Pasta Fazool

The wonder child of Lorraine, Elizabeth and Karen!

I am happy to be participating in the First (Weekly?) D-Feast Friday!!  It's a day for us to come together and share a recipe, diabetes-friendly or not, and walk away with a slew of new recipes to try!  So, without further adieu...

Pasta Fazool

Now, this is a staple meal in our home and has been, long before diabetes entered the picture.  But what's so great about it is that it really works great with C's blood sugars.  And, as anyone who deals with a faulty pancreas can tell you, usually pasta is one of those foods that misbehaves.  Because this recipe is balanced with beans, the fiber can actually be subtracted out of the total carb count.  Hence, making it a more manageable meal, bloodsugar-wise.

Some of you might be more familiar with it's other name:  Pasta Fagioli.  It's kind of like a pasta/bean soup.  My dear mother-in-law taught me how to make it.  In fact, when each of the grandkids were old enough (11-12), she taught each of them how to make it too.  Unfortunately, she is no longer with us to teach our kids.  I have already taught my oldest and now middle C is next in line.

When I was still a newlywed, she brought a bag full of groceries to our little apartment and showed me exactly what to do.  It's a challenge for me to write it down because it really does help to see it done.  But, I'll try!

Ingredients:

2 (15 oz.) cans of Great Northern or white beans
+ 2 cans of water
1/2 can (4 oz.) of tomato sauce
+ 1 can of water
3 T. olive oil
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 heaping T. oregano, crushed between palms
1 t. salt
1/8 t. pepper
1 c. ditalini pasta
1/2 c. spaghetti, broken into 1 " pieces
chopped onion for garnish (optional)

*Keep a couple cans of water near stove in case you need to add to pot when pasta is boiling.

Heat all ingredients (except pastas) in large pot to a gentle boil.  Turn down to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Turn heat up to boiling again and add pastas...stirring every few minutes so that the pasta does not stick.  Gently boil for 10-12 minutes.  At 10 minutes, check the ditalini for done-ness.  If, during boiling, mixture becomes too thick, add water.  It should stay at a thick, soupy, consistency.  (I like it thinner and usually add water when it's done.  This cools it down a bit too.)

That's it!  My kids love it and ask for it regularly.  I wish I had a picture of it to share.  But it's been so hot that I haven't made it recently.

It serves 6-8.

After much trial and error, I have finally found that counting a 1/2 cup serving as 10 grams of carbohydrates works well for C.  But, please do your own calculations from the bean label and pasta packages.  The great thing is...you can subtract out the 7 grams of fiber per serving from the carbs!

Enjoy!  And, Happy D-Feast Friday!!

"LO GLUCOSE"

So, whenever we change any type of setting on C's pump (basals, carb ratios, etc.), I'm not sure why, but it always takes a good 4-5 days until the true result is seen and felt.  So, this time was no different.  Slowly and ever surely, her numbers were calming down.
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Usually when we go to an appointment, her endo knows not to overwhelm us (me) with too many changes at once.  But this time, C had been so high for so long, around the clock, that I knew I had to throw some of my caution to the wind and trust that it was for the best.  Also, her doc was out on vacation, so I was working over the phone and the CareLink website with one of the nurses.

We increased every single basal setting and even added a couple new ones.  We changed several carb ratios during the times of day when she would really shoot up high.  And, lo and behold, this sweet nurse recognized that C's active insulin time was set at 3 hours, not the normal 2 hours...meaning the pump would calculate corrections knowing that any insulin coverage would last 3 full hours.  Sweetly, and calmly, she told me that the 3 hour setting is "really only used for babies and toddlers."

"If we change it to the normal 2 hours, that will really help with her correction doses."

"Huh.  Well, I guess it's still at the 3 hour setting because, huh, she started on the pump when she was still a toddler!  Thanks for noticing that!...I was never told to change it once she got older."  I had been enlightened. : )

"Now, be sure to do a few nights of 12 and 3 checks," she said as we were just about finishing up.

