What people ask me about: Diabetes Update

2 Years ago on 7/21/06: Alyssa was diagnosed with diabetes... As I look back through the pictures, I realized that she felt like a princess when she was in the hospital. Honestly, I have pretty much ignored all pictures because I didn't want to look back at this time because I was afraid of bed memories, but all I found were good ones... friends visiting us... having special time alone with Alyssa... she felt so special... it was a hard time, but it answered so many questions as to why Alyssa acted the way she did (throwing fits, peeing all the time, so thirsty all the time, starting to take naps again after she hadn't had naps in years), it all suddenly made sense.

Here, Alyssa learns how to give Amy, her "diabetic" bear, her first shot.



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The day we were leaving the hospital, there was a rainbow outside!










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Last year on 3/30/07: Alyssa goes off of shots and onto the pump. A lot of people ask if the pump is used for people that have diabetes worse than others... the answer to that is NO. The pump is just another way to give insulin besides shots. I, personally, think that it is easier to send Alyssa off to playdates and school with a pump then with shots.

Here is the "infusion site". This pink circle has tubing attached to the pump and a little plastic "cannula" that sticks into her body so that the insulin is still injected... It has to be moved every 2-3 days. We rotate between the arms, stomach, bottom, & leg.
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Unfortunately, Alyssa still has to prick her finger to see what her blood glucose numbers are. The FDA has just approved a "continuous blood glucose monitoring system" for kids ages 7 and up. But, that's still a few years away, so we have some time before that's an option.

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Winter 2007: Alyssa was written up in a local magazine. Click on the following link for more info:

w.cyfairmagazine.com/pdf/Articles/2007/winter/Healthy%20Cy-Fair%20Families.pdf
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July 24, 2008: These days, Alyssa is a healthy diabetic (& celiac, but that's another post that will come soon). She's able to do anything anyone else can.

I'm torn on whether I like the pump or not. It broke one day and it was horrible not having it. I had to get a loaner pump until the real one came in and it really threw me for a loop. But, her numbers were great on plain old insulin shots. I've also figured out that the pump costs an additional $2000/year on top of the rest of the supplies. I've just found out that there is a Novolog pen that she could probably inject herself... We'll see... all the literature I've read says that the pump is the smartest way to handle insulin. I'm working with a doctor that is on the same pump as her to see if we can pull her numbers down. I don't like how high her numbers have been, but I believe he's working on bringing them down gradually. One of the things I really like about the pump is that it calculates how much insulin is in her system before automatically adjusting for a high number... that would be hard to do by hand. So, we'll see how this journey continues.

Overall, diabetes is going well. I just want to see the numbers come down, but it is a process that we are working on.