25 Year Medal

I just got the most amazing thing in the mail: A reward/medal for being a type 1 diabetic for 25 years.  I have been type 1 for 28 years...but I finally got my "25 year medal."  There are two medals you can get: 1 from Joslin Diabetes Hospital in Boston, and the other one is from Eli Lilly (the insulin company).  I obtained the Lilly Award.  I am working so hard  to get my Joslin award!  I have written my letter to CHEO (the hospital I was diagnosed at back in 1985), now I'm just waiting to get my "proof" so I can mail it to Joslin!  So exciting!

So Proud of it!!!

Oh Paisley

I have always been told if you have nothing nice to say, to say nothing at all.  That is all I'm going to write about my "Diabetic Alert Dog."  I have nothing nice or good to say about her or the company (mostly the company though) so I'm not going to write anything.  She is a nice house pet for our family...

My First JDRF Walk

This past Saturday was pretty exciting for me.  I was invited to join a friend (who has a 1st grade daughter with type 1) to join their team for the JDRF Walk.  I have NEVER, in my 28 years as a diabetic, done the walk.  Never.  I agreed after she asked me a couple times to do it.  I also registered my husband and both kids ;)  I posted the link to the walk site on my facebook page and suddenly I had donations coming and lots of friends/family asking to walk too!  Our team went from about 15 people to 44 in one week!  We made t-shirts for the team, and walked proudly.  A friend of mine in Dallas helps set up the walk so it was amazing to see her and all of her hard work there.  I also belong to a large group of type 1 women online and met 3 of them there!  2 of them were on the team, and another one had a team of her own.  What a great walk!  I am already looking forward to doing it again next year!

Arrival Date

I found out yesterday morning that Paisley will come home on August 16th.  That is the same day we close on our house that we are selling.  Oh my!  So busy.  Good thing we like crazy and hectic schedules because boy, is August nuts!  I'll post more about that soon!

5 Needles A Day

How could I forget to write about my newest needle???  Oh my, sorry ya'll but I am so far behind. Keeping up with these blogs is hard work when you've got 2 busy kids running around!  At my endo appt in April my endocrinologist and I were talking about how great my numbers were...except for my morning blood sugar reading. It was always in the low 200's but thats high for me.  I suggested (since I'm the smart one here) taking some NPH at bedtime.  I am on 3 types of insulin: humalog (fast acting.  It starts to work to lower my blood sugar within 15 minutes of injecting it), NPH (this is the "old" long acting insulin.  It works for 6-8 hours, but doesn't start to work until the humalog is starting to stop working), and Lantus (24 hour insulin.  Its what I call my "pump" insulin.  I'm not on the pump, but for people who do have an insulin pump, it gives then a teeny tiny dose of insulin all day and night to keep their sugars lowered.  My Lantus works for 24 hours to keep my sugars in check).

I used to take 2 needles per day growing up.  One at breakfast and one at dinner.  Both needles included 2 types of insulin (NPH and R.  R is the older version of today's humalog.  It just didn't start to work as quickly as humalog does).  I was on these two needles from the time I was diagnosed at 21 months of age until I turned 13.  It worked well for me and I had great numbers.  When I turned 13 I needed a little more help.  So I was switched to humalog instead of R insulin and put on a third needle: lantus, at bedtime.  My numbers got back to pretty good.  When I was pregnant with my second son I needed a little more help around lunchtime (since I wasn't taking any insulin then).  I was put on a 4th needle.  I thought it might just be during the pregnancy, but my numbers were so good I didn't really want to get rid of the needle.  Then the 5th needle...a couple months ago.

People go "wow, 5 needles?"  Um, yes.  And you know what?  There are times I take more than 5 if my sugars are high.  BUT, I wouldn't go back to the pump for all the money in the world.  I like not being attached to a machine.  I felt "sick" and everyone knew I had diabetes when they saw it on me.  The needles of the pump hurt like hell.  I hated it.  I gave up on diabetes, and it took me YEARS to regain control.  YEARS.  Now that I finally have control, and great control at that, I won't go back to the pump and risk losing control again. The pump is an AMAZING little machine that is a life savor for many many people.  Its just not for me...  :(

So yes, 5 needles.  And I asked for the 5th needle...so glad I did.  I wake up with perfect numbers every single morning now!  (between 75 and 115)

The Call

I am terrible about keeping up with this blog.  I might have to change that...soon.  Two weeks ago I called Dan from the company I am getting my D.A.D through.  I needed to ask him a question about corporate matching on donations. He was busy so I left him a message.  I had to run to the bank, and by the time I got home he had already called me back.  His message on the answering machine said something to the effect of: "Hi Krista, Dan here.  I was wanting to call you today but you beat me to it...."  HUH?  Why did he need to call me?

I had been on facebook a few times that day and had seen others posting about "We got our call from Dan, our puppy is ready!!!"  I thought "there is NO way mine is ready.  Its 2 months earlier than expected."

Well, when we finally got ahold of each other later on that night he told me the news: My puppy HAD been chosen and its a black female.  Her parents are Tonic and Hannah.

I was upset for a bit because we truly had our hearts set on a chocolate male.  We had NO names for a girl chosen at all.  It was going to be another full week before pictures of her would be posted.  :(

A few days later Nick and I went to bed.  Nick couldn't sleep so he got out of bed and went online.  He saw on my facebook wall a couple of people's dog albums being posted.  He stayed awake until 2 am to see our girl!

Let me just say, the second I saw her picture there was no going back.  I loved her so much.  It truly was love at first sight.

Dan told me on the phone she was chosen for our family because she is so active and can keep up with us.  We truly are a very active and busy family so thats good...even though another spazz isn't what I had in mind.  Oh well!  You can tell in her eyes that she has some spunk to her, hehehe!

Okay, enough about the wait...want to see her???  Here's my girl: Paisley!

We had a really hard time coming up with her name.  I really wanted a name that was somehow medical or diabetes related.  When we said Paisley though it fit.  So, Paisley she is.

We were told she was coming in one month: July.  I couldn't wait.  Then I froze in my tracks.  What about our 2 vacations we have set up back to back the first 2 weeks of August?  We booked them expecting her to come late August through October.  I got really worried and started to stress out.  I called Dan back a week later and he agreed with me that putting her drop off until after our trips would be best.  Its so hard because I want her here so badly!  I just know how stressful it would all be with a service dog so young doing big trips like that.  So, now we are looking at the middle of August.  She will be so big by then!  

Online Auction for my D.A.D

I am a terrible blogger lately!  I'm not going to list any excuses for not writing though!  I've been working really hard gathering items for my online auction to raise money for my D.A.D.  I've gotten some really great things.  I plan on starting the auction next weekend (May 19th-20th) on my facebook account.  There's only one Krista Middleton I believe.  Add me to facebook and check out the items I have.  Also, all items are starting off at $5.  Yup, even the pack of 4 gold tournament tickets and the Dooney and Bourke purse!!!