Floaters: Do they let kids name ailments now?
I never really talk about myself on Arden's Day. I mostly talk about the reactions, feelings and discoveries that I have related to living with type I diabetes. You may disagree and I may be wrong but either way, I'm going to talk about myself today.
I don't really get sick. I remember having bronchitis very badly once as a child, maybe around ten years old. My iron got very low once a few years ago, I ignored it forever to the point where the doctor thought I had cancer for a moment... it ended up being something very small and easily rectified. I lived for nearly a year with so little iron in my system that by the time I turned up in the doctor's office he told me, with not a tinge of joking in his voice, "I can't believe you can stand". I wasn't just standing I was getting up at all hours of the night with Arden's type 1 diabetes and still completing my tasks around the house during the day. I took the kids to sports, wrote, cleaned and did the laundry. My point is that even when my body is completely taxed... I keep going.
My experience with type 1 has taught me not to take my uncommon constitution for granted and I promised myself after the 'Iron incident' that I wouldn't ignore not feeling well ever again, if not for myself then out of respect for the lives that all of you lead.
Last week I was having a catch with Arden late in the afternoon, the sky was grey and flat and we were passing the time while Cole warmed up for his baseball game. Arden has been expanding her softball skills and she is now catching fly balls that are much higher then I imagined she'd be able to handle at her age. I noticed that when I would tilt my head up suddenly to throw the ball that translucent worm shaped images would appear in my sight and then float away. One shape looked a lot like a DNA sequence. Varied shapes, see through but visible like when they make something 'look' invisible in a sci-fi movie. I was instantly terrified. My vision has for my entire life been 20/15. I see in contrast, color and sharpness in a way that would perhaps be indefinable to a person who wears glasses. Now suddenly I was worried that I was going blind, had a tumor or ya know, cancer...
Turns out I have floaters. No, not bits of pooh that won't go down when you flush but shapes that float through your vision. The doc says that in my case they come with age (wow was that tough to hear). I know because I called and made an appointment to see him exactly fifteen minutes after I noticed the shapes. I considered ignoring it to see if it would go away but then I thought there was no way that I'd let one of my kids or Kelly ignore something like this and so I called from the baseball field.
I'm writing this long tale of basically no woe because I owe my new attitude to all of you. There may be nothing more scary then hearing bad health news about your child but you all stand up bravely and hear things far worse then floaters each and every day. I do it with my children and I wanted to take this first personal opportunity to act well on my own behalf. I must say that I was proud of myself for not turning, pardon the pun, a blind eye to my situation but I'm even prouder of each and every one of you for doing the same in far more frightening circumstances.
I don't want to link to a bunch of info that I can't substantiate as accurate but I was told that floaters can occur naturally with age or they can be a sign of something far worse and serious that can be contained if caught early enough. Please seek medical attention without delay if you experience any issues with your sight. Mine, as it is described at the bottom of this page, is never to be taken as medical advice. Always contact a doctor when your health is in question.
Now if I could just find time to sleep...
Social Media is helping me lose weight
I have never been a thin person. I have at times considered myself fat, overweight, in shape, not too bad and an entire slew of other body and health terms. I put on weight for the first time in my life around age six and didn't return to a healthy weight until about ninth grade. That dance has continued throughout my life. My weight hit an all time high around 1998. That was the first time that I took a drastic measure to reduce my size. The diet worked great and before I knew it I looked the best that I ever had! Then we had Cole and I put half of it back on. I've been up and down ever since. I never get so heavy that I feel unhealthy but somehow I always feel better when I take off a few pounds so I know that the weight effects me poorly.
Intellectually I know that I should be leaner and I wish that I looked better but these things never seems to be enough incentive for me to maintain a constant weight. The truly odd thing about me being overweight is that I am not a food person. I don't have cravings or even get hungry very often. It took me a long time to realize that my issue was two-fold: I don't eat enough food or water (often I joke that my body thinks that we are shipwrecked and is conserving fat) and when I do eat, I put no effort into eating well (though my kids are fed very well). Even after coming to that understanding about myself... I still haven't addressed it. I did however eat two batches of Christmas cookies, one at a time, over an 18 day period last month.
