Back To School Night Part 3...TIPS

Finally, the last chapter of our JDRF Back To School Night. 

Below I have prepared a list of TIPS that I learned that night as well as tips that helped me get through a very rough last year.

If you missed my previous posts about our Back To School Night and would like to read about our event you can click on the links and read:
Why we did it HERE Part 1
and
The EVENT HERE Part 2

TIPS(these are only tips) For Back To School With Your T1
1 (a).  Never leave a type 1 child who is experiencing a low alone.  If a child is low and needs to get something to treat never let that child walk alone.  Have a buddy system in place, a short trip to the office can seem like a mile for a low type 1.

1 (b).  Always make sure that the T1's buddy is taller and stronger (bigger) then that type 1 child.  If anything does happen on the way to the office you need someone who is able to help the child down to the ground or that can support that child to the office to get help.

2.  It may be a good idea to have someone watching to make sure that the child with diabetes finishes all food for snacks and lunches.  This has happened to Cara at school, she did not eat all her snack and no one noticed and she went very low.



3.  If possible have a communication book between you and the nurse or the teacher.  They can record blood sugar numbers and information on any changes that occurred with food or activity for that day.

4.  Never leave a child with type 1 diabetes emergency packs under lock and key especially a combination.  If this child experiences a low and is need of fast acting sugar they may not be able to remember or properly open a combination.

5.  Located in the first page of the teachers day book in case of a substitute teacher should be:
~ a picture of the child with type 1 diabetes
~ definition of what is type 1 diabetes along with an explanation on lows and highs and what to do in the case of an emergency situation
~a list of signs that your child is experiencing a low.  Not all children share the same behaviors when experiencing a low.
~ and a description of his or her classroom routines


6.  Provide emergency packs for the T1 child in the classroom, gym, office and bus.  An example is shown below:

7.  If your type 1 takes a bus to and from school make sure that they are informed that a child with type 1 diabetes is on the bus.  Last year I also had Cara sit in the front seat on the drivers right hand side so she was able to see Cara in her review mirror while driving. 

8.  Ask to have field trip information at least 2 weeks in advance.  So you are able to make arrangements with work in case you need to attend the field trip.

9.  When in doubt treat.  When Cara was sleepy on the bus with her head down in her seat I told the bus driver to give her a juice.  Bus drivers have a no hands on policy therefore no one was able to check Cara's blood sugar so we had to treat it as a low and I was able to make any needed corrections when she got home.

10. Always put things in writing it is just easier to re-call when you are able to go back and re-read the information.

11.  Open communication is the KEY to a successful and safe school year. Ask, Ask, Ask... never be ashamed to ask questions.  Also Never assume teachers, principals or school staff know what should and what needs to be done...EDUCATE.

The one thing that I heard over and over again that night was to always remember and to inform others that the BRAIN DOES NOT STORE SUGAR....once it is gone there are no reserves and without sugar for energy the brain can not work properly.  

Good Luck to everyone in their going back to school.  I wish everyone a safe and fun year of school!!

and REMEMBER September 1st is Diabetes Art Day click on the button on my blog page to get your info for this CREATIVE day!!

Hair Cuts And A Donation

With school coming near it was time for the yearly group hair cut.  This is when I "insane mother of six" spends my morning taking all six kids for a hair cut before school starts.  But on this day Kylie, often called "Big Red" (you will see why in the following pictures) informed me that she wanted to do something very special.  She wanted to donate her hair to help make wigs for kids...And I thought this was a wonderful idea!!

The before shot (she needed 8 inches to donate)

Getting ready, she is getting very nervous at this point!

HERE WE GO!!

Look at that braid, it's going to help make a wonderful looking wig

All done

She does really love it, she was just sick of me taking pics :)

The Day Ends With Some GOOD News And Some BAD News

Last night and this whole day have been a whirled wind of emotions.  I'm so stress that I am having tremendous trouble writing this blog post. 

