{"id":1248,"date":"2016-07-30T11:39:53","date_gmt":"2016-07-30T18:39:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/?p=1248"},"modified":"2021-09-06T17:52:06","modified_gmt":"2021-09-07T00:52:06","slug":"kisses-for-cash-kalis-story-t1d-meets-t2d","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/?p=1248","title":{"rendered":"“Kisses for Cash” Kali’s Story T1D meets T2D"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Picture1\"This third chapter book\u00a0in the series introduces new characters in Kali’s life.\u00a0 She is now eleven and a half years old, having lived with diabetes since she was two years old, and continues to care for her diabetic dog, Money.<\/em><\/p>\n

Her Grandmother, recently diagnosed with T2D (Type Two Diabetes) comes to live with the family; Grandma decides to adopt a dog of her own in order to get exercise\u00a0to help\u00a0her control her disease\u00a0as she is unable to handle Money’s girth; a new school friend, Tavius, is introduced while her bff (best friend forever), Wayne, pursues other\u00a0interests.<\/em><\/p>\n

Mishaps continue as well as young adventures that lead to learning experiences for\u00a0all young diabetic boys and girls.<\/em><\/p>\n

Suitable for all ages, this illustrated chapter book, consisting of 121 pages, is an easy acquaintance\u00a0to learning about T1D.\u00a0 I am sure you will enjoy it along with the two other books in this series as\u00a0they were absolutely delightful to write.\u00a0 Please let me know your thoughts!\u00a0 Thank\u00a0you…A. K. Buckroth (#buckroth, www.mydiabeticsoul.com).<\/em><\/p>\n

Available at Amazon.com, Goodreads, Smashwords, local libraries, and book stores.\u00a0 Happy reading!<\/em><\/p>\n

P. S. Book Award received from the Northern California Publisher’s and Authors organization. \ud83d\ude42<\/em><\/p>\n

Here’s an excerpt beginning with Chapter 9….<\/strong><\/p>\n

S<\/strong><\/strong>itting at the kitchen table, staring at the brown cardboard box that was delivered a couple hours ago, I knew what awaited me inside of it\u2014a new insulin pump. Mixed emotions surrounded me.\u00a0 Sure, I was glad it arrived.\u00a0 After all, it helps me stay alive, stay well.\u00a0 I\u2019m just a little nervous having to put it all together correctly.\u00a0 It\u2019s been more than two years since Nurse Nina first taught my parents and me about the insulin pump, and when I first began using one.\u00a0 Slowly, I recalled all the details.<\/p>\n

Mom and Grandma continued to tour the house, getting Grandma settled a little bit. While they were busy doing that, I got busy opening the eagerly awaiting box. I can do this<\/em>.\u00a0 For one, I\u2019d be able to stop taking four injections every day.\u00a0 Four and a half days of doing that was enough as far as I was concerned.\u00a0 Second, the pump would give my body get the constant infusion of insulin it needs, an automatic squirt every three minutes.\u00a0 I don\u2019t necessarily want<\/em> to do this. I have to!<\/em><\/p>\n

It was really nice walking around without it. Different.\u00a0 I felt free, really, not having it clipped to my pants, not having to worry about banging it, dropping it, or getting the tubing stuck on a doorknob or pants zipper or something.\u00a0 But the alternative was bothersome\u2014pausing to get my insulin pack, filling up a syringe, sticking it<\/p>\n

somewhere in my body, being careful to remember not to use the same area twice, etc, etc. So many details to remember and plan.\u00a0 Plan, plan, plan.\u00a0 That\u2019s a big\u2014no, huge\u2014part of my every day!\u00a0 Oh well.<\/p>\n

