My older D-free son Nathaniel was home "sick" yesterday. "Sick" in quotes, because though he'd puked prodigiously the night before, I pegged that as being a predictable outcome of his having eaten, (against my caring-parental advice) 12 chicken nuggets, two donuts, a 12-ounce glass of milk, and if my reading of the output was accurate, at least three chocolate chip cookies, the latter explicitly forbidden. One can only say so often, "Don't eat so much or you'll get a tummyache" before one…

Eric's endo visit today gave me a bit of a shock. His a1c had gone up substantially, from 7.4 to 7.9. I knew his numbers hadn't been great, but that bad??

The CDE and I assessed his numbers, and while we agreed that we needed to do an overnight basal check, she also said that perhaps a basal check for the afternoon would be valuable too. I'd noted a strange pattern... not daily, but certainly fairly frequent... in which he got on the school bus in range and was sky high when he…

Four years after Eric's diagnosis, some of the initial events seem dreamlike. They come back to me in flashes sometimes, intense snippets of memory that contain all the audio, visual, emotional, and sometimes tactile content of the moment. Most commonly, these are the ones I get:

*flash*

I am seated in the exam room of my kids' pediatrician's office. It is October 7, and it occurs to me that it's my partner's 46th birthday. Bummer of a birthday if he spends it at home wondering…

As I think back to that September 26th 1992, when at the age of 2 Kaitlyn was whisked to Stony Brook Hospital; medical staff ran around tending to her; tubes were attached; pain was administered; tears were shed; more tears were shed; I raced from New York City; I entered her room; she looked at everything attached to her; I pushed the hair out of her eyes, and I spoke.......Click here to read the entire…

Over the past few months I have heard a lot of anxiety and stress when it comes to testing your child with diabetes' blood glucose at night. Its a topic that can divide the diabetes community and raise blood pressure faster than the mention of Halle Berry or pumping versus multiple daily injections. It can create strife among friends and cause a serious strain on marital relationships.

I am a night tester. I have been for the past twelve plus years. I will continue to do it for as…

If you’ve ever been to a theme park, you know that visiting all of the popular rides and attractions and navigating through the large park can be difficult. Visiting a theme park alongside children with diabetes can be even more challenging.

Bennet Dunlap, father of four and…

With a new school year and a new teacher comes the ever popular "back to school" essay. My youngest son never ceases to frustrate me when it comes to such things. Two classes and four days later, his essay on introducing himself consisted of four sentences--his name, his age and where he had lived in his life. Getting more out of him was going to be torture...and it was! Thankfully, after hearing that he could write pages on the importance of the advent of a toaster to heat his Eggo's each…

I have said before and I will say it again, I was pleasantly surprised by Leighann Calentine's new book Kids First Diabetes Second. I had seriously wondered how someone relatively new to diabetes would handle an entire book...okay Leighann is not a newbie but sadly we have been on this block a few more years and as I have said, I have become crass over the years. As I said previously, she handled it fabulously! Again, I think this should definitely be given to all newly diagnosed, anyone…

Death of a Pancreas author and D-Mom Joanne Cunha continues our Mother’s Day tributes this week by sharing her proudest moment as a mother. Hint: it has to do with how her daughter has handled her diabetes.

Read the full post at Discuss Diabetes here.

Best, Laura K.

To help us celebrate National Nurse’s Week and Mother’s Day, Candy Hearts blog author Wendy Rose wrote a guest post about how her roles as an RN and a mom influence one another. It’s an incredibly honest and heartfelt post! Read the full article at Discuss Diabetes here.
Best,

Laura K.

At the beginning of the year I posted about people living with diabetes and depression and/or burnout. As parents, we ache for our children going through this each day and do our best to relieve some of their burden. Many parents go through a depression or period of mourning at diagnosis but I wonder how many feel that they may have developed depression in part because of diabetes moving into their homes?

When my son was diagnosed, it took me months before I sat and cried. Initially I…

We went to the clinic yesterday, and because Eric was due for his labs (and we wanted to make sure we got them in before his insurance runs out), instead of making an appointment for a later blood draw, we went right upstairs to NorDx from the clinic. Now, obviously Eric has had blood draws before, but at 4 1/2 he's getting savvy to the whole "someone's gonna poke you" thing and wants no part of it. We put EMLA cream on his arm in advance to smooth the way, but it really didn't make much…

At the request of my diabetes clinic, I am about to start mentoring the parents of newly diagnosed CWD. Which feels awkward and strange. Aren't I still just a newbie at this? (After 3 years... and a book... maybe not.) It seems more than a little weird to be dispensing helpful advice to someone just learning the ropes. I still feel like I'm in that head space a lot sometimes. Compared to a lot of parents and PWD here on this site, I'm totally wet behind the ears. And yet... it's been 3 1/2…

Three years ago today, I took Eric to his pediatrician and told him I thought Eric had diabetes.



I was right. And for a long time afterward, I grieved that my instinct was correct.



But today, I'm going to celebrate all the ways I was wrong that day.



I thought I would never be able to get past my needle-phobia to be able to dose my son with insulin. (I was wrong.)

I thought I would never again have the happy-go-lucky child I'd adored before diabetes…

It's almost midnight and I haven't been to bed yet. I have two sick little boys in the next room, burning up with fever, moaning from headaches (I suspect sinus infections—pediatrician visit tomorrow, oh, my, yes.) And I'm having all those Paranoid Parent thoughts that all parents get, only I would imagine those of us with insulin-free offspring get them more often than most. 

What if this isn't just a garden variety virus? He's complaining of a horrible headache — more than just…