It's time for the last giveaway of anniversary week, but first...
I wish that I could find enough meaningful words to express what the last six years of writing Arden's Day has meant to me. The truth is, so many of the tough times are made easier because I know that you are out there. I'm grateful that you find my blog useful and I want you to know how much I appreciate it when you visit. Thank you!
Now go get some free stuff!
Lauren's Hope is giving two winners their choice of either the bracelet that Arden wears or the caregiver necklace that I wear. Each winner will also receive a signed copy of my book, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal'.
The ability to comment in this post has been disabled because entries must be left here on the Lauren's Hope blog. Good luck, I hope that you win!
Don't forget to enter the other giveaways currently running on Arden's Day:
So I have ten copies of the new Coco book to giveaway - who wants one?! Nothing fancy about this offer, how about the first ten residents of the U.S or Canada that leave a comment asking for a book, get one. Don't forget to leave your email so I can contact you for a mailing address.
and while I'm on the subject of Coco and sleepovers...
Coming in late September, Lilly Diabetes will be embarking on a satellite media tour focused on providing tips and guidance for parents when preparing a child with type I diabetes for sleepovers. These radio and TV interviews will be given by Amy Hess Fischl, a CDE and dietitian and some guy named Scott who writes a blog or something. The advice will be based on my personal experiences and the learned advice of Ms. Fischl.
Here's a little more about Amy, me you've heard enough about this year to last a lifetime.
Coordinator, Teen & Adolescent Diabetes Transition Program
University of Chicago Comprehensive Diabetes Center-Chicago, Ill.
For more than 15 years, Amy Hess Fischl, M.S., R.D., L.D.N., BC-ADM, C.D.E., has been educating and inspiring children and families living with diabetes. A Certified Diabetes Educator(r), registered dietitian and current coordinator of the Teen and Adolescent Diabetes Transition Program at the University of Chicago's Kovler Diabetes Center in Chicago, Amy has travelled across the country and around the world raising disease awareness and promoting the importance of proper diabetes care, particularly for children and young adults.
Lilly will provide transportation to and from New York (car ride), a stipend for expenses and one nights lodging. I don't yet have all of the details about the day, but I do hope that they are planning on feeding me at least twice. The Coco books were provided by Lilly but they are free through your Endocrinologist, just ask your doc for a copy (they can get them through their Lilly sales rep).
I always think of anniversaries as a perfect time to reflect about how far we've come. It doesn't matter if you are talking about a wedding anniversary or an amount of time since something has happened, once and a while it is valuable to reflect and take a moment to feel not only what has transpired but what you've learned.
On August seventeenth of 2007, the second day that this blog existed, I was preparing to make a video with my kids when Arden's BG suddenly and significantly, dropped. Since my first inclination about the blog back then was to educate, I made the difficult decision to ask my son to turn on the camera as I was tending to Arden's low BG. More difficult was the task of later editing the footage. The video is not pleasant to watch, it's terrible in fact but if you have ever wondered what it was like to try and get a three year old whose blood glucose is dangerously low and falling to take in carbs, well, this sure does show what that is like.
Before you watch the video, I want you to please take a moment to read another post about low BGs that I wrote in June of 2011. I think that the two juxtaposed like this will leave you with more then enough hope if you are still struggling and if you happened to be past this part of your life, I think these two posts together will allow you the benefit of seeing how far that you've come. Either way, be proud of yourself.
I hope that this post serves as a source of hope to families that are newly diagnosed or still struggling to find calm... read on, I think it will.
Last Friday we were packing up and getting ready to enjoy a sleepover at Adventure Aquarium to celebrate Arden’s birthday. Arden invited two of her girlfriends and one of them arrived at our door as I was testing Arden’s BG.
Minutes before, Arden tripped while walking in her room and when I asked her if she was okay, she responded, “I feel dizzy all of the sudden”, we had just changed her DexCom an hour before so it wasn’t reporting BGs. As we made our way to the kitchen where her OmniPod PDM was I went over the afternoon in my mind and I couldn’t imagine that she was low.
Test strip...
Knock at the door...
Blood drop...
“Hello, I’ll be right with you...”
Beep... and her blood glucose is 28.
So, there is a woman that I barely know in my foyer, sleeping bags and pillows all over the hallway and Arden’s BG is 28. Not just 28 but very unexpectedly 28 and she was still in the middle of a bolus and I expected (no DexCom) that she was falling.
This next bit is where you take hope from the story...
I didn’t flinch. No elevated heart, no sense of panic, I wasn’t upset and as a matter of fact I maintained a calming conversation with the woman in my house as she considering panicking.
I explained the situation to Arden, shut off her basal and she began eating and drinking. 64 grams later all was normal again - except, it never wasn’t normal. A sad statement perhaps that this all could be a normal part of someone’s life but what the hell, it is... When it was over and the mother left, I felt like I was ten feet tall. In the past I did my best to stay calm in situations like this (they don’t happen often thankfully) but I was doing just that, trying to stay calm. That is, in the past I wasn’t calm, I was frightened and I was trying to maintain my composure and stop Arden from having a seizure. I was scrambling to stay ahead of the situation.
