yeah I know could have posted sooner lol

Okay well lets see. First work has been well one word busy!! I love my job it is like a passion and therefore I am living the dream My dream. We have done a lot of summer calls this month you know what I am talking about kids playing doing what they should not and people getting beat by the summer heat ( People please drink water!!! ) lot more car wreaks and ohh yeah the summer college is out parties!! so needless to say I have worked on and on and on!! But I do not complain my friends because I do have a job that puts a roof over my head and food on the table and I kinda like it!!. Now with the diabetes all is okay I was saved by a great friend when my order shipping got mixed up and so I was soon to be out of infusion sets but they arrive tomorrow and she helped me till them TY you know who you are!! umm still a problem though they are sending the wrong infusion sets so I have to send the others back and get the right ones but it will take 3 days total and I will be good till the right ones get here. So summer I personally love it my birthday was last monday and now I am old lol J/K and I worked on my birthday what a day to my patients were gifting me left and right one guy with the smell of a ruptured abdominal cyst!! ( yuck so ugh they stink beyond belief if you didn't know ) another with the gift of throwing up on my shoes ( better then my shirt I guess ) and the best of all the one I will never forget and brought tears to my eyes an 12 yr old little guy. He was hit by a passing car while riding his bike. We get there and the feeling or Vib you got was no way is this kid going to make it but I am stubborn so lets see it ( guess you got to be stubborn for the job ) flat line again and again but ohh wait in the bus is there a glimpse of light?? yes a fixable rhythm..... Shock him!! we did and by Gods hands we got him back not great vitals but good enough to pass him to the trauma docs to do their job. Today he is alive a sweet 12 yr old at that he loves his DS and can't wait to get to his friends again he joked as to why could this could not have happened to him during school time we all laughed but knew he was lucky to be here. I just had to stop by and see him he is so full of like and when he grows up now he wants to be a medic!! ( yes another for the team !! ) that in its self made my birthday so worth it!! Well soccer games are starting up again not the world cup we will talk about that in a min. but pick up games and rec leagues so I am excited to help out with the rec leagues this yr we have some great players!! Now on to world cup first off these are just my thoughts so please take them with a grain of salt. USA out, unfortunately we did not win v.s Ghana but Germany on the other hand beat england!! that rocked my socks off!! Arg V.S Mexico well Arg took it with flying colors which is what I expected. Arg V.S Germany should be a good game I will be working but that is what your cell is for these days people!! and if I am in station then the game will be on no if ands or but's guys!! umm this weekend I work one day but folks how this happened to me I don't know but the EMS God motorola must be mad at me because I have to work 4th of july!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!! yes I am running away now!! people fireworks are dangerous if not handled properly just like the grill and drinking!! then there is the whole don't and I mean DO NOT!!! drink and drive!!! it is not worth the pain and suffering you will go through not to mention the pain and suffering the people who you may hit or your family might endure. Taxis are there for a reason people!!! and if you get burned do not put butter on it geeze go to the doc and see what he says as I am no doc and will not give you med advice as I prefer not to be sued ty. Enjoy this holiday with your family and friends and be blessed we get to celebrate it free!! I am off to do work things like stock the truck and hope my EMT - I newbie does not kill me with his driving. Safe days people!!

