Last week I disappeared for a bit. I was not only away from my keyboard, but also my parish. It was so nice. I went and visited a friend. I know her as Christina, she goes by Tina now, but my phone has yet to acknowledge that change so tough shit. I journeyed out to Seattle for a week. Sunday to Saturday night. It was a great experience. Not only did I get to do touristy things, I also got to hang out with one of my best friends and her nut job family. I am glad I went.

The journey was an interesting one. I left my car with some friends who dropped me off at the airport. Security was the weirdest thing in the world. The lines were short and I found out why. Basically, the screening barely existed. We were told to keep our laptops in our bags, keep our shoes on, and keep the belts on too. We were ushered through the metal detector and sent on our way. Security took me 4 minutes tops. It was weird. So I chilled in the airport and boarded my plane. I landed in Seattle at 8:00 their time or 11:00 my time. I was wiped out. But acquired my bag and was picked up by Tina.

She is a great host, I mean who else leaves a basket full of emergency supplies on your nightstand, just in case and also bribes you with a giant Reese’s cup?

I think the bribe was to keep some of the stories I have to share from getting on the interwebz. (She needed more to keep ALL the stories off.) It truly is nice being able to go visit a friend who GETS it and leaves one to their own devices, with snacks.

The trip was fun. I did lots of fun things. I went to Seattle and played tourist at Pike Place Market. Looked at vendor things, bought my mom’s Christmas gift. I went and put gum on the gum wall.

(This is a forced smile, I was completely grossed out by the concept. Mentally freaking out now.)

The gum wall gives me nightmares, ask Tina. We went to the first Starbuck’s, before it sold its soul to become what it is now.

Didn’t like the other picture I had. I ate an amazing apple bun, it smelt so good, not as good as the smell, hence why I think I ended up making apple crisp for the family later in the week. We went to the aquarium, which was fun. There was some nice stuff there. I got to pet an anemone. That was weird.

I said this was an upside down squid. No one really questioned me, when I posted the picture. I guess they are just used to me now.

I also got to go to the Sound, Deception Pass to be exact with the kids. That was fun. Although it was foggy and due to migrating Seagulls the area reeked of bird crap. We made the best of it and had a fun trip.

(Rock full of birds)

Another day we went to Franklin Falls and went on a hike. The hike was amazing. Tina made friends with a chipmunk, just to prove to another friend they did exist in Washington.

The falls were probably one of the best places to go for me. I love being in the woods and near rivers/falls. Truly is my happy place. I could have spent days there and been a happy person.

I did miss the Snoqualmie Falls. Tina took me there. I heard what sounded like running water and saw fog. Not really sure if they truly exist. Tina claims they do though.

Also on Friday night Tina, Sugarboy, and myself went to a Sounders game. That was interesting. We originally were sitting in the GA section. Which is basically the cheering section for the team. They were a lively bunch.

As Tina was talking to the guy next to her we found out that this is not really a 10 year old friendly area. The guy next to me was encouraging me to let loose and yell. I wasn’t cheering loud enough apparently. I have issues with large crowds, large rowdy, slightly tipsy crowds do not make one a happy person. Thankfully, after realizing things would not be PG Tina went to Guest Services to see if they could help us out. They changed our seats.

We switched to the other side of the stadium and the seats were AMAZING. I can’t say how much I appreciate the help of the representatives of the stadium in finding a less rowdy and less likely to introduce a 10 year old to more creative cursing than he needs to be learning.

I truly did get to do many great things on my visit. Not to mention I also found my next method of transportation too and from work.

Tops out at 15 MPH, but man I could get back and forth pretty quickly if I needed to.

As a whole my diabetes was very well behaved this trip. I had a few lows, but also many god numbers too.

Here is where I shift things. As a person with diabetes things can be interesting at times. Usually I am able to handle the ups and downs, granted right now I am fighting a stubborn “hi” been stuck in the 150 – 200 range for a bit. Yet for me, I can usually figure out the issue and work my way through it. At the Sounders game I had both healthy and unhealthy food. Yet I was more or less in “range”. I remember Tina making a comment about how I was in range, yet Sugarboy who had both the good and bad was not in range. Honestly, it’s the CGM, it keeps me aware of things. I see the trends. I know when I am rising and normally how much to dose for to keep the numbers from constantly climbing. It catches things earlier for me, so I can handle it sooner.

Yet at Tina’s home it is different. This is where I send a huge shout out to all the d-mom’s and d-dad’s for all they do for their children. Being 33 I can handle my own things. Yet the Tina’s, the Meri’s, the Katy’s, the Lorraine’s, the Wendy’s have things differently. They have children with type-1 some more than one. They also have to worry about celiac and crap like that. Yet the power through. They do the work that needs to be done as necessary. The night time checks, the texts, phone calls, etc. They are on 24/7.

With Tina it was interesting to watch. I lost track of the number of times I heard, have you tested? have you bolused? What’s the number? What did you eat? How many carbs should I bolus for? Where’s your glucometer? Yes she says the whole word each time. I think she also uses the word dose not bolus. It was amusing at times. Sometimes she got attitude, sometimes she got I don’t have my meter, there was at least one rescue trip for a pump left at the pool, since it was being charged. It wasn’t easy. I have a hard enough time playing the role of my own pancreas, let alone as the pancreas of three kids.

Worse though is when you need to try to keep things straight and make sure each child is in range. I swear it’s like herding kittens.

You have two perfect than you have a 500 the hits you in the face. The amount of test strips used and well misplaced around the house proves the point. The site changes, the dead batteries, the forgotten bolus’s are all over the place. Yet the d-mom’s stay sane, more or less.

At one point, I was in charge of the family while Tina was out doing errands and played pancreas, it worked for me, I got no lip from the kids if I told them to test and bolus, but I was not their mom, so they either feared or respected me. Not sure which. At one point Middles came up to me and asked me to put in a new infusion site. I haven’t used the normal inset in years. Thankfully, I didn’t screw up. Tina, well she should have given me more chocolate. I forget which night it was that Middle’s site was pulled out and he asked Tina for a fresh infusion site. It’s hard to keep a straight face sometimes. Tina was distracted in her defense, but she stabbed her son with the infusion set because she had forgotten to cock it. So that one went to the wayside. So she had to try again, as I was trying to keep a straight face. “Brian, I swear I never do this, yet this poor boy I have done it to twice now.” As she almost forgets to take the tape and blue needle guard off.

Tina works like crazy to keep things going for her children. I know that is the same for every d-parent out there, but until you actually see it. You aren’t really aware of all that they do. I already hold them in high regard. This moves them up in my book immensely. They give it all for their children and it is truly something to see. Oh plus there was a phone call to Animas that I was witness too. That was interesting. I feel bad, when Tina gets that post done, there will be hell to pay.

So my vacation was great. I had fun. Security home was easy enough, but I had the normal pat down. I took a red eye home, did not sleep. Friend picked me up, slept on their couch for about an hour. I got up and began a very busy Sunday running on no sleep. I wish I was younger. I could handle lack of sleep so much better when I was a child.

Until next time…. Next post will be 300 and I may have a giveaway in the works.