Diabetes Meme

It's now my turn with the meme, thanks to my sweet friend Heidi over at D-Tales .

This meme has some serious history. Heidi was tagged by Tracy at The Super Hero & The Princess who was tagged by Candy Hearts...who was tagged by Our Diabetic Life...who was tagged by Houston, We Have a Problem…who was tagged by My Diabetic Child…who was tagged by I am Your Pancreas…who was tagged by Beta Buddies…who was tagged by A Sweet Grace...who accepted the meme challenge from Six Until Me.

What type of diabetes do you have:

Our family has been affected by Type 1 Diabetes.  My 4 year old son was diagnosed with it when he was 27 months old.

When were you diagnosed:

November 10, 2008.

What's your current blood sugar:

I had to call my mother in law for this one.  Sugar Boy and his twin sister stay with her during the day since I work.  She just checked "Linkie" (the nick-name given to our CGMS that Sugar Boy wears) and he is reporting 196.  I'll take it! 

What kind of meter do you use:

We LOVE our Freestyle Lite meter.  Sugar Boy just recently started checking his own sugar, and this meter (ESPECIALLY with the new test strips) makes it VERY easy for a 4 yr old to do that.  It requires a very small sample of blood, and we rarely ever get any sort of error.  Sugar Daddy and I also love it because it has a light on the end of it... which makes checking Sugar Boy's BG in the middle of the night MUCH easier!!

How many times per day do you check your blood sugar:

Before we got out CGMS we would check about 10 times per day.  Now we are able to get away with fewer checks - anywhere from 4-6 times on a good day.  If he is running high or low, though we do more as needed.

What is a "HIGH" number for you:

Anything over 250 is considered high. Personally, though, I prefer if he is under 200.

What do you consider "LOW":

Under 80 is low.  During the night we like him to be somewhere between 125 and 200.  If he is lower than 125 we will usually bring him up a bit.

What is your favorite low blood sugar reaction treater:

It depends on how low he is.  During the day, we use glucose tablets, if he is VERY low, though, or if Linkie reports that he is dropping exceptionally fast, we will use a juice box.  At night its juice all the way.  He never wakes up enough to actually chew a glucose tab, so if we are only bringing him up a tiny bit, I just pull the box before he drinks it all.  He is so used to this during the night that all I have to do is lift his head and he will start sucking in his sleep!  Insert straw and down it goes!

Describe your dream endo:

We LOVE our endo!  Dr. H is amazing!   I feel that the most important thing for an endo to understand and recognize is that they are dealing with PEOPLE - not NUMBERS.  And in our case its even more important because the endo is dealing with a child.  I need an endo that remembers that managing the disease on paper and managing it in life are two very different things... and often life management does not work the way the paper management says it should.  This is the way Dr. H is... and I really appreciate that about him.

Who's on your support team:
Sugar Daddy and I have a FANTASTIC team of people backing us! 

The first is my mother-in-law.  She took on managing Sugar Boys care right from diagnosis.  Because both Sugar Daddy and I work she takes care of the kids during the day, and so a lot of the management falls to her.  She handles it like a pro!

Sugar Boy's pre-school teacher is new to the team, but definitely worth a mention!  Mrs. A has proved herself a true D Warrior!  Check out a post about her here.

The DOC, of course!!!  I love all my fellow D Mommas!  I don't know what I would do without them!!!  In addition to that, I have really enjoyed reading and following blogs of sever PWD's as well... Its interesting to hear about T1D through their perspective... AND it gives me great insight into how Sugar Boy may feel about life with T1D when he gets older.

Do you think there will be a cure in your lifetime:

I don't know.  This has changed for me, actually!  I used to think that there would be. There is SO MUCH that needs to happen - SO MUCH MORE that needs to be understood before it CAN happen... that I just don't know.   What I can say is that I pray to God every night that a cure will come in Sugar Boy's lifetime. 

What is a "cure" to you:

 A cure is everything I write about in my post "A Dream For A Cure".

The most annoying thing people say to you about your diabetes is:

I'm taking most of my answer from Heidi's answer, because its just SO true! 

"At least it's manageable."

Um, yeah, with multiple finger pokes per day, and having to change out his infusion site and CGMS sensor multiple times per week. With counting every single gram of carbohydrate that enters Sugar Boy's body, with lows that leave him exhausted and and cranky - far from the sweet boy we know he is, with testing him several times every night, with fears that he won't wake up in the morning, without being able to leave him with "untrained" family members or friends, with training sessions for teachers just so that you can leave your child with them for a portion of the day still knowing that even with the training session you will worry every second he is at school and the list could go on and on, but at least it's manageable.

The most common misconception about diabetes:

That people don't understand that there is a HUGE difference between Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes.  That we didn't DO anything to cause this... that it's not because Sugar Boy had too many sweets when he was little or drank too much juice or because he was a formula fed baby or..... again the list goes on and on.  Its amazing what people come up with.

If you could say one thing to your pancreas, what would it be:

November 10, 2008 was SO not your day to quit!!   Get back in the saddle and back on the job - NOW! 

And, now, the meme goes to:

Hallie over at The Princess And The Pump.

Tag, Hallie!!!  You're IT!!!  =)