St. Patrick's Day

We've spent much of the evening preparing for St. Patrick's Day. The kindergarten kids put on the school prayer service and Aidan has a speaking part. This is bitter sweet -- I am happy for him and extremely proud but, having just started a new job, I can't get the morning off so I won't get to see my big guy say, "May God always teach us." Aidan could tell this made me sad so tonight he performed the entire prayer service for me, songs and all. It was cute. (Grandma, Grandpa and Dogdog will be there so Aidan won't be alone. And, of course, Sain will be there, too.)

We also made Aidan's leprechaun trap for school his evening. Aidan thought we should just bring a Guinness to school and open it once we get there, "No leprechaun can resist an open Guinness." I tried to convince him that Sister Linda wouldn't really approve of an open Guinness at school and in true little Irish boy fashion he shot back, "Oh Mommy, it's not beer, it's Guinness. Sister Linda will understand because I'm Irish." If any kid could get away with it Aidan would but I'm not willing to take that chance. We settled on a pretty good trap made of a small garbage can (shaped like a cat) whose lid (mouth) closes when the leprechaun climbs in to get the fake gold we put in it. Aidan and I have a deal -- he gets to keep the leprechaun and I get the pot of gold.

Sain is busy making St. Patrick's Day cards for her friends. I know she should be in bed right now but the cards are so cute. Her numbers have been really good of late -- I think I've only had a handful of calls from the school nurse this month. The calm times scare me because I can't shake the feeling something is waiting around the corner. Oh well, I will try to relax and enjoy the even numbers.

Have a great St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Friday

The kids come to my office at the end of the day on Tuesday and Thursday so I can take them straight to karate. Sain left this note on my whiteboard -- it is really brightening my day!

Happy Friday!

Today is a special day...

Happy Birthday, Mom!

Some Pictures (and a few words)

I realise I've been a bit lazy about posting. It's been an exhausting time between getting laid off, getting a new job, and fighting insurance battles all while trying to keep some sense of normalcy for the kids. Slowly things are starting to feel normal again (or at least as normal as life in our family gets.) Here's a bit of the last couple weeks complete with pictures:

One of the best parts of not working for a couple weeks was getting to pick the kids up from school. We often went to the park after school to play for an hour or so. The above picture shows that Sain is much like her mom and likes to read under the trees by the beach.

Another highlight of my time off was getting to take the kids to all their karate classes. The picture of Aidan is taken before class and he's holding Honey the KA mascot. More on Honey below.

Of late I've been catching glimpses of Sain out of the corner of my eye and I think it has to be someone else. She's really growing up! It's amazing to think that only a couple years ago she was the little girl in pig tails and ruby slippers learning to test her own BG. Now she's a mature pre-teen whose grasp of her disease impresses even the toughest endocrinologist.

Every weekend one of the kids in Miss Rassilyer's KA class gets to take Honey home. Aidan's weekend was in February. We took Honey to karate, to a diabetes support group meeting, to mass, to Denny's for dessert and to grandma and grandpa's house. This picture is on Friday night when we were at JoAnn's getting supplies to make Honey's gi. (You can see the gi in the picture of Honey and Aidan at karate -- if you look closesly, you can see that I even added patches like the ones on Aidan's gi. I have no idea where my kids get their perfectionism from :) )

My fight for coverage (the coverage I have an autorisation code for!) for Sain's CGM continues and, despite my last post, I will fight for them. Sain had a complete eye check with retinal pictures and endo check up last week and is doing great. I plan to keep it that way and the CGM is an important part of our life. Her A1C was 7.1 which is amazing considering she's been to the ER 3 times in 3 months with dangerously high blood sugar. (She's been sick all winter -- I swear the flu shot this year did nothing!) Besides, if Sain didn't get sensors, what would Aidan's lego men use for jet packs? (see picture above... Sain absolutely hates it when Aidan and I do this with her old sensors but what else would I do with them?)

