Expanding Our Horizons

Last week Sweets got a spacer - or palette expander - at the Orthodontist. 

In case you don't know what that is, I'll show you.  It's a little gross but we all live with Diabetes and blood and sites and stuff so I think you can handle it.

 

There it is... that little contraption is hard wired into her mouth for next 6 months.  The good part is that unlike previous designs, this one does not need to be tightened.  It works on it's own and the tightest it ever is on the first day.  

 

She got to pick the design.  She chose rainbow sparkles.  Is anyone surprised?!?

What I WAS surprised about was how much it affected her blood sugars.  

She said that it didn't hurt... it just felt weird.  She sounded funny and her speech was really slushy for the first few days.

The good part is that she wasn't at all embarrassed about this.  She was happy to show everyone her new "thing".  I guess diabetes makes you pretty used to stuff like that.

BUT... because it felt weird, she wouldn't eat. 

The first night she went low... no pm snack and very small and early dinner before her appointment. 

She's not allowed to eat most chewy candy - like Starburst or Laffy Taffy.... you know, what we mostly use to treat lows.  She was refusing to chew.  So juice was our only option. 

But she was having a terrible time drinking it!  Half of the first juice box came pouring out of her mouth.  I was not amused.  There were tears.  It was a wonderful night.  Not.  

She lived mostly on yogurt and soup for a few days.  And boy, did that mess with her bg. 

Obviously, our basal rates are off. 

Because she was low, low low. 

We pulled back all her basals.

And she was STILL 46 TWICE at school.

I thought maybe the expander had somehow triggered her pancreas to start working and turned off the autoimmune attack.  

No such luck.

It was a tough week.  She refused to eat anything with any substance.  She finally started eating mashed potatoes and very soft muffins. 

She had a small breakdown when she realized she was going to a birthday party and probably couldn't eat the cake. 

For the record, I think she COULD have eaten.  But she was afraid to push it... She did end up eating the icing off the cake and taking a few bites so she was happy. 

Anna and Elsa made it all better, anyway! 

(Pretty cool party, huh?!?)
 

The crazy thing is... I didn't even bolus for half of what she was eating.  And she was STILL LOW! 

At the party, talking with other parents, I had another one of those "alone in the middle of a crowd" moments.  

Some of them had been through the expander thing with their kids.  They were all sharing stories and talking about what their kids ate...

And although I could relate in one way, I couldn't relate totally.  

Because my kid can't just choose not to eat anything but ice cream for days and it be no big deal.  

Because my kids MUST eat or drink sometimes - no matter her mouth feels like.  

There's so much involved with counting carbs and eating meals that have protein and fat as well as carbs in order to help bg stay steady.  There is so much that is unique to each person and how food affects their bg.  

And disrupting that delicate balance can just throw you for days. 

The good news is that now she's eating normally. 

I had to laugh when one night she yelled out, "MOM!  I can CHEW!"

And her bg seems to be back to normal and we've changed her basals back to what they were pre-orthodontist. 

And I have just another example in an incredibly long list of ways that my little T1 is a heck of a lot tougher than she might look!