Charlie clutched Baby Doggy, a small puppy with a thin blue collar, and pulled the comforter higher onto his shoulders as we tucked him in. Baby Doggy's age starting to show in its fading gray coat and crusty tail. He also squeezed a small stuffed turtle named Pop as Susanne removed his insulin pump from his waist and gave him a correction for a blood sugar of 530.

Diabetes has spawned many emotions from Charlie. It has made him angry many times, frustrated often and ferociously defiant. On rare occasions, it's even made him happy if you can believe that. Skipping long lines at Disney comes to mind. Oh, and you should see how he dances around the hospital gift shop after an endo appointment.

But, on this night, something new. He was scared of diabetes.

"What if it goes up to 700?"

"What if it goes up to 1100?"

"Does it go up that high?" (READ MORE)

There is a number that I won't go to bed below. Typically it's 100 depending on what I've eaten. I havent' figured out what my upper limits are, though.

Two nights ago, for example, I was 198 somewhere close to bedtime. I bolused and went to bed. I woke up at 110. I would have liked to have been lower, but again I haven't figured out where I need to be prior to bedtime to get a good fasting.

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I'm sorry Edy's. I am officially declaring you as a suspect in the wrongful and nefarious elevation of my son's blood sugar.

Your Dibs bite-size ice cream snacks are both delicious and convenient. Your collaboration with Nestle Crunch was nothing short of brilliant. But I'm afraid we may need to part ways. At 14 grams of carbs per bag, I thought maybe, just maybe we could coexist in this topsy-turvy world. But you went and ruined it.

You went and ruined it by acting like pizza. Normally, ice cream has little effect on Charlie's blood sugar. The last few times Charlie has had Dibs, his blood sugars went way up and stayed way up with no intention of coming down. (READ MORE)

I hate site-change days. It's not often that I use that word, but really, I hate days like today.

I was rushed this morning. I had planned to get up earlier than I did anticipating that I'd need to do a complete site and reservoir change. Didn't happen -- the getting up early part. As I sat at the table watching the kids eat breakfast, I felt myself rushing through the site-change ritual, even getting the infusion set tape stuck to the side of the QuickSerter. That's never good.

Take deep breaths, Michelle, I told myself. Slow down, I said. You're going to wind up with a bad site if you don't. So I did. Sort of. Well, enough to get my infusion set inserted.

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kanocorn

When Susanne peels Charlie's pants down to show me the blood-filled pump tubing taped to his bottom, we curse quietly behind his back. Having the pump infusion set on his rump – he's unable to see how gruesome it is. It's just out of his periphery. A blessing at this moment. Acting like it's nothing is the hard part. Neither of us are good actors. Susanne bites her upper lip and points to where the bloody trail begins and ends.

Well this would explain the blood sugar of "HI."

I should back up a bit. (READ MORE)

One of the first "cons" I had when I thought of pumping was that I didn't want something attached to me all the time. That doesn't even graze the Top 10 Problems With Pumping. What happened to me today is by far the No. 1 thing I hate about pumping: equipment malfunction, especially when you're coasting along enjoying everything going right.

I got so mad at diabetes and my pump and my meter after lunch. I was so mad that I was fighting the urge to cry. I tried a hip site the other day because I was running out of room on my abdomen. That morning my post breakfast was 250 for a meal that I'd normally be under 100 for. I briefly considered changing my site, but my BS went down with a correction. I haven't been running high since then, but I have been higher than usual after meals that I'm normally in range for. (READ MORE)