This year I wasn’t worried about Tristan going to school.  He has the same teacher as last year, same nurse so everybody is aware of his diabetes and how to manage it.

I was however worried about Connor.  He has never ever been away from us.  We started preparing him before summer started.  We told him that he would go to school and that we would not be staying with him but that we would pick him up after school.  Well I guess we did a good job… there were no tears this morning.  Not even from me! LOL  He did a great job.  We walked him to his classroom, put his backpack in his little “cubicle” and off he went!  NEW TOYS!!!  We called him back to give him hugs and kisses and he said okay bye.  And that was that.

Here are a few pictures!

My big second grader!

Look at that face… excited much?

Tristan with his wonderful nurse.  Sorry the picture is kind of yellow… I forgot to put the flash on… blame it on nerves!

Connor sitting with some of the kids from his class.  Is it me or does he look small?  That girl on the right looks so much bigger than him!!!!!

In his classroom already playing!  Who needs mom and dad when you have new toys to play with!

Here to a good school year!

We call it the D-Monster.

The picture of Tristan is after he had stopped crying.  It was the only time that we did a belly site.  His eyes are still all red and puffy….. courtesy of the D-Monster.

We actually used 3D paint but I couldn’t get it to come out in the picture.

We have been quite busy.  The kids have been taking up most of our available time.  It’s very time consuming to break up fights you know! :)  It’s been a long summer and I’m looking forward to the beginning of school.

I’m hoping that with both boys in school this year I will be able to dedicate more time to my blog.  I have definitely missed writing.  But either lack of time or lack of motivation has prevented me from opening live writer and getting started.  I think that I needed a break from diabetes.  As much of a break as you can get! LOL

On the diabetes front we haven’t been doing too well.  Tristan’s last A1C in July was 9!  This is the highest A1C that we have ever had!  His Dr. put us on a 2 weeks schedule… meaning that every 2 weeks we need to email Tristan’s number to his team to make adjustments.  So far…. it is not working.  The problem is that we can’t find a pattern.  It’s hard to make changes when we don’t have a clear picture of what’s going on.  Last week we kept a journal of what he ate for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  We are hoping that that info combine with his numbers will help us establish a pattern.  So far he is still all over the place!

Alright, on to my idea.  I have a project in mind that I would like to see come to an end on World Diabetes Day!

Consider it a fundraiser.  I would like to put together a “diabetes” basket.  I’m hoping to get donations from different diabetes companies.  I don’t know if I can pull it off but I’m going to try.  So I need your help.

- What do you consider your daily diabetes supplies?

- What products to you use to help manage your diabetes? (juice boxes, glucose gel, special socks, special low carb food, special pasta etc.)?

- What would you like to see in the basket?

I’m planning on donating the money to JDRF.  I would like to come up with a name that will represent everybody that donated.  Any ideas?

I just got this idea this morning so I haven’t started anything yet.  But if you have any contacts with any companies that would be willing to donate please let me know.  If you want to help out… please let me know…. all help is welcomed!

If you are a company representative and you are reading this (I would be extremely surprised LOL) and you want to help, please contact me!  I would also like donations from companies that have nothing to do with diabetes.  Why?  Why not?  Dealing with diabetes on a daily basis is hard.  I would love to see “other” companies acknowledge that by making a contribution.

As I said, I just came up with this idea so I’m still working out the logistics.  I’m hoping to have enough time to put it all together.  Any and all ideas/suggestions/comments are welcomed!

Oh and by the way…. it feels good to be writing again!

Oh and I have a couple of posts coming up soon… if I can find the time!

So, 
What do we Canadians Have to be Proud of?

1. Smarties (not in the USA )
2. Crispy Crunch, Coffee Crisp (not in the USA )
3. The size of our footballs fields, one less down and bigger balls. 
4. Baseball is Canadian - 1st game June 4, 1838 - Ingersoll, ON
5. Lacrosse is Canadian
6. Hockey is Canadian
7. Basketball is Canadian
8. Apple pie is Canadian.

9. Mr. Dress-up beats Mr. Rogers
10. Tim Hortons beats Dunkin’ Donuts
11. In the war of 1812, started by America , Canadians pushed the Americans back past their White House. Then we burned it, and most of Washington ….. We got bored because they ran away. Then, we came home and partied….. Go figure.
12. Canada has the largest French population that never surrendered to Germany …
13. We have the largest English population that never Ever surrendered or withdrew during any war to anyone, anywhere. EVER! (We got clobbered in the odd battle but prevailed in ALL the wars) 
14. Our civil war was fought in a bar and lasted a little over an hour. 
15. The only person who was arrested in our civil war was an American mercenary, he slept in and missed the whole thing. He showed up just in time to get caught. 
16. A Canadian invented Standard Time. 
17. The Hudsons Bay Company once owned over 10% of the earth’s surface and is still around as the world’s oldest company. 
18. The average dog sled team can kill and devour a full grown human in under 3 minutes. 
(That’s more information than I need!) 
19. We know what to do with the parts of a buffalo. 
20. We don’t marry our kin-folk… 
21. We invented ski-doos, jet-skis, Velcro, zippers, insulin, penicillin and the telephone. Also short wave radios which save countless lives each year. 
22. We have ALL frozen our tongues to something metal and lived to tell about it. 
23. A Canadian invented Superman. 
24. We have coloured money. 
25. Our beer advertisements kick ass (Incidently… so does our beer)

BUT MOST IMPORTANT !