I needed help but I know that I wouldn't have sought it out on my own.
About a week ago one of our friends posted on FaceBook that he needed to lose weight. In minutes the idea of a competition was suggested and a week later forty people were signed up for a weight loss contest. Everyone threw in twenty-five dollars and the 'biggest loser' will take home a cool grand. Nice idea and my wife was doing it so I joined in as well. I wasn't all that enthusiastic until I saw something happen, something that was very familiar to me because of diabetes and the DOC.
Along with the competition came a private FaceBook group. To keep things on the up and up everyone had to post a video of their initial weigh in. No one was too pleased and people spoke of dropping out to avoid making their weight public but a few intrepid souls went first and then the greatest thing happened...
People stopped feeling alone, isolated, embarrassed and the weigh in videos began to appear one after the other. Where had I seen this before? In the diabetes online community of course. It's the power of social media. Which is just a new way of saying that people need people. It's community, friendship, support, or as we love to say in the type I world... the knowledge that others are living with and surviving the same things that you are struggling with. Somehow, some wonderful somehow, once you understand that you aren't alone, everything magically gets easier.
I'm watching people that didn't know each other a week ago share things that I know they are embarrassed by. They are offering encouragement, recipes and a lot of needed contact. All of this is supporting and motivating the group. I wish that everyone could experience such community. Up until last week I thought that I would only ever feel like this when I was around the people in the DOC.
This is just another way that social media is helping me. Please share how social media and online relationships have helped you, your post may be their introduction to a much needed life change.
My one month weight loss total is... 21 pounds!
NEWS: Dean Clinic says diabetes patients may have been exposed to hepatitis, HIV
From Madison.com
RON SEELY | rseely@madison.com | 608-252-6131 | Posted: Monday, August 29, 2011 4:30 pm
As many as 2,345 Dean Clinic patients may have been exposed to the bloodborne illnesses hepatitis B and C and HIV because a diabetes nurse educator reused the handles of insulin demonstration pens and finger stick devices over a five-year period, from 2006 to 2011, clinic officials said Monday.
Both Craig Samitt, Dean's chief executive officer, and Mark Kaufman, chief medical officer, described the risk as "small" because the educator, who worked out of the Dean clinics on Stoughton Road and in Sun Prairie, did not re-use actual needles.
Even so, said Kaufman, it is possible that blood from patients contaminated the bases of the re-used demonstration pens, which are supposed to be used to show how to inject insulin and aren't intended for use on people, or the plastic handles of the finger stick devices.
"We're confident the person always changed needles between uses of the devices," said Kaufman. "But even if you're changing the needle, there is the possibility that the first person's blood could come in contact with the next person's blood."
Abigail Tumpey, a spokesperson for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Protection, said Dean has consulted with that agency about the incident. Craig said the clinic has also been in touch with the state Division of Public Health. Officials with both agencies were unsure Monday whether further investigations will be conducted.
"We would agree that the risk is small," said Tumpey. Regardless, she added, most people in such education programs expect no risk. Tumpey said the CDC works with clinics in such situations to make sure patients are notified and that their needs and concerns are met.
"The goal is more health care transparency," said Tumpey. "It is a very scary time for many of these patients."
Samitt said this was an "isolated" incident involving the single educator, who has since been fired. He declined to identify the individual. Samitt said clinic officials learned of the potential exposure on August 10 from another employee and conducted an investigation. Monday, the clinic mailed letters to all 2,345 patients to inform them that they may be at increased risk.
Also, Samitt said, a team of 25 nurses is taking telephone calls from affected individuals to determine whether they should be tested for HIV, which is the virus that causes AIDS, or for either form of hepatitis, a disease that attacks the liver. He said calls were already being received Monday after stories about the possible exposure began appearing in the media.