One extremely tried brain X unbelievable stress + dyslexia = words that even spell check can't help out with

So I will make it "short and sweet"....just like my Cara (good one eh??) I should clam rights!!  Anyways get to the good stuff right?

So I will start with the bad news... Time is running out for all of you to enter a mega blog warming gift give away at Candy Hearts click HERE to enter, HURRY GO NOW...CHECK IT OUT IT'S HUGE AND ENDING SOON!!

  
BUT WAIT, THERE IS SOME GOOD NEWS

You can click HERE to stop by The Princes and The Pump and you can enter to win a perfectly practical gift of your choice valued up to $45...STOP BY AND CHECK IT OUT, IT REALLY IS JUST PERFECT!!

My Response To Ignorance

Here is my response to an article that I posted late last night. If you did not read it yet please find the time to. Some of the comments are outrages and heart breaking to me as a type 1 parents click HERE to read.

I also would like to take the time to thank Wendy at Candy Hearts and Heather at Sweet to the Soul for supporting me and this family and re posting the link on their blogs. Also thank you to the facebookers and the twitters out there who have also shown their outrage at some of the comments and re posted. They are going to need all the support to get through this fight!!

Now on to my letter of support :)

Shame on you all to judge this fight, shame on you for thinking of money before a little boys life, shame on you for taking sides on a subject that many of you have obviously have no idea or understanding about, shame on you for attacking parents who are only wanting the very best for their child, shame on you for missing the real problem with this system. SHAME ON YOU!! My daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in Feb 2009 when she was 3 years of age and I'm outraged and heart broken over the comments towards this family and their fight for their 5 year old son. Let me try to clear some things up for all of you so confused and judgmental. For the people that are so worried about your money and your tax paying dollars being used for this child just UNDERSTAND that a pump (not injections) is the best way to try and control (manage) a person's blood sugar who suffers from type1. With better control comes less future complication, less complications means less hospital visits, less hospital visits means less tax paying money going towards this family in the future. While on the subject complications can lead to a future of blindness, heart disease, kidney disease, nerve damage, ketoacidose, stroke and even death. If this was your child's future would you not want the best technology there is to offered to reduce your child's risk of ever experiencing these complications. This family only wants the very best for their child and yes they should be entitled to this. They are not lazy or fools, being Lazy or foolish is one of the last words that I would every describe a type 1 parent as being. We as parents count ever carb that enters our child's bodies, we calculate food to insulin ratio's all day long, our lives are planned to the T it takes time and thought just to run out for some groceries, we check our child's blood sugars every two hours sometimes more and at night while you are all sleeping we are doing night checks and making any corrections that must be made to insure that in the morning when we wake our child are still alive and healthy. Oh and I was never trained as a nurse, I have no training what so ever and we are doing just fine. HOWEVER I do agree with many of you, these schools who have children with medical needs MUST have nurses present. Instead of wasting your time and energy on fighting these parents who only want the best for their son, fight the school board!. If you feel so passionate to call name and make nasty comments understand the true underlining problem. EA's, teachers and all school staff need to support and join this family and demand nurses be present in your schools. That is where the school system is failing these children, they need to step up and realize the needs of their students and their community. So stop fighting with a 5 year old little boy who is asking for his right to a good healthy educated life and start fighting for the real issue SCHOOLS NEED NURSES!!

OK so I had to cut a little out of my comment because of course they only allow 1800 characters per post and I already had to send it in two different posts. But there it is my thought on this topic

WHAT'S YOURS??

B.C. Family Fighting For T1s Rights and IGNORANCE Abound In Comments Made To The CBC News

I was doing my last minute checks on the computer seeing if there were any new comments on the blog that needed to be posted, checking emails and facebook updates when I came across this in my hotmail sent from a friend asking me to post it, so here I am!! An article about the BC school system and a families fight for their sons management of type 1 diabetes... please read. Also I posted the worst of the worst comments, they are atrocious...There were some very positive and supportive comments and some very well written and thought out negative comments however I wanted people to understand what WE (D parents) are up against.