"Oh yes, yes we will.  I'll email her doc in about a week so she can go over the new numbers.  Thanks so much!"
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Days passed.  And, like I mentioned before, C's numbers gradually started dropping back into range.  Then a sneaky little low popped up of 60...and honestly, I was kind of glad. Numbers in range...ahhh!  But then one low turned into 2 in a row.  And then, there were more lows than highs.  I backed off corrections.  I began second-guessing my high-level carb-counting skills.  The midnight and 3 am checks were continuing.  And the "ZING" of anxiety shot through my body as I woke early in the morning.  I lowered a couple of the basals again...

...and then, it was America's birthday!

We were busy with pancake breakfasts, parades, bounce houses, friends and family all weekend long.  And C kept experiencing lows all weekend long.  And, when we were standing in line to go into the local high school football stadium to await the glorious fireworks show, it happened. 

I looked down at C, who was sitting on the sidewalk since the line wasn't moving.  She looked pale.  I tossed her meter to her and told her to check.  And, then intuition kicked in.  Slightly panicked, I shoved everything I was holding into my husband's arms.  I dropped down and took over testing her finger.  And, this is what the meter spewed back at us:

LO GLUCOSE

Okay, my heart did a swan dive into my stomach.  I tore through her bag and ripped open a juice box.  She downed it in seconds.  I held the meter up to show the husband.  I couldn't really even speak at this time.  I shoved another test strip in the meter:  58.  **Gigantic sigh**  58?  We can deal with that!  But what in the world was that LO GLUCOSE reading???!!!

I had never seen that before.  In all the 6 1/2 years we've been doing this thing called diabetes...not once.  I wonder, Has anyone else ever experience this nasty message?

Now, if you look closely (at my poorly photographed image), you'll notice that C tested at 58 only one minute after the LO reading.  So, maybe that means, she really wasn't too much lower that one minute before.  So, I'm still not understanding that message.  Oh well. 

To say the least, it was unnerving.

And, after contacting her endo the next morning, we gladly followed her advice to back off on some of those changes we had made the week prior.  I asked her about the LO reading, but in her email, she didn't make mention of it.  I'm sure it will be a topic at C's visit next month!

(Still uttering big sighs around here.)

Insulin Gone Bad?

Just when I think Gee, C's numbers have been really great lately...boom!  Relentless highs.  I mean blood glucose readings in the 200s, 300s, and yes, even 400s. Gobs of insulin corrections weren't making them even budge at times.

These highs began happening as soon as the kids were out of school last month.  But I couldn't figure it out.  It didn't make sense.  We were even more busy, with lots of activities...swimming included.  And swimming always makes C go low.  It was so frustrating.

What was totally insane was that it wasn't just at one or two different times during the day.  It was round-the-clock.  I'd get her down to the mid 100s with jumbo corrections, only to have her test in the 200s or 300s before her next meal.  This continued throughout the nighttime.  I did a couple of our famous middle-of-the-night-site-changes to no avail.

I began changing the site daily...opening another insulin vial, and then another.  Maybe it's gone bad, I thought.  Maybe it's a bad lot.  I just kept pushing forward, checking and correcting overnight, feeling overly exhausted.  You know this kind of tired...when the first thing you think of upon wakening is the bottle of Advil.

And then one day, I B-lined it for the pharmacy.  The insulin must have gone bad, I kept thinking.  Maybe they'll replace these vials that are barely used...I know, wishful thinking.  But, I was tired.  So off I went with C to the pharmacy.  I asked to speak with the guy who's been there the longest, as long as we've been getting insulin for C.  There are really only 2 employees left at our particular pharmacy who  remember me from the beginning...the haggard, emotional mom who needed, yes, 300 test strips a month for her baby.  He's one of them, so I thought for sure he'd see things my way!

"My daughter," I said, "her numbers have been crazy high.  I've opened like 3 new vials of insulin in the last week.  Could the insulin have gone bad?"  I asked.

