How Great Thou Art

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When through the woods, and forest glades I wander,

And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees.

When I look down, from lofty mountain grandeur

And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

And when I think, that God, His Son not sparing;

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

When Christ shall come, with shout of acclamation,

And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.

Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,

And then proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art.

Then sings my soul, My Savior God, to Thee,

How great Thou art, How great Thou art!

                                                                                                                                 

Help Support JDRF!

In the month of March, for every sale of this shirt I am donating 10% to our JDRF team!  If you would like to simply donate to Team Boaz go here!

To buy the shirt, go here and send me a personal message!

End the R Word

Today is 'End the R word day'!!! Spread the word!!!

It's 230am here!

Boaz's sugar was 68 when we checked it at 230. So here we are feeding a sleepy baby icing and trying to get him to drink some milk. He is currently half playing, half drinking his milk.

Signs of Type 1 Diabetes

    It is very important to know the signs of  Type 1 Diabetes.  We didn't, so we were not looking for them.  Now let me go ahead and tell you the signs and then we will talk about Boaz's signs and why these signs occur.

• Excessive thirst or hunger 
• Weight loss
• Having to use bathroom a lot more, or suddenly wetting through diapers
• Constant, unexplained crankiness 
• Fatigue 
• Frequent infections of the skin

More serious signs: 

• Vomiting 
• Labored Breathing 
• Fruity Smell to breath
• Lethargy 

     Now, I don't want you to worry every time your child wets through their diaper (I sure do!) or is really thirsty, but I do want you to be aware of the signs so that it will not go unnoticed.  With Boaz, I would have never guessed he had T1D.  

    There were only three signs that I caught (even though I didn't connect them with diabetes) before diagnosis:

1. When he was a baby, he was the squirmiest you would ever meet.  He started Occupational Therapy when he was only 1 month old so his OT knew this well.  In the few months prior to diagnosis, we knew something wasn't quite right, yet we didn't think anything was wrong.  At therapy, he just wasn't his bubbly, squirmy self, but we didn't think too much of it.  
2.  Boaz was wetting through his diapers on a regular basis but as soon as we switched to Pampers, he no longer did so I just assumed that was a baby thing.
3. One day, I picked Boaz up and I could feel his spine, which I had never noticed before.  I suspected weight loss at that point (though I still was not thinking diabetes) and made note to mention it to the doctor when we went that week.  Before we even made it to the doctor that week we were told that they suspected diabetes was in his future.

    Now that I look back on it, I can spot other signs that we missed, which just makes me so thankful that God had His hand on Boaz! 

  
    Ok, now for the reasons diabetes causes these things:

• Excessive thirst or hunger:  T1D can cause thirstiness when a child's blood sugar is high as a way to flush ketones out of its system. It may cause hunger if the child is low and needs to bring their sugar up.
• Weight loss:  The body needs insulin to convert sugar to energy.  When it does not have the insulin to do so it turns to fat resulting in weight loss and ketones. 
• Using the bathroom a lot more is also a result of the body flushing out ketones
• Crankiness and fatigue:  When you sugar is high or low, you do not feel like yourself and thus may be cranky or tired
• Diabetes often slows down the healing process with wounds, so you may get infections easily if left untreated
• The more serious signs may be symptoms of ketosis, which could be very dangerous.  If your child has these symptoms, seek medical attention.   

*****This post is not meant to take the place of your doctor or to be used for diagnosis.  It is only to be used as a resource.  If you are concerned or suspect diabetes, talk to your doctor.*****

Our Type 1 Diabetes Diagnosis Story

    A lot of diagnosis stories are similar.  The parents are not looking for signs of diabetes, so they usually go unnoticed until the child is lethargic and almost in ketosis.  Those stories are always scary and I am usually glad that it is not ours.  Boaz was diagnosed on October 6th, 2012.  We had gone to the endocrinologist about a month before and just had some routine blood work done.  Because Boaz has Down syndrome we see a lot of specialist just because.  I was shocked when the endo called and told us that Boaz was showing early signs of diabetes.  So, the same day we received those results, we headed to Savannah to get some more blood work done.  We were given a Blood Glucose meter and told to check his sugar 1 hour after bed once a week.  The first night that we did this was the night before the Buddy Walk and it was high.  I really wanted to go to the Buddy Walk, since it was our first one with Boaz and the thought of spending the day in the hospital was upsetting.  Our endo told us to check his fasting sugar in the morning and if it was over 150 that we would need to come in to see him.  We checked it the next morning and it was not over 150 so we were able to participate in all the Buddy Walk activities.  After Josh and I ate lunch (Boaz was sleeping), he woke up and we checked his sugar again.  This time it was over 250, so we headed to the hospital where he was eventually diagnosed.  So, like I said, our story is not quite the scary ketosis story.

 Well, that's what I thought anyways.  I was remembering yesterday the time that Boaz had croup.  The doctor called us to the office on a Sunday and gave Boaz a steroid shot so that we could go to Savannah the next day and see my cousins.  While we were in Savannah, Boaz threw up and was extremely lethargic.  We took him to the hospital and were eventually released with a nebulizer and sent home.  I realized yesterday that I think that's our ketosis story!  This was a few months before diagnosis and we were definitely not looking for diabetes. It is only by the grace of God that Boaz's body was producing enough insulin to bring him out of that on its own!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Hope you are enjoying your Valentine's day! At our house there are lots of hugs, kisses, cupcakes, story time, and cute flags!