Let schools help with insulin, B.C. family says

Click HERE for original post on CBC News

School children with Type 1 diabetes in British Columbia should be able to turn to educational assistants for insulin injections, says a Victoria family that is petitioning the province for the rule change.
Brandon Ribic, 5, has an insulin pump that is programmed to inject the correct amount of insulin around mealtime.
Currently, Brandon's parents have to take time off every day to go to their son's school three times a day to adjust the pump themselves, then rush back to work.
The cellphone-sized pump is crucial for managing the condition, said his mother, Suzanne Ribic.
Since teacher's assistants tube-feed children and handle EpiPens and other medications at school, Ribic said it should be straightforward for them to adjust Brandon's insulin pumps when he starts Grade 1 this fall.
The Ribics are pushing for a provincewide policy that will offer parents like them some relief.
But B.C.'s Ministry of Children and Family Development, the Education Ministry and health authorities say it's too dangerous. They are reluctant to ask staff to inject insulin without parental involvement.
The province's health plan picks up part of the cost of insulin pumps for children. Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan and Ontario also fund the pumps.
In the spring, some Ontario parents of young children with Type 1 diabetes called for similar changes in that province. In April, Bill 5 on the rights of pupils with diabetes passed second reading in Ontario.
In New Brunswick, schools can help children with diabetes manage their disease, including testing and providing insulin shots. Teachers there are allowed to assist if they choose, and doing so is covered under their liability insurance.

Now for the comments...take a deep breath!

JJ1234 wrote:Posted 2010/08/25
at 10:23 PM ET

Yet another parent trying to offload their responsibilities on the taxpayers. This is NOT what educational assistants are for. What is the answer? To give EVERYONE an EA and have 1:1 ratios in the classrooms because the parents don't want to take on any responsibility? Meanwhile, the EAs would have to all be registered nurses. And you thnk that taxes are high now? Just wait...

Defeated wrote:Posted 2010/08/25
at 10:04 PM ET
Teachers are NOT babysitters and nanny's/nurses!
Their job is to teach,not administer insulin to kids!
My god..does anyone actually raise their own kids anymore?
Or do they think it is someone else's job, simply because they figure they have to go to work?
If your child has a problem that requires attention on a frequent basis...stay home and look after them yourself, like parents used to do!
This is NOT the taxpayers problem, and not a dime should be directed to this!
Unbelievable!

Hassel99 wrote:Posted 2010/08/25
at 7:54 PM ET

Why do some parents feel so entitled?

island_girl27 wrote:Posted 2010/08/25
at 6:35 PM ET

Get a school nurse! But seriously, if anything happened, those parents would be more than happy to sue and make money off their own initial laziness. I understand it's hard being a parent, but no one else pushes their kids off on someone else. We all choose to have them, so we all choose to give up some part of our life that was easy before them. Deal with it!

Angler wrote:Posted 2010/08/25
at 6:13 PM ET

The school system is not a substitute for parenthood. Period. Yes, I fully understand that a child's chronic illness can be a burden for the family, but guess what - chronic illnesses were ALWAYS a burden for the family. In the "olden days", we dealt with it. In "modern times", we want the state to deal with it. Enough already. One of these parents needs to give up a job and stay home to care for the child. If that means giving up a mortgage or a lifestyle that they obviously can't afford, that's life.

wiirnotamused wrote:Posted 2010/08/25
at 6:00 PM ET

"Currently, Brandon's parents have to take time off every day to go to their son's school three times a day to adjust the pump themselves, then rush back to work." (from the article)
*********************************************************************************************
Too bad. You chose to have children, it's your responsibility. What the hell is wrong with parents in the province? People who use the tv and video games as babysitters dump all over teachers and the BC gov when 'Johnny can't read', yet expect the same system to handle all the social and medical issues they don't want to deal with on their own. Responsibility. It's become a lost concept in BC.

