Saturday, April 26, 2008

When Life Throws You Lemons......

.......MAKE LEMONADE!!!

WOW!!! What a week!! So many (seemingly) negative things have happened, yet I'm trying to look at the positive side of it all. I just have to....or I'll sink!! The beginning of the week I was sinking, and fast, but by Wednesday I knew something had to change. Hubby took the kids to our church "sports night", while I stayed home, prayed, and read my Bible. It was exactly what I needed. (As a side note.....the beginning of 2Peter really stuck out, that through Him we have everything we need to live life....it's His power we are to use!! And then a little later it talks about perseverance...which is what I need right now!!:-)

So what went on this week??? Well...right now I'm sitting at the library typing this for two reasons.....

1.) We were warned by our internet company that our usage is reaching it's limit again!! We aren't sure if it's all the Facebooking we do, the 11 viruses (spyware) we found on just one of our four computers, the fact that we have added 3 more users to the internet in the past 6 months, or that we had to change mail clients which caused 3 of our computers to download thousands of e-mails....yes, that means in triplicate!!! At any rate we are in "internet lock-down mode".....no internet for a while!!

2.) Our furnace went out this morning....it's a balmy 62 degrees in the house. The cold snowy weather has returned....after a nice 70 degree day.......Minnesota weather is a lot like blood sugars....ya never know what you're gonna get!!

No internet, no furnace, no garage door opener, and no ice maker....those broke this week too!!:-) That was just on the home front......on the diabetes front:

I get an e-mail from the CDE in charge at the clinic, telling me that our situation is being reviewed by "risk management"!!! Interesting!! I guess no thoughts on this, other than what I've stated earlier....they probably will not let us use the used pump without paying Medtronic $500!!

A couple weeks ago I asked for a different lancing device that is supposed to be a bit gentler on J.J.'s fingers. We tried it out and really liked it so this week I asked our clinic to call in a prescription for the lancets, which they did. Our insurance denied them because these particular lancets come in lots divisible by 6, so the order was for 306. Our limit is 300!!

We spend a couple days trying to get our insurance to accept the 6 extra lancets, which they do, but then when we call the pharmacy the pharmacy says someone at our clinic said we don't use that many in a month and they (meaning the pharmacy) will only give us 204 because they can't over-bill our insurance!! Talk about frustrating. I really didn't see how the pharmacy could make a decision like that if they didn't talk directly to our CDE or my doctor...who made the prescription. I left a message for our CDE, but the next morning I decided to try to call the pharmacy again, and explain from a different angle, hoping I'd get a more accommodating employee. It took me all of 30 seconds!!! PHEW!!!

But still that type of stuff is just a stress magnet!! I shouldn't have to argue with my pharmacy, I shouldn't have to do all that legwork with my insurance.....but it's part of the game.

Also....J.J.'s "numbers" were all out of whack this week. In the beginning of the week we were chasing so many lows. For the first time he woke up with a low.....59!!! We even checked in the night, but I believe it was because he played soooooooo hard on Wednesday night. I'm not sure how long exercise truly affects blood sugar numbers, but this time it seemed like it took about 18 hours before we saw "normal"(what is normal anymore?) numbers.

Then later in the week we were seeing higher than "normal" numbers. It didn't seem like any of the insulin we gave him was affecting him much. But such is life nowadays!! We just can't figure that kid out.

I suppose I need to wrap this up.....it's hard to summarize a weeks worth of life in our home!!

I'll end with an interesting story. On Wednesday, J.J. was really bummed he couldn't go on a pony ride with his sisters. He then says he's hungry and wants an apple. He just ate 45 minutes ago, so I was thinking he must be low. We check his blood and he's 301.....wow...haven't seen those numbers in ages. So I tell him, "No he can't have an apple right now, he'll need something carb free if he's truly hungry." He gets even more upset and heads off to his room.

A few minutes later he came out of his room with a full backpack, a hat on his head and one in his hand, and his blankie.

Me: Where'ya goin?

J.J.: (No response.)

Me: Whatcha got in your backpack?

J.J.: Extra socks, hats, and underwear.

Me: Are you running away?

J.J.: (smiles)

Me: Well, if you're going to run away you better take your meter and some Smarties. (I thought he should get it in his head now the importance of taking his diabetes stuff with him wherever he goes!!)

J.J.: I'm not running away, I'm going on a walk.

Me: O.K...but take your diabetes bag with you!!

He proceeds to leave, but before he does I remind him that his blankie isn't allowed outside. That will ensure me that he's not going far!!

A minute elapses, then:

Hannah: MOM!!! MOM!!! J.J. is leaving!!! Should I follow him and take some Smarties with me???"

Me: Yeah, he told me he was just going on a walk, but if you could follow him that would be great!! I really think he's wanting to run away.

He only ended up going down to the pond. He just looked cute with his backpack and his extra hat.....you know that having an extra hat is important!!???

Going for a Walk J.J.
I just had to take a picture of him...can you see him?...his sister is about 150 yards away!!

When the girls came back I told J.J. I'd let him ride in the round pen, but he was still in a funky mood. I'm not sure if it was the blood sugars...they came down just fine??!!! The 301 was the post meal high we get being on shots, but I'm sure it wreaks havoc with his moods. It could also just be a typical 5 year old being a typical 5 year old!!?? With diabetes it is hard to tell!!

Grumpy J.J.
Here is GRUMPY J.J.---even a pony ride won't cheer him up!!

There you have our week!! Many lemons were thrown at us.....but oh well.....that's life!!!

2 comments:

Minnesota Nice said...

Oh goodness, this Minnesota weather really is a lot like db. I took some trash out at about 9 this evenng nd the wind was howling like late November!
Your family is doing a great job adapting to ife with db. I know it isn't easy.
And yes, he does look somewhat grumpy on that darling pony.
Hope the coming week is better.

Donna said...

Sorry to hear you all had a difficult week. I feel for JJ (and for you). Sometimes diabetes makes us all a little grumpy. Although, I think a pony ride would have helped me - probably wouldn't have done much for the pony, though. LOL!

But JJ will be okay. There will be good weeks, too. Hang in there!

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