The call I never wanted

I have been a medic for 9 yrs now and you would think nothing could phase me but this call did. It was late we were at Waffle house eating ( love the food and 24 hr service ) A call comes over the radio and it is to a very well known home, but not for drugs or stupid stuff but instead for a 12 yr old little boy with leukemia. His mom had called because he was in horrible pain ( this kid is amazing has the highest threshold for pain of anyone I know ) and struggling to catch his breath. I knew it was going to be a bad call as this is his third relapse. We get there and this sweet little guy in his pj pants and under a blanket while watching his fav T.V show house. ( I asked him once why that show and he said to me " Dr. house can fix anyone so maybe there is a doctor who could fix me? ) Tears were in my eyes the day he said that. I go up to him and ask him whats going on and how can I help? he looked at me in the eyes and said it hurts so bad and I just don't feel right. So I get vitals and he is really bad off his pulse was 192 from dehydration and his blood pressure was 80/55 and breathing was 33 so I pack him up and had to start a line since he has a port and we can't access it. I push the pain meds and get some fluid going and off we go with mom following us. he looks me in the eye and said the one thing I didn't want to hear " I am ready to die " I paused for a moment to try and keep my self dry eyed he said he didn't want to tell his mom that he couldn't go because no one would be there for his mom. I was so amazed at this young man he is looking at death tired of the pain and treatments and where his life is right now but none of that worried him like his mom's feelings and care. You could just see it in him he was so weak and pale and small and just all out ready to get rid of this cancer. I said the one thing I knew to say and that was your mom is going to weep when you go and she is going to pray for you and miss you but most of all she is going to be so relieved that you are no longer in pain and that you will be healthy again and that is what is going to get her through. and your job will be to keep an eye on her from up above. This was his third relapse and he so deserved freedom from that cancer. ( I had the same leukemia he did when I was 14 but it was caught early and I was cleared of it after 3 yrs. ) He was so strong and he wanted to be that way for his mom he would not cry in front of her nor complain. We got him to the hospital with his fav quilt his mom made and his gameboy or whatever those new things are and we took him in to the children's hospital where he is known and his fav nurse was working ( thank goodness ) Today I found out he passed on due to infection raiding his body. I cried for his mom as she is at a loss I will go see her today after class is over and for him to be pain free and able to run and play like a normal kid. I know in medicine we are taught to not let things get to us but this little guy was amazing and I've known him since before I left GA and weird enough I took him for his last ambulance ride. Please keep the mom in your prayers I will not post names but just know that she needs them right now.

Numbers, and crazy laws

Highs and lows come with the D territory and we all know this but sometimes I just feel like my whole life even whole days is based on a number on A meter. !20 Yeah baby! 201 seriously? what the crap? 42 how low can you go? all of these numbers can happen all in one day trust me I know it just happened yesterday lol. You get happy for the good numbers and feel like a failure for the highs and seriously don't understand the lows although that might be because your mind is way off the rocker with a low. I hated going to the Endo's office for the longest time as it was always the three month A1C check and I would sit in that cold room waiting for the ever so important number and the judgement that might follow good or bad. I have a great endo now and that is no longer an issue he just says we will get through this together. I like the sound of that I mean it makes me feel like I am a part of the team.

On another note I wanted to address another issue a fellow blogger posted at diabetics corner booth. He posted about CA where a judge has ruled that school nurses are the only ones allowed to administer care to D kids. Now I don't know about you but me being a medic sees a lot of 911 calls for help at schools since there is a huge nurse shortage. these schools have nurses maybe twice a week or if lucky 3 days a week. seriously no insulin or Glucagon is allowed to be given by anyone other then the school nurse. now I understand the issues of what if they are low and someone gives them insulin? Parents of D kids are great teachers they could train anyone to care for their child like ensuring the person in charge of helping when needed knows to check BG first before treating and what the plan is for treating a low or a high. My parents were great they made me take my lunch to school and put the carb count of every single item in the box so if I didn't eat something it could be subtracted from the amount of listed carbs to adjust my dose. They taught my teachers what to watch out for with low symptoms and how to treat it. Lucky for me I only went low like 4 times in my whole school yrs. My coaches were taught to make me test before playing in practice and in games as well as during half time. they always had me covered heck I think the whole team knew how to look out for me. I was lucky but the D kids in CA are not so lucky this really can put a child's life in danger. seriously it just makes me mad thinking about it. how does this follow a child's 504 plan?

Life in Ga

I love this state I really do it is full of great people and I love the weather. Since moving I have had yet to unpack fully unless you count stuff being in the Apt but just on the floor. I am not used to no washer or dryer in my places so I had to use a laundry place where you put the coins in. Not horrible though I can manage to get all my clothes done in one load which is a lot btw. then one more load for my towels sheets and blankets. never could do that with my little washer and dryer back home. I have found a great set of doctors for my diabetes team and some wonderful dietician and diabetes educators. I found a great gym on post here and it is great and free!! I am still loving this place called Marietta square it is so cool they have little festivals and bazaars and great food it is like Marietta from the older days. but a beautiful place for pictures and just to walk around in the park. I am loving work the guys are great and really made me feel welcome. The fire dept I work for is in a nice area so a lot of our calls are legit for the most part unless it is for spoiled teens and college kids with a drug or drinking habit. Now someone please explain to me why you would buy a fast nice car for a 16 yr old? I mean do you want to go through the pain of losing your kid to a car wreck we all knowhow we were when we got our first cars very inexperinced and accident prone. I had the unfortunate job of working a wreck of a kid who was 16 who wrapped the car around he tree I mean head lights were touching tail lights. He didn't make it even with life flight to the hospital his injuries were bad. Open tib/fib fracture. laceration to the liver and spleen and subdural hematoma so he was circling the drain the who time and just didn't make it. These things remind me when I have kids one day to number 1 buy a really slow car 2. teach them so they will be safe. although as a parent there is only o much you can do before it becomes the teens decision. Lord be with that family. As for diabetes front well all is doing well for the most part and so I am now looking into different bolusing techniques and I have found so far that a bolus 20 mins before the meal really helps my 2 hr after meal sugars. So that is all for now. God Bless