"This is a very difficult situation for us at Dean," said Samitt. "I'd like to apologize for the concern this has caused patients and their families. We'll do whatever it takes to care for affected patients."
Kaufman said risk to individual patients depends on whether the nurse actually used one of the insulin devices on them. "Did the nurse use any sharp instrument on you? If the answer is 'No,' then there is no risk. If you don't remember, then we could assume there was a risk, no matter how small."
But Samitt said anybody who is concerned about exposure will be offered testing. He said while most of the involved patients are from Dane County, a handful from outside the county and even outside the state may have been referred to the educator. "We're casting a very broad net to include each and every patient the nurse could have seen," said Samitt.
As for how the misuse of the devices could have gone for so long without being detected, Samitt said the clinic is still trying to figure that out.
"We'd like to know the answer to that question as well," said Samitt. "This is an active investigation."
Samitt said the nurse was certified through state and federal programs, including the Association of Diabetic Educators, to work as a diabetes educator. Also, he said, the nurse went through Dean's own training program. An important part of that training, he said, is learning not to re-use the testing devices. The insulin demonstration pen, for example, is not supposed to be used on people but rather is used on oranges or pillows to show patients how to inject insulin.
"This is upsetting to us as well," Samitt said. "There is a basic standard of care principle here."
Samitt added that it was unclear whether the nurse went through the clinic's refresher course on standard practices. He said there was apparently little oversight or evaluation of the nurse's work.
"There weren't regular, routine observations," said Samitt.
Samitt said that in the wake of the incident the clinic is requiring staff to be retrained in the use of the devices, improving monitoring the use of the devices and also making sure that practices by clinic staff are routinely observed.
The state Department of Safety and Professional Services is also reviewing information about the case, according to John Murray, executive assistant at the agency.
Sick, Virus, Flu, Strep
Sick, a virus, the flu, strep, runny nose, fever. Odds are that your home has been visited this year by one of these illnesses. However, if you haven't been visited it’s possible that your illness came to our house instead (must not have GPS) because we’ve had more then our fair share.
Arden has been sick so many times this year that I’ve lost count. She has missed way too much school and we’ve missed way too much sleep. So today I took the first step to making sure this doesn’t happen anymore. Did I up her multivitamins? No. Are we all wearing paper surgical masks 24/7? No. Did Kelly quit her job so she can sit up all night watching low BGs? No.
Today I visited Arden’s Assistant Principle. I got Arden off to school and then I walked into her office in the following condition... So that you can form a mental image, I look like I died from a zombie bite and came back to “life” three weeks ago. Since then I appear as though I’ve been walking the streets of my town feeding on cats while birds pick at my eye sockets.
No shower, hat over my hair that needed to be cut six weeks ago, unshaved, hell I think I slept (slept... as if) in this shirt. I didn’t put any effort into shining myself up because I don’t have the energy and I wanted her to see what having a diabetic child that has been sick for months does to a person... and so I sat down in all of my glory and explained.
I explained that in the course of a “normal” day I don’t usually get to sleep until two in the morning and that’s when everything is going great! I told her that, I’m so tired now that Kelly has had to stay up nights with Arden because I just can’t stay awake anymore. That the bouts of getting Arden to eat or drink when she is sick and/or sleeping is painful to the soul and difficult on my family. I told her that, I still have to grocery shop, vacuum, do homework, take my son to baseball, go to eye doctor appointments, I told her that my regular life doesn’t stop just because Arden is sick.
I asked her to imagine taking care of a sick child for extended periods of time and then I explained what being sick does to Arden’s BGs, I said, “combine those things, don’t sleep, still worry about all of the other stuff that life brings, then do all of that while you force a six year old to drink juice at 3:40 in the morning”. - She did, she was a great listener and seemed 100% concerned with my plight. Then I explained, “you can help make this all go away by not making Arden go to the nurse’s office for her type I maintenance, the nurse’s office is where the sick people are and Arden is not sick - she has a chronic illness that requires constant overseeing but she doesn’t have a cold, the flu, strep non of that, she’s actually a really healthy little girl”.