Below is my question exactly....

Stitchwitch wrote:Posted 2010/08/25
at 5:25 PM ET

So where the hell are the school nurses in all this????? Don't tell me, they've been removed due to high costs or some other such nonsense.

Deloria wrote:Posted 2010/08/25
at 4:58 PM ETIf i were a teacher's assistant there is not enough money in the world to make me give a 6 year old insulin. If there is a school nurse who understands the correlations between sugar/exercise/food and insulin..then MAYBE. These parents trying to make life easier for themselves are putting their 5 year old at risk by trying to insist on this. Fools.

I will be composing my letter tomorrow afternoon unfortunately my brain does not work past 11:30 and I have appointments all morning.

Please feel free to post your comments on the CBC article HERE

Back To School Night Part 2....The Event

As I was saying in my Back To School Night Part 1 post (click HERE if you would like to read) our JDRF outreach committee really wanted to have an event for parents that would give them information, support and great tips on raising children with type 1 diabetes.  So as a group we decided what better topic to try and help our fellow D parents then the fearful, agonizing, ticking time bomb.... back to school.

Our first thought was WHO...who would we invite.  Well of course our D parents...check, we had close to 80 people attending our event.  Our next thought was since we are talking about school maybe we should invite the school boards both catholic and public,  who better to hear about the challenges we face daily in the school system.....check, both public and catholic school board administrators were present along with one teacher and her teaching assistant who know they were getting a T1 student this year .   We also decided if we were going to have a slue of D parents all in one place we could extent an invite to some of the pharmaceutical reps.  They were not so much there to hear about back to school however they want our business and quite frankly we needed there business.  They helped with the funding of our event.

First thought part B was WHO was going to speak and what would these individuals be speaking about?  Our first speakers were our diabetic educators and nursing staff from our pediatric diabetic clinic.  They worked side by side us trying to get this event off the ground. They also prepared some examples and billboards for parents to view:

billboard from our diabetic clinic

example of an emergency pack

  We also had two diabetic educators that are involved with going into the schools and teaching school staff and classmates about our T1 kids.  Our D parents were also able to fill our a referral page at our event requesting the diabetic educators enter their son's/daughter's school for Type 1 diabetes education.  Also speaking was a principle who was recently diagnosed Type 1 and a teacher who has a type 1 son.  Both explained ways in which we as parents can open communication with the schools, they gave us tips and things to remember when dealing with the staff to make this school year safe and fun for our children.  Our last speaker was our co-chair of our outreach committee, she spoke to the group about Bill 5.  Bill 5 is a very important topic for our D community.  As I stated in part 1 we have no standardized school polices when it comes to dealing with our type 1 children.  This Bill is looking to change that, it a little rough around the edges and some changes will be made to better suit our D kids but it is a start.  We felt that the D parents in this community  ALL needed to be informed and show their  SUPPORT for Bill 5.

Click HERE to read Bill 5
Click HERE for some information on a writing company to help support Bill 5
Click HERE to view a website committed to helping children with diabetes receive the support they require in schools.

Second thought WHERE, WHEN and HOW much....our event was held at a wonderful banquette hall, with a bar a sort skip and a hop across the hall. Our event was held on August 17th a perfect time for parents to start thinking (worrying) about getting back to school.  We had a wonderful dinner available for all and we charged a low price of $10 at the door for the event.  It work out amazingly!!

OUR EVENT WENT LIKE THIS:

5:45 registration began: we asked all people attending to sign in and leave their contact information.  We also supplied name tags (colour coded with the grade that their T1 child was entering).  During this time people were able to view and speak with the pharmaceutical reps, meet with other D parents and start filling out their diabetic educator referral papers for the school....and of course grab a few drinks :)

6:15 dinner is served and it was delicious!

7:00-8:00 guest speakers spoke.

