Hey World!!!!

Hey world It's Dustin, I'm gonna do something that will blow your minds, write a post! Leah is asleep and I thought I'd give you all an update from my perspective. Here are my thoughts:

1) Insulin shots suck- Don't get me wrong, they are easy and pretty much pain free. In fact, for the first few days I looked forward to it. But now it's just a constant ball and chain, making me wonder what I will do when I go on a retreat with the guys in April, will I go in the bathroom to take the shots? Will I just do it in front of them? I'm a guy that loves to be free, and this is something that grounds me. I did find out that the insulin I am taking can actually not be refrigerated for almost 40 days when its being used, which makes me happy from a traveling perspective. Carrying a lunch pail on the plane just sounds daunting. Overall, taking the shots is a piece of cake but Leah is right, I am a pin cushion. I have no problem showing you all how easy it is to put your minds to rest!

2) I'm allergic to everything! I did get potatoes back, which was huge for me just to get some good carbs back, but by taking cows milk, wheat AND rice out of my diet, it's basically a crap shoot on what I will be able to eat. We went to Pita Jungle tonight, a healthy modern restaurant, and there were less than 5 things on the menu I could eat. There was 1 thing I could eat at a mexican joint the other day, and even then I had to ask for it with no corn salsa and no cheese. I'm much more motivated this time around, as this diet is to eliminate foods I'm allergic to in the chance that doing so I will stop my body from attacking itself and regenerate my insulin production. Previously, I was avoiding wheat but also carbs in general, trying to keep it below 30-50 grams a day! It was just insane. Frankly, I'll eat twigs and berries for the rest of my life if I find out it could cure my diabetes. I don't know how anyone could make the choice of eating anything they want but living with a potentially life threatening disease. I'd take a 1 in a million chance any day, even if it means doing this for a year with no results.

3) This new naturopath.... So as you know from Leah's previous post, we are going to see the daughter of a friend that actually cured diabetes! That's what I tell people at least, that I'm going to cure diabetes. That's how I see, it. If you can reverse Type I diabetes by just eliminating foods in your diet, why is there still Type I out there? Doesn't make sense to me why more people don't know about it. My plan is to fix myself, then tell the world. I keep telling people my goal is to be on Oprah in a year. Anyway, Kim (check out her blog), told us to see this naturopath then come see her so she could teach us how to live with the food adjustments. So I did. Kristi came with me, and thank God she did, cause I wouldn't have believed this treatment style if she wasn't there..... It was an acupuncture/energy test to pinpoint my nervous system which acts as a way to communicate to vital systems in the body. For example, when he pressed on an pressure point that was for the pancreas, it weakened my body, and when he pulled against my straightened hand that was once rigid and unmovable, he could easily move it with almost no force... It sounds strange, and believe me it was a bit strange to me, but it was cool too. He did this in a number of places to see which organs in my body were under stress (of course my pancreas was, but also my small intestines which makes sense with my stomach issues). So this continued until he got to the good part. He then "activated" my body so that if something was to come in range of it, it would also have the same affect. In other words, if he brought a vile of wheat over my chest, he was easily able to move my hand when 5 seconds before it was unmovable (I'm huge as you are all obviously aware...) He did this with a bunch of stuff, of which he found the following allergies

Wheat, Rice, Barley, Hops, Corn, Cows milk, Mercury and MSG

That about wraps up my eating career! Thanks for the great food dad, but its steak and potatoes from here out! Kidding. This was of course a good test from a holistic standpoint, but long term I'll get a thorough allergy test done to be sure on every thing (my previous test only tested a limited range of foods and only 1 strand of antibodiues. Good test have 500 foods and test 3 of the major antibodies that show food allergies).

Well that's about all my thoughts. Thought I'd get that off my chest.

Just to be clear, this isn't affecting me in any way other than my diet. It's actually making my stronger and giving me something to work towards, which I thrive on. Everyone has given me amazing support, most notably Leah who has been insanly supportive and helpful in this crazy time, so thank you! Don't be afraid to write or call with questions, because talking about it can be therapeutic - as apparently is writing about it :)

Oh and I just remembered, I got a call from my little brother's mom today. She told me he had a class asignment to write a paper about someone who inspires him... he wrote it about President Bush.... just kidding! He wrote it about me! That made my day! Have a good night

Dustin

Pin Cushion

This morning was the first time since *the first time* that I watched my dear hubby give himself an injection of insulin. I have tried to give him some space and privacy in this endeavor. After all, who wants your wife watching you do absolutely everything. But today I was walking out the door as he went to the kitchen to grab his insulin pen, and I asked if he minded if I watched. Of course, being the kind person he is, he said no. He makes the entire process look so easy and he doesn't even flinch when the needle pokes his skin. So of course, being the curious person that I am, I asked him if he still gets nervous. And he said yes. Then he went on to tell me that once in a while the injections still sting, and he thinks that those are the ones that you can still see the little marks from on his stomach **imagine at the same time that he is lifting up his shirt** And thats when I see it... about a half a dozen tiny red marks on his stomach. And then I realized... my husband is a pin cushion =( And this is the reason that we are on this journey to natural healing, because I pray for a day when he no longer has to give himself the injections, when we can get a blood test result and his A1C levels are normal.