I asked her to, “please find a new place for her to see the nurse until she is old enough to manage her diabetes in the classroom, please”.
I told her that I don’t want fight about this, that in fact I may not have enough energy to but that I would if need be. I asked her to find a system that works for the school, I don’t need or want to be part of deciding what that is but that if it couldn’t be handled that I would add the request to Arden’s 504 plan immediately. She said that she’ll be getting back to me soon... I believe her.
She thanked me for being so honest and I thanked her for her concern. We never spoke about the long term issues that this will have on Arden’s education but that is a big concern of ours.
If you have thoughts on this please leave a comment and I’ll forward this post to the school. We’ll all benefit one day if these practices become the norm.
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The following are archived comments from this post. You can post new comments below.
This is an interesting point. Makes me think. Caleb typically checks his sugar in the classroom. When he is in the nurse's office, he washes his hands, has his own desk and isn't really "near" other kids.
But we have had the sickness year from hell. Could it be related? Could there just be more illness overall but yet he's exposed to it more even if he's in the nurses office just at dismissal when no one else is there? Maybe. He had this same plan last year and he wasn't nearly as sick. His sister has been crazy sick too, and oddly it's been different sick - different schedule than Caleb.
Hmmm....
I don't know the answer, but I don't think finding another place to check can hurt.
What an image you portray there Scott! It sounds like you will get a reasonable response - you always do.
I hope you get some sleep soon! And conrgats on the snack stand!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - 01:00 PM
I was in school soooo many years ago that things like this weren't an issue. But I wouldn't think it should be an issue to let her get her care someone else. Having diabetes and being sick is awful. I was out of work for almost a week earlier this month dealing with sickness. I still think had I not had disbetes, I'd have been back to work days sooner.
Wednesday, March 30, 2011 - 02:58 PM
Opening Day
Today is the official start to the 2011 MLB baseball season but major leaguers aren't the only ones that start throwing the ball around this week. It’s estimated that 50 million boys and girls play Little League baseball and softball in the US alone. That’s 50 million kids between the ages of 5 and 12 running around and working up an appetite on fields all over this country.
Arden is a softball player and her brother Cole plays on multiple baseball teams. Just like many of you we spend a lot of time on baseball fields from April to November.
One day last season I overheard a mother talking about how happy she was that her kids were out in the fresh air and getting exercise, I turned to agree with her but when I did I saw that her son was eating cheese fries and drinking a soda. That moment gave me pause and made me consider the ridiculousness of the situation. “I’ve done same thing” I thought. When Cole gets done playing he’s ravenous and he goes to the snack stand and buys some food-like product with money that I give him and when Arden visits the stand her BGs get thrown into a tizzy. I instantly felt stupid and more then a bit hypocritical, so I decided to take a shot at enacting change.
What is months ago now I spoke to the gentleman that runs our town’s little league program and said no more or less than what I have said here, then I expressed my wish that the stand could provide better options to refuel our kids. I told him that despite my best efforts it was difficult to keep up with our schedule while packing good food to eat at the games (I’m at those fields 4 and 5 times a week). He understood and said that he’d look into it.
Fast-forward to yesterday... I received an email that I am more then a little proud to tell you about - There will be yogurt and fresh fruit available at our snack stand on opening day and if they sell maybe they’ll add more! A tiny little triumph but one that I have a lot of hope for... I want our kids to have healthy options where ever they are all most as much as I want the my home town team back in the World Series...
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The following are archived comments from this post. You can post new comments below.
My kids would eat yogurt and fresh fruit at every meal and snack if I'd let them. (BOTH kids.)
Isn't it amazing how sometimes something as little as simply asking can help make change?
Now you'll have to stand by the snack bar and encourage everyone to buy the good stuff!