Wonders Never Cease....

I'm finding it hard to find time to write lately. School and all the activities that come with it are in full swing and my days are busy... Even on the days where I have "nothing" going on until the afternoons with sports, I find myself looking at the clock at 2pm and wondering where the heck the day went, thinking about all the things I didn't get done. A few loads of laundry, regular housework, phone calls, an errand or 2 and in-between play time with the "baby" -- somehow the day escapes me so quickly.

Betsey had her Yale check up on Wednesday this past week. As I filled in her chart the night before with blood sugar numbers from her meter, there were more missing numbers than I thought there would be. I record a blood sugar number for breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and bedtime. She'll test in between those times as needed: gym, after school before soccer, right before she plays in a game, etc. but I only record those set times of day on her chart.

Betsey asked me about a month ago during one of her phone calls home for morning snack, if she could start only calling me if she was running high or low or before gym if her blood sugar left her perplexed as to what to do (have a snack, put on a temporary rate, correct a high, etc.) If her number was OK, she wanted to be able to just carry on. I was OK with it and relayed the info to the school nurse. I stressed to her that she still had to test, had to "meter her BG" (enter a blood sugar number into her pump for calibrating the CGMS to keep the readings accurate) and be responsible. She's old enough to handle this, and I was happy she initiated it.

I look at the numbers on the chart we keep for patterns of highs and lows and adjust her basal rates on her pump accordingly. Sometimes it's a weekly adjustment, other times we sail along for over a month and things are OK.

So when I noticed some very important numbers missing; morning snack, lunch, bedtime...? I wasn't too happy. I have been trying really hard to relinquish some of the control with her diabetes and pass it onto her as she requests and I feel comfortable. I'm trying not to nag as much to test. I try not to grab her pump and look through it for information. I've just kind of been watching. Sometimes biting my cheek knowing she's not quite in tuned as I'd like her to be. Overall, she's doing a fine job.

The most important number of the day is a bedtime one. It's the number she's going to sleep with, the one that sort of indicates how the night will go, or at least makes me feel like it's an indication of how the night will go. Of course, the reality is, diabetes is not predictable at all like that.

So when I see no lunch numbers popping up in her meter and no bedtime ones, knowing that I always ask for a bedtime number and she always gives me one, I realized she's playing me. She gives me a number she "thinks" she is if she doesn't feel like testing or the number her CGMS is showing on her pump -- it's accurate, but not as accurate as a finger stick.

We show up for clinic and meet with Andrea, (pronounced An-DRA-uh) whom Betsey is quite fond of. She actually whispered to me in the waiting room that she "hoped we get Andrea!" It takes Betsey a while to warm up to someone and she is finally warming up to Andrea. A good thing. I want her to feel comfortable as she gets a little older to be able to discuss diabetes nonsense with someone from Yale if she doesn't want to discuss it with me.

As I've mentioned before in my blog, the A1c test is one of the first things done at the appointment and I anxiously await the results - it's the main reason for going for the quarterly visits. I never know what to expect, and I don't think Betsey does either. I think we both always expect the worst. Then, no matter what, we're pleasantly surprised when the % is lower.

6.3%

What??!

I looked at Betsey. My mouth open. What??! Her last visit she was 6%.

Her little round face turned red, she was smiling with the pink elastics on her braces, giving me the classic, "Toldja so" look.

I was shocked.

Here's my thinking..... First, the CGMS is so beneficial-I love having it. It gives readings of constant "blood sugars" and a much better picture of how Betsey reacts to foods, exercise, stress, weather... It helps keep her close to her target blood glucose of 100 mg/dl and we can fine tune insulin dosages for her. And I really think what I mentioned in my post How We Do Diabetes about being so tight with her control, her loosey goosey ways, leave enough wiggle room for everything to still remain tight for a decent A1c.

Just my guess.

Maybe to all the "seasoned" parents of diabetics, and the diabetics themselves, it's an ignorant statement. I don't know. But whatever it is, it's working and I am psyched!

Oddly enough, part of me was........ not disappointed, but concerned maybe that it wasn't higher so I could have had the "Toldja so" look . I had gotten on Bets about the missing numbers and lack of testing. I figured the carelessness was going to be evident in the test results.

Not this visit.

I just love her to bits.... I want her to live a long, long time. This is why I am that diabetic kid's mom...the annoying one. And 6.3% is damn good.

Another pleasant note --- She and her sister Libs are running their first official road race tomorrow! It's a short and flat 5K and I am so happy about it!! At the end of the summer, 2 of our children did a "Mighty Kids Triathlon" with a group of their friends--it was extremely rewarding to watch, very inspiring and a pleasure to photograph! That post next!

Good Luck to Betsey & Libby in their first timed run tomorrow!!!!