"Uh, no," Mr. Pharmacist said.  "Let me see the cartons...Hmmm...no, they should be good.  Our shipments go directly in refrigeration.  She's possibly having a growth spurt."

A growth spurt?  That really didn't cross my mind.  Why hadn't it?  I thought for sure the insulin had gone bad.  Her numbers were high across the board.  Usually when we make adjustments and tweek basals in the pump, it's because numbers are creeping up, sneekily...not all at once.

So, with blurry, sleep-deprived eyes, I nodded, "Hmmm," I said.  "thanks."  We headed back home...determined to make adjustments and figure this out.  Over the course of the next few days, with some nurse help over the phone and internet, we adjusted every single basal setting and even added 2 more.  We changed so many things!  It made me nervous.  I'm very much a fan of the scientific method of changing one variable at a time.  But I knew we had to wrangle these numbers in a bigger way.  So, that's what we did.

It seems to always take several days for any type of setting change to really work itself out and show results.  We dug in for the long haul.  I knew this meant lots more testing and lots less sleeping but...oh well.  That's life with diabetes.

And, did the basal changes help?  Boy, did they?! But that's to be continued in another post...
Insulin gone bad?  Well, I know it can.  But not this time.  Now we have 3 newly-opened vials...ug. 
 

Sometimes insulin can go bad.

But I Made Bacon & Eggs...

It's been a few weeks now.  I think I can sit back and write about this subject with a little more objectivity than I had at the time.  I think I can...at least with as much objectivity that living with diabetes allows.

We had state standardized testing spread out between 2 weeks of school in May.  This is probably nothing different than any other school, at least in our state.  Letters had come home to inform parents of the testing schedule.  They had some pretty big hints about not taking students out of school for any unnecessary reasons during these times.  Giving our kids some extra protein-enriched breakfasts was also going to be appreciated by the teachers.  Well...okay, I thought.  I can do that!

Middle C put in his order.  "Okay, mom, for the first morning before testing, I'd like eggs, bacon and toast!"

So, I did that.  It didn't throw too much of a wrench into our morning schedule.  Usually, my kids make their own breakfasts, consisting of cereal, toast or an English muffin.  But, hey, the direction was specific...more protein.  So I got up just a bit earlier, made the eggs, bacon and toast.  (Okay, I used pre-cooked bacon!...in fact, I probably will never cook bacon again.)  The kids were happy and tummies were full and off to school we went.

After I kissed and hugged them good-bye and did my usual stop at the health office, I crossed paths with C's 2nd grade teacher.  In a flurry, she told me that the class would be snacking during the testing time and to just let her know "what C can or can't have!"

"Well, I'll just have to come by the room before recess to see what the snack is and what we should bolus," I said.

Oh, no..."you're not allowed in the room while we're testing," she explained.  "It's not going to be at recess time.  The children will be allowed to eat as they take the test...they'll be grazing," she said with a smile.  She had done this for the last 16 years and felt that children did better and stayed calmer if they were allowed to eat during the test.  All the while, we were walking quickly to the lines of students, as the bell had already rung.  She rattled off several different snacks and added, "and so-and-so's mother is bringing in fresh fruit!  Isn't that lovely?"

Lovely?  Hardly.  What was happening here?!

The teacher had the stack of tests piled high in her arms.  I could tell she was in a hurry for our conversation over crackers and fruit to end.  "Just tell me what she can or cannot have and we'll be fine!"  UG!  I felt so not fine at the moment.

"Uh....hmmmm..." I didn't quite know what to do.  I raced into the classroom and saw all the different snacks that had been brought in.  Why I wasn't notified about this was beyond me.  It is even stated ever-so-clearly in C's 504 plan that "the parents (that's me) will be notified prior to any extra food offered in class for special events."

"What can she have?"  The room was filling with kids, scurrying around us. 

