Is This Thing On??

I just downloaded the Blogger application on my phone, and I was just trying to see if it works.

*tap tap*. Is this thing on??

:)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Where's My Phone??

I have to admit, I am a mom of 3 children, which means that I've lost 3x the brain cells.  I am also blond.  Not an airhead, just blond.  I was married with 2 kids before I got my first "real" cell phone.  By "real" I mean that this little sucker rules my life.  It tells me when to get up.  It tells me when to pick up my little ones from preschool.  It tells me when to take my vitamins.  It tells me when I need to call my husband and remind him to do something.  Doctors appointments, soccer practice, play dates, phone numbers, emails--it's got it all.  You name it, and I have it in my phone.  I hate to admit it, but it tells me when my favorite TV shows are on, too.  But let's just keep that one between us..... 

It also tells me to tell Maddie to check her blood at different times of the day.  I HOPE that between the two of us (and occasionally my husband, when he's home, which isn't often), one of us will remember to check it before she eats a meal, but I also want to have a hold of it between meals.  Because, as much as I love her, she's a sneaky little thing, and she tends to eat a little something here or there without telling me. 

I also have programmed when I need to change her pump site.  Because let's face it, ladies.  We have a lot going on.  I like to change it after her shower at night.  Between her shower, and cleaning up the inch or two of water on the floor from my boys' baths, I need a little reminder. 

If something ever happened to my phone, I would need to be admitted immediately.  If someone ever tried to steal it, I would have to say, "Here--take my wallet instead!  My whole entire life is in my phone!"  (Frankly, there isn't much in my wallet these days....but that's another story).  If I ever lost my phone, my life would be over.  If it ever fell into the ocean, I'd be diving in.  You get the picture.

I'm one of those annoying people that has my purse on the arm that's holding my 2 year old's hand, and keys and CELL PHONE in the other hand for fear that I might miss a reminder.  I even go so far as to turn the volume all the way up when I'm in a noisy restaurant.  Not because I want people to know when someone calls me, because honestly, I don't have much of a life, so no one ever calls me.  I just want to make sure that I don't miss checking Maddie's blood.   I also shutter to think of missing something important like Survivor or American Idol.....

To All Of My Type1-Mom-Blog Friends

Last night went smoothly.  Maddie was 147 when she went to bed.  BUT, I think that whatever sugary substance it was that she inhaled the night before, must have taken a longer time to smack us in the face.  She woke up at 400ish, and yes, the lovely TRACE to SMALL ketones.  Don't you just love 'em?? 

So, after I washed the urine off of my hands, I stuffed bottled waters, ketone strips, glucose tablets (just in case we went overboard on the insulin) and all of those other lovely things in her bag, and off we went to church, ketones and all.

Thankfully, after lunch, everything was back to normal, numbers were down, ketones were gone, life was great.

And then my lovely husband announces, "Whoever eats all of their lunch gets some candy!!"

Men......they mean well.....

*sigh*  Here we go again.....

Here Come the Ketones

Right now, as I type, Maddie, the cat is gathering more and more candy from our Fall Festival.  She and her 2 brothers, Batman and Superman will bring home their 12 pound stashes, and momentarily, we will forget that we have diabetes. 

There will be candy and empty wrappers all over the living room floor soon, and I will not be stealth enough to know or see who eats what. 

Soooooo, this is going to be a long night of checking, rechecking, and checking blood sugar again, and maybe we'll even get a little ketone action in there.  That's always fun for me.  Maddie usually gets more urine on my hands than on the stick.  Good times, good times.... 

*Sigh* Halloween.......Can't live with it, CAN live without it......

I'm Starving!!

If you have read my post about homeschooling Maddie, you'll know that I do enjoy eating my words.  Today I was starving! 

This time instead of being about homeschooling, it is about insurance, since ironically that was the frustrating topic of my last post. 

My husband came home from work a month or two ago and announced that they were getting new insurance at his job.  That always makes me cringe because I'm always fearful that someone somewhere is going to deny Maddie coverage, even though I know that they can't do that on a group plan.  I also cringe because the amount we pay per month for our family to have insurance, (even though Shawn is free) is almost like another house payment.

