4 am Scavenger Hunt

I'm not embarrassed to tell you that more than a few times a year I fall sound to sleep on our sofa while trying to watch television at night. I am however embarrassed to admit that a handful of those times I am so stone cold tired that my wife can't wake me up to go to bed. This is apparently my signal to Kelly that I need a night off from BG patrol and she always, no matter how tired she may be, picks up the reigns and carries on.

One thing these nights seem to have in common, I always wake up a bit disoriented around 4 am, usually with pillows pilled on top of me acting as a blanket. 

Last week when this happened to me I woke on schedule around 4 am, stumble to the second floor and went directly to Arden's room to check on her. I picked up her DexCom, saw that she needed a small temp basal and reached for her bag but it wasn't where I expected it to be. I found my phone, realized I didn't have a flashlight app and proceeded to download one from the App Store.

This is the exact moment when all of this would get funny

There I was standing in the doorway of Arden's room, leisurely browsing the flashlight apps because I didn't want to download one that I would regret later - which is of course ridiculous. My hair was standing straight up, my shorts were twisted about 180º counterclockwise around my waist and I was incredibly thirsty, but in my exhausted daze I couldn't let go of the feeling that I didn't want to download an inferior flashlight app. This process took a few minutes and then I set out, armed with my new flashlight, to find Arden's bag that holds her OmniPod PDM, MultiClix lance, test strips and all of the rest. 

I quick scan told me that it wasn't in her room, "must be with Kelly" I thought. It wasn't. So I headed back to the first floor where I finally found Arden's bag under a pillow on a chair in our living room. I walked back upstairs, opened the bag and found that it only contained test strips. I laughed to myself and I made my way back downstairs. I won't bore you with every detail of the next twenty minutes but sufficed to say that the contents belonging in that bag could not have been more spread out throughout our home. 

Our poor dog Indy looked quite cross when I finally gave up on my new flashlight app and turned on all of the lights in the living room.  When I finally set the temp basal rate and went to crawl into my bed, I realized that I never folded the laundry that I put on the bed earlier in the day. One more trip around the second floor netted me a laundry basket large enough to hold the clean clothes... and I was finally off to dreamland. 

If only I wasn't wide awake from my scavenger hunt...

Video: Diabetes Hands Foundation Interview

It was my very sincere honor to be asked by the Diabetes Hands Foundation to participate in a live interview with their very own Emily Coles... We spoke about many type I diabetes issues, I made some bad jokes, Arden even made a couple of cameo appearances... I hope that you have time to check it out.

Suite D

The first installment of my series on helping children with diabetes gain independence through technology is live on Suite D. This six part collection is centered on the process that we use to manage Arden's BGs while she is away from our home at school, sleep overs and other long-term visits.

Suite D is a diabetes blog that is owned and operated by Insulet, the makers of OmniPod. I was compensated for my writing but please know that I was not asked, nor would I ever let this effect my opinions about the OmniPod insulin pump. Arden's Day and the relationship that you and I have together means far more to me than any freelance writing work. You can always trust that I am giving my honest opinions whether you hear my words here or somewhere else. Your safety, my integrity and the sanctity of the diabetes online community are paramount in my mind, always. I hope you enjoy the series!

Today is Arden's 9th Birthday

Nine years ago today my amazing wife Kelly gave birth to our second child, she was the most perfect little girl that I had ever seen. A few days later, we brought her home where she and her brother Cole promptly fell to sleep together on our sofa. I couldn't imagine then, as I was taking what would soon become on of my favorite photographs in the world, just how much her presence in our lives would touch our family.

Since that day my children have shown me parts of life, the world, and of myself, that I didn't see before they arrived. These things were always there, yet somehow invisible to me. I never knew how much joy my heart could hold, how much pain I could withstand, I didn't realize the depths of the human spirit or how vast my own potential was.

And I didn't know what that word 'love' truly meant or how it's power would touch my soul...

Happy Birthday Arden!

Post A New Comment

I read blog post yesterday by Christopher Snider. Chris is hoping that on Monday, July 22nd people like you will take the time to comment on every diabetes blog that they read. Chris thinks that, "comments make the world go ’round, as far as blogging is concerned. Yes, there are stat counters and analytics reports you can run, but pageviews and unique visitors don’t mean much to me when it comes to sharing personal stories and experiences. What matters to me is when someone reads something I write, and then takes the time to leave a comment.". I couldn't agree with Chirs more and I am hoping that you to read his blog about the topic.

You already know what some of your favorite diabetes blogs means to you, but did you ever wonder what they are for the writer? Or how your participation completes the connection between the two of you and the other people reading? Diabetes blogs aren't like a tech or news blog, I'm not a guy reporting on a story, I'm a person sharing deeply personal thoughts and feelings in the hopes that my sharing will strike a cord of commonality with you. My only goal is to make your day a little easier, better, happier, lighter, more informed. My personal hope is that my sharing will, in some way, help you to not worry, panic, feel alone. I just want to help because I know how it feels to be in your position and no one deserves to feel that alone, scared and helpless - because we really aren't... but sometimes it takes finding others living the same life to realize that is true, at least it did for me. 

What you may not know is the act of writing on this blog is how I find peace with type I diabetes. My calm comes when I can see people like you reading. I tell myself that it doesn't matter if you leave a comment, that I can tell that you are getting something from the experience when you return the next day. I think what Chris is saying is that he believes blog comments perpetuate more blogs. He may be correct, I don't know. I'm not sure how seeing more comments would effect my writing frequency but I do like his idea for Monday.

Anyway, Chris's blog made me want to tell you that I have faith that you are out there and that sometimes I write stuff that you find valuable. But if I'm being honest, some days it is really nice to hear a voice come back from within the abyss.

I hope you have a second to read about what Chris is calling, #dblogcheck - Have a great weekend!