I'm Not a Doctor, But I Play One When I Watch TV

I'm a regular viewer of Army Wives. It's a cheesy, soapy kind of series on Lifetime, but I like it.

A couple of episodes ago, Claudia Joy would mention how thirsty she was and take a swig of water. It was very subtle and not much attention was brought to it on the show. Not another mention was brought about it following her swig.

But, I immediately zoned in on it and thought, "Ha, I bet she has diabetes."

On the next episode, they alluded to her being told devastating news after a car accident.

I thought, "I'll bet she's diagnosed with diabetes. Now will it be Type 1 or 2. What a cliffhanger!"

During that episode, she complained she wasn't feeling well. And then she asked someone for some water because she was thirsty.

She and one of the Army Wives were driving at night and her vision blurred. They got into an accident after she swerved out of the way of a car whose lane she passed into.

At the hospital, they did regular blood work that night. The next morning, the doctor mentioned that they saw her blood sugar was high and thought maybe stress from the accident caused it, so they did another blood work up that morning and found it to be high again. He told her to follow up with her physician.

I was like, "Damn! I should be a doctor! I'm feeling so House right now."

So, at the end, she's diagnosed with Type 2. It was an educational scene for the viewers. I was impressed that the TV doc was very thorough and pretty accurate with the info she gave Claudia Joy about Type 2 and the fact that even though she is thin and fit, she could still get Type 2.

This past episode shows Claudia Joy taking insulin because the doc wanted to get her started on that therapy right away.

So of course, I'm making sure that the technical part to this scene is accurate, LOL.

She didn't exactly get the air in correctly, but I'll let that pass. No biggie.

She did draw out the insulin correctly, did not tap out bubbles though, and she didn't go nuts over pushing out the insulin to get the correct dosage.

I remember eyeballing the bejeesus out of that syringe to make sure the plunger met up with the correct markings on the syringe. I was always cross-eyed.

OK, anyway, not much TV time can be taken up measuring out the insulin.

But when she injected it into her stomach, she rubbed the spot afterwards.

I was thinking, "Don't rub it! You're not supposed to rub it!"

Anywho, yeah...I'm a stickler for accurate diabetes portrayal. This will probably play out for a few episodes and then be forgotten about. But, I will watch like a hawk in the meantime to see if they do the Type 2 justice.

Hey There, Ho There....

How has everyone been doing? Sorry I've been MIA for longer than I've ever been since starting this blog, but frankly, I didn't know what to write about anymore.

Brendon has been doing spectacular with baseball, not so much with diabetes. We're going through a transition into him receiving more independence with his care and us trying to teach him how to be responsible with his independence.

He'll probably have his worst A1C since he was diagnosed....we have an endo appointment tomorrow. BUT, I'm hoping for better of course.

He's happy, read all of the Harry Potter books since school ended, and has played baseball nearly everyday for two different teams since Spring.

Here is as starting pitcher for the playoff game:

Anyone Know Why the Cozmo Pump is Discontinued?

We got a letter in the mail saying Smiths Medical isn't providing the Cozmo pump for direct sale anymore. But, they're honoring the warranty for all old and new customers. We have 4 years left on ours, but it sucks that now we'll have to switch after that time.

Has anyone heard about why they've discontinued the Cozmo?

Gettin' The Itch.....

My poor neglected blog needs some TLC. So here's some cow bell to get it revved up again:

This morning I was awakened to three little munchkins jib jabbering about the leprechaun coming.

"Let’s see if the Leprechaun came."

"The Leprechaun came!!! WOOHOOOOO!!"

"He left us chocolates!"

"The Leprechaun took the money!"

Background story:

Yesterday, Jacob told me that he and his class built a leprechaun trap to leave in class and that maybe he’d leave them gold coins and candy. He was mostly hoping that the trap would capture the leprechaun himself. He’s been working on earning a pet and a leprechaun would be the best pet ever!!

But Jakey got greedy and wanted to build a trap at home too. I didn’t think of the ramifications at the time.

Later that night while I was cooking dinner, he and Jessica constructed a trap made of a cardboard box and some green cellophane wrapping paper.

"Leprechauns LOVE green!"

They wrapped the box inside and out using a whole damned bottle of Elmer’s glue!

