My little Calapitter

It's been a long time since I've blogged.  I have blog posts rolling around my brain constantly, but you know, life.  Writing my thoughts and concerns helped me get through a pretty rough time.  I could still easily post a crazy WTF blog post daily about our regular day, but our diabetic world has changed so much in the last couple years, it has just become "normal" to us.

Madeline will be 8 in just a few short weeks.  Wow.  My little baby is almost finished with second grade and heading to college soon.  Ok, I exaggerate a bit, but where did that time go?  June will mark 6 years since she was diagnosed.  Looking back just makes me tired and irritable.  Or is that premenopause?  Whatever, moving on.

There will always be diabetes care.  Madeline has taken on the responsibility of testing, learning to count carbs, and entering numbers into her insulin pump.  There is still so much more she needs to learn before my little calapitter (as she says) can fly away from the cocoon (that's me apparently) as a butterfly.  She needs to learn pump set and insulin changes.  Insulin dosage via syringe in case of pump failure.  She will need to learn how to S.W.A.G. bolus (scientific wild ass guess), even though I never do this myself......cough, cough.  Night time alarm clocks to test, prescription orders and doctor appointments.  So, so much more to learn.  I need a nap just thinking about it.

My cell phone has become Madeline's freedom.  Play dates are actually happening.  I no longer need to rely on the adult in charge to freak out take care of the diabetic kid.  My instructions are simple: Madeline just needs to call me.  No more "Now at 3:00 she needs to test and, what?  No, she can't have super fudge extra chocolate double scoop ice cream for a small treat ....".  Now it goes down as "Hey sweetie!  What was your number?  Ok, snack carb in pump and have FUN!".  My little calapitter is growing her wings.  Unless it's a sleepover.  The thought of her going away on a sleepover scares the bajeesus out of me, so " we would love your child to sleep over!".  Again.


School is a big love of Madeline's.  She is an exceptional student and loves learning.  We have been blessed with the best school nurse we could have ever asked for too.   Madeline is allowed to test in the classroom and calls the nurse with her numbers (less health room = less germs= Mama happy).  Lunch is just a pop in and out of the nurses office for the supervised lunch insulin dose.  No more missing important class time.  

Our world is getting easier for us.  Routine is super important and Post-it Notes are the bomb.  What did the world do without those bad boys?  I used to have the memory of an elephant.  I retained everything like an encyclopedia.  Age?  Hormones?  Just don't give a shat syndrome?  I can't quite pinpoint the problem, but I have a lot of sticky notes.   An outsider looking in would think "how can you possibly do that every single day?".

My answer?  I'll get back to you as soon as I find that particular Post-it.