Today was the first time I went to get Maddie's testing strips since our new insurance went into effect.  They used to cost us $70, just for that one prescription, just for that one month.  Today, I found out that our prescription co-pay is not $70 anymore, it's $10!!  This is where I started eating my words, once again.

This was the conversation in the pharmacy drive-thru between myself and the pharmacist.

"That will be $10."

"WHAAAAAAT?"  This is the part where I had to physically pick up my lower jaw and put it back into place.
 
"I said, that will be $10 for your daughter's testing strips."  She was not nearly as excited as I was at that point. 

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh."

"No way!"

"Um, yes way, ma'am."

"You're kidding me, right?"

"No, ma'am, I'm not kidding."

"OH.......MY.........GOODNESS......she just said it would be $10," I sometimes yell at my steering wheel.

The poor pharmacist had been hunched over at the microphone for several minutes waiting for me to get my act together, and my kids were scared, silent and wide-eyed in the back of the van watching my entire "freak-out" episode.

"Ma'am, I have customers waiting inside the store.  Are you going to pay for this today?"

See, for this pharmacist, it was just an everyday, run of the mill, prescription refill.  But for me, it was an answer to prayer in a desperate time of need.

.....The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.  James 5:16 

Insurance?

I don't really understand all that is going on with this universal healthcare stuff.  I just want to vent my frustrations  for a minute or two. 

Insurance is not for the sick.  It is only for the well.  When you're well, you don't shell out much money for doctor's visits and prescriptions.  You may pay an arm and a leg for your monthly premium, but that's about it. 

Then there are those of us that are "sick".  We are the punishable ones.  We pay the arm, the leg, and part of the other arm for coverage for our family.  Then we have to see a specialist every other month.  That's another sky-high fee.  Then we have tons of prescriptions.  We do have co-pays for prescriptions, but it seems that each year, that fee doubles.  Multiply that co-pay by 4, and that is only part of our monthly prescription cost--it's the part that comes from the drug store pharmacy.  Then there's the crazy co-pay amounts that go to the pump company for pump supplies.  And oh yeah, they only covered 1/8 of the cost of the pump.  

That's not to mentions the Continuous Glucose Monitor that Maddie desperately needs, but guess what?  Yep, that's right.  It's not covered.  Oh well....too bad....

Ahhh....I feel much better now.  I just needed to vent a little. 

Bottom line:  Some people have fancy cars, or beautiful houses, or brand new trendy clothes.  Some people go on trips to exotic places, or go to the beach every weekend. 

BUT, we have an income (it's very small, but it's there--I promise) and we have insurance coverage, and a healthy child with an insulin pump.  I'll take that over the trendy clothes any day!

Reply

I just wanted to write a quick post to reply to a comment that someone made on one of my older posts.  I don't know the commentor, but I am very glad that she found my blog and read it.  That really means a lot to me.  The more we know about the stuggles people have with diabetes, the closer we'll be to finding a cure. 

I think she misunderstood the title of my blog, which is "A Beautiful Diabetic".  She wrote:   

"It is sad that you identify your daughter as diabetic.
It should be....My Beautiful daughter is Maddie. She is 9 and she's smart, talented, full of life, and hilarious, all rolled up into one precious little body. o yeah she is diabetic.
Diabetic is not who she is."

You're right--a diabetic is not who she is.  And just so you know, I don't really 'identify' her as diabetic.  The reason I called my blog "A Beautiful Diabetic" is because I want people to know about this disease, and how it affects children and families on a realistic daily basis. 

I could have called it ":My Beautiful Maddie" and that would have been a wonderful title, but for me, I want to reach out to that one mother, who sits in despair at her computer, googling diabetes because her child was just diagnosed.  I want her to know that my diabetic child lives a normal, fun-filled, yet sometimes treacherous life.  This disease is a fight that we are going to win, and that is the point of my blog. 

Another reason for writing my blog, mostly about diabetes, is because there is a huge community out there of families with children who have the disease.  Personally, I value those other moms who have that in common with me, and who also have blogs about their diabetic kids.  I look to them for support, and questions when necessary. 

But, thank you, friend, for caring enough to leave a comment on my blog.  I sincerely appreciate your input.  But don't be sad~  I don't identify Maddie as a diabetic.  It's just a creative title that is intended to catch the eye of someone who is struggling with the same thing.