Then they set the trap by propping the box up with a green notebook and a gold basketball trophy.

The kids all went to bed and now it was time for the leprechaun to come and trick ‘em!

The leprechaun couldn’t leave candy because there was no junk food to leave. Grrrrrr…..

No Sakajawea coins were laying around. So no gold leave. Grrrr……

ROCKS! Leprechaun will leave them rocks as a trick for trying to trap him.

But all the mangy rocks in the house that were collected by the kids were tossed out. Grrrrr…..

Aha! Chocolates!

So I asked Jeff where he hid my chocolates that he bought me for my birthday and that are offlimits because of all the working out I'm doing. He said they were on his shelf in the closet.

"You’re kidding me! I looked for them there one day and never found them." Grrrr……

He said they were hidden in a shoebox on his shelf.

I got them down and put a few under the box, took the sh*tload of coins the kids left and called it a night.

A Christmas Story(s)

Jessica: Does Santa go around stealing toys from stores?

Me: No, he doesn't do that. Why are you asking?

Jessica: Then how does he get the toys?

Me: The elves make them.

Jessica: How do they make them look like the ones in the store?

Me: They're magic.

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(Background story: I was decorating the family room for Christmas and Jacob asked me if the family room were clean, would that make Santa happy. I told him it would make him VERY happy. So he said "OKaaa-aay, I'm going to clean the family room. Sure enough, he did just that and the family room was completely spotless! And he even placed some more decorations around the room. It actually looked really nice for the work of a 5 year old)

Jakey: Dad, will we be here for Christmas?

Jeff: No, we'll be in New Jersey.

Jakey: Then how will Santa give us our gifts?

Jeff: He'll know where you are and deliver them to Aunt J's house.

Jakey: Awww man! Does that mean we have to clean another family room?

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Jessica: Does Santa really exist?

Me: Yes he does.

Jessica: Oh yeah? PROVE it!

Me: I can't. He's magic.

I want to wish you all a very Merry Christmahanukwanza.

The List

1. Brendon's school nurse quit and no one knew about it until the new school nurse was announced over the speaker during morning announcements....this was 2 weeks after she quit. The new nurse never worked with kids with diabetes before. In the meantime, he was dealing with a substitute nurse who called me to tell me what a pleasure it was to work with Brendon.

2. Jessica went to the school nurse with chest pain and we talked about it that night at dinner. Brendon suggested that maybe she has amnesia. He meant pneumonia.

3. I've been going to the gym and have lost 13 pounds. I need to lose more.

4. I have nothing else to talk about.

This video is so twisted, which is probably why I think it's funny as hell.

Puketober Fest 2008

All day yesterday I was getting calls from the school nurse reporting Brendon’s blood sugar readings and how at one point he looked pale and clammy. I chalked it up to his blood sugar dropping since...well... it was dropping from the last time she checked him. So she treated him with a juice and a snack.

At 3 p.m., she called again saying he never ate his lunch and he was currently laying down in her office and didn’t want to send him home on the bus. He didn’t eat his lunch? Oh, yeah, he’s definitely sick. So I picked him up, got him home, and all he wanted to do was lay down in bed. No fever, blood sugars were good. Maybe he’s catching a cold or something.

Fast forward to 9 p.m. Now mind you, he hadn’t eaten lunch nor did he eat dinner. HIGHLY unusual for this kid, btw.

Back to 9 p.m. He calls out: "MOM!!…I JUST THREW UP!!" (oh yeah, call for mom on that one, haha) and Jeff and I run upstairs to witness him in the bathroom, bent over the tub, with a lake of puke on the bathroom floor. He informs us that he threw up in bed too.

Where the hell did he get all this puke from?? He hadn’t eaten anything all day!

Oh, the joys of parenthood!

So Jeff gets a large trash bag, wraps up the comforter and sheets, and just throws the whole thing out.

Meanwhile, I’m stuck sopping up the damn puke in the bathroom.

But, his blood sugar behaved all night, THANKFULLY, and he's home from school today. He's fine, but I'm making him rest anyway.

I'm missing a lunch date today with a friend of mine....a SUSHI lunch date....and a party in NJ this weekend where all of my college girlfriends will be gathered for the first time in years.

Ah well. C'est la vie. Such is the life of a parent.