KD had her 3 month check up yesterday with the endocrinologist, or her diabetes doctor as I call her. Her A1C is at 8.4 our goal is 8. In Our Diabetes story I mentioned that the A1C is a test that measures a person’s average blood glucose level over the past 2 to 3 months. It was at 8.6, so I guess we are doing better! When she is an adult and better able to control her diabetes, her A1C goal will be around 6, so that gives you an idea of what we are shooting for.
During the visit, the doctor made an observation about her blood glucose numbers from the last three days. She said they had been in perfect range, very rare for KD. She asked if we had done anything different. I couldn’t think of one thing. The diabetes instructor, not a doctor but a very knowledgeable nurse practitioner that helps diabetes families, asked about her site. That triggered a thought. The last infusion set I had put in I put a bit too much on the side. In fact, I had been worried that it was too far over. KD will only wear the infusion sets on the backs of her arms and it usually goes right on the “fatty” part of her arm. Well, as it turns out, putting it over to the side had given her a fresh new area and the insulin probably flowed much easier on this new fresh site.
Like I said in my post about Kd’s story, I am learning something all the time about diabetes. Today I learned that over time her arms have become “calloused” in a way. Injecting (or in our case putting an infusion set) in the same place much of the time can cause hard lumps or extra fat deposits to develop. These lumps can change the way insulin is absorbed, making it more difficult to keep your blood glucose on target. So even though we rotate from arm to arm, we need to find other places to put her infusion set.
As a pump user, KD changes her site every 3 days. So her arms only have 3 days to rest in between site changes. Now, by using another spot, we are trying her tummy, she will give her arms 9 days to rest.
There are other spots to try including the love handle, buttocks, and thighs. The only problem is the person has to have a nice fatty spot to insert the infusion set. KD is far from fat, so we have very limited places where the set can go.
. Both Ramsey and this article suggests paying only minimums on credit cards and prioritize building up to $1.000 in a savings account. Once that emergency fund is set, begin paying off your debt. The reason behind the emergency fund is probably obvious; when you have an emergency (new car tires, air conditioner busted) you have those funds to pay with instead of using a credit card. If, and when, you need to pull out of the emergency fund, Ramsey’s suggests you go back to paying minimums on your credit cards and build it back to the $1,000 mark. Then once again return to your debt elimination plan.
by Charles R.Swindoll. In one of his devotions he asks “What is your favorite feeling?” I immediately thought of my worst feeling. The worst feeling in the world is feeling like a failure. I get a knot in my stomach, my shoulders slump, and my eyes are downcast. I have had that feeling many times in my life. My whole life I spent trying to please my Dad and others. I didn’t want to disappoint anyone. I had to be the perfect daughter, the perfect friend, the perfect everything. I transferred that desire to please to God as well. However, since I am human and a sinner, I never felt like I could please God enough. He was, well, God. I felt I was constantly letting him down. I always felt like a failure. At one point, I even gave up. I thought, “I will never be good enough and never, ever do the right thing all the time”. Then something wonderful happened. I read a verse in the Bible, that said “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God-not by works, so that no one can boast” Ephesians 2:8-9. I had read this verse before, but that day it spoke to me loud and clear. There wasn’t ANYTHING I did or didn’t do that gave me God’s stamp of approval. I could not BE good enough. It was all done for me by Jesus at the cross.