Sunday, August 19, 2012

"Screw you, Diabetes" Summer O'Fun

When Ella was first diagnosed, I was afraid to leave the house. It's a lot like having a newborn again where simple things like going to the grocery store or to a friend's house for a playdate suddenly become complex, daunting and a little scary. I remember asking a friend:

How am I ever going to take her to Disneyland?
How will we do trips to the lake?
How will we do overnight hotel stays somewhere?
How am I ever going to handle taking her on an airplane ride?
How do I take her on road trips?

And her answer was:
You'll figure it out.

I know from having a newborn that the "firsts" are always the scariest. The first bath. The first car ride home. The first time they sleep in their own room. The first trip to Target. And once you finally do something for the first time you realize it wasn't so bad, the second time is usually much easier and you gain a sense of confidence that you CAN do this. I figured diabetes had to be the same way and so I set out trying to get as many "firsts" out of the way as quickly as possible. Thus was born our

Screw You, Diabetes Summer o'Fun
Some of these "firsts" technically occurred pre-Summer, but Spring & Summer o'Fun just doesn't have the same ring to it.

First trip to the Zoo

First weekend away from home in a hotel


First Birthday Party


First trip to the Lake Mohave house (long car ride - check!)

First Dance Recital
First Airport & Plane Adventure (LAX to Orlando, FL for Friends for Life Conference!)


First Night Swimming (we CAN rock diabetes while not on a schedule!)

First Cruise (where we were in the middle of the Atlantic ocean with no cell service)
Also my first time swagging it up - pizza & chicken nuggets every night!

First Diabetes Family Camp - we LOVE Camp Conrad Chinnock!

First trip to the Fair (includes first corn dog, cotton candy, swirly ice cream cone and gooey cinnamon roll - holy insulin dose!)

First trip to Bass Lake

Has it all been perfect? Heck no! I've seen some crazy high and low blood sugars. We've had canulas pop out in the middle of the airport (first time bolusing for basal in the Orlando airport!), we've had pods fall off at the most inconvenient of times (mid-dinner dose...ummm...how much insulin do you think she got? half? some? all? none?)

But you know what? We had a BLAST. And Ella will never look back on her first summer with diabetes and say that diabetes held us back from one moment of fun. And I can confidently say that I know that I can do this. It's not as easy as it once was. It takes a lot more planning and there is a bit more worry involved but it has not, and I will not allow it, to take a moment of joy away.

"Firsts" still left on our list:
  • First trip to Disneyland
  • First Halloween Candy Fun
  • First Water Park Adventure
  • First Christmas Cookie Eating
  • First trip to the snow/ski school

Any other "first" suggestions we should add?


 

12 comments:

  1. Wow! Congratulations on all those firsts this summer. You guys looked like you had a blast and diabetes definitely didn't slow you down.

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    1. We did have a blast! And now I suppose we can start our "Screw you, Diabetes" Fall o'fun.

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  2. Congratulations! What a terrific summer.

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    1. Thanks - definitely one we will never forget.

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  3. Hi Krissy, I'm a friend of Leslie Lake Ashby's, she told me to check out your blog. I have a 3 year old son who was diagnosed with Type 1 a year ago. Way to be a brave mama and take on Diabetes! I'm enjoying your blog! Thank you for inspiring me!

    -Summer Hardey

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    1. Hi Summer! I can't imagine how hard it would be to have your child diagnosed at 2 years old. Glad you're enjoying the blog - here's to many more "firsts" for our T1 Kiddos!

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  4. I remember the first time I ever took Elise out to eat all by myself after he dx... I felt so empowered! I think she was almost 14 months and it felt like I was taking a newborn out for the first time.

    We're leaving on our trip to sf and we'll be experiencing g another first... Air travel with a pump! I figure if we can fly to Europe while on MDI last year, Texas to California should be a breeze!

    We also might be attempting our first long car trip with diabetes as we're tentatively planning on driving from sf to San Diego for a few days.

    So... 4 years later and we're still experiencing firsts! Glad you guys got to have so much fun in your summer of firsts.

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    1. Air travel was so much easier than I thought! The TSA agents were NICE (At LAX, this is unheard of). We didn't allow any of her electronics (PDM, extra pods, etc) to go through x-ray screening...which means she didn't go through x-ray screening, either and they were super accomodating. No pat-down, just a thorough search of the bag and swiping of hands to check for whatever.

      SF to San Diego is a LONG drive! We have to set a temp basal of +50% for car rides. Not so for airplane rides for some reason - the altitude perhaps? But definitely for car rides. I started out at +10% and worked my way up every 2 hours until I found what worked.

      Hope you have a great trip and if you get stranded, or end up visiting Ventura County, let me know!

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  5. I felt the exact same way when my daughter was first diagnosed. I never wanted to leave the house! We already had plane tickets though to travel 2 weeks after dx, so we were kind of thrown into it all! It is such an amazing feeling to accomplish all those firsts and know you can do it. Since starting on the pump a couple weeks ago, I have had some of those feelings I had when she was first diagnosed. I was scared to leave the house again with her! So now we are experiencing firsts all over again while on the pump. I am happy to hear your experience with flying was non eventful.

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  6. LIfe is filled with a crazy amount of firsts and I continue going after them with gusto!!!
    How about first pumpkin picking -and speaking of... Halloween is my Diaversary & I fully expect Ella & Co to celebrate Halloween in a big way and have lots of fun!!!

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  7. I loved reading this my son was just diagnosed at the beginning of July and then we did have a newborn at the end of July so our summer has been one big home bound suck fest. This post has inspired me to make next summer the best ever.

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  8. Diabetes can totally SUCK IT! You guys rocked D! Way to go!!

    First sleep over? Bean is still waiting on that one...getting there, though!

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