Opening the box with a pair of scissors while it rested on the kitchen table, I sat, getting real serious about this process. I concentrated.\u00a0 There was a little white cardboard box inside the bigger brown one surrounded by lots of plastic bubble wrap and more clear packing tape.\u00a0 Protection.\u00a0 Geez, what I call a \u2018paper trail.\u2019\u00a0 It takes a while to get through all this paper.\u00a0 I\u2019ve often wondered if this company knows about recycling.\u00a0 Geesh.\u00a0 Once opened, the new pump gleamed in all it shiny newness.\u00a0 Clear in color, its five command and use buttons were displayed in black bold letters on the front, under the LCD screen.\u00a0 I could see right through it.\u00a0 Such a little thing, it weighs only 3.5 ounces, so I was told.\u00a0 In fact, when some people have seen it attached to my clothing, they\u2019ll ask me \u201cwhy do you wear a pager?\u201d<\/em> because it looks like a pager.\u00a0 I answer \u201cIt\u2019s not a pager.\u00a0 It\u2019s an insulin pump.\u201d\u00a0 Then I get all kinds of reactions: either they shut up right away, seemingly shocked, not knowing anything about such a device.\u00a0 Or, they get real interested, asking questions of interest with a short conversation.<\/p>\n

Set aside are supplies that I already had: an alcohol swab, a vial of Apidra insulin, a 6 millimeter 23 inch infusion set, a reservoir, a AAA battery, and a dime. As I was taught to do, I let the Apidra insulin vial sit out for an hour to become room temperature-ized.\u00a0 I have always used a dime to open the slim battery case.\u00a0 Sure, there\u2019s a \u2018plastic unscrew battery thingy,\u2019 but I didn\u2019t know where it was.\u00a0 The dime fit just fine to unscrew the top of the battery case area and insert a new battery.\u00a0 With that done the pump\u2019s LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) screen lit up and blinked on as if happily awakened.<\/p>\n

When I pressed the familiar \u201cACT button,\u201d it displayed various commands, choices of what I wanted or needed to do with it. Pressing the down arrow button, I chose \u201cTime and Date\u201d and pressed the month, the day, and the year.\u00a0 Onto the time of day, I pressed the up and down arrow buttons a few times.\u00a0 The time of day is important for the pump to squirt\u2014release\u2014the hourly programmed dosage of insulin.\u00a0 For instance, between midnight and 4am, it was programmed at the time to give me .4 (four tenths) of a unit as opposed to other day time hours when it gives me .6 (six tenths of a unit).<\/p>\n

Next, I gently peeled open a small square reservoir package. This light-weight object arrived in a carton of ten.\u00a0 They looked like small syringes, each with a light blue needle head attached.\u00a0 These hold the insulin inside my pump.\u00a0 Pressing its clear plastic lever back and forth a few times made sure it slid easily in order to move inside the pump.\u00a0 Just a precaution, I guess.\u00a0 It\u2019d be in the pump for about seven days.\u00a0 I made sure it would slide easily to disperse insulin for all that time.<\/p>\n

I heard my parents and grandmother enter the kitchen. They were watching me.\u00a0 All was quiet.\u00a0 I smiled.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou guys don\u2019t hafta be so quiet,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, you look like you\u2019re concentrating so hard, so serious. We didn\u2019t want to bother you,\u201d my mother remarked.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan I sit and watch you, Kali? I\u2019ve never seen such a thing,\u201d said Grandma.<\/p>\n

\u201cSure, sure,\u201d I told her. \u201cIt\u2019s almost ready to insert into my leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Grandma looked like\u2014well I don\u2019t know how to describe it. She looked like she was going to cry with her blue eyes wide open and her eyebrows crinkling on top of her forehead.\u00a0 With the attached needle head, I pressed it on to the insulin vial, inserted air into the vial, then withdrew it slowly, pulling on the syringe stick lever to fill it up with insulin.\u00a0 The maximum units the reservoir tube holds is 180.\u00a0 If there\u2019s a problem, the pump will beeeep <\/em>non-stop until I give it the attention it needs.<\/p>\n

