Baseball is great!

Hunter hitting the ball (1 of 2 hits for the night)!

Beating out the throw to 1st--That's an accomplishment considering Andy B. is playing first base.

Stealing 2nd base

Hunter's first two games have not been the best for the team. We've lost them both, but I do see improvement. Hopefully the team will "gel" and come together! Here are some much requested pictures of Hunter. I look forward to getting my zoom lens in order to get some better ones. For now, I just settle on cropping them in my photo editing software.

Here's Hunter! He's #17 this year. Go Dodgers!

More to come......

Busy, multi-tasker or Adult ADHD--you be the judge

Why can I never seem to finish anything? Sometimes I think it's just because I'm "too busy". In my defense, I DO have a lot of things on my plate (but who else doesn't). Yes, I work 40 hours a week outside the home, as many as I can inside my home, spend time at many sporting events with my kids, spend as much time with my family as I can, volunteer in many facets, etc. Does that mean that I shouldn't finish things? Absolutely not!



I start of great--whether it comes to cleaning, diets, or whatever. Then, before you know it.........crash & burn! I get distracted, it's time to leave, I get discouraged. Maybe that's why I love to scrapbook. Even when you finish one, you can still add to it. Or even if you can't or don't want to, there's always more pictures to scrap.



Do you think it might be a touch of adult ADHD? I'm not making fun--I'm serious! If you call me, I will listen and once I drop off the conversation....just yell and get me back! I get engrossed in things some times and just don't pay attention. I used to think of myself as a great multi-tasker, but now I feel like I can listen to several conversations at once, but I can't process them. I get bits and pieces from each. Or, it could be that I'm just getting older. Well, that's not my favorite choice, but probably the right one.

Well, I better go....lots more things to half do today, and lots I HAVE to complete! ;)

Anyone else feel the same way?

Take me out to the ballgame....

I'm so excited about Hunter's first baseball game tonight! We finally get to play. With all this rain we've had, plus being in the upper league this year, it's been a slow start. I look forward to adding some pictures of the ballfield and Hunter soon. It is a beautiful day!

See ya soon!
Rebecca

Hunter's new device

I thought if you read my last blog that you might be a little confused. I asked Hunter today if he minded if I took some pics of him while he changed his pump and glucose sensor. So, here is a step by step view of what he does and what these devices look like. It's really interesting if you've never seen anyone with Type 1. :)

Hunter's tools.

Regular blood glucose monitor, insulin pump w/tubing and reservoir to hold insulin, quickserter to help insert the pump site, insulin, sensor site, softserter to help insert the sensor site and sensor w/charger to keep the battery charged in the sensor.

Putting insulin into the reservoir.

"Priming" the pump--making sure the insulin is through the tubing.

The sensor....this monitors his blood sugar (with the attached half moon electronic part).

Here are both his sites. The one on the left is his pump site that delivers insulin. The one on the right is his sensor that remotes his blood sugar to his pump.

That's a little about what he does. We are so blessed for this technology to be possible! We thank God each day that He gives the doctors and other medical professionals the knowledge to create things like this that make lives better!

A new chapter

I know most of you who read my blog know us on a personal basis. If you don't, I'll give you just a little background and that will help you understand why today was so special to me.

Our youngest son, Hunter, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on January 29th, 2004 at the age of 8. He was in 3rd grade. Hunter has never let this slow him down and we have never let him use this as an excuse or a crutch. If you want to know more about his story, just ask. I don't want to bore you with all the details. Seriously if you know someone dealing with this, please feel free to have them contact me. Now, on to how special today was!

Today, April 9th, is the day that Hunter got to use his Real Time Glucose Monitoring System. You're saying "Woo-hoo. What does that mean?" :) Well, this system continuously reads his blood glucose (sugar) and sends that information to his insulin pump. This will help him keep a better management on his sugar levels and also allow him to have less finger sticks each day.

Hunter's daily routine right after being diagnosed was learning how to count carbs, checking his sugar around 10-13 times per day and using needles for insulin injections 4 times per day. Then we moved to the insulin pump after that first year. He went down to around 6-8 finger sticks a day and changing a pump site every 3 days. Now, going through the teenage years, we're still using the insulin pump, but are back to checking around 10-15 times per day! The pump has been great and was about as advanced as technology had gotten.

Well, having a child with any disease or disability has its challenges. We have prayed for a cure to Diabetes and believe it can happen during Hunter's lifetime. This is why we are active in our local walks for Diabetes. When we learned the Real Time Glucose Monitor (from now on I will abbreviate it as RTGM) had been approved, we were excited. Although it is still not an easily accesible item, it can be approved by insurance.

What the RTGM does is check Hunter's sugar and infrared that information to his insulin pump every 5 minutes. This will give him better control, better knowledge of highs and lows coming on and less finger sticks. It doesn't take the place of finger sticks (but that technology will definitely be here in his lifetime), but it will aleviate his need for so many during the course of a day.

So, today was a great day! Hunter learned how to use the RTGM and we also got a USB port that will upload all his information to a website where we (and most importantly his Endocrinologist) can review the data and find patterns and problems. We hope this will be a great asset to him and really help him live to his fullest by helping lower his risks for long term health problems.

We thank God each day for our children's health and for the people who work behind the scenes to use their talents to make this technology. :)