The handles on our beer cases are big enough to fit your hands in with mitts on.

OOOoohhhhh….. Canada !!

Oh yeah… And our elections only take one day!

Thursday night we made another call to Medtronic.  After the day that we had we really weren’t happy… at all.  This time we asked to speak with a supervisor.  Here is what we found out:

- Yes they know about the site problem;

- People are most likely to have the problem after taking a shower/bath;

- They expect to have a fix by the end of summer;

- The problem with the site is not a “medical concern”.

This was just not acceptable to us.  However the supervisor that we spoke with was very understanding and very very nice.  We asked for a copy of the statement that they have issued (that they read us part of when trying to explain the situation).  Hopefully we should receive a copy soon, if their legal department doesn’t have any objections.

Alright so back to the site problem.  The supervisor pretty much recommended that we just change sites since they don’t expect a solution soon.  She recommended the Mio or the Silhouette.  I watched the demo of both…. and I pretty much discarded the Silhouette….. I mean OUCH!

The lady told us that she would replace all of our quick-set boxes with boxes of the site of our choosing.  We contacted Tristan’s CDE to get her recommendations.  She suggest, in her preferred order, these 2 sites:

- The Sure-T

- The Mio

She really likes the Sure-T because there is almost no chance of a kinked site.  Because with this site it’s not a catheter that stays in, it’s the actual needle.  Which is my problem with this site.  The thought of it FREAKS ME out!  I’m also not sure that Tristan will go for that at all.  Plus with this one it’s a manual insert…. there is no inserter.

The Mio is very similar to the quick-set.  But it’s actually a package deal.  The inserter is included with every site which I think is a good thing…. because I have throw my inserter in the garbage once by mistake…. oh what fun that was!  But, like the quick-set, it’s a catheter so the chance of getting a kinked site is still very present.

We asked for 2 samples of both of these sites to try them out before making a finale decision.

My question to you guys is this:

Do any of you have any experience with either of those sites?  Likes/dislikes and why etc.

I will of course post my own thoughts on those sites when I try them out.

Thanks a lot for your help!

Well diabetes being what it is decided to put me back in my place.  As you know yesterday we had to do yet another site change (thanks Medtronic).  Well I guess there was a problem with the site.

Tristan woke up this morning and threw up.  Blood sugar 411!  We had to wait a little to check ketones because he didn’t have to pee.  Then he puked again.  Finally got to check ketones….. large (instantly).  We proceeded to change the site AGAIN!  Now we are up to 4 site changes in 3 days!  We gave him a manual injection to make sure that he got insulin in him and we called the doctor.

His wonderful diabetes educator had just give him more insulin via manual injection.  She told us that we had to check blood sugar and ketones again in 1 hour.  She said to try not to feed him but at this point, it was too late.  Tristan was hungry so we had given him toast with only butter on it (easier to digest than cereal).  She said to wait 20 minutes after he finished eating before giving him insulin to cover his meal in case he didn’t keep the toasts in.

She also said that if he puked again we would probably have to take him to the hospital.  For those of you who don’t know… high blood sugar + large ketones + vomiting = very very bad.

Tristan always looks very healthy.  He has nice colors and rosy cheeks….

This is a few weeks ago at his endocrinologist appointment.  Looking nice and healthy!

This is what he looks like this morning:

He’s freaking pale and look at those eyes!  I am so freaking mad.  My kid shouldn’t look like that because of diabetes.

So now I wait.  So far so good, he seems to be keeping his breakfast in.  15 more minutes to check blood sugar and ketones.

Back to the reason of this post.  We have a Medtronic pump and we use the Quick-Set Paradigm sites.  For the past few months we had a few sites that once we disconnected them we couldn’t reconnect.  It just wouldn’t go back on.

Finally we called last week and reported the problem.  Medtronic’s customer service has always been great.  They were great that day also.  They informed us that it was a manufacturing defect and they were sending us 8 more sites.  They wanted us to send them back the old site which we did.  We received the replacement site.  We used one on Monday for his site change.  On Tuesday after his bath… we couldn’t connect back.  So we changed the site again on Tuesday.  Today after his bath…. we couldn’t connect again!  We had to do another freaking site change!

That’s 3 sites change in 3 days.  The sites that we used on Monday and Tuesday were the replacement site that Medtronic send us!

