Wishes for a Happy and Safe Halloween.. :D Uneventful in the world of Type 1 is always good too... ;)

Wow.. October came and went, in the blink of an eye.  How can it be that Halloween is actually tomorrow?  November is on the horizon which means the holidays are coming fast!!!  September was a month of trying to get back into the swing of things.  The dreadful routine of waking up at 5:30 a.m.  Packing lunches (slipping the carb. counts into the lunch bags) and trying to figure out how those crazy blood sugars are going to react to the school activities of the day.  October has been a very busy month... With sports winding down, we may be able to catch our breath before things get crazy again.  Kalee, my 15 year old has had diabetes for nine and a half years now.  In those almost ten years, I have never had to use a glucagon emergency injection.. (I guess there is a first time for everything).  About three weeks ago, following a vigorous soccer practice Kalee came home feeling low.  Her blood sugar was in the 60's so we gave her some sugar..  waited until she seemed to feel better, then she quickly jumped into the shower.  She came out feeling low again, so I immediately gave her orange juice.  She didn't look right as I held the cup to her mouth while she swallowed..  Kalee's eyes became glassy as I tested her blood sugar again.. The meter read 22.  As, I tried with all of my strength not to allow panic to set in, I quickly realized that Kalee was now unable to swallow any juice.  As I stirred about my kitchen fumbling for the cabinet where I keep the glucagon, I pleaded out loud...  "Please God, Please God, Please God". I had never used the glucagon before and as I tried to mix the liquid solution with the powdered substance my hands trembled like never before.  Thankfully,  after seconds of fumbling (which seemed like minutes).  I was able to get the solution into the vial and stick it into Kalee's thigh.  I was so shaken and praying that it would take effect immediately.  She began speaking within minutes but, I now could hardly speak.  Trying to pretend that I am fine with all of this is not easy and sometimes my acting skills go right out the window.  I closed my bedroom door and buried my head into my pillow for a ten minute sob...  I sobbed until my pillowcase was stained with black mascara then opened my bedroom door to retest Kalee's blood sugar.  She was a whopping 72... Not the number that I was hoping for but it was do-able.  I spoke with her Dr.'s who had us come in the next morning.  They were so calm and full of comforting words like, "You did the right thing,"  "Your doing a great job, " but I felt like a complete fail.  My head knew that this incident was not fault but my heart could not stop blaming myself.  Isn't that what we mom's are great at... blaming ourselves for things that are out of our control?  Needless to say, the Dr.'s helped me make some insulin/pump adjustments and although things are no where near perfect, we, thankfully, have not yet had any other scary incidences.  As a matter of fact, Kalee seemed perfectly fine, hours after, but I am still not quite right, weeks later.  As we get ready for Halloween, I am trying to focus on the positive.  This holiday can be tricky for families with Type 1 but somehow it always turns into a fun time.  We did our pumpkin carving last night and as always the pumpkin seeds are a favorite treat for the kiddo's to munch on.  I would like to wish all of my Type 1 Diabetes Families out there a Happy and Safe Halloween.  Try to find the joy and fun in the holiday even though all of those yummy/sweet carbs. can cause some parent anxiety...  ;)

Pumpkin Carving Pics:   FYI -  1/2 c of cooked pumpkins seeds = 7 carbs!!!  :)