**I hate that almost every holiday has turned into a candy holiday. For several years now I have drastically cut down on the amount of candy I give the kids for Easter (along with other holidays). This year, I went shopping for presents and Easter basket goodies on Saturday, which depending on how you think about it was either a great idea or a terrible idea. There were not many choices left in the candy aisle, and about 20 of us standing around looking at reject candy. Being limited, though, was great. Each kid got about six of those tiny chocolate eggs, and about six plastic eggs that had a handful of Skittles or jelly beans in them. I was pretty proud of that. And then on Easter we went to a friend's house. There was an egg hunt. And Uh. Mah. Gawd. did they make out with some serious loot. I emptied all the eggs last night into our community stash of candy where we have Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's Day leftovers. The bucket is overflowing now. Grrr. (READ MORE)

To sum up Charlie's recent doctor's visit in which we greatly anticipated an improved A1c result, the words of two great American female poets come to mind.

"First, when there's nothing but a slow glowing dream
That your fear seems to hide deep inside your mind
All alone I have cried silent tears full of pride
In a world made of steel, made of stone

What a feeling, bein's believin'
I can't have it all, now I'm dancin' for my life
Take your passion, and make it happen
Pictures come alive, you can dance right through your life" - Irene Cara

And of course ,.

"Whoa, maybe he's no romeo
But he's my lovin one-man show
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa
Let's hear it for the boy" - Deniece Williams

Incidentally, I honestly always thought the Irene Cara lyric was "take your pants off and make it happen" rather than "take your passion and make it happen." Very risqué and quite unlikely even for the mid-80s, but that's just how I heard it. (READ MORE)

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So tomorrow we bring Charlie into the shop for his quarterly visit and let them take a look under the hood. Hopefully they'll hear that strange noise he's been making and figure out why he's been leaking so much and more importantly, why he never seems to run out of gas.

In preparation for our meeting, I've been jotting down some questions for Charlie's doctor that I will forget to bring with me and completely forget to ask. I'll remember that I forgot to ask the questions as I'm on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, driving home after the appointment. Because that's what I do. (READ MORE)

It's been awhile. The whirlwind that is life took over for a spell. To avoid another takeover, I'm committing to twenty-six letters. A through Z. One letter at least every other day - each representing a word that relates to living with diabetes or being touched by diabetes.

You might think that A, naturally, would be A1C. You know? That number that supposedly gives you an idea of you how you're managing. But A won't be A1C today. Because, although I believe it's important to know your A1C and keep your number in order, there is, I believe, a more important A. And that's accountability.

Sometimes diabetes throws a curve-ball. Sometimes, it seems, no matter what we do, our blood sugar has a mind of its own. It swoops or peaks for no apparent reason. (READ MORE)

I'll get right to it. I'm not at all pleased with an A1c of 8.3. We got the result right away, and to be honest, it put me in a pretty sour mood for the rest of the three-hour appointment with Charlie's new diabetes team at Children's Hospital. The result is just about level with the last one taken in August.

The past three months, Charlie has had some of the best blood sugars he's ever had. His monthly average on his meter has been hovering in the 150s to 170s. Much lower than the 195-205 range we've gotten accustomed to seeing. Susanne and I were expecting better. Much, much better. We were also concerned about too many lows. That's troubling. If we seemingly had good blood sugars and even too many lows and still crossed the finish line with 8.3, what the hell? What do we have to do to get an A1c in the low to mid 7s? We've really worked hard at this. I'm so frustrated! (READ MORE)

I thought carefully about what I would wear today, and reconsidered several times. I applied my makeup with an eye toward the wow factor. I wasn't trying to show off, I just feel incredibly good today and wanted to reflect that outwardly.

Truthfully, I couldn't wait to get to my appointment with my endo. Truthfully, I've been waiting for this for some time. Truthfully, if I were still on Byetta I think I would have dreaded this day. Truthfully, with a solid month or so of excellent blood sugars thanks to Novolog and a fairly decent walking schedule, I was proud to report to my endo about how well I believe I'm doing. (READ MORE)