Going Live!

We had four families in our pump class this morning.  Two chose Medtronic, one chose Animas, and one chose the new T-Slim.  I have to say that the new T-Slim is REALLY sleek looking.  I can see that pump being very popular with the teens since it looks like a cell phone.  It would be very discreet when dosing.

One of the mothers was telling me that her, her daughter, and her son all were diagnosed in 2012 with diabetes all within 6 months of each other. WOW!  I cannot even imagine coping with that all at once.

When the meeting started, we had to provide the nutritionist with the amount of carbs that we would like to set for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks for the next week.  We only have a +/- 2 either way.  This will help to keep things consistent and give us a better feel when making adjustments.  I have to call in to the hospital with numbers each morning and call immediately if Andrew has more than 2 lows in one day.

Well......of course.........our first blood sugar check 2 hours after starting the pump was a low of 54!  We were able to treat and enjoy a lunch out on the town.  Andrew had a baked fish sandwich on a gluten free bun, steamed broccoli and a glass of milk.

Our afternoon test was 80, so we'll see where it goes.  It's anyone's guess when it comes to diabetes.

Things are a Changin'

It has been just over 2 years since Andrew was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. Throughout his honeymoon, we've been able to only use fast acting insulin to control his numbers, and Carb counting has only included starchy carbs. His A1C was 7.6 at diagnosis and reduced to 5.0 over the past couple of years. So far, his morning fasting numbers have been normal (under 100) without long acting insulin. Things have been changing this past week. It has really caught me off guard. His numbers have risen into the upper 200's. This is with the normal carb ratio of 1:30 (1 unit of insulin for every 30g carbs consumed), and his morning numbers have also started to rise between 100 - 120. Full blown diabetes is staring me right in the face! I always knew that his honeymoon would eventually come to an end, but now I'm feeling a little nervous. I've actually got in a nice groove with his "behaving" diabetes. I don't think I'm going to be liking the "other side"! I guess the only thing I can do is wait it out a little. I will be contacting his endo. on Monday to go over this past weeks numbers. I'll keep you updated.

Punch in the gut

Tonight at VBS the kids played a game of question/answer so they could get to know each other better.   All of the kids made a large circle and passed around a beach ball with questions on it.  Whoever caught the ball had to answer one of the question where their thumb was sitting.

Andrews question was "If you could go backwards or forward, what would you change?"

His answer: "I would go backwards so that I would have never gotten diabetes and celiac."

PUNCH TO MY GUT!

It's like no matter what, diabetes is ALWAYS in the picture.   One thing I'm extremely thankful for is that he is not embarrassed of his diabetes.  I've always been open with his testing and shots.   He lays all his stuff out during snacks at VBS and I give his shot right there.

The kids in his VBS are kids that he's known for sometime now which softens my heart because they don't judge him.  They accept him for who he is......ONE AWESOME KID!

Surviving Gluten Free at Hotels

Staying in a hotel can be extremely challenging for people with celiac disease.  Most hotels offer a buffet where there are too many opportunities for cross contamination.

I did several things to keep our son safe during our hotel stays.

• I purchased some Toast it bags before we left.  Make sure that you definitely buy more than a 2 pack.  At one hotel, I had sat them down on the table and the person cleaning the dining area picked them up and threw them away.  Also, you might want to check with the hotel before you go to make sure that they have a regular toaster available.  A lot of hotels use the kind that you place the bread on a little conveyor belt and it drops to the bottom when it's done.  If this is the case, the toaster bags cannot be used.  

There was also a time when the employee had to take the bags into their kitchen to use the regular toaster.  I had to reinforce them that the bread stays IN THE BAG and to not touch the inside of the bag.  Keep in mind that it might take more than 1 time in the toaster to get it toasted to your liking.

• I made sure that I could have a refrigerator and microwave in our room.  Before we arrived at the hotel, I located a nearby grocery store and purchased a small carton on eggs and a bag of shredded cheese.  Prior to the trip, I purchased a plastic microwave omelet container like the one shown below.  If you will not have a microwave in your room, I would check to see if there would be one that you could use.  Make sure you pack a little bottle of dishwashing liquid to wash it when you're finished.

• At the grocery store, I also purchased a quart of milk for cereal.  I packed a box of Rice Chex, Splenda and plastic silverware.

• Since Andrew has diabetes, I also packed some measuring cups and a food scale.