As we are on this road to natural healing, I am learning more and more about how incredible our bodies are. And I am learning how distorted our society has become in our relationship to food. Food is no longer just about our need to nourish our bodies, it has become the way in which we entertain, a source of happiness, and a comfort. We have made food something that I don't believe it was ever intended for. Don't get me wrong, I am absolutely guilty of this! Although it is fun to sit around with friends and family over a nice meal and catch up, I am now often asking myself what is most important, the time spent with friend, or the food? And I ask this because for me and my husband food has become a challenge. Dustin grew up in a family where food is a central part of their daily lives. His dad is an amazing cook. He owned a restaurant and a catering company, and now just cooks his delicious foods for his family and friends. So to say that Dustin enjoys food is an understatement. He loves food!! He has grown up eating great food!! So this journey is rough, and brings us back to our relationship with food. What is food, and why do we need it? And this is what we must continue think about as we are on the road to make my hubby less like a pin cushion!!

Now... what to do with all those girl scout cookies I ordered two months ago?!?!?!

Growth

This is a huge step for me. I used to be way to insecure to ever share anything that was directly making fun of myself. But after a few years of counseling, lots of prayer and some fabulous friends and family, I can now share some of my most embarrassing moments with the entire world. Aren't you excited?!?!?

Today I had my first (and second) cavity of my life filled! And soon I will have cavities 3, 4, 5 and 6 filled. What is happening to me. Is this what happens when you get old, you just fall apart all at once. First a wart, and now this!! After I got done having my cavities filled I had a sweet little text from Dustin asking me how I was doing. I didn't respond with words, I just sent him this beautiful smile...

Top 10 Chick Flicks

I loved looking at the Top 10 Chick Flick list on the Le Belle Vie blog for Valentines day!! In fact... I enjoyed it so much that I had to create my own list. Boy of boy, this was not an easy task! I am a sucker for chick flicks, and my list of favorites is quite long. Narrowing it down to 10 was not easy. These are in no particular order, just a list of my top 10. Enjoy!!

1. You've Got Mail - It doesn't get much better than having Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan together in a movie. Their chemistry is so cute, and the fact that they can't stand each other in real life but are in love with each other over the internet is fun to watch. Not to mention, almost any love story in NYC will have me sucked in within a matter of minutes.


2. Beaches - This is one of my favorite "go-to" movies when I am feeling really emotional and just need to have a little cry-fest. It's a beautiful movie of friendship and loyalty (not to mention there are a TON of Bette Midler songs.)


3. Love Actually - Love actually IS all around!! Disclaimer: I am not at all in support of people falling in love with their friends wives. Actually, I am quite against it. But the picture below from this movie was one of my favorite parts. What girls doesn't dream of a guy saying "To Me, You Are Perfect"


4. Grease - No explanation needed. Absolutely classic!!


5. Dirty Dancing - "Nobody puts Baby in a corner". The dancing... the songs... Patrick Swayze **sigh**


6. Gidget - This movie has been one of my all time favorites for as long as I can remember. And is probably in fact the reason that I am so intrigued with surfing and living on (or near) the beach sometime in my life. Coincidence that the man I married looks a little like Moondoggie... I think not =)


7. The Wedding Date - I'm not sure what it is about this movie that I love. The fact that she is so desperate to impress her ex (because be honest, we have all been there at one point in time or another), or maybe its just Dermot Mulroney.


8. The Notebook - This is by far one of the sweetest love stories ever. Its every girls dream to be pursued with such passion, and to be absolutely captivated by THE ONE. Doesn't hurt that Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling are an awesome couple on screen together.


9. Serendipity - Leave it all up to fate. Its a movie of will they or won't they find each other. AND... it takes place in NYC. **sigh** NYC=Romance♥


10. Gone With the Wind - Anyone who knows me, knows that this is by far my most favorite movie ever. It is the most incredible movie of an independent woman who goes out and gets what she wants. And Clark Gable is just a little dreamy (I don't care if he's been dead for 50 years and was old enough to be my great grandfather).


Whats in your top 10?

I *heart* these

Lately I have found myself browsing the internet in search of things that I want to buy, but don't need. I dream of the day when we are no longer saving every penny possible to get out of debt and save for a new home. SIGH!!! But since I am sure that day isn't anywhere in the near future I will continue to browse the internet for all the lovely things that are considered luxury. Last night at Bunco one of my girlfriends had a new purse, and I absolutely fell in love with it. So after lots of dice rolling and wine drinking, I headed home to to surf the web for it. Big Buddha bags!! Doesn't the companies name just make you want to smile (I sure did!!) Here are my favorites:

tired

I feel a little exhausted with everything right now. Balancing to be just on insulin and to change Dustin's diet when we only "kind of know" what we need to do is a lot of work. Our fridge is empty, and it seems like whatever we have in it doesn't work. Grocery shopping poses challenges of its own, because eliminating dairy and wheat from the diet can make it difficult to eat anything else. And then we try to stay educated. Read. Read. Read. So much information and it doesn't seem like there is enough space in this brain of mine to process all of it!

