Fourth Day

Today is the fourth day Daughter has had one of her persistent lows. Her Novolog (fast acting insulin) has been reduced for every meal today, and since that hasn't done the trick, I'll reduce her Lantus (long acting basal insulin) this evening. Fortunately, I was in town when she called today. I had just been to the grocery store and bought more juice boxes for the workshop. I'd bought some on Friday, but she had used all of them treating lows over the weekend. So, I delivered the juice boxes and picked up Daughter. I have to give them credit, they are doing a much better job of not panicking over her diabetes these days, for which I am very grateful.

Daughter is dealing with all of this pretty well. I'm finding it an annoyance, and am working hard at not over reacting. A couple of times this weekend I wondered if we were headed to an ER trip, but we managed to get her blood sugars back up, so it wasn't necessary. I hope the reduction in her Lantus tonight will solve the problem.

I saw my doctor this morning, and will go for a long overdue mammogram on Wednesday morning. I also talked to Dad, who sounded a little down. He told me he was back on his diuretic, and said he'd done upper body exercises this morning. His hip had been bothering him too much to work on the lower body. If he wants to get home, he'll have to do lower body exercises at some point. He's going to have to get his strength back, and that will take some walking and such. At this point I will be quite pleasantly surprised if he's home for Christmas.

Amid all the stress, I'm making time for self-care and doing things to ease my stress. I recently discovered Pandora Radio, and have been listening to lots of soothing music as I work. Music helps ease my stress level.

Yesterday I pointed out to the women working on the Christmas program for next Sunday that the first Christmas wasn't pretty. It was messy and chaotic. Jesus was born far from home in a stable because the inn was packed with travelers. In our attempts to celebrate Christmas, we seek after perfections, totally missing the reality of that first Christmas. It wasn't perfect. They weren't prepared (or Jesus wouldn't have been born in a stable). There weren't beautiful decorations. There was chaos, and improvisation, and a miracle. We would do well to remember that and let go of our need for perfection.