Better days

Since last week we have been getting back into sleeping schedules to prepare for school. What a difference in Maddison's overnight blood sugars. She sat perfectly in range without any craziness for three whole days! Basal tests show a really nicely tuned basal rate. The regularity and structure that school can bring is a huge plus to blood sugar predictions sometimes. I'm confident and hoping for better blood sugar days ahead!

This "stability" in the past few days helped me last night to decide I would skip the 3am check and entitle myself to a whole 5 hours straight of uninterrupted sleep. Of course when I checked Maddison at 5am she was 54,YIKES. That's a pretty scary number. I have no idea how long she actually sat around in the 50's which is even worse. This is precisely why I ALWAYS check Maddison at Midnight, 3am and 6am. I'm guessing for the rest of my life unless she starts to wake up on her own when she is low. If that's what I have to do, then so be it.

This article was run in the weekend paper about our support group here in West Phoenix cities. (Maddison is the last on the right) What we thought was an opportunity to raise awareness of Type 1 in the local paper was really a focus on the success of our support group and what a difference it has made to many more families than we ever expected. It was great to have the exposure, but I was disappointed that the article didn't focus at all on what Type 1 means for kids. At the bottom of the article online there is a spot that readers can post a comment. I thought I was just a genius for leaving a little education in the comment section. So, I hope that alot of readers have been educated by my short intro to Type 1 :)

We aren't done yet though. Our group hopes to host another car wash this year to aide in our fundraising efforts for JDRF. Last year was a pretty good success for last minute planning. We plan to include a lemonade stand with the car wash as well since everyone knows how kids love to sell Lemonade! Who can deny lemonade from a bunch of cute kids with a crappy disease? What I really hope to see this time around for our groups efforts is the chance to speak about what Type 1 means for children and adults that deal with it every single day. Stemming from our efforts ahead I want a detailed article in the local paper, and I really feel driven to see to it that this happens. Maybe not this year, but soon. I also think alot about the kids out there like Maddison that suffered a slow onset and went undiagnosed for many months, maybe years. It is comforting to know that by raising awareness some children out there could be diagnosed early on without being sent to the ER in DKA.

I have Diabetes on the brain in a much better way since the group article published this weekend. I think it has helped me to feel empowered. We have an amazing group of people in this support group. Each and every one of our kids are amazing. I have alot of new fundraising ideas, and alot of passion for gaining support and understanding for this crazy disease. Who knows, maybe we can become the next Susan G Koman for the cure. I know that our group especially together can really make a difference. I think, we already have.