So we get back on the phone with Medtronic and now they have me really pissed off.  Their answer “Yes we know that some of them have problems and we have engineer working on a fix!!”  They don’t have a recall and they can’t say when the problem will be fixed!  I’m sorry but that’s not an acceptable answer!  I shouldn’t have to change my son’s site every day because their equipment is not working properly.

The lady at customer service told us that we should go on the website and at the bottom go to contact and email them our comments.  She said that she could relay the message but she doesn’t know where it goes from there.  She said that those emails go to the “right” people.

So if you had site problems, makes sure to send them an email and let them know.

According to the article researchers were able to cure type 1 diabetes in mice by using a sophisticated nanotechnology-based vaccine.

You can read the whole article here.

I don’t know about you guys but I want this so bad I can taste it!  This is a great set in the right direction.  I can’t wait to see what happens!

Happy reading!

1) At the beginning of last week we did Tristan’s site change.  A few hours after, Tristan took his bath.  When he got out I noticed a red bump where his site was.  I thought maybe it was insulin build up.  I let it go but I checked it in the morning.  It was still there.  The pump was hard and sensitive to the touch.  Plus the area around it was turning red.  I applied some Polysporin on it and sent him to school.  That evening it wasn’t better.  I emailed his CDE about it and I included a picture.  She said that it wasn’t insulin build up.  She said that she was concerned that it was the start of an infection.  She suggested that if it didn’t get better we should take him to this pediatrician.  That was on Wednesday evening.  On Thursday it seemed less red and it wasn’t so sensitive.  So we decided not to take him to the pediatrician.  Thursday night the redness was back and it was sensitive again (really sensitive).  Took him to the pediatrician on Friday…. yup it’s an infection.  He’s now on antibiotic for 10 days plus we had to give hot baths 4 times per day.  We have to bring him back this afternoon so that his pediatrician can make sure that the antibiotics are working.  This really sucks because Tristan won’t let us put his site anywhere but his buttocks!  Oh and of course, the antibiotic are messing up his blood sugar…. a couple of weeks before his A1C!!!!  Fantastic!

2) On weekends the boys are always allowed to sleep in the same room.  When we switched Connor to a “big boy bed” we bought bunk beds.  On weekends Tristan would sleep in the top bunk.  Well it finally happened!  On Saturday night Tristan was on the top bunk screwing around….. I had yelled up to him to come down.  I had just stepped outside on the back porch when I heard a big “bump”… I was thinking what the hell was that noise?  I open the door and I hear Tristan screaming!  I ran upstairs and there he is….. he fell off the top bunk!  Bumped his head and broke the bed!  I got him calmed down and back in his own room (there was no way he was going back in that bed).  I put a cold washcloth on his head and tucked him in.

Came back downstairs and started thinking…. that bunk bed is pretty damn high.  What are the chances of him having a concussion?  So of course paranoid mom comes out and I start doing a search online.  Found an article talking about the seriousness of injuries from falling out of a bunk bed.  Concussion being pretty mild on the list of possible injuries.  So I went upstairs and got Tristan out of bed.  He was going to stay up with us for a while so that I could keep my eyes on him.  He was complaining that his head hurt.  About 1h30 after the fall, he was really pale and he said his stomach was hurting.  He even went to get a bowl because he thought that he would vomit.  Well of course vomiting is 1 sign to look for.  We decided to call the pediatrician to make sure that we didn’t have to bring him in to get checked out.  She (the temporary pediatrician helping Tristan’s regular pediatrician) said he should be fine but to keep an eye on him.  She said to wake him up around midnight and ask him some questions and then again around 4am.  So anyways… he is fine!

3) Yesterday around 8:30pm the phone rang.  You have to understand that everybody knows that you don’t call my house that late.  With the hours that we work, we usually go to bed right around 8:30pm.  I checked the caller ID… it came up as Kissimmee.  Well I knew that it was my parents.  I figured something was up.  I answered… it was my dad.  I knew right there and then that something was wrong.  He was calling to inform me that my mother was in the hospital.  Some of you may remember that my mom had lung cancer a couple of years ago.  She beat it and is now in remission.  A few months ago she had a heart attack.  She made it through that with flying colors.  The symptoms that she was showing yesterday were the same that she showed before her heart attack.  So now we sit and we wait.  They are suppose to run some tests on her today to try and figure out what is going on.

My parents are Canadian.  They don’t have American health insurance.  They do have travelers insurance but at this time, we don’t know what the insurance will cover.  Chances are if my mom needs surgery, my dad will have to put her on a plane and send her back to Canada.  He can’t take the chance of driving her back.  My mom speaks some English but she’s not really comfortable.  I can just imagine how uncomfortable she is in the hospital.  The doctors and nurses are English.  This really sucks!

I have found it very hard to find any merchandise (that can be purchased in the US or Canada) to buy.  I would love to find a necklace or even a bracelet similar to this

Source

But of course I would want the circle to be the blue of World Diabetes Day.  I can’t find anything similar to it.  Did anybody ever see anything like that?