I give up

I give up. Now Aetna is saying CGMs are experimental and claiming they never approved them for Sain.

If Medtronic can't get this straightened out -- I quit!

I guess my life is destined to involve 12 am and 3 am BG tests! Silly me for wanting the best for my kid... I should've know this is the country where money talks and people don't matter.

I guess maybe I should just find a good lawyer and sue them the next time something goes wrong. Isn't that the American way?

Random happenings and updates

I realise it's been a bit since my last post. These last couple weeks have been busy and kind of tough. Here are some updates and happenings:

On the job front -- after only two weeks of unemployment, I am starting a new job tomorrow. I interviewed early last week and got the offer by the end of the week. I am pretty excited. Although it involves a pay cut that will make things a bit tougher than I would like, I am proud of myself getting back in the workforce so quickly in this ecomony.

Sain update -- Sain is growing up so fast. She belt tested a little over a week ago and should get her promotion within the next couple weeks. The Tuesday after testing she got pushed by a brother and sister combo in class and ended up breaking her toe. She's got one more day of complete rest and two more weeks of no running or kicking but is healing nicely.

As for diabetes, things have gotten better since she got over the virus earlier this month. It's really hard because she is learning more and more about complications. With February being heart month, Sain has studied up a lot on heart disease. It's tough hearing your 9 year old talk about complications... her biggest fear is blindness. My biggest fear is outliving my baby.

Aidan update -- Aidan is learning and growing so quickly. Kindergarten is an amazing year. He's really picking up on reading and writing. Aidan also graduated from the "L" in speech and is now working on "J"... I had to re-play the voicemail Sister Maureen (his speech therapist) left telling me about his progress over and over again because Aidan is so proud of his how well he's doing. I'm pretty proud, too!

Aidan also did a testing in karate and earned his first patch... this is a pretty big deal because he won't be able to belt test until he's 7. He's now a white belt with two stripes and one patch.

I am sure there is much more I should write about but Aidan is pestering me to do Club Penguin so that will have to be all for now. 5 year olds aren't too patient!

"Mommy, I feel stressed"

That was the response from Sain when she read this:

Dear Angie,

Kids with diabetes in Washington are in danger, and we need
your help! The Washington Senate is currently considering SB 5880, legislation that would remove ALL health protections for kids in school. We need to
oppose this bill!

SB 5880 would repeal protections put in place to help kids
with diabetes in school. It would deprive students with diabetes of
important state law protections that currently allow them to self-monitor and
manage diabetes in their classrooms, including carrying their diabetes supplies and equipment. It would turn back the clock on the progress we have made
to make sure that students with diabetes are safe at school when a school
nurse cannot be there by having trained volunteer staff available to
administer insulin to those who aren’t yet able to self-administer and to
administer life-saving glucagon in the case of a diabetes emergency. In
other words, SB 5880 jeopardizes the lives of students with diabetes.

This legislation was introduced on Thursday and had the public hearing that
afternoon, with no warning or opportunity for debate. Today, SB 5880 will
be heard in executive session in the Senate Education Committee. If you don't
act now, SB 5880, legislation that threatens the health of our children,
will be one step closer to becoming law.

Please contact the members of the Senate Education Committee and Sen. Fred
Jarrett TODAY and urge them to oppose SB 5880 and protect students with diabetes in our schools. Click on Take Action Now to send your letter.
Take Action Now!
Want to do more? Call Sen. Jarrett
(360) 786-7573 and express your opposition to SB 5880!

Thank you for being a Diabetes Advocate!

Laura KellerAdvocacy Director - Northwest/Pacific
RegionAmerican Diabetes Association

As if these kids don't have enough things to worry about now there is this. Thank you, Washington State government!

Sain has already sent emails to the senators. Part of me is extremely proud of Sain's advocacy for her own cause but another part of me is sad and protective. School is supposed to be a safe place and Senator Jarrett doesn't seem to understand that.