For instance, Dr. Ansari, my endocrinologist, calculated that a warning, a loud beep, would sound when there are 20 units of insulin left. If I were to hear it, I would have to look at the LCD screen to see what the pump is telling me first of all.\u00a0 Then I would shut it off by pressing the \u201cESC\u201d\u2014Escape<\/em>\u2014 button.\u00a0 Ha, I\u2019d like to press a button to escape sometimes, haha.\u00a0 A couple times it beeped non-stop with the screen blinking in upper case letters OCCLUSION! OCCLUSION! \u00a0OCCLUSION!<\/em>\u00a0 Just like that.\u00a0 Non-stop.\u00a0 That sound had woken me up a few times.\u00a0 It\u2019s an alarm.\u00a0 Not good.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like insulin pump alarms.\u00a0 This means that the tubing from the pump to my body is blocked and needs to be changed.\u00a0 That\u2019s the only way to fix the situation, to make the beeping stop.\u00a0 Doing that at 3:00 in the morning is horrible.\u00a0 It was Money<\/em> that actually woke me up one time, pushing me with his nose.\u00a0 The pump\u2019s alarm sound woke him first.<\/p>\n

There were other times, too. I\u2019ve been embarrassed when in the mall or in school or out somewhere.\u00a0 I had to immediately stop what I was doing and give my attention to the screaming<\/em> pump that was clipped to my waistband.\u00a0 I hate that!\u00a0 People around me don\u2019t know what the heck is going on and look at me like I\u2019m weird.\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 They just don\u2019t know.\u00a0 Scurrying quickly to the nearest restroom, I\u2019ve had to partially undress, shut off the thing, scrounge in my pack for an extra infusion set or whatever is needed, and change it, fix it.\u00a0 Lots of crazy things have happened while wearing and carrying this thing when I least expected them too.\u00a0 And lots of times I have been unprepared.<\/p>\n

Like one time, I was in church with my folks and the pump started beeping\u2014non-stop! OMG!\u00a0 Talk about embarrassing!\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t shut it off.\u00a0 My mother couldn\u2019t shut it off.\u00a0 EVERYBODY could hear it, I swear. We all scooted out of the pew to the restroom.\u00a0 FINALLY quieting it down, I saw it needed a battery.\u00a0 None of us had a battery.\u00a0 So, we left service, had to go home, and get a stupid battery.\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 Sure, there\u2019s a picture of a battery on the LCD screen \u2013 if I looked at it, I would\u2019ve known that it was low!<\/strong><\/strong> But I didn\u2019t.\u00a0 Ugh.\u00a0 My fault for sure.\u00a0 I know better now, another part of planning and preparing.<\/p>\n

Next, on to peeling open an infusion set, I first calibrated the pump machine, setting my hourly, 24\/7 (24 hours a day for 7 days), basal rate. I call that my \u201csquirt rate.\u201d<\/p>\n

My mother pretended not to watch me and remained quiet. She kept walking back and forth from the stove, to the sink, to the table, occasionally breathing on top of my head.\u00a0\u00a0 I wished she would go into the other room!<\/p>\n

Finally, the pump was all suited up. Oops, I almost forgot to attach the clip.\u00a0 With that done, I re-thought hard about where the infusion set would go in and on my body.\u00a0 My choices are certain skin areas on either side of my lower belly, two inches away from my belly button; the top, inside, or back of each thigh; either hip, as far as I could reach, or either buttock, as far as I could reach, and the lower, fatty areas of my upper arms.<\/p>\n

With Grandma watching me too, I decided to put the infusion set it in my upper thigh. That\u2019s the best place to show\u2014demonstrate to her or anyone\u2014how this is done without having to undress.\u00a0 She got real<\/u> quiet as I did this.\u00a0 Tearing open a small square envelope with one alcohol swab in it, I wiped the area, making sure it was clean, sterile, free of germs.\u00a0 Next, I opened the sterile packaging that holds the infusion set, removed the sticky paper on the round adhesive tape area that holds it to my skin, then I removed the bright blue plastic covering on top of the metal needle.<\/p>\n

