Co-Pancreating

Yeah, I know that's not a word, but it's kinda fitting for our current co-habitating lifestyle (I seriously dislike the word "lifestyle", but can't think of a better one right now). Papa Bear has always done a great job of "filling in" with William's D-care as needed, but has recently made it known that he wants to step up and take on more responsibility. And, Kitmama has been great about jumping in to do testing and dosing since she and her family began residing with us. So, now I've got two co-pancreases on the job (or is it "co-pancreai"?), which is a huge relief. I can actually GO SOMEWHERE and leave William at home, knowing that he's going to be taken care of (okay, I still text someone when it's time to test, and still confirm doses, but that's small buscuits for a solo trip to the grocery store!).

The problem is, so much of William's hour-to-hour management resides inside my noodle, and a lot of the time I "feel out" dosing based on what's been going on the past several hours, what's currently happening, and what I expect will be happening. I also sometimes "try out" an adjustment to see if it's going to help his numbers, before making it "official". I didn't really realize how much of this stuff I've got in my head, until I sat down with Billy and tried to tell him everything that would need to be incorporated into the "perfect" T1 diabetes app. The glaze-over factor for this particular conversation was pretty high, and it quickly became clear that this would be a very complex app. You'd have to find a really dedicated and highly-charged detail-oriented programmer who is a pit-bull with a challenge. (I'm not saying this "perfect" app will actually get written...it was just an idea we were talking about...something that I recently began fantasizing about. But, that's a post for another day).

Anyway, the problem with what's in my head that needs to be accessed by other people is compounded by my compulsion with creating new log sheet formats and fiddling with the formats of the log sheets I already use. Sometimes I use the "basic" log that tracks by meal, and there's a "fill-in-the-blank" at the top for including ratios, and one at the bottom for correction factors. But, if I'm doing middle-of-the-night checks, or our "routine" is not really very "routine" in terms of meal times, I need a 24-hour log sheet to spot trends, and there's just not space to include much information about calculations. I just can't seem to find the perfect log sheet (kind of like trying to find the perfect purse or diabetes bag...you know it's out there, but you just can't seem to find the one that has everything you're looking for). And it came to a head, so to speak, because I needed to tweek William's ratios again.

So, this is what I came up with:



Yep, a plain ol' blackboard with my shorthand notes for ratios and correction calculations. With a swipe of a cloth and a bit of chalk, I can make an adjustment and it will be implemented whether I'm doing the dose or someone else is. (I almost forgot the Lantus, until I was laying in bed at 3:00 am considering whether or not to change his dose...oops). It's hanging in the kitchen right next to the Diabetes Counter, ready for whichever pancreas will be doing the next dose. Low-tech solutions are sometimes the best.

And, of course, I still do this...

...at least, I will until that perfect app gets written ;)

Update 6/16/11: File this one under "oops". Due to yet another whacked-out BG crisis this afternoon (BG 48 1.5 hours after a snack), I realized my entire D-Brain did not actually fit onto the blackboard. So, I Rethunk my Glunk, got the bigger blackboard, and tried it again.

This once specifies carb:insulin ratios for "food with protien/fat" and "food without protien/fat" at various times of the day. These numbers, I am sure, will require a bit more tweeking before we get settled into some calmer numbers...just in time for everything to change again ;)

Okaaaaay, one more update (6/16/11): I added a note between "breakfast" and "lunch" that BG will rise before lunch. Just so you won't be shocked at lunchtime.

Love the Georgia Rain

These are for my dear friend, 'Neen, who stayed with us for a while, and who loves the rain...

Standing in the garage...

Standing in the family room door....

Looking out over the new "lower" garden.....

These were all taken during the same, brief, "localized" shower.

I love the sound of the rain......

Yesterday II

Yesterday was a pretty typical day at our house.

I spent a bit of time in the garden (in between updating the blog) and found our first squash of the season...

I just love the shape and arrangement of these squash plants...very orderly and pleasing to the eye...

I emptied out one of the rainbarrels to water some planters in the garden (this is the corn/squash)...

The air conditioning unit serving the main floor of the house has reached the end of its time, and it's been pretty hot here. David brought in a floor fan for the kitchen (cooking makes it pretty toasty in there), which the kids immediately pounced on to experiment with parachutes and aerodynamics.

There were eventually four kids crammed into the small hall between the kitchen and dining room, each with a plastic grocery bag with some sort of weight attached to it, trying to figure out the perfect weight to make the bag float over the upturned fan. (I had to run an errand, so don't know the outcome of the experiment). A local AC company came to look at the unit, and gave us the bad news...$5,200 to replace it. Ugh.

