August 2010...pump start day

9:30 AM ..Abbey was given her Medronic "Veo" pump..we had a pretty full induction day and 2 days later we were pumping.
We are definately loving the pump, but I feel the need to let people know that you must be prepared for the commitment that pumping requires.
for example we have to do Bgl readings every 2 to 3 hours and if things are changing  - like going through puberty, growth spurts, exercise, emotional times then you need to do Bgls at 12am and also at
3am . Because there is no long term insulin on board when pumping it is a case of the 'here and now' approach.
The reason for such tight monitoring  is because without long term insulin on board Abbey has a window of about 3 hours before things can take a bad turn...Ketones can start to develop quickly and untreated can lead to coma.
well my first experience with that was when we did a sight change at 8pm ...haha now I know better, it is not a good idea to do site changes at night......more to follow

July 2010....To pump or not to pump

At this stage, Abbey has been diagnosed  for 10 months and after full time research and also seeing her HbA1c was 8.4 ..I felt there was room for improvement so that was our conversations for about 2 months prior to July.
By May 2010 Abbey decided she wanted to pump because she loves to sleep in and she loves a variety of different foods which was hard to do with having shots.
I know pumping is not for everyone but for us it felt so right, and somehow I think you just know when the time is right.
SSoo I approached our endo and she said that the doctor, the social worker and the dietitian would have to approve first..
after waiting one month for some response I received "THE" letter saying They approve Abbeys application.
Yay!!! how happy do you think I was.
I was determined that even though my daughter was given this awful disease... I would work as hard as I have to make her life as normal as possible without complications.
Well what a road ahead...

Abbey stayed in hospital for one week and we all got to learn what we had to do to keep her alive....
Her pancreas had basically died - I thought all those sort of things only happen with old age, not to a healthy 9 year old.
On admittance she was very ill, she had ketoacidosis and they had to come and check her on the hour,every hour.
One thing I will always .... remember that made me realise what I really had to deal with was :- On the fourth day in hospital, I asked the nurse if I could take Abbey down to the cafe on the 4th floor, as I was about to go she say's...Havn't you forgotten something like Abbeys hypo kit...'well I was only going down to the next floor ' and the nurse say's "what if the elevator fails and Abbey has a low ...
WOW just got to learn that we can never go anywhere without her hypo kit.
I must admit by the 5th day I was thinking that there was no way I would feel safe enough to take Abbey home...what if something happened.
It's amazing though how a parent can suddenly gain inner strength  because on the 7th day I was well and truley ready to go home.
Our hospital stay was very pleasant considering the circumstances and all the doctors and nurses were so wonderful ...thanks Princess Margaret Hospital

Pre diagnose days of Abbey Ellis (8 yrs old)

When I look back on the things that lead up to Abbey's illness, I realised that she was unwell for quite a long period of time. She was diagnosed with 'exercise induced asthma", she didn't have any wheezing but she just couldn't breath properly.

Then she came down with a virus which was treated with antibiotics...she was well for a couple of weeks, then the virus came back, this persisted for over 3 months and took about 4 different lots of antibiotics. All the while she was not the same active little girl she used to be...she started sleeping a lot more and was always tired. I felt there was something really wrong . Abbey was always thirsty and would drink lots of water and go to the toilet all the time.

The few days before diagnosis she wet the bed, which she hadn't done since she was 2 years old.

The actual day of diagnosis I was taking her to school, she had rugged herself up saying that she was freezing. It was actually a pleasant temperature.
The next time I looked in the mirror, she was asleep, I knew she was sick again!
In the afternoon I took her back to the doctors and he was about  to give her more antibiotics,as we were about to leave, Abbey casually tells him, she wet the bed..so he sent us to the toilet for a urine sample.
When he returned he said to me "we have a big problem" I think it is diabetes.
"you need to take her straight to Princess Margaret Hospital, I will call and let them know you are coming.
I did not know anything about diabetes but I  knew it didn't sound good.
That evening the 16/09/2oo9... Abbey was diagnosed - Type 1 Diabetes.