Last Friday, I was calmer then George Clooney on an old episode of E.R.. Not ‘old’ George Clooney, the one that is starting to look like he doesn’t belong with those young girls... young George Clooney, back when he was bedding down those nurses in the break room. I was all suave like that, except instead of nurses, I was rockin’ the juice box and I’m fairly positive that the bottom of G.C.’s foot is more handsome then I... However, other then those differences, I was exactly like that. ;)
I finally have my 10,000 hours of practice and one day you will too. Moments that now may feel like they are happening at 100 miles an hour will slow down to a Matrix like kung fu speed and you’ll just move through the slow motion around you, completely in control. I bent the spoon baby!
Okay, I’m out of odd movie and TV reference so I’m going stop.
Now you can watch the video from 2007... Be prepared, it is tough to watch.
In two more days Arden's Day will be six years old and on the 22nd, Arden will be living with diabetes for seven years. These years have at times been nearly impossible to traverse, there have been countless low BGs and moments that I was sure that I couldn't live through... but I did, we all did. Arden is fine, I'm not crazy, Kelly and I are still married and Cole seems pretty normal (as normal as a thirteen year old can be). Diabetes hasn't stopped us, in fact, and I say this with great deference to all the bad that it brings... I think it's made us better. More tired maybe, but stronger and more resilient. Today, as I reflect on all that has happened to us I can see how far we have come. I no longer feel the fear from that video when I watch it, just the triumph of living through it. My advice is simple, reflect today and give yourself the credit that you are due.
The Arden's Day anniversary week celebration continues today with a fresh look at a blog post from 2008 and a book giveaway.
blog post from 2008
In January of 2008 my focus for Arden's Day wasn't what it is today. Back then I saw this blog as a teaching tool for the uninitiated and a way to drive support and advocacy for people with type I diabetes. I wanted to create educated, empathetic supporters and give them a personal connection to type I. I was trying to support the search for a cure in the only way that I knew how, by communicating.
So in 2008 I made a video called, 'Six Months Worth of Needles' and posted it on my blog and on YouTube. Since then the video has been viewed on YouTube nearly 9,000 times and I think that it still holds up all of these years later. We walk every year for the JDRF and have never missed a year though we have taken a break from fundraising recently because Arden raised nearly $50,000 in her first few years of walking. I felt because our friends and family had done so much, in such a short amount of time, that I couldn't keep asking them every year to donate. I very much love that the blog has evolved from where it began while still holding true to the goal of creating advocates. Actually, I sometimes can't believe that Arden's Day has been going for so long, six years is a long time. In honesty, I don't have a plan... I just keep following my heart and let my passion continue to shape the content of the site. Okay, I'm rambling, kinda tired and I wrote this in the middle of the night but you get it... the blog started as an advocacy platform and it's evolving, maybe not unlike me.
enough sentiment... how about a giveaway
Thanks to my publisher Spry, I have two copies of my first book, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad' to giveaway for anniversary week. Simple entry this time, just leave a comment under this post saying "please enter me" and Arden will choose two winners this weekend. I only have two rules: You can enter up until August 10, 2013 at 11:59PMDue to a typo in the entry date (Was originally listed as 8/10/13) the giveaway has been extended. Entries now excepted until August 18, 2013 at 11:59PM EST and the giveaway is open to U.S. residents only this time around for postage reasons.
The Anniversary Week celebration began on a charitable note. I thought it would be nice if we shared what we love most about our JDRF walk experiences. Everyone who shares their thoughts in the comment section (under this post) will be entered into a drawing. At the end of the week Arden will pick one winner and my family will make a $50 donation to your walk effort! You can enter up until August 10, 2013 at 11:59PM est.
Update on Thursday, August 15, 2013 at 12:50AM by
Scott Benner
Due to a typo in the entry date (Was originally listed as 8/10/13) the giveaway has been extended. Entries now excepted until August 18, 2013 at 11:59PM
I'd like to begin the Arden's Day Anniversary Week celebration on a charitable note. I thought it would be nice if we shared what we love most about our JDRF walk experiences. Everyone who shares their thoughts in the comment section (under this post) will be entered into a drawing. Later, at the end of the week, Arden will pick one winner and my family will make a $50 donation to your walk effort! You can enter up until August 10, 2013 at 11:59PM est. Due to a typo in the entry date (Was originally listed as 8/10/13) the giveaway has been extended. Entries now excepted until August 18, 2013 at 11:59PM EST
I'll get us started...
There are a number of great reasons to walk with your local JDRF chapter and while I'm certain that each of you will have a different 'favorite' part to share, mine is without a doubt the sense of community that I instantly felt when I realized that everyone that was walking either had type I diabetes or loved someone who did.
That feeling helped to buoy me for a number of years after Arden's diagnosis and while I still enjoy that feeling, my reason for returning each year is no longer the same. Today, I walk so that there will be a community for others to draw support from because I know how much seeing that crowd of people meant to me. It's was the first time after Arden was diagnosed that I felt less alone. That's why I walk!
Update on Thursday, August 15, 2013 at 12:53AM by
Scott Benner
Due to a typo in the entry date (Was originally listed as 8/10/13) the giveaway has been extended. Entries now excepted until August 18, 2013 at 11:59PM EST
Friday, August 16, 2013 at 11:14AM 