The insertion of the needle is like an intravenous needle, but the metal part doesn\u2019t stay in my skin. It\u2019s also called \u201csubcu \u2013 subcu \u2013 subcutane \u2013 sub-cu-tan-e-ous,\u201d phew, which means it doesn\u2019t go into a vein.\u00a0 I held my breath, gritted my teeth, and quickly push the needle into my thigh skin.\u00a0 Phew.\u00a0 Deep breath.\u00a0 I don\u2019t like doing this.\u00a0 It hurts worse in some spots than others sometimes, not always.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know why.\u00a0 Grandma looked like she was going to cry, especially when I pulled the needle out and rested it on the table to be discarded.\u00a0 She stared at it, gasped, and stayed real quiet.<\/p>\n

I often get little black and blues from putting the needle in or taking it out. That\u2019s the way it is.\u00a0\u00a0 Like the little black and blues on my finger tips from testing my blood, I know<\/em> why those happen \u2013 from doing the same fingers spots over and over.<\/p>\n

Once the ugly and scary looking metal needle head is pulled out, a plastic infusion set stays in my skin attached to a flat, clear plastic head about the size of a quarter. That rests on top of my skin.\u00a0 The tiny plastic needle-like tube inside my skin is about a quarter of an inch long.\u00a0 Once that is done, I cover the head of it with a thin, clear, 2 x 3 inch sticky paper to keep it in place, to protect it and myself so it won\u2019t come out.\u00a0 It\u2019s thinner than a bandage, comparable to a layer of human skin.\u00a0 All this has to be done the day after tomorrow, again, but in a different body spot.<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, Mom. I\u2019m all hitched up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGood, sweetie. Did you set your hourly basal rate the same way? \u201c<\/p>\n

\u201cYep. See?\u201d\u00a0 I showed her.\u00a0 She gently took the pump in hand to review everything I just did.\u00a0 As the tubing is 23 inches long, gently<\/em> is a key word.\u00a0 Neither one of us could move too far.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooks good. Good job.\u00a0 Now test your blood, count dinner carbs, and take care of Money<\/em>.\u00a0 I love you, Kali.\u00a0 Supper will be ready in about 20 minutes.\u201d\u00a0 Mom squeezed me tight, as always.<\/p>\n

\u201cKali, you are so brave,\u201d my grandmother told me. She had a tear in the outside corner of her eyes like they were going to pool up and roll down her cheeks.\u00a0 Wiping her eyes with her thumbs, she stated, \u201cI\u2019m glad I was able to see you do this.\u00a0 Now I know more about this pump and how you have to wear it and what you have to do.\u00a0 If it\u2019s all right with you, I\u2019d like to see you do it again when you\u2019re ready.\u00a0 Watching you will teach me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOkay, Grandma. I\u2019ll let you know.\u00a0 I have to do it again in three days.\u00a0 Every three, or sometimes four days, I refill it and do this all over again, put it in a different body spot.\u00a0 Rotate.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0 I remembered that my last shot with Nurse Mickey was in my \u201cIzzy arm,\u201d the left one.\u00a0 I call it that due to what happened last year when \u201cIzzy the Infuriator\u201d slammed me into the lockers.\u00a0 Three days from now, I\u2019ll put a new one in my upper left thigh or maybe my upper left hip.\u00a0 We\u2019ll see.\u00a0 I go through the same process all over again, the same decisions, the same planning.<\/p>\n

Sometimes I forget to tell my parents when my supplies get low. A couple times the pump company had to send them to me by overnight mail.\u00a0 I\u2019m supposed to notify them \u2013 my parents, really \u2013 when I have ten infusion sets and ten reservoirs left.\u00a0 Then either my Mom or my Dad will call the company and place an order.\u00a0 Usually it\u2019s Mom.<\/p>\n

A lot of my decisions of where to put the infusion set depend on the clothes I wear. I prefer pockets in all my clothes, front or back.\u00a0 Skirts my size are more difficult to find with side pockets.\u00a0 My once favorite faded blue jeans skirt had front and back pockets. The front pockets were big enough to hold the pump comfortably and securely.<\/p>\n

