Your Favorites: April 2013

Your Favorite Arden's Day Content from April 2013 was...

On the blog

On Sale Now: My first book, 'Life is Short, Laundry Is Eternal'

DexCom G4 Platinum: Second Look

Pooh. Gilly. Bear.

OmniPod Rash?

Many other posts received similar attention to this month's top four - thank you for reading!

facebook

This picture received the most 'likes' during April on the Arden's Day FaceBook page

This post was seen on more timelines then any other...

"Thank you to every member of the DOC for supporting my book... I know that there are far more then just the names you see here. #HeartWarming

Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal arrives in stores today."

twitter

The tweet that you retweeted the most was something that started out as a way to amuse myself but a lot of you got behind it - which I really love and appreciate!

C’mon @Oprah just look… You’ll love it.  Can I get some RTs from readers! http://t.co/QE9CCZKoOB

It was accompanied by this image

I've only been doing these end of month favorite post for three months, however...

Arden's Day has experienced growth in both page clicks and unique users every month for the last eight consecutive months! I'm touched, humbled, and happy that you are enjoying the site.

I've said this before but it bears repeating, thank you for the incredible support that you have shown both by reading my blog and buying my book. I genuinely don't know how to properly say thank you... 

On to May!

Sesame Chicken you Motherless $%&^@

It was a long Sunday and the nights hours were burning away quickly. We just wanted to have a fast and easy dinner when we made the call. It ended up being anything but.

I pre-bolused. I counted carbs. I over-estimated those carbs. I set temp basal rates. I did everything that I know how to do and two hours later, it appeared as though my foresight had won the battle. Arden's BG was 150 two hours after insulin and some ninety minutes after she finished eating. I was victorious!

That victory was however, short-lived - Chicken and rice... not so nice

The next few hours were a slugfest. I traded punches with diabetes all night. It hit me in the jaw, a countered with a bolus. It responded with a gut punch, I shot insulin with a needle. Uppercut, water bottle. Jab, Temp basal. We went back and forth like two prize fighters in a ten round fight. This exchange went on until four in the morning, I was staggered by the unrelenting nature of the attack. Defeated physically as well as spiritually.

We just wanted a number four with dumplings

It's so incredibly frustrating at times. The old diabetes adage really does stand true. You can do everything that you did the day before in the exact same situation and get completely different results. We don't make a habit out of Chinese take-out, but I was certain that I had developed a great system for combating those crazy carbs. Not on this night I guess, my best laid schemes failed me.

 

But little Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain:

The best laid schemes of mice and men

Go often awry

The most difficult part of staying up overnight in these situations isn't the loss of sleep, though that did eventually catch up to me. It's the stillness of the dark and how it allows you the time to reflect on what the high BG is doing to your child's body. The darkness makes me want to be better. Do better, make better decisions. I do a fair job of not beating myself up in these moments, I try to learn their lesson. Knowing that you are standing in the dark with me helps keep that attitude in the forefront of my mind. We are only alone in these moments if we forget that somewhere, there is another person just like us, having the same doubts, fighting the same fights. The DOC is always with you!

Signed Book GiveAway: And the Winner is...

The Arden's Day GiveAway Machine has chosen and the winner of the signed copy of 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal' is...

Please contact me at ardensday@me.com to make shipping arrangements. Congratulations!

The Descendants Made Me Cry 3 Times

WARNING - This post is full of spoilers for the movie.

This past weekend I found myself exhausted but unable to sleep. Remarkably, it wasn't diabetes that was keeping me up (like it did the five nights prior), this night I was trying to stay awake so I could pick my son up from a party at 1 am - so I turned on the television and found that 'The Descendants' was about to begin.

The movie follows a man (George Clooney) as he comes to terms with the news that his recently comatose and soon to be dead wife, was cheating on him. There is a scene toward the latter part of the film where the wife's father (played by Robert Forster) puts his hand on his adult daughter's head and kisses her while he is coming to terms with the fact that she won't be waking up. That made me cry the first time. It was a small moment in the film that was very touching, but did not effect me personally.

After the movie ended I made my way to Arden's room so I could make some last adjustments to her basal rate. When I was finished, I bent down and kissed Arden on her head just as I always do before I leave her room when she is sleeping. It was then that I began to cry for a second time, this time it felt personal. This time I thought about losing my daughter as the man did in the movie. I thought about how hollow the world would seem without Arden, and I wondered if I would want to exist in the void that her passing would leave.

I never thought about diabetes...

Until I did

I walked into our bathroom to collect myself because Kelly was sleeping and I didn't want to wake her. It was dark and so I could only make out shadows. There are personal photographs in that room and one of them is of Arden standing on the beach, it's from a few years ago and she is walking toward the surf with her hands stretched out to her sides. I took that picture as I watched her walk away from me. She looks like she is trying to absorb how wonderful the moment was... like she wants to hug the sun. I love that picture.

I just about had myself together when I heard Arden's CGM beep

Then I thought about diabetes and all of the things about it that we try to guard against but don't speak about very often. I thought about the possibility of long-term complications. And that's when I fell apart.

I was okay a few minutes later. I pulled it together and reminded myself that I get extra emotional when I'm tired and then I went back to Arden to check on that CGM.

I'm sharing this story today because I imagine that something very similar to this has happened to you - and it will happen again. It's totally normal, expected and human and I wanted you to know that it happens to me too.

BTW, I really liked the movie, if you've never seen it you should check it out sometime.

Pictures from my Barnes & Noble Book Signing

Thank you to everyone that was able to come out and support my first book signing last night. I had a wonderful time (please ignore how tired I look in some of the pictures) and as you can see, Arden really enjoyed signing the books!

We are working on making other events happen, please stay tuned. If you have pictures from last night I'd love it if you would send them to ardensday@me.com.

Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal is available everywhere that book are sold and on all eBook formats - I hope that you love it!

Have a great weekend and thank you as always for your continued support!

Scott

A big thank you to the Barnes & Noble in Hamilton, NJ (especially Susan) for their warm and wonderful support.