Diabetes Clinic

I'm thankful we didn't have much planned this week.  Our week has needed a lot of empty spaces - time to spend being with and helping friends and also at the doctor's office. 

Joshua had diabetes clinic on Tuesday.  We are getting close to the one year mark.  Not a date to celebrate, but it is one that is marked in my mind and heart nonetheless.  More on that later.

As we were waiting at the clinic, our favorite doctor stopped by the door.  She is the doctor that worked with us when Joshua was hospitalized last year at diagnosis.  She is wonderful!!!  We have yet to see her at any of our clinic visits so it was really nice to see her.  I hopped up and gave her a hug.  I then asked if she was here to see us and was excited to hear her say yes!  Our visit was scheduled with one of the attending doctors and evidently she signed up for us when she saw us on the list!  I was thrilled. 

It was especially nice since this ended up being a long visit.  (We were there for about 2.5 hours.)  She talked with us about how things were going and was as always - very encouraging!  Did I mention that she is wonderful?

Joshua's A1c was disappointing to me.  It was an 8.7.  No improvement since the last time.  This number measures his blood sugars over the last 3 months.  He has been on the pump now for 2 months.  She told me that she was pleased with his numbers - though he does still have bad numbers at times.  This disease can be so hard to "control" (and I do use that word very loosely). 

The attending doctor also came in.  We talked about ways to try to improve his numbers.  One way is to get a good reading on his numbers at all points of the day/night so that a good basal rate can be set.  This is the dose of insulin that his body receives throughout the day.  It can be adjusted so that he gets more or less depending on how his body handles things.  The first rates to check would be the ones during his sleep.  This would mean eating dinner, no snack at bedtime (or a no carb snack) and then measuring his blood glucose every 2 hours through the night.  (We could do this in stages and not all the same night.  It would need to be done more than one night too.)  I've told them that he spikes in the middle of the night - always has.  Well, except for 1 or 2 times when he was low.  It's those times that keep us checking in the middle of the night as he tends to drop as he heads toward morning.  In order to set up a good rate, we need a better picture of what is happening at each hour.   I'm typing all of this out and wondering now if anyone really wants ALL this detail!  LOL  I'll stop.

Joshua also had some other testing done.  Screens for thyroid, celiac and cholesterol.  Due to the diabetes, he is at greater risk for problems in these areas and so will have testing done yearly to try to detect any problems.  Celiac is something I wonder about off and on.  Eliana is also at greater risk for this due to having Down syndrome.  I've also heard that this can be an issue for kids with ADHD.  So, three of my kids with a greater "risk" of having issues.  It has made me wonder if I  should go ahead and make dietary changes.  Honestly, the thought is a little overwhelming to me. 

Food is on my list of things "to do" this summer.  I want to work on experimenting with greater foods for both Eliana and Daniel.  Both have made great progress, but still have a ways to go.  I'd love a better list of snack options - real food and not convenience items for all of us.  I'm hoping we'll be able to make more trips to the Farmer's Market - I love fresh produce!  Food, for better or worse, is more than just fixing something to eat for many of my children.  We all have a lot to learn and I want to do my part in helping my children to be healthy and to be able to make healthy choices - not just now, but hopefully for life. 

Anyway, our visit went well.  We'll hopefully hear back in a week or so the results of the testing.  I'm thankful for the surprise of seeing this doctor.  :-) 

I'm still working on the give-away.  Haven't figured out how to post the chip-in - but have some people trying to help me.  If anyone knows how to do this, please let me know.

Blessings

Leslie

Yummy Fall Treat

I host a monthly meeting for our FIAR group.  This is a mom's meeting and is time to relax and be refreshed and encouraged.  I enjoy these times with my friends.  We typically talk about what we are doing with FIAR, upcoming field trips and then move onto our monthly topic.  This month, we had a guest speaker (and friend) return to our group.  Sue Patrick (workbox system) spoke to us about how to use posters and make centers.  We learned a lot and saw a lot of examples of things she had made and ways she made things fun and interactive.

We all left inspired.  A couple of nights later a local educational store held a homeschoolers reception.  Many of us from the meeting were there - buying posters and other fun things to add to our homeschool day.  I'll hopefully share some examples as I make some things to use in our schooling.

Awhile back, I don't remember when, Rebecca offered to make dessert for our mom's meeting.  I was happy to have her do this.  Cooking is not my favorite activity and Rebecca really enjoys baking and decorating.  This month we saw a really cute dessert on the front of Southern Living Magazine and thought it would be great!  It was!

Rebecca invited her friend Hanna over to help with the decorating and they did an awesome job!





The cakes are pumpkin and the stems, vines and leaves are made from caramels.  Yes, they  hand-fashioned each one!  Aren't they adorable?  And they tasted good too.

I'm sure we'll be having these again since we now have a cute little mini Bundt pan.  Mom, want us to have these for Thanksgiving? 

Just wanted to share in case anyone was looking for a cute and yummy fall treat.

ETA:  Sorry about the missing pics.  I wrote the post the night before and then posted it later thinking the pictures were in it already.  Thanks Sheri for letting me know!

Blessings

Leslie

Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day

Have you heard about this book?  Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day.  One of Eliana's therapists told me about this book and gave me a copy of an article about this bread.  It really helped when a friend of mine, Jessica, showed me how she made it.  I bought the supplies - a large container to keep the dough in (it goes in the frig and can stay there for up to two weeks) and a thermometer and a pizza peel (for sliding the bread dough into the heated oven).

I had these things sitting around ... for months.  A good idea, but just not enough time to get to it.  Well, one day I decided to just give it a try.  I didn't read the directions carefully though and messed up the first batch of dough.  (Didn't let it sit out at room temp for a couple of hours before baking.)  I decided to give it a try anyway - and it worked. 

This bread is delicious!!!  Looks just like something you would buy from a store - firm crust, moist inside.  Did I mention that it is yummy!!!



Here is the author's website if you want more ideas on breads and like to look at pictures.  Don't go hungry.  ;-)   I love the photos and am hoping to buy the book with some birthday money.  We all enjoy bread at our house and it's been fun to experiment with this new (to us) bread.

Enjoy!

Blessings

Leslie