The other day David brought home some scrap lumber from Home Depot, which he gave to the kids to make projects with. This is Michael's finished product, a picture frame with a self-portrait on wood panelling.

Other projects are still in the works.

In addition to catching up on the blog (all of the lake trip has been posted now, including some fabulous photos by S), I also managed to catch up on laundry from the trip. All of the sleeping bags, blankets and sheets for Popper, as well as clothing.

Thomas and William were back to "study time" this week after our break, which means back to Time4Learning and lots of reading. I'm also looking into the Khan Academy website to see if that will be a useful tool for us. I think, definitely, it will be great when we get into "higher" mathematics and science, and it looks like they've got some fabulous teacher/parent tools for tracking progress. Correction, the tools are focused on tracking actual learning, which is what it's supposed to be all about, right? It's really a great story, how this guy got started (on YouTube) and how it developed into what it is now, a free library of videos explaining just about everything that makes most of us go "huuuuuh?". Salman Khan is a genius in my book, completely re-envisioning education in a way that actually serves each student individually, and maximizes the teacher/mentor's one-on-one time and classroom time. They've got a pilot program going in some PS classrooms with wonderful results. You should check out his TED Talk. (Thanks, S, for turning me on to Salman!).

I know there was a bunch of other stuff going on all day long, but I can't think of them all right now. For the next few days (at least) I'd like to "focus" on capturing more of our daily moments with photos and video.

Vegan Awesomeness

Kitmama brought home a couple of vegan cookbooks from the library. I've been perusing Vegan on the Cheap by Robin Robertson, and tried out the Southwestern Black Bean and Corn Chowder on page 68. It seriously rocked!

If even half the other recipes in the book are as good as this one, I'll be buying this book very soon. What I like about the book so far:

• Just about all the recipes I've read so far are, like, real food. You don't need a bunch of weird ingredients you've never heard of before,; you're most likely going to have most of the stuff in your pantry or fridge already, or at least know which aisle of the market to find it in. And, because it's mostly all recognizable stuff, the kids are way more likely to eat it. 'Nuff said.



• She includes the cost per serving for each meal. All of them are under $1.85 per serving, and a lot of them are under $1.00 per serving.



• Most of the recipes are on the quick side, and she includes time-saving tips (like cooking basics and large batches ahead of time and freezing, and cooking one meal that will be used for two).



• She also includes recipes for making your own "convenience foods"...those vegan versions of non-vegan ingredients (like meat, mayo, etc.) that you can get at the grocery store, but usually at a steep price. I'm not sure I'll go quite so far as to make my own seitan (vegan meat) because we're not strictly vegan, but for those with food allergies or who want to be strict vegans, these made-at-home versions could be a significant money saver (and you can skip those weird chemical additives in many of them).



• She includes a chart showing which ingredients will be cheaper to make yourself rather than buy, and the approximate cost savings.

So, overall, I think I'm going to get a lot out of this book.

Oh, and here's the recipe for the Southwestern Black Bean and Corn Chowder:

1 T olive oil

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

3 cups cooked or 2 (15.5-ounce) cans black beans, drained and rinsed (I used home-cooked)

1 (14-ounce) can diced fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained (I used plain canned tomatoes)

1 (4-ounce) can chopped mild green chiles, drained (I went easy for the sake of the kids, and left some to be added by the adults as desired)

1 1/2 cups fresh or thawed frozen corn kernels (I used frozen)

1 t chili powder

1/2 t ground cumin

1/2 t smoked paprika (optional) (I used regular paprika)

3 cups vegetable stock (I used homemade)

Salt and black pepper

Tortilla chips (I served with home-made Artisan bread)

• In large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Ad the onion and garlic, cover, and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.

• Stir in the beans, tomatoes with their juice, chiles, corn, chili powder, cumin, and paprika, if using. Add the stock and season with salt and peper to taste. (The amount of salt needed depends on the saltiness of your stock). Simmer until the chowder is hot and the flavors have developed, 30 to 40 minutes.

• To serve, ladle the chowder into bowls and top each bowl with tortilla chips.

And, yes, the kids ate it. A couple of them even went back for seconds ;)

Ketchup

Hey! I'm trying to catch up on my pix and posts for last week at the lake, and I'm post-dating them. So, scroll down if you want to see what we did :)

Busy Boy

Michael was a very busy boy yesterday. Here are two of his three inventions-of-the-day.

That's what you get when you've got a creative kid with lots of free time on his hands and access to tools and duct tape.

