Day 12, Stream of Consciousness...

Start with the sentence "__________", just write, don't stop, don't edit and post!!

Okay...FAMILY, DIABETES, WHAT IF...

Yesterday I spent the day with extended family. Some I hadn't seen in over 20 years and some I'd never met. These were my cousins and their wives and kids. We met up with them at Great Wold Lodge. It's a hotel with the mother of all indoor water parks right inside. It was AWESOME!! The kids had a blast!! Us adults tried to catch up the last 20 years as much as we could between the sprays of water guns, waterfalls, waves and keeping an eye on our kids. All the kids took to each other and just had fun! I love that! I remember when I was a kid getting together with my cousins. There would always be that awkward silence...sizing each other up and then, FINALLY playing together!! Which was usually by the last day of the visit! But not these kids...they were fast friends! I know I will cherish this day!

But, of course, diabetes had to be a pain in the butt earlier in the day.

 It's partly my fault...I should've been more prepared but I wasn't and when push came to shove I pushed it away until I was out of insulin with a low reservoir heading to a water park. Well, I had to pack clothes to change into as we were meeting the rest of the family for dinner that evening. So here I am trying to get Jackson (whose 4) ready to go and thankfully, Nora (11) was packing her own stuff. I'm getting the diabetes emergency pack ready with EVERYTHING but the kitchen sink in there!! Alcohol swabs, multiple Mio insulin sites, reservoirs, canister of test strips, glucagon, Skittles, Juice Boxes, syringes, Medipore tape, you name it...I packed it!! Then I needed to pack snacks because although I feed my kids lunch it never fails that someone will be STARVING the minute we step foot in the water park. So after packing up my home, essentially, I know....huge exaggeration!! I do a site change because 1. it was time and 2. she had LOW RESERVOIR alarming. Did the site change, added some Medipore tape over the site and said a little prayer that the site wouldn't fall off and float away in the wave pool! Then we stop off at the pharmacy to fill insulin Rx. All the time I'm thinking how much a pain in the butt diabetes is. Really!?

 I have to plan for the "what if". 

What if she goes low, high, site falls off. All these things and more. Because if I don't come prepared these things will happen and then we would have to end our fun and go back home to take care of stupid diabetes. How nice it would've been to pack our clothes and leave. Not worry about filing the Rx, changing sites, bringing extras...just getting in the car and leaving...I can't even remember what that is like. But we finally got there...oh, and treated a low, in the car, on the way there! We had fun, despite diabetes. And we will do things again and again and maybe I'll be more prepared than yesterday and maybe not. I'm just glad we were there and having fun!! It was a blessing to be able to have the families together...and we can thank social media for that!

Ironically, there was quite the commotion in an upper corner of the water park. A diabetic kid had suffered a low and the medical staff gave him some orange juice. THAT is the "what if"...and why I packed everything!! You just don't know...

A BIG thank you to my cousin Paul, his wife Sherrie and their beautiful kids, Emma and Erin, because of their generosity, we were able to enjoy the water park. And to my cousin, Dylan, his wife, Dawn and their handsome boys, Max and Ryan, thanks for dinner!! And to my Aunt Joellen, whom I haven't seen since I was a teen, so happy to see you again!