Please tell me I am not the only one who has done this

So I am on a mini med pump and I love it but the darn thing stopped working like the buttons wouldn't do their job so I had to send it in for a overnight replacement except i had to wait for two days since it was Saturday. no problem right? I have done my insulin pens before and took humalog since it is what I use in my pump and ugh lantus (so hard to figure out the dosing on that junk for me anyways. anyway my pump finally comes in on mon. at like 10a.m and I had taken lantus at 7 a.m that morning but since my brain was fried from the 24 hr shift I work I put my pump on set it all up and went on my happy way. Stupid me was trying to figure out why the sugars would not come up so the ER we go because it would not get above 40 mg/dl. then finally in the room it hit my friend ( hubby is in Iraq so I am with a friend till he gets back) "dude did you take the lantus this morning?" me : " um yeah oh crap stupid me!!! the doc comes in we tell him and I had to stay the night to let the lantus wear off and get my bg back in order but all because of a big stupid thing I didn't pay atten too. so if you read this let it be a lesson if this has never happened to you and if it has I won't feel as bad. LOL

She's only 2..............

This week has been hard and has changed my family forever as my niece Emma was dxed with type 1 diabetes like her mother and I. We never saw it coming. We know that yes there was a risk and it could happen but in our minds we were praying God would spare her and her childhood. The signs were so strong she was wetting the bed so much more and so tired she had lost 4 lbs and the amount of fluids this kid drank were astronomical! My heart sunk as w drove her to the doctors office and she was checked and her BG read high on the meter and so right to the children's healthcare of atl. The I.V was inserted and blood drawn as she watched the handy manny show like nothing was wrong. The E.R doctor arrives in the room with the news her BG was 891 and she was being sent to the ICU. She didn't understand that we would have to stay but I don't think it bothered he too much in the beginning as she was the center of atten. she got a JDRF bear and she picked out the color meter she wanted not that that really meant anything I mean she just pointed to the closest which was purple. She got to watch movies she picked out with her favorite nurse. She was so innocent and had no idea how her life was going to change until the first injection and finger prick. My sister stood there and just started to cry. she asked me how do we help her understand this is to save her life? I want her to know I am doing this because I love her. She looks at me and said please do this. I did. I looked at Emma and said sweetie I have to give you a shot so we can play and watch TV and have a popcicle and to keep you healthy. she looked at me with the big blue eyes and said okay. she put her bottom out from the pants and said don't hurt. With all of that I thought to myself what an amazing child! And at that second why her? She has been so brave and has stolen the heart o the whole nursing staff. her smile never goes away. she must take after her mom and I since she already sleeps through those 2 am BG checks. when lunch time came around today she looked at her mom and I doing our BG checks and said me too mommy I ave to do it too. she is so strong and I have yet to see this break her spirit. I am torn in the middle I am glad she got it now then later as she will not recall a life without diabetes and so the slight limits she will have will be the norm to hr. but at the same time I think to myself she is only 2 and her childhood is already gone. no win either way. We want to get her on the pump ASAP but it seems as we might have to wait till she is 3. We are lucky we live near a wonderful children's hospital with a top notch endo that my sister and I used when we were young so we know she is in the best of hands. I will never forget her words when we and the child life expert explained to her the dx. she looked up at us and said " it is okay mommy and auntie I can do it just like you and auntie" the bravest words I have ever heard out of the smallest mouth. She wants everything the same as us. meter check lancets check we got her colored case for meter. she picked out her med alert bracelet it is pink with hearts and the name plate. just like mommy's and she is excited she doesn't have to fight us for juice anymore. we will be released on friday and after that a whole new life as we know it. God bless our little Emma. thanks for listening as always.