Can’t Wait for a Cure!

There are days I long for a cure for Type 1 Diabetes more acutely than others.  Here’s a peek into a day in the life of a 10-year old living with Type 1 Diabetes: (this was just this past Tuesday, so it’s fresh in my mind)

12am: While she sleeps, I test her blood sugar. 338. She had received a new inset (they have to be changed every three days) the evening prior, and often it takes a bit for the inset to “kick in”.  Did a correction (meaning I gave her the amount of insulin needed to bring her blood sugars down.)

4am: I tested her again to make sure the correction worked. 188. Small correction given to bring her blood sugars on down to a healthier level.  80-120 is the target.

7am: She tests for her breakfast bolus. 208. What? Evidence of the typical roller coaster of blood sugars.  Seemingly no rhyme or reason for the elevated level. She boluses via her pump for the insulin needed to take care of high bg and her breakfast carbs.

12:20pm: She tests at school for her lunchtime bolus. 235. ? Not enough of a bolus for her morning snack? An anxiety-inducing test?(which often causes blood sugars to rise). You just don’t know. She boluses insulin needed for bg and for lunch carbs.

2:45pm: She tests at school as she does every day before getting on the bus. 144. Good. She eats a snack at home without bolusing so she doesn’t “go low”(dangerously low blood sugar level) as she typically does in the afternoon.  This is due to recess being in the afternoon before getting on the bus.  Blood sugars continue to plummet long after the exercise.

4pm: While changing into her gymnastics clothes to get ready for her class, she accidentally pulls off her inset. 🙁 Really? We just did this yesterday!!  The routine of lidocaine-to-inset will have to begin when we get home from gymnastics.  She eats an extra snack to counter the effects of exercise on her blood sugar level.

6pm: She tests for her dinner. 149. Lidocaine (a numbing cream) is put on a spot in her mid-section with press-n-seal placed over it.  This allows the area to become very numb for the inset to be inserted later. She administers to herself a shot of insulin so she can eat dinner. We dash out the door to our son’s Choral Concert at Glenn High School.

8:15pm: Maddie and I leave the concert early so I can put her inset in and hopefully it will start working.

9pm: 116. A great blood sugar level, but for going to bed, it is safer for the level to be a bit higher. She eats a small snack to insure she does not “go low” at night.

12am: I test her to see how her blood sugars are doing. 213. Maybe too much of a snack? Correction given.

***On days like this, when diabetes does NOT understand that you have SO many things going on in your life that you really need and want to do, I long for the day when a cure for Type 1 Diabetes is offered.  It’s hard to imagine.  But this is why we are WALKING TODAY!  Thank you to ALL of you who have given so generously to JDRF, a fabulous organization working tirelessly to find this cure for Maddie!!

We are off to Wake Forest University where there will be scads of people who live with Type 1 Diabetes and their friends and families! You feel such support and camaraderie in this! Maddie’s cousin Zoe is here to walk with her today! She is so excited! We have T-shirts!! We will get to see Sonshyne & Jots, a clown couple who bring joy and festivity to everyone with their tricks and face-painting! We will walk together! We will eat together!

I hope to have a report on the day for you next week!

Thank you, thank you all!

**The above drawing was made of Maddie this summer as she drew with me downtown Kernersville at the Factory.  Many of the portraits I have of her are when she was younger. I need to paint a more recent portrait, as she is growing up to be such a lovely little lady.

0 thoughts on “Can’t Wait for a Cure!

  1. Carrie says:

    We love you and Maddie and the rest of your family…praying for you as you walk through this! This was hard to read knowing you face this every day…enjoy your day at WFU and many blessings on you (and for a cure) as you have blessed others. Hugs to Maddie.

  2. Charlotte Mock Bozorth says:

    Thank you for putting into words the routine, the worries, the dance. Have a wonderful time at the walk. I was amazed and touched by the walk in GSO.

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