The start of summer...

School is out. Time for my summer break. The end of the school year was pretty crazy. I had to say good bye to 14 students in sixth grade who will be moving on to junior high in the fall. A couple of the kids are boys that Dixie "grew up with." Those were the ones that had the hardest time saying good bye to her. (and I had the hardest time saying good bye to them :-(

But it's summer. Everything should be all good, right?

I've had a heck of a last couple weeks. I was working at a week long summer camp for kids with special needs. I came home on Thursday night. I was hot and tired. I had a cocktail and sat on the couch. Then I got a phone call.

The call was from my dad's wife. She was calling to tell me that my dad had been in an accident. He was burned and had smoke inhalation. He was in the process of being transferred from his local hospital to a major medical center's burn unit. It was late. He was intubated. I talked to my dad's cousin, who is his physician. He told me that my dad was unconscious, and not in danger of dying. He said that I should wait until morning to come to the hospital. I had a restless night of sleep, and Dixie and I took off for the hospital early on Friday morning. Seeing him with tubes and wraps was really difficult. The doctors determined that his lungs were functioning alright, and they would extubate him in the afternoon. It was amazing how quickly he "came around" after being unconscious. He spent three days in the burn unit, and then was released and able to go home. He has burns on both hands, his entire right leg, part of his left leg, and spotty burns on his back, nose, cheeks, and bottom lip.

He is very lucky to be alive.

He's healing.

My brother and sister both came to see him from out of town. It was an unfortunate event that brought us together.

My best friend's mom was diagnosed with breast cancer two weeks ago. I went with her to the hospital while her mom had surgery. It turned out the best that it could. The tumor was stage 1, and with radiation, there should be complete elimination of the cancer.

Another good friend's niece, just had a recurrence of cancer. She had surgery this week to remove a tumor on her spine.

My teaching partner's mother just had knee replacement surgery. She has been visiting her for two weeks, and helping to figure out a plan for her homecoming.

I keep thinking... am I getting old and that's why I know so many people who are dealing with horrible medical issues? Or is 2008 just not a great year for my friends and their families??

Diabetes was a pain during my dad's accident crisis. Friday, I went to spend the day at the hospital. After driving the 35 minutes to the hospital, I realized that my cartridge was almost empty. I would only have enough insulin to cover my basal rate for about 9 hours. I didn't have enough extra to bolus for meals. So I skipped breakfast and lunch. It's kinda hard to find low carb/no carb food in a hospital. I drank a couple diet dews, but that was it. I ended up leaving before I wanted to so that I could make it home through traffic to get insulin. Dam diabetes.

Also on the diabetes front... I ordered a free accu-check aviva and multiclix lancing device. I'm not really interested in the meter (because heaven knows I've already got a number of them), but wanted to try to multiclix. I like it. It's kind of refreshing to have a new lancet automatically provided each time I test. I just ordered more replacement cartridges for it.

I also got a mailing from Smith Medical, offering me a Freestyle Navigator at a discounted rate since I use their product. (my trusty Cozmo) Has anyone tried his out yet? I love freestyle products, but still can't really bring myself to having another device to insert in my flesh.

Here's hoping that the rest of the summer is easy sailing. (or canoeing :-)

Happy Birthday Little Bit

I don't write about her often, but I have another dog.

Her name is Ella, and she just turned 7 years old. She is little, but strong.

Ella is a rat terrier mix. She came into my life when I needed a friend the most.

She was with me to welcome Dixie to my life. She taught Dixie how to live with people.

It's ying-yang. Ella is white, Dixie is black. Ella is little, Dixie is big. They love each other.

Happy Birthday my Little Bit.

Molly's Ten

Here are the guidelines for this meme:
Once you’ve been tagged, you have to write a blog with 10 weird, random, facts, habits or goals about yourself.
At the end, choose 6 people to be tagged, list their names & why you tagged them. (this is so late, that I'm not doing this.) Don’t forget to leave them a comment saying “You’re it!” & to go read your blog.


1. I love beer. Not crappy, macro-brewed beer, but “good” beer.

2. I chew my nails. Mostly when I’m nervous. I tried putting the bad-tasting polish on them to prevent it, but I end up just licking it off so I can chew my nails.

3. I stole gum from the drugstore when I was about 5 years old. I put it in the back of my big wheel. On the way home, I happily chomped on gum. My mom asked me where the gum was from, and I said “the store.” She made me return all the non-chewed pieces and I had to apologize.

4. My sister gave me a shot for the first time when we were in northern Minnesota at my dad’s class reunion. I had forgotten my BD syringes, and we had to buy some at the store. They only had monoject available, and I just couldn’t handle using it. My parents were leaving, so they asked my sister to just give me my dinner time shot. She was freaked out. She slammed it in my rear end and then pulled it right out because she couldn’t believe that she had put it in. She had to do it again. It was traumatic for both of us.

5. My little brother and I used to love playing with our Snoopy toys together. When we were out shopping with mom, we would use our cupped-hands as Snoopy and say that they were naked.

6. The thought of licking a wooden spoon gives me the heebies. I don’t even like using wooden spoons. It’s my “sensory problem.”

7. Gummy bears are one of my guilty pleasures. I only like certain kinds. I don’t like them if they are too soft, I prefer the ones that are more chewy.

8. If I was a boy, my name was supposed to be Ryan.

9. I have an allergy to most fruit. My mouth swells up and I get sores on my lips and cheeks. I can eat apples, blackberries, and cantelope. That’s it.

10. I love the “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” books. I just finished reading them with a sixth grade group of kids. I laughed as much as the kids did!

DIXIE TIDBIT

Dixie's 5:

1. Dixie loves her new yard.
2. She doesn't like most "people food."
3. Her favorite snack is dried, chicken-wrapped liver.
4. Dixie shakes with her right paw, rarely her left.
5. When Dixie came to me, she weighed 42 pounds. They told me that she was full grown. She now weighs 65 pounds. Hmmmm, don't think she was full grown. :-)