Page 5 of 5

Posted on

Adjusting

We’ve been home a little over a week and are slowly adjusting to our new normal. The first few days were overwhelming as we quickly realized how much we didn’t know. We’re exhausted, we’ve been getting up to check his bliss sugar in the middle of the night. We get notifications on our phones, but we’re both nervous we’d sleep through the notifications.

His first hockey game was an emotional whirlwind for Hubby and me. Meanwhile, for him it was awesome! It felt so good for him to be back on the ice. He officiated a couple of games the Sunday after and that went well. His blood sugar stayed pretty stable during those games. Physically, he has felt pretty good outside of an occasional headache.

Thankfully, he is adjusting well to his normal. The Dexcom helps him keep tabs on his blood sugar. The Mayor does a great job messaging us that he’s taken a glucose tab or his insulin before we get the high or low blood sugar alerts on our phones. He adores the school nurse and has learned a lot from her. She’s also Type 1 diabetic. The school has been incredible in helping him adjust and continue thriving academically.

Meanwhile, at work, I did file for intermittent FMLA so I don’t get into trouble for taking time off for appointments. After all, my boss did send me home early today for taking my required lunch. Talk about an unexpected and unpleasant surprise. I hate how taking the hour lunch you must take negatively impacts your phone stats. Now instead of talking to Boomers all day, I’ll be baking bread and cuddling with the puppies. As I type it, I realize it was a pleasant surprise.

What podcasts are you listening to?

There are quite a few I’d love to listen to, but right now I’m only listening to the Spitting Chiclets podcast.

Posted on

Good Riddance

I for one am ready to tell this week good riddance. The sixty five days, at least that’s what it felt like, we spent in the hospital were tough. Transitioning home and realizing all the things we don’t know about diabetes has been overwhelming. On top of it all, Goalielocks sent a text early Friday morning that there was a mass shooting in front of his work. He works at a bar in downtown Orlando. This wasn’t the text anyone wants to wake up to, although I appreciate him letting me know he was fine.

Friday marked the Mayor’s first day back at school. They were able to use his discharge paperwork and medical Management plan to get him back into school. We have to get his endocrinologist to file a diabetic medical management plan with the school. The problem being it takes six to eight weeks to get into the adult endocrinologists here. His school nurse and I use the same Endo practice, so she’s going to ask when she’s there if they’ll take him sooner. Meanwhile, I’ve put calls into the local pediatric Endos to try and get him in sooner.

I also got back on the spin bike!

Last night we were finally able to pick up his Dexcom, so now we can continuously monitor his glucose. There does seem to be a wide spread between the blood sugar on his Dexcom and the Accu-Check, which is a little concerning. Apparently, the Dexcom readings should normalize after the first twenty four hours. The Mayor played his first hockey game since diagnosis, which was scary to watch. Full disclosure, I watched the Dexcom numbers while my hubby texted updates since I’m stuck home working.

At any rate, we really need to get him into the Endo, so we have a correction dose for him. Also, there’s a lot of questions that have arisen that we didn’t think of when he was in the hospital. Truly, we don’t know what we didn’t know. We’re leaning to manage the diabetes quickly, but definitely have questions only an endocrinologist could answer. Hopefully, we can get in to see one soon! Anyway, back to work and good riddance to this week.

What are your favorite websites?

I’d be lying if I didn’t say Amazon.com or Target.com.

Posted on

We’re Home

We’re home. I can’t tell you how happy we are to finally be home. The staff at the hospital was fantastic, including a great hospitalist, but it’s a miserable place to stay. They did confirm his diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes. We will be following up with an endocrinologist to hopefully get him on an insulin pump. Until then, he will have to take insulin four times a day. And of course he’ll need to closely monitor his blood sugar.

We couldn’t go home until we confirmed the pharmacy had everything he needed. This proved to be the most difficult part of today’s journey. Apparently, Walgreens has nothing in stock. Color me unimpressed. While I tried to verify availability of the drugs at CVS, the hubby drove to Publix with the list to see if they had it. Thankfully, they had everything we needed, with the exception of the Dexcom. The Mayor’s care team quickly provided written prescriptions that we could take to Publix. Unlike Walgreens, Publix’s pharmacy was absolutely wonderful.

Fortunately, the diagnosis will not impact his ability to play hockey, which was a huge relief. It will change how we manage his nutrition before, during and after a game or practice. While we were in the hospital, I ordered a bunch of supplies to manage his blood sugar. It may even mean a return to the penalty box for me. Once he gets the continuous glucose monitor, it will be really easy to manage his sugars. Until then, he’ll have to listen to his body and test his blood sugar using the strips. I’ve made an identical kit for hockey.

Jake and Melody drove down to help us through the rest of the week. We didn’t know until yesterday afternoon that he’d be going home for sure. They were ready to relieve Luke and I, so we could get some sleep at home. The sleeping arrangements at the hospital were less than ideal. The Mayor was surprised and thrilled to see them. Melody will be helping the Mayor and I with a few errands today that need to be completed to get him back to school.

What’s something you believe everyone should know.

Learn to follow your guy and be in tune with your body. Being in tune with his body allowed the Mayor to recognize something off before it had gotten to a breaking point.