Belly?.....not yet, but.....

We (Queen Alopcia, The Sugar Princess, and I) spent the night at Papa and Beeka's house (my in-laws) last night.  The kids were excited about it...they always get excited about spending the night somewhere.  Ofcourse The Sugar Princess was super excited because she doesn't get to spend the night any where unless I spend the night too.  I was fine with spending the night with them...it felt like a little get-a-away.  My husband stayed at our house to take care of our pets and to take care of the wood stove through the night.  The reason for the overnight stay was because this morning my husband and I had to leave for Pittsburgh Children's Hospital at 5:30am for our first pre-pump class.  We are  hoping to have The Sugar Princess transition form insulin injections with syringes to an insulin pump.  It takes about three hours to get to Pittsburgh from our house and we had to be there by 9:00am so we decided that I would stay with the kids at his parent's house to avoid getting the kids up so early...especially on a school night.  We hit a little bit of traffic on the way down and arrived with ten minutes to spare.  There were about 12 families there including us.  They went over what a basel and bolus were, carb-counting, and then they went over all the available pumps that are out on the market.  We have it narrowed down to two...the omnipod and the "Ping".  My husband is leaning towards the pod and I'm leaning towards the ping.....something that we are going to have to discuss the pros and cons about...it is a four year committment so we want to make sure we make the right decision.

The class was three hours long, but it seemed to go by in a flash!  And if finding the right pump wasn't enough, we also have to decide on infusion sets.  Straight or Angle.....I'm not sure, but they did say that most people that start on the pump start with the Straight infusion set....Hey pumpers out there....what do you use? Why?

Our next endo appointment is in April so we want to make a decision very soon.  One thing that they stressed was rotating sites.  Right now, The Sugar Princess favors her arms and her "tush", but the problems is that she will not budge and her arms and upper tush region is looking "worn" and puffy.  These areas definitely need a much needed break.  We want her insulin to absorb properly so rotating sites is really important.  She was crying so hard....river of tears.  She wouldn't even let us look at her tummy!  She was truely scared...I haven't seen that look of fear since our first day in the hospital when she was first diagnosed.  It took eveything I had to hold in my tears too!  We told her that for now we will not do the belly until she gets a little more used to the idea.  We told her that we were going to show her pictures of her "friends"....the friends that she has never met face to face, but friends just the same that she has seen pictures of online and saying "They have diabetes just like me!" --Shamae....she could watch the videos of Sydney over and over and over again...especially when she and Morgan are singing....Too cute!

She then calmed down, but we told her that she had to pick a "new" spot....we would leave it up to her.  She decided to pick her upper/outer thigh and she did it!  It wasn't the belly, but it was a success - - a new spot!!  We were all ecstatic and she was so proud of herself....we were proud of her.  She gave me the biggest hug ever!  My heart melted.

Thank you to those who have already sent us pictures and/or sent The Sugar Princess words of encouragement...I was then crying a river!!

The Phone is for you!

Today, I got home from work and Queen Alopecia and The Sugar Princess were playing outside...sled riding.  As I was getting out of the car, I could see that my husband had the door opened and he was talking on the phone.  I started unloading the car and went inside the house.  When I entered the house, my husband said the phone is for me!  For me??  Who calls me?  I have one really close friend, but she is out of town...who is it? Some bill collector?  Some credit card person wanting me to open an account?  He says it's the kindergarten teacher at Queen Alopecia's school. (The Sugar Princess will enter kindergarten at this school next school year...we just registered her last Thursday.)  I answered the phone...

Me...Hello?

Teacher....Hello Ronda - All of us kindergarten teachers were discussing The Sugar Princess today and we would like to give you the option of picking The Sugar Princess' teacher for next school year.

Me...Really? (Sounding a little excited, but a little unsure....I'm thinking maybe we really scared them last Thursday and now nobody wants her in their class....are they just as afraid as me and my husband?...pulling straws, etc?)

Teacher....We don't normally do this, but we know how concerned you were on Thursday when you registered The Sugar Princess and we want you to rest asure that we will take good care of her, we will follow any of your plans, we will learn more about this disease, we will treat her as if she was our own.  We want you to be comfortable sending her to school...we want you to be able to have this option of choosing her teacher. 

Me...Then I choose you!!

I can't tell you how thrilled I am to have this woman be The Sugar Princess' teacher for next school year.  I teach physical education and we used to teach in the same school building together a few years ago.  We still teach in the same School District, but not in the same school.  She is an excellent teacher....and the best part is that she previously had a student who was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.  She sounded so positive on the phone...so supportive....so understanding....and so willing to learn about The Sugar Princess's care. 

I'm happy about this news, but I still have the fear and worry.  This is normal, right?  I'm in the process of developing a Chapter 15, 504 plan.....next school year will be here before we know it...YIKES!

Hello Blogging World!

Well, I finally did it.....I joined the online blogging world!  I actually think it will be good for me and I look forward to growing friendships with other people who "get it"!  Thank you my friends for the encouragement and I hope you enjoy following my family's journey!  PS> Thanks Meri for the blog name....I love it and I think it works great!  Till next post.....