Month 2

As we enter month two of life with diabetes, it seems we've all come a long way.

Long gone are the days of screaming and fighting and crying with every injection and every blood test. These days, Sam is calm, relaxed, and compliant.

Each day, the advice of our doctor and nurse makes more sense. They have both said to us that caring for diabetes is an art, not a science. We can never, NEVER predict what Sam's blood sugar will be. All we can do is test it and then respond or react to the number.

Even when we account for every carb and correct his blood sugar with insulin, we so often see a number higher or lower than we expect. It doesn't mean we've done something wrong or bad, it's just information that we have to respond to. This has helped relieve some of the emotion and guilt I was attaching to his results each time.

Our nurse is incredibly amazing and reachable. We have called her on her personal cell phone countless times (even on Christmas Eve!!) and she is always helpful and encouraging. She has helped us to troubleshoot and figure out what seems to be the best balance for Sam.

He requires both fast-acting insulin (immediately after he eats), and longer-lasting insulin. Initially, we gave him his longer-lasting insulin right before bed. This insulin releases slowly and pretty constantly throughout the day, theoretically to keep his blood sugar somewhat normalized. However, what was happening was his blood sugar would be super low in the morning and would spike around 3 PM. So we started giving it in the morning, after breakfast. But then he started spiking later in the evening. Now he gets half a dose after breakfast and half a dose before bed. It's working for now, but it could change again.

We're still learning.

First Checkup

We went back to the Pediatric Endocrinologist this week. It seems strange that this diabetes thing has already been (and has only been!) a part of our lives for over 3 weeks now.

In that time, Sam has gained back about 4 pounds. His cheeks have their color back and he looks healthy and normal again. To be honest, we didn't realize just how sickly he looked until we looked back at pictures- then it seemed painfully obvious. Of course it also helps that both the stomach bug from hell and the fever and cough that plagued our house now seems to be gone.

Everything went really well with the doctor. He once again spent a lot of time with us- over an hour, educating us, asking questions, and encouraging us with his confidence in the technology that is on the horizon that will change Sam's life.

At home, testing and insulin injections are going more smoothly than before. In just the past few days, I've made myself start giving the insulin injections again. I had been relying solely on my husband to do them and had lost all confidence that I could even manage. Miraculously, Sam responds very well to me giving them and he isn't fighting as hard.  Praise God!