What was was your turning point or ah-ha moment on cwd?

So many 'oh wow, really?' moments reading this forum...

but my favorite has to be the "guide to parents written by a teenage diabetic" and also any other time a diabetic themself writes about their parents (what parents did or didn't do or say...what things made the biggest impression on the child - both good and bad). That insight is priceless.

 

Not a defining moment, nothing but a mantra...from Lisa P...."I'd eat weeds from a ditch to get insulin to my kid". It LITERALLY is what I say to myself most weekends as I drive away from my sleeping family every Saturday and Sunday at 6am to drive an hour to work.

Working weekends is my eating weeds...it's what I do because we do what we do to keep our kids happy and healthy and whole and loving life.

I think it struck me so profoundly because we are all in this together, doing what we hate to do because we have to do it to protect our kids, no matter the cost. Whether it means waking up multiple times a night or working weekends or giving up starbucks...we all sacrifice in some way, mentally, emotionally, financially, for our kids. I'm not alone in this.

I just love that quote.

 

"Your Diabetes May Vary" by Badshoe - this made me realize that I do not have to do things like everyone else - just take what will help us and not stress that I am doing something wrong just because it is different than someone else!

 

For me too it's YDMV.. :cwds:

 

For me as well it was YDMV.

And I don't know who it was but someone stated that when their child gets home from school they make sure to ask about their day first and what their bg numbers were second. To remember that they are children and not a number on a meter.

Also that there are no good or bad numbers, there are just numbers.

 

This was it for me as well.

 

The turning point is that I realized I am in charge of my son's diabetes and the endo is just another resource, not the authority. I guess that is why we are on the 6th endo in 13 years!

 

Hmm I think I have several. I have learned alot on this site and had quite a few aha moments. I think the first that comes to mind for me was when we had a 32 on either our 2nd or 3rd night home from the hospital, I treated with skittles and was ticked I couldn't get to the on call doc, didn't know if I should take him to the ER when that low. Someone said to pay more attention to the symptoms than to the actual number. I do that now, pay more attention to symptoms and almost a year down the road, don't feel like freaking out as much when BG won't play nice.

 

Yes, this was my turning point as well. I remember calling our first endo office with a question and realizing they didn't have an answer- it was at that point I realized T1D does not come with a one-size-fits-all management strategy.

 

Absolutely, great point.

CWD gave me the knowledge and information to pursue products I thought I could benefit from.

Had it not been for CWD, and had I just relied on my Endo, I would not have started the pump as soon as I did (my endo told me 'at least a year'), and most definitely would not have looked at a CGMS.

CWD provided me with the resources to plead my case.

 

"Breathe in, breathe out, move on." on someone's signature still helps me.

It is so hard to not beat yourself up when dealing with D. With the best info, and best intentions, it is still not possible to get it right-ish all the time. Then add human error, and well... Breathe in.....


Take this morning for example. I was starting to beat myself up over a mistake that caused us all some anxiety (Did I just give Lantus instead of Apidra? Much too early this morning since DD has a track meet.) After dropping her off, I was going over what I had done, and wondering how I could have made the blunder of not being sure what I had done, when I realized - IT IS OVER - mistake has been made, corrected to the best of our ability at the moment, time will now tell....relax that tense body of yours, Breathe in, Breathe out....

 

This is mine, inasmuch as that is what I keep responding to my "well meaning" relatives (sadly, dh included ) who often ask whether or not I should be giving Alex so much insulin for some particular food or drink. She needs what she needs. :cwds:

 

I think Marsha (twodoor2) was the first I saw who started talking about BCR which stands for Blood glucose to Carb Ratio and represents the amount that 0ne gram of carb raises BG when given without a bolus. This is HIGHLY important to know when you are treating lows.

She may have had a different acronym at first. As time went on and through a few different threads she came to the conclusion that ISF = BCR X ICR.

ISF is the Insulin Sensitivity Factor and ICR is the Insulin to Carb Ratio.

This was definitely the a-ha moment for me. The equation made sense and seemed to work but just to make sure, I wanted to do a mathematical proof and I set out to do so.

After crunching numbers for awhile it all worked out and I came up with my proof and then started a thread which showed my proof. I got a little carried away in that thread thinking that I had proof that this was THE WAY to calculate ISF and if the numbers didn't fit, the numbers were WRONG.

But diabetes varies and is always in flux. BCR is not a constant. ISF is not a constant. ICR is not a constant. Therefore the equation is only as good as the accuracy of BCR and ICR at THAT VERY MOMENT.

OK, this is getting too long. Sorry. Anyway, ISF = BCR X ICR is a VERY handy equation and it's discovery was the a-ha moment for me.

 

YES Dave!!! That is exactly what I was referring to in my earlier post. That BCR number was like a magic light bulb. That was, for me, the best thread we have ever had on CWD. You didn't get carried away - it was a great thread.

 

This is a quote from my previous post. You know, now that I reread that thread, I really didn't get carried away thinking the numbers HAD to work out. In fact I addressed the issues with its accuracy in the very next post in that thread!

I think I need to be less hard on myself and post more often. Maybe I need to get on a happy pill or something...