Gluten Free at Raglan Road Irish Pub - Orlando

Raglan Road Irish Pub, in Downtown Disney Orlando,  was a special treat for all of us.  The food was delicious and the riverdance performers were great entertainment.

I made our reservation prior to leaving for our vacation.  They do book up quickly!  After our drink order was taken, the chef came directly to our table and spoke to us about Andrew's gluten allergy.  We didn't get past the gluten free fish & chips option so I'm not even sure what other gluten free options they offer.

Their gluten free fish and chips consist of a beautiful fish fillet fried in champagne and garbanzo flour.  Their fish and chips are fried in a designated gluten free fryer.  The portion could have been larger, but it left room for dessert.  Andrew said they were delicious!

The chef also made Andrew a side of steamed broccoli.

The rest of us ordered the regular fish and chips and they were also very DELICIOUS!  I highly recommend Raglan!

Gluten Free at Planet Hollywood - Orlando

Planet Hollywood is a neat restaurant worth visiting if you are a movie buff.  Just beware of the loud music.

As soon as we were seated and told the server that our son had a gluten allergy, he immediately had the chef come to our table.  The chef asked what Andrew liked to eat.  They could have done a cheeseburger with a gluten free bun, but he wasn't in the mood for that.  He really wanted nachos, but the chips were fried in the same fryer as wheat.

He decided on the gluten free chicken fajitas.  It consisted of grilled chicken over onions and peppers, white rice, cheese, lettuce and corn tortillas.  I asked it to come without white rice because it would do too much havoc on Andrew's blood sugar.

WARNING:  THIS IS THE WHEAT VERSION!

If your dish looks like this DO NOT eat it!

The pictured dish showed up at our table and before Andrew could even get his fork to his chicken, a lady came sprinting out from the kitchen and grabbed it from him.  The rice that was on his dish was not white, it was a seasoned WHEAT rice!  Thank goodness he's not crazy about rice and didn't taste it right away.  That would have been a horrible thing to have a bad reaction on the 1st. day of vacation.

The new dish showed up perfect, without rice,  and Andrew absolutely LOVED it!  Their corn tortillas were very thin and yummy.

Fun at Downtown Disney Orlando

Downtown Disney - Orlando

Our kids LOVE the Lego Store in Downtown Disney!  The above pictures feature displays completely made of Lego's.  There must be millions of them!  

For lunch, we visited Wolfgang Puck Express.  My husband and I enjoyed a delicious Margherita Pizza that had mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, tomato, fresh basil and tomato-basil-garlic sauce.   

Andrew enjoyed gluten free fish and chips at Raglan Road Restaurant.  I'm still in shock that we found gluten free breaded fish with french fries.  He absolutely LOVED them!  Disney really goes out of their way to offer gluten free options.  They were also helpful in getting carb counts for us.  Since I'm not used to guessing, it really was priceless information to us.

Andrew and his siblings had the opportunity to participate in a car race.  There was an area where they  constructed their own car creation from Lego's and then raced them down a ramp.  Whoever won the race got to keep their car.  Unfortunately, we were not winners.  They had fun anyway.

All the fun they had really worked up an appetite for dinner.  I had made reservations at Planet Hollywood prior to leaving for our vacation since they book up extremely quickly.  The food was good; however, the music is very loud!  We had to put some crumpled up napkin into our youngest son's ears.

As soon as we got in the car for our 16 hour car ride, the diet went right out the window.  When on vacation, you MUST have dessert!  We thoroughly enjoyed Ghirardelli and BabyCakes Gluten Free Bakery.  I will blog more about these later since they offered gluten free options which were AMAZING!

We're Back!

Off to Orlando, Florida

Well, we survived 2400 miles in the car round trip.  We had a blast and I'll be blogging about our adventures after I unpack and wash mounds of dirty laundry.  I think I need a vacation after our vacation.lol

Andrew's diabetes and celiac were definitely in tow, but remained manageable.  The hardest part for us was finding gluten free foods.  Sometimes we were sent on a wild goose chase for an hour just to find an acceptable restaurant.  He definitely had his fair share of bunless cheeseburgers since that was the most available gluten free option.

I learned one amazing lesson on this trip:  don't let diabetes define Andrew.  Yes he has diabetes, but it will never hold him back!  Andrew snorkeled with beautiful fish and stingrays, swam with dolphins, rode roller coasters with multiple loops, swam in the ocean, rode water slides and ate many SUGARY TREATS (because he can)!

Their smiles above are just priceless!