Rollah Coasta

  This song by the Ohio Players "Love Rollercoaster" has been going through my head since saturday and has been added to our "Diabetes Playlist Songs".  lol

After the walk we gathered our items and the husband of my BFF carried them out to their van.  We had already planned on going to their house for dinner that evening and then I offered tickets and lunch vouchers to hang out with us at the Amusement Park.  It didn't take much convincing for them to stay.  Hopefully they enjoyed it as much as we did.  I think so.  We sunscreened, reiterated ground rules, talked about safety concerns and where we'd meet if we got lost and then headed in. 

It was right around 10am.  Last time I checked Sugar Bear's sugar was on the walk when it was 189.  I figured we had some time and could walk and maybe even ride before food.

Although Sugar Bear may have already been hungry.  hehe  One of the first things the kids saw and thought was pretty neat.  My Sugar Bear loves his mac and cheese.  Hey, little man, did you test first?  And I have no idea how many carbs that one noodle has but my guess is I don't have enough insulin to help you cover it.  It was so great to have our "extended" family go with us.  These kids have seriously grown up together.  They are basically like siblings or cousins just minus that genetic blood connection.  Sugar Bear and the little punky girl are only three weeks apart.  She's taller but he's older.  ;) 

We then went to our first roller coaster, The Vortex.  Before going on I decided we should check BS as the kit and all our stuff was going to stay with my Mom and my friend as they were sitting this ride out.  BS 107.  The lowest he got while in the Amusement Park.  Actually in range but such a drop in less than an hour and a half that I decided to give him a juicy juice before riding.  There was no wait.  We got on right away!  We did not ride all the way in front.  I rode with Sugar Bear.  My friend rode with his daughter.  And the teenager rode with his buddy.  Sugar Bear and the Teenager said it was terrifying, but they both, especially Sugar Bear, seemed to enjoy it.  We went for lunch after that.  We had pizza and breadsticks.  We left off two units of insulin!

Then we went to ride more rides, play in the arcade, more rides, dippin dots, 80s store, carousal, and then home. 

He had some issues at the end of the park day but once he was in the car and had a brownie he "perked" right back up.  We ended up still going to our friends house for dinner and hung out there til 9:30 ish, with more play in the backyard.  Lot's of activity.  But when we got home and tested at 10 he was 155.  We did it!  (and I started to celebrate a little too soon).  Everyone went to bed and when I went to check on him at midnight he was low.  I tried to wake him like I usually do and typically he's easy and drinks his juice and goes right back to sleep.  Not so much this night.  He fought me.  He tried to knock the juice out of my hands.  He did the "not there" cry and it was awful.  Trying to get him to drink was almost impossible.  Somehow I managed.  I didn't sleep more than two hours as I had to keep checking on him.  By morning he was fine without one memory of the late evening. 

He immediately wanted to know if we could do it again.  

You bet, Sugar Bear, just give Mommy a little time to recover.

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.

Still Young

Since the endo appointment Sugar bear has given himself shots in the arms and legs.  He's doing one a day.  He's also testing his BS once a day too.  I'm so impressed with him.  He did forget one day to give himself a shot (don't worry, we gave all of them) and he started crying because he is "supposed" to do it.  I explained to him that it was okay and he doesn't have to stress.  As long as he is homeschooled and we are there for him I don't see pushing him to do too much.  He has his whole life to give multiple daily shots.  I want him to be as much of a kid without all that worry for as long as he can.

Hubby is going out of town Thursday to Sunday late, but I won't be flying solo.  (I have to work after all on Friday and possibly Sunday).  So my beautiful Mom will be coming to help Thursday night and staying with us til Sunday.  Our JDRF walk is Saturday.  It's going to be a fun few days!