Awesome Lake Pix by S

I have always enjoyed the photography of my friend, S. But for the past year or so, she's been really focusing (pardon the pun) on improving her photography skills, and she has done just that. Here are some of the photos she took of The Bear Family while we were at the lake. There are quite a few, but they are worth peeking at. You can find her blog here, and she also posts fabulous photos using Instagram. Check them out!

Papa Bear flips.

BooBoo launched.

"Hold it like this..."

Thirsty dog...or narcissistic?

Buddies chatting.

William.

Brother Bear and mom catching up.

Papa Bear casting.

Me. Really. An actual photo.

Michael fishing.

Funny Girl and Brother Bear.

Whose fish is this?

Worm.

Jenny and Jasmin...now lake dogs.

Michael found something!

Michael waiting for a bite.

Jasmin.

Jenny.

Greying muzzle.

Fishing injury.

Right out of the tub....

Day Seven at the Lake - And Fish!

On the Seventh Day God rested, but we packed up and went home.

While I gathered up all our belongings (spread all over the house, the dock, and everywhere in between) and packed everything up into Popper and the truck, David got in a last stint of fishing, and Michael created some "art" on the sea wall.


I required, of course, getting into the lake.



Fully clothed.

Yes, all of his other clothes had already been packed and stowed...so, air-dry it was.

The drive home was uneventful aside from a stop at Subway for lunch. After Popper had been raised and unloaded, David and Michael set to work cleaning the bunch of fish they'd caught.

Michael's fish. Don't know how he could tell it apart from the others...

Ready for the post-mortem. I'm really glad David cleans his own fish.

Day Six at the Lake, Part II

Another day of "mostly pix". William and I got back to the lake in time for another dip in the lovely, murky waters. Even I got in (I don't like water I can't see through).

Thomas chillin'.

Still all decked out.


Funny Girl dis-ing the life vest.

Babyman floating.

A dancing dog...oh, my!

Jenny contemplating the water.

Can't even begin to describe this shot...

And, much more of this....

Our last night at the lake, I figured out that a big part of William's wacky numbers were probably growth hormones kicking in. A 2 am check read 137, and at 8 am he had shot up to 377. Wow. Mind-boggling, ain't it? Looks like some middle-of-the-night corrections are in order....

Day Six at the Lake

Okay, so no pictures for a few days, and a change of plans, some good news, and a break.

Originally we intended to pack up and return home on Thursday because William had his quarterly checkup with the Ped Endo on Friday. But, our gracious hostess twisted our collective arms (right!), so we "adjusted". That's just the way we flow 'round here. So, William and I packed overnight bags, hopped in the truck, and drove home Thursday afternoon, while the rest of the combo-fam stayed at the lake. Honestly, William really needed the break from all the action, activity and chaos of the previous few days. And, well, I kind of really enjoyed the break, too.

So, our Ped Endo appointment went great. Dr. A had the lab results from the previous visit, and they were spectacularly good. Just about everything came back indicating William is wonderfully healthy. His total cholesterol was 125; HDL was 56, trigylcerides was 70, and LDL was 55 (according to Dr. A, that is all rediculously good, even for a kid). And, he'd grown 1.5 inches in 3 months. We'd started our diet shift about two months before his labs were drawn, and I think that had a lot to do with the results we got from the labs. On down side, we need to supplement Vitamin D (not drinking milk), and he needs a bit more water every day (easy fix). And we need to re-do his pee test because the microalbumin came back wacky (Dr. A says that could be because he'd been active that day before the test). The all-important A1c had dropped a bit, to 7.3...still need to work on that. But, overall, I was very pleased with the results and the visit.

While I was home, I did some more research on diabetes apps, and loaded another one onto Thomas' iTouch. It's become clear that I'm just not going to get an app that accepts all the data I want it to, displays or downloads the data in a way that I can easily use, incorporates carb:insulin ratios and correction factors, and has a comprehensive food library. I guess I'm just going to have to find someone to write a comprehensive app for Type 1 diabetics, or stick to written logs.

William and I enjoyed another quiet evening at home, then returned to the lake on Saturday. And, of course as fate would have it, we were battling goofy highs from the moment we got home from the checkup, all evening, overnight, and including on the drive to the lake. Ain't that just the way it goes?

Day Three at The Lake

Mostly just pix of yesterday....

William taking a break.

Michael ready for action (see video below).

S doing her thang.

Unidentified shutter bug. Hey, there were, like, 14 kids in the water...I can't ID all of them ;)

Littleman...how is his hair still dry?!?

The Pirate in his Ship.

Even Jenny considered getting back in...then not.

And, there was a whole lotta this goin' on: