BEARing Diabetes

Me and my teddy.. getting all ready.. getting a ready... for treatment?

We think of teddy bear's and we think of a bedtime snuggle buddy, comforting, loving, caring, companion and friend. I'd bet money needles, education, cure, and care are not closely related with the word Teddy bear in many people's mind.

We are surrounded by bears as early as birth, in fact in my hospital picture, the shirt the hospital put on me had a teddy bear on it. As a young child we own Teddy bears and watch Winnie the Pooh. As we become adolescences we become exposed to Yogi Bear while in girl scouts/boy scouts or maybe just on family get aways. And of course as a teen, being pyromaniacs, rough, dangerous and daring, we get to know Smokey the Bear quite well. But today I became fond of bears like never before, and got to know a bear far more important than any bear I heard of yet in my 21 years, his name is Rufus.



We received a package just yesterday, filled with gifts for Julian from my mom's side the family. Inside the box was a bear that my aunt sent, but I unable to really look at it because of my demanding lil man wanting me to help him open his new Toy Story action figures. After the craziness slowed.. I had a chance to really observe the bear that was sent.

I was introduced for the first time to.. Rufus, the Bear with Diabetes.

Rufus has patches on his arms, legs, stomach, and butt where he get's his insulin shots. He also has red heart patches over his paws where he gets his blood sugar checked. Rufus always wears his medical bracelet that let's everyone know he is a diabetic in case of emergency. His mom made the bear when her three year old was first diagnosed. After much research I was so touched to read the stories of how Rufus helped their child when being diagnosed. And something cool- I'm pretty sure we have a original.. (not hand sewed, but one that was made before the company was bought by RUSS)
Somewhere along the way of researching, I came across JDRF and something they call a Bag Of Hope. It included a bear in it, as well as many books, and other information, so I sent a short email asking if I could be sent one.
The next day I got a knock on my door from a many named Tim. All three of his children are type 1 diabetics and he is chair man of the research foundation in my area. He brought me a bag of hope like I requested...
After opening it, I then became even more sure that we have a original Rufus, which blew me away completely.
That same day, we had Julian's med's refilled and Josh brought it home after work. I knew the comfort that had been brought to me that day with the bag of hope, and with the new friend I had made was a blessing, and I was so thankful for Rufus even more, because if it wasn't for him I would have never come across the site to begin with. But I did not know just how big of a blessing it would be until the next day.

That night Julian's blood sugar was extremely low- which was strange because he was been so stable for the past few weeks. And to top it off, he had NO SYMPTOMS of being so low... (low - like 21 LOW). I was scared to death that Julian's symptoms had changed and even more terrified not knowing why all of a sudden he is not doing so well. This continued all through the night. I woke Josh with my concern, and fought with Julian to eat and drink all night long trying my best to get his blood sugar to come up and stabilize.

The next morning, I was tired, cranky, and exhausted from being up worried all night long(literally). As we all layed around the living room, my phone started to ring with a unfamiliar number, yet a local 757 as the first three digits. I answered and put it on speaker thinking it might be my landlord( who we are having some issues with). Nope- it was the pharmacy.. ALL of Julian's blood sugar strips we got the day before had been defected. Over 359 MILLION strips had been recalled, and the entire base had no good strips for his meter. My stress level hit the roof knowing it was our Christmas eve, and not being able to tell Julian's blood sugar and how to properly treat him could make him very ill. I was in touch with Julian's doctor in less than a hour after getting a call from the pharmacy. Of course there was always the option of going to a store ( if they had good strips) and buying them out of pocket with out having the benefit of the navy's fully paid insurance. These strips cost $1-$2 per strip, and come in boxes of 50 & 100. Julian has to be checked before when he wakes, before he eats and before bed, (as well as any other time I believe he is acting different or showing symptoms). That could be 5-7 times a day EASY.

And that gets expensive- REALLY fast.
Then I remembered, the bag of hope!...
Inside was a Accu-Chek meter- a different meter brand than we usually use. It came in a box, with strips that go with the meter. WHAT A BLESSING!! We have been able to use the Accu-Chek meter and use the strips that came with it to help keep Julian's blood sugar at healthy levels. It was no surprise to me that Julian was extremely high, being the meter had been telling us he was so low we were giving him so much sugar to bring up blood sugar.
The highs brought on many corrections to get back on track, of course he went low FOR REAL with the corrections..he always does. All this resulted in 3:00 am cookies and milk by a certain someone, who was NOT Santa Claus! haha

Needless to say, God does do everything for a reason, and knows exactly what he is doing. I am so so so glad that my aunt ran across Rufus, sent it to us, that I requested the bag of hope, and that Tim brought it to us when he did. It was not ironic- it was GOD.

Julian is doing well now, and we are still waiting for another call from the pharmacy telling us new strips are in! We also see Julians endo on the 28th and will be talking to them about the pump.
Oh the joys of bearing diabetes! :)

Merry Christmas Eve..( for us anyways! )

ill update pictures of Rufus soon.