"Uh...she can have anything," I said.  "She just needs to test and bolus for it."  Why, at the end of May with just 3-4 weeks to go, I was needing to explain this basic type 1 fact again...ug.

I grabbed some animal crackers, checked the carb count, counted them out, found a paper cup and wrote the grams on it.  "There," I said.  "She can have these...no fruit though.  It's not here for me to see it and count it and feel comfortable about it.  (Uncomfortable about fruit?...yes.)  But she will need to test before and have the health aide work the pump for the bolus."

Well now, that did throw a wrench into the whole "calming, snacky-eating thing" for the entire class!  I was told that C could not be leaving the room to go down to the health office during the test.

"Hmmm," I said, "Can't the Health Aide come into the room to do it?"  I felt like I was asking for a small miracle.

Eventually, things got worked out by the end of the week.  The second half of the testing schedule went along much smoother.  But, sheesh!...it was pure craziness, I tell you.  Nearly at the end of the school year and I was still trying to explain C's diabetes management. 

As I drove home, I kept thinking to myself  But I made bacon and eggs.  I did just what they said to do.  Yep, I made my kids a big ol' breakfast.  Why does C need to snack on animal crackers, pretzels or whatever?  I made a big breakfast. 

In reality, I do know why C needs to snack on those yucky, dry, little animal crackers.  She needs to be just like all the other kids.  And we want her to feel normal...even with diabetes.

5 Years.

Today marks 5 years since my breast cancer diagnosis! It seems like yesterday and yet, at the same time, it seems like forever ago...

As you can imagine, this date holds a lot of memories for me, both good and bad. And, as it approached, I knew I wanted to contact you with heartfelt gratitude for the role you played in cheering me on through the muck of it all.

I will never forget all the wonderful emails I received during those dark months. In fact, I've kept them all in a file, because some are just too precious to delete! I will never forget the gifts and meals that were brought to our home to lighten the load. I will never forget the anonymous, GIGANTIC basket full of goodies that was delivered to our doorstep before Thanksgiving! (I did finally figure out who sent it...hahaha!) I will never forget the phone calls, the flowers, the notes, the PRAYER that covered me and my family. I will never forget the dear friends who flew into town just to be with me...who came over just to rub my back when every inch of me was hurting from the chemo.

My sweet church family banded together and paid for several months of a housekeeper, so that I could rest comfortably in a clean home. Gift cards were given to us for restaurants so that we wouldn't have to think about meal preparation.

And, I will never forget the few special people who spent countless hours learning how to care for our little Claire who had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes just a year and a half earlier...and then, they actually cared for her!...doing checks in the middle of the night so that Dan and I could rest.

Did I mention the friends who didn't say "call us if you need anything!"...instead, they actually called me..."have the kids ready by 9 am," they would say, "and they will be returned clean and ready for bed by 8 pm." No, I will never forget all of you.
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It's been 5 years. Because this special date was coming up, I asked my oncologist about it at my last check in April. I asked her about the 5 year mark. When do we count the 5 year mark? Is it 5 years from diagnosis? 5 years from surgery? 5 years from the end of treatment? I was confused.

She told me that patients are always asking her that. And, medically it would be 5 years from the end of treatment, when bloodwork shows no evidence of disease.

"However," she said, "I think you should celebrate on June 8th."

: )

As I've contemplated this day, it dawned on me that my most sincere prayer has been and is being answered. I am here, raising my kids. Thank you, my dear Lord and my God!!

Claire was just 3 when I was diagnosed. Chase was 6. And Cole was 8. What a difference 5 years truly makes! We now have a teenager! Chase just turned 11. And Claire, the youngest is 8 years old.

I told my 11 year old that today is my anniversary. He looked puzzled. "Your wedding anniversary?" he asked. "I thought that's in July."

"Noooo," I said.

Without hesitation, he said, "oh, it's your breast cancer anniversary...your cancer-versary!"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

So that's what I'm doing. Celebrating. 5 years.