8:00-9:00 we broke off into groups based on the grade that their T1 children were going into.  We had a diabetic educator and a group moderator within the groups.  Parents were able to discuss their concerns, things that worked for them last school year, share and ask any question they may have had.

We also asked everyone to fill out a survey on how they felt the event went and in return we gave everyone a free back pack filled with wonderful tips, supplies, water bottle and a book donated to us by Bayer....thanks you Bayer!!

goodie bag donated by Bayer

It was a great night and I was so happy to be part of it, stay turned for Back To School Night Part 3....Tips 

Type 1 Is Flocking The Today Show

As some of you know I have been following the "Diabetes Dudes" journey to flock the States with his blue flamingo's.  He is trying to bring awareness of Type 1 diabetes in the most creative way.  The last time I talk to you he was asking for help to get on the Ellen show...you can read all about him in my post HERE

This time I just wanted to give all my Type 1 diabetes peps a head up and share some exciting news...

Thursday August 26th. The Diabetes Dude and friends will be loading up a Chartered bus and heading off to NYC for a group Flocking at the Today Show! If you are interested in joining the trip, let him know. If you are in the NYC or New Jersey area and want to help out, let him know! Email him at email@thediabetesdude.com. The space is VERY limited! This is going to be HUGE

 some more great news for those of us that can not make what is going to be an amazing experience is:

For anyone who can't be with him in New York for the Today Show flocking this Thursday on NBC and would still like to be a part of this...if you or someone you know has type 1, please email him their first name, town/state, age, and diagnosis date and a picture to email@thediabetesdude.com and he will make a poster for them and bring it with him to NYC! I need these NO LATER than tomorrow morning!

 

SO GET TO IT AND GET INVOLVED... I already sent mine and I will be tuning in FOR SURE!!  See you diabetes dude and entourage Thursday on NBC!!

Back To School Night Part 1...Why We Did It

As you all know our summer is fading fast and September is at our heals and with that comes the dreaded back to school for our type 1s.

Back to school is one of the most stressful times for a parent whose child has type 1 diabetes for many reasons. So when our JDRF outreach committee came together to discuss what topic out next event will be we decided that a back to school night was very much needed. This event was planed to help educate the T1 parents on things that they can do to make their child's school year less stressful and safe.

But before I discuss our back to school event I wanted to go through some issues that effects ever T1 parent in our school board.

1. Misconception: With all the misconceptions and misinformed that surrounds us in the general public, type 1 diabetes is not seen as a serous life treating disease...which if you read my blog you know that it is. Therefore people and school staff do not see type 1 diabetes for the real monster it truly is. Again most teachers get type 1 confused with type 2, they may share a name and some end complications but they are nothing a like when it comes to living and treatment of this disease...they are completely different. These misconceptions are very dangerous for a T1 child, one wrong move and a T1 child can be visiting a hospital room or worse.

2. Lack of type 1 diabetes education: The lack of type 1 education within our schools is atrocious, there is no reason why staff should not be educated about this life treating disease that our children are facing every day of their lives. They educate school staff on food allergies and what to do in an emergency and in fact they have life saving medicine for these children at school....so why the hell can they not do it for our T1's?? Not one staff member of a school that has a child with type 1 diabetes needs to learn how to care for a child with type 1. We are not allowed to bring life saving medicine called glucagon into the schools because no one knows how to use them....well teach them!! All they can do in the case of an emergency is call 911 and wait...ridiculous. They have no idea what ketoacidosis (DKA) or hypoglycemia is, all very serious conditions. They don't understand what low or high blood sugar is, what it looks like and what to do about it or how it effects our children. There is NO education!!

3. No 504 plan or any school standardized policy for that matter. There is no standardized plan or any legislation for children with type 1 in our school system. It is all up to the principal and the teacher to determine to what extent they will work with the parents of a T1 child to make the classroom as safe as possible.

