Our First JDRF Walk

I couldn't have done it without my Mom.  She is super amazing and I love her so much.  My strength and persistence and positivity and hope come from her.  She is a big reason I am who I am.

I had Thursday off work.  Hubby left to start his travels to another state for his college reunion before I even left to take the teenager to school.  Dropped teenager off, came home for breakfast and then headed to the orthodontist for Sugar Bear.  Came home for lunch and hung out for a little bit and then went to pick up teenager around 3.  When we all got back home, Mom/Nanny was there!  While we were leaving the orthodontist Sugar Bear checked his                          

BS.     

He was high but we corrected at lunch.  So with Mom here we did a refresher course on type 1 diabetes care.  

Mom was definitely a bit nervous, but the boys adore her and she is one of the strongest women I know.  And she loves them absolutely.

She got to practice a little Thursday night before I went to work Friday.  A few hiccups, but Sugar Bear said he'd help her.  I took teenager to school on Friday; did Sugar Bear's breakfast testing and food and insulin and then went to work.  No news is good news.  I did call at my lunch which was two hours after Sugar Bear's and found out that Sugar Bear told Nanny he didn't need a correction.  He was 159.  Nanny corrected at snack!  All was well.  Friday not one number was in range!  They all were high with one low.  I chalked it up to being excited about Nanny and the walk.  Got everybody in bed around 10 for the 6am hit the road the next morning.  

On Saturday we ended up leaving about ten minutes after 6.  Sugar bear's BS at 6am was 164. He had breakfast on the road and we had to stop about fifteen minutes into the drive to give insulin.  I did not correct since we were about to walk a 3k at Kings Island and I wasn't sure if we would be staying afterwards or not (up to Sugar Bear and at this point he was saying no).  We had never taken the boys to an amusement park.  They'd been to county fairgrounds and loved that so I really wasn't sure.  We were almost there then the teenage navigator said we were going the wrong way and I believed him.  We got turned around for about twenty minutes.  Now we were really late!  The walk was going to start promptly at 8 and we got there and parked with about ten minutes to get in, get vouchers and tickets we earned, pick up Sugar Bear's gift from Rufus, get the JDRF walk t-shirts for our group, and find our group.  Crazy stressful.  But it all worked out.  We weren't the last of our group to show up and three of our group that was there had to leave before the walk started.  We were the last group announced on the start of the walk.  And the walk began.

Sugar Bear has a "thing" about what he wears on his feet.  He won't wear socks because of the seam being uncomfortable and he won't wear enclosed shoes like sneakers because he says they are "uncomfortable".   He wore his crocs.  (We had a pair of feet surrounding sandals in the backpack for just in case he changed his mind.). The first part of the walk was, well, fairly boring.  There was a section that was a lot of stop and go.  You literally would walk five steps then stop and wait.  Since we were at the very back we had no idea why.  It did allow us time to read the backs of other people's shirts.  One that caught Sugar Bear's eye and made him chuckle said "We walk because her pancreas is lazy".  So the slow going had a purpose; they were spacing us out into this awesome dinosaur exhibit.  The dinosaurs were animatronic.  They moved and roared.  They were pretty neat!  

At this point we were probably half way through our walk or so.  Sugar Bear only complained about his feet a few times during the whole thing.  He had more issues with the random spiders on the walk in the dinosaur section.  It was pretty sweet how he walked and held my hand most of the time.  I really love this kid.  And this pic with the coasters behind us is one of my favorites from the walk.  Right after this came The Path Of Promise.  I was the only one in the group that new in advance that this was coming; I just didn't know where on the walk this would be happening.  

The Path of Promise. This part made me a bit teary eyed.  If you'd raised $200 as a team you could submit a picture of your Type 1 hero.  I didn't get a pic of all the signs, but let's just say it was overwhelming to me and definitely too many.  I want a cure for this disease so badly.  When I see so many children from little little ones to teenagers that have to deal with the realities of this awful monster, well, they are my heroes.  Sugar Bear's buddies spotted him first.

The walk was almost done. 

 

We did manage to have someone on the walk named Tim take our group photo.

Then it was just about the very end and Sugar Bear was acting a little funny.  I couldn't tell if he was high or low.  We tested.  While we were checking a volunteer asked if we were okay and another volunteer headed over with glucose tabs.  I didn't see either of these people as I was helping Sugar Bear but my Mom did.  I was grateful they were that concerned.  This is such a great group of volunteers.  Anyway, BS 289.  Highest for the day.  Again, we did not correct.  I pushed more water and we continued and finished our walk. Sugar Bear was tired but we did it.  Now it was time for the reward!  Roller Coasters.  But first a rest.