Because It's Still November

And because today is World Diabetes Day, I wanted to share our experience with some of the universal challenges faced by children with diabetes, as well as those who support them-- along with information about a couple of useful products.

First off, I'm gonna do some recyling here. Yes, this is a bit lazy of me, but here are links to some older posts that dealt with a few of the issues we've come across since Joseph's diagnosis:

Parents of Prospective Pumpers provides a detailed description of how we made our journey from shots to the insulin pump.

He Found Out describes the moment when Joseph learned of the potential complications of diabetes.

The Seizure Story tells of how the parents of another child with diabetes handled one of our worst fears surrounding this disease.

Diabetes Camp and Home from Camp... Something Unexpected recount my son's first experience with diabetes camp this past summer.

High High High -- well, that one's kind of self-explanatory.

And finally, a personal favorite (in hindsight only, that is) -- Bloody Peach Vanilla Cake! Oh yes, we've all experienced those unanticipated treats and the havoc they wreak...

In addition, here are two BIG product plugs:

When I first read of the Multiclix Lancet Device on a Canadian blogger's site, I tried (unsuccessfully) to order the thing through ebay-- as it was not yet available in the states. Months later, I read Kathleen's post and snapped one up. I can still remember Joseph's words as he pricked his finger with this little device for the very first time:

"Holy Cripe! Mom! I didn't feel a thing! I love this lancet!"

It was like he'd just discovered some insanely-coveted Christmas present.



And guess what? A month later, and he still loves this thing. In addition to the virtually painless poke, it uses a drum that holds six (reusable) lancets.

That's right-- no more sharp lancets to cap off!

And if all that's not cool enough, Walgreens has this lancet device (sold separate from the Accu-Chek meter) for $10 off until November 26th. Grand total-- $9.99.

Now I need to stop my rave a moment here to say, I HATE Walgreens! Please. Someone. Remind me to post sometime about exactly why I HATE Walgreens.

That said, you must get thee to a Walgreens before the 26th-- while supplies last!

Next up, Smart Charts.

These are simply awesome..

If you're looking for a tool to track blood sugars, carbs, insulin dosing and exercise, and don't own some kind of handheld computer, then this is definitely the way to go. I discovered these early on, when I began graphing Joseph's sugars manually-- trying to come up with some kind of charting system. I found that just looking at the numbers never allowed us to effectively spot trends.

I needed a graph, but one we could take with us on the go.





Enter the Smart Charts-- aka "My Other Checkbook" (because they're about the size of a checkbook). Those of you who own the book, Pumping Insulin, are probably already hep to these. You can order Smart Charts here at John Walsh's wonderful site -- Diabetes Net.

Well, that's all I've got. Hope some of this helps. And hey, sorry for the abrupt ending, but I need to start dinner, and since Blogger has a "scheduled outage" tonight, I didn't want my World Diabetes Day post to miss the boat....