4. There are NO nurses that permanently work within our schools. A referral from a type 1's endocrinologist goes out to a community care office who then contacts a nursing agency who then assigns a nurse to that child. The nurses stays no longer then 15 mins in the school in most cases and in our experience just because you start off with one nurse does not mean you will have that nurse until the end of the school year. I believe Cara had about 10 different nurses through out the school year. I called it the revolving door of nurses and that was not the end of our problems with the nursing staff. We had a nurse not show up who did not call the school, me or a replacement to cover her shift leaving Cara and the untrained staff at the school to fend for themselves. We also had some of these nurse come to school with a very very limited knowledge of type 1 diabetes care. We had a few nurses that needed a little help from our 13 year old daughter on how to use a meter, a basic diabetic tool. We had another nurse call our clinic because Cara had some high blood sugar readings and she did not think that we were doing our job right.

The fact is that telling a parent that a nurse is coming into the school to take care of their T1 child then having the many issues that we and many others face leaves parents with a false sense of security which could be deadly.

With all this being said there are still some places in Canada who do not even have nurses coming into the schools to help with the needs of their T1 kids. I am thankful for the nurses that we do have BUT things just need to change. Just because some people have it worse off then we do does not make our situation OK. Lets just say a woman's husband punches her in the face BUT right next door to them another woman's husband stabbed his wife in the leg is the husband who punched his wife in the face better then the other? NO they both NEED to go to jail!! Do you get my point...
So every time someone tells me that we are lucky to have these nurses I understand BUT it does not make our situation any better.

Sorry I got a little off topic however my point is... as you see the problems in our school system are tremendous and these are just the top 4 issues there are many many more. So we thought that as an outreach group we could address and help parents navigate through these issues in their schools with our Back To School Event....so stay tuned for my Back To School Night Part 2....The event post.

It's A Blog Warming Party

It's a great big Blog warming party and 2 year blog aversary over at Candy Hearts with amazing give a ways!!

So hit this link and stop on over for your chance to win some amazing prizes....GOODLUCK!!

p.s. welcome Candy Hearts, the new blog looks great and happy 2 years....so happy your here for us!

In With A New Blog Name And Look

A little while ago a few of the blogs that I read started changing things up a bit. 

AND

of course it got me looking at mine. 

What I did not notice and did not realize at the time I started blogging was that most of the names of the blogs corresponded with the www. thing of the blog and mine did not. So I decided to change the name of my blog to The We CARA Lot Blog so that the www. thing is more in line with my blog.

AND

of course a name change means a face lift is in order soooo things may start to look a little different to!!

BUT

remember no matter how different things look this is still the same blog inside :)

As always thanks for reading!!

Whatcha Doing Tonight?

Whatcha doing tonight.....

WELL

thanks to a post written by Laura over at The Houston Five I will be writing Ms Ellen Degeneres a letter about a very special dude named Noah who is spreading the word about type 1 diabetes one blue flamingo at a time who would like to be on her show. 


The Diabetes Dude takes on Ellen Degeneres!
 
Noah, The Diabetes Dude, is on a mission!  He's already sent Ellen Degeneres one of his flamingos, but he wants to "flock" her on her show so he can talk about his unique diabetes awareness campaign.  He's asking that everyone send an e-mail to Ellen and tell her that they want to see The Diabetes Dude on her show!  He's hoping that a little persistence will pay off and he can show all the kids (and grown-ups) with diabetes that they can do anything!  Write into the Ellen show here:   www.ellentv.com, click on "be on the show" and the "dear ellen" link!  Thanks for your support!

About the Flamingo Flock

The "Flamingo Flock" is a campaign to raise awareness for diabetes, which started a few short weeks ago.  This campaign originally started to help raise funds on Noah's behalf for the American Diabetes Association, but we have become so overwhelmed with the responses that we have recieved that Noah has decided to turn it into a full fledged campaign to raise awareness and would love to see this go national! 

If you've been lucky enough to be flocked by one of our blue flamingos, it's because someone you know has nominated you to participate in this fun campaign!  