Dresses? Forget it.\u00a0 I\u2019ve never had a dress with a pocket on it.\u00a0 They just don\u2019t exist.\u00a0 When I do have to wear a dress, like the special one Grandma got me for Christmas, I clipped the pump underneath onto the waistband of my underwear.\u00a0 But doing this makes it more difficult for me to access the pump when I need it.\u00a0 And after a while, my underwear waist bands unravel and get worn out from the pump clip.\u00a0 Oh well.\u00a0 Once diabetes is cured, I won\u2019t have to do this anymore.\u00a0 I think about a cure for this disease every time I go through this.\u00a0 I\u2019d like to be cured\u2014along with the rest of the world!\u00a0 Ah well.\u00a0 As my mother has often told me, \u201chope springs eternal.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t cry any more when I do this. Actually, either of my parents used to do it for me.\u00a0 That was more than two years ago, when I first started using an insulin pump.\u00a0 I used to cry<\/em>.\u00a0 But I know how to do this by myself and I understand why.\u00a0 I still don\u2019t like it.\u00a0 Am I supposed<\/em> to like it?\u00a0 Nah.\u00a0 I use it to stay alive.<\/p>\n

Phew. That\u2019s over<\/em>\u2014once again.<\/em><\/p>\n

10.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

A<\/strong><\/strong>ll the insulin pump preparations with supply set-up, putting in a new battery, re-setting the hourly bolus rates, resetting the timer and date, filling the reservoir with insulin, making sure there are no air bubbles, letting it re-wind, putting it in the pump, attaching the infusion set tubing to my body, replacing the clip, and finally putting it <\/em>in my body took me about twenty minutes.\u00a0 A long twenty minutes!<\/p>\n

Phew!<\/p>\n

Re-setting this machine is what took me so long. Otherwise I would\u2019ve had it in my body after only ten minutes.\u00a0 What takes the longest is letting the insulin sit out to get\u00a0 room temperature-ized.\u00a0 That takes about 20 minutes.\u00a0 My Mom did that while I was at Wayne\u2019s.\u00a0 She\u2019s a great planner too.<\/p>\n

Back on schedule, I feed Money<\/em> \u2014before I eat.<\/p>\n

Chores? Like sweeping the floor?\u00a0 Not yet.\u00a0 I planned to do that after supper, when I clear the dishes and put them in the dishwasher.<\/p>\n

I spent my after school \u201cchore time\u201d at Wayne\u2019s house. That\u2019s okay.\u00a0 It was worth it.\u00a0 I felt good about that but not a hundred percent good.\u00a0 No homework to do seeing as it was almost the last day of school.\u00a0 Heck, there\u2019s lots of other stuff I could do!<\/p>\n

\u201cKali, when is your last day of school?\u201d Grandma asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cJune 4th<\/sup>,\u201d I declared with glee.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd then you\u2019ll be a fifth grader? Is that right?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA sixth grader, Grandma, I\u2019m going into the sixth grade. \u201cAnd summer camp starts July 5th<\/sup>,\u201d I told her.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t wait!\u00a0 \u201cNow that you\u2019re here, Grandma, you\u2019ll be able to come with us to drop me off and see the camp.\u00a0 It\u2019s really nice.\u00a0 I like it\u2014a lot!\u00a0 Especially the big field where we play volley ball.\u00a0 And the pond is right behind there with a dock and the canoes and row boats,\u201d I excitedly explained.\u00a0 \u201cThe cabins are in a half-circle around the pond with the fire pit at the far end.\u00a0 I\u2019ll show you.\u00a0 We can walk around the who-oo-le place!\u00a0 I can\u2019t wait to see some of my friends, too.\u00a0 Maxine, Lisa, Judy, Cathy.\u00a0 Especially Cathy.\u00a0 She wasn\u2019t on a pump last time.\u00a0 I tried to talk her into it.\u00a0 Maybe she has one now.\u00a0 I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This third chapter book\u00a0in the series introduces new characters in Kali’s life.\u00a0 She is now eleven and a half years old, having lived with diabetes since she was two years old, and continues to care for her diabetic dog, Money. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1248","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1248"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1724,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1248\/revisions\/1724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1248"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1248"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1248"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}