!)

Video Sneak Peek (Q has some video content in the works including answers to reader questions. Let her know if you or your child has a question.)

{Diabetes Art} Camp (Q has diabetes camp on her mind. See why she thinks other d-kids should go to camp.)

Featured D-Blogs

Here are some great posts I have read recently:

The Butter Compartment The Name Game (Lee Ann’s take on a petition to change the names of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.)

Diabetes Mine What’s Next For Social Media Summits? (Since I have attended a few social media summits, I’m interested to see the direction that pharma takes in the near future. I hope that pharma helps to enable diabetes advocates to reach more people and/or enact change.)

Bigfoot Child Have Diabetes Ten (I made her bundt cake recipe and it was fabulous. Ironically, I somehow left out the brown sugar, which took the carb count way down. But it was great even without the brown sugar!)

Everyday Highs and Lows Rocco Goes To Washington!!! (Several kids of the DOC are going to Capitol Hill this summer. I can’t wait to hear about the experiences.)

The Princess and the Pump Biggest Loser – Big FAIL (Hallie and her seven-year-old daughter react to someone being “afraid” of diabetes on The Biggest Loser.)

Life is Like a Box of Chocolates Standardized Testing (We just got through Q’s first ever week of standardized testing. It was not a huge deal, but we did make sure everyone was on the same page and that her 504 plan was being followed.)

Adventures in Diabetic Parenting I Didn’t Mean To Be Rude (I know, right?! I check my messages or take calls sometimes in inappropriate contexts.)

Social Media

Manic Mommies What I Told The Teens (Important lessons for all of us using social media.)

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{Type 1 Tuesday} 04.16.13 is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.