Noah uses blue flamingos instead of traditional pink flamingos to not only get people talking about these crazy colored birds but also because this is the color used for diabetes awareness.   

Please feel free to personalize your flamingo in any way you see fit (but please, nothing permanent!), take your flamingo on a journey, to an event, or just let it participate in your everyday activities.  Please snap a few photos and forward them to Noah with a short story about the visit to email@thediabetesdude.com.

 Noah wants everyone to know that people with diabetes, especially kids with diabetes, can do anything they put their mind to and nothing, including diabetes, will stop that!

If you would like to request a visit or would like to nominate a family for one of Noah's flamingos to visit, please feel free to e-mail us as well!   You'll never know where these birds are going to show up next! 

So I will ask you again.... whatcha doing tonight??

P.S. Noah I wonder if your flock is strong enough to fly to Canada?

When Nothing Has Changed BUT Everything Is Different

How is it when nothing has changed things can be so different? 

We have been struggling with Cara's blood sugar trying to get it just right.  We have gone from one extreme to the next this summer. 

At first we decide to reduce Cara's insulin dramatically.  We were having many many low's, too many low's for us to feel safe and with the beginning of summer right around the corner Cara would be increasing her activity and with the heat we all thought causing a very dangerous scenario.  However the main reason we reduced Cara's insulin was because the clinic believed that we were giving her too much insulin which was causing her to go low at snack time if she did not have a carb snack.  We were told that she should not NEED to have her snacks to keep her blood sugar in a safe range and that is exactly what was happening.  If she missed a snack or did not have a carb snack (15-20grams) she would crash and they did not like that.  However at all the other times her numbers were looking great to US...but it was a trade off that they did not want us to make. We were already starting to see a consequence of too many lows.   Once Cara was able to catch herself dropping low in the 4's she was now only telling me when she was in the 2's.  The nurses at the clinic told us the more low's the body experiences the more common the feeling is and the body stop's recognizing the lows that it use to feel. So we reduced her insulin...    

BUT


After reducing her insulin we saw extrem highs, check after check she was in the high 20's and the new insulin amounts were just not working for us.  I was correcting at every meal time for the highs and she was eating no carb snacks at snack time because her blood sugar was just to high.  Cara also suffers from very bad mood swings when her blood sugar is high so needless to say our summer was not off to a great start.  Also it seemed what we previously thought, that increased activity and increased heat would cause a drop in blood sugar was wrong.  We saw her blood sugar rising when she would go swimming for hours in the heat with no carbs to cause a rise (and for all my peps that know diabetes we did not miss a low because I was checking her every 30 mins in disbelieve as she was just rising).  So I decided to increase her insulin slowly in .5 unit increments until I stopped at the exact same amounts that we started at in the beginning of summer. 

For about 3 weeks we have been at a stand still with Cara's numbers.  Not great but not bad... just so,so.  A few highs and very little lows but nothing amazing!!

UNTIL THIS WEEKEND

For some reason this weekend we have seen amazing numbers....nothing changed, her insulin is the same, her carb amounts are the same, the food is the same, her activity is the same... 
so what changed.... I HAVE NO IDEA!! 

Believe me I'm not complaining these numbers are amazing 5.3's, 5.6's, 5.2's....amazing numbers at almost every blood sugar check.  It really is a great feeling, finally after so long of feeling like you can do nothing right you are doing something right...

BUT WHAT?   What exactly would I be doing right??  I have changed nothing for 3 weeks, so what...

Did I cross my fingers while doing an injection?

Did I do a lucky carb guessing dance before I placed her meal in front of her?

Did my husband pay off the diabetes gods for a weekend of good numbers?  

Was I wearing my lucky socks when I was checking blood sugar?

WHAT IS IT?!?! 

I have NO idea but I guess I will just have to be thankful for these few wonderful diabetes days and HOPE for more because before I know it the 5.3's will be replaced with 21.2's and I will be running around the house trying to track down those darn lucky socks!!