Dustin meets with Dr. Baker tomorrow. I'm not able to go to the appointment, but my mom is going with him. Those appointments throw out way too much information and for just one person to hear it all is overwhelming.

More news tomorrow!!

Talk to Everyone

My mom's theory through this entire Type 1 Journey has been TALK TO EVERYONE!! Her theory was tell everyone what we are going through in case someone has something incredible to share with us. We won't know if we don't keep seeking out the knowledge. In the beginning Dustin was a little hesitant about this, and I think this was mainly because the more we talked to everyone, the more it made this real. And that was a hard thing to accept.

A few weeks ago at our small church class at church they passed around a sign up sheet for various couples to stand at a table before each service to tell others about this awesome class that we are going to (I was going to do an entire post today on what we learned today about marriage, but this is too exciting that I am bursting at the seams to write this. So I will save that for another day). Dustin really wanted for us to sign up, and the first week that they asked for volunteers I told him "no" since we were so new to the class it wasn't quite yet in my comfort zone. But the following week they asked again for volunteers, Dustin asked me if I would be interested and I thought "what do we have to lose."

So we showed up early this morning and started talking with our small church leader. He asked what is going on in our lives and we shared our Type 1 Journey. He listened and then said.. "I have to get you connected to my daughter-in-law. My granddaughter was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes in the last year. They met with one of the leading endocrinologists in the Valley and didn't want to accept that insulin was the only solution. Long story short, our granddaughter is now living without Type 1 diabetes and is the normal ranges for everything." As you can imagine our eyes lit up. He got us in touch with his daughter-in-law immediately by email, and a series of emails has gone back and forth all day. Can you believe her daughter is no creating normal levels of insulin on her own? She told us to get in touch with a certain doctor in the valley (a naturopath). She told us to immediately get an appointment with him, and then she would set up a time to talk with us about food and how to live this out in our day to day lives. We mentioned to her that we had already met with another naturopath, who will remain nameless, and she said that they also had talked to this individual and she was far to strict/radical for them. This again made us thing that there still may be another option!! In the meantime she recommended that we read Diabetic Solutions by Dr. Bernstein. A book that we purchased months ago and has been collecting dust on our bookshelf since. Isn't that embarrassing??

Over the past many months we have been praying for another solution. Praying for God to open a door if there is another route that he has intended for us to go on. We are not saying that this is in fact His plan for us, but we are excited that He has opened another door. We are willing to try anything to avoid being insulin dependent for the rest of our lives. We will be calling the doctor that she recommended first thing tomorrow. And if they are closed for the holiday we will call back again first thing on Tuesday!

If you are interested to read more about her journey, and the road she is traveling just go to her blog.

What a day...

Today was a super fun day!! We had nothing planned... and just did whatever our hearts decided. I thought it would be fun to take some pictures of our day, and then post them!! So here they are!! Just another fun day in our very blessed life!!


We woke up this morning, layed in bed for a while and turned on the news. They were showcasing a giant book fair at the state fair grounds. We thought it sounded like fun, and this was the beginning of our day!!

• Picture 1: This is the time we left the house
• Picture 2 & 3: Nothing like Jamba Juice to get things started for our day!!
• Picture 4: The line to get into the book fair. One person told us the line was four hours long, so we almost turned around. But we decided it was worth checking out. After an hour in line, we were in
• Picture 5: Finally inside the VNSA book fair!! Over 16 books purchased, in like new quality, for less than $60
• Picture 6: Had lunch with Mandy and went furniture shopping in our never ending quest for something fabulous! Mandy and Dustin getting comfy
• Picture 7: BevMo was having the $.05 wine sale, so we were stocking up
• Picture 8: Dustin picking up his first dose of insulin and flexipens
• Picture 9 & 10: Dustin and I dancing to Baby Got Back in the car
• Picture 11: Heading to the iStore looking for an iMac. This is where we realized that the iStore is NOT directly associated with apple... so tomorrow we are heading to the apple store.
• Picture 12: The time that we got home!! Only an hour to rest before heading out to a going away party for our friends, Todd and Ashley!

Here is a pic of all our books!

After the Doctors Appointment

Huge sigh of relief!! The doctor's appointment is over and it went far better than we were anticipating!! Thank you so much for all of your prayers and support! We felt an amazing amount of peace throughout this appointment (quite different than last week). My parents went with us so that they could be the extra ears and hear all of the information that we may forget and ask any questions that we may not have thought about.

Today we met with the diabetes educator, Margaret. We had a little bit of an inside scoop about Margaret, because the photographer that I work for (Cristi Owen) is also a registered dietitian and used to work with Margaret at Banner Baywood. Cristi couldn't have been more right about how sweet and knowledgeable Margaret is. we were told that our appointment would only be 30 minutes, and Margaret used a full hour to be very thorough in her description of everything that is going on, and spent a lot of time answer all of our questions.



So let me start giving you the information that I got from the diabetes educator and the doctor today:

Q. How often should Dustin check his blood glucose (BG) levels?
A. Dustin should check his BG levels at least twice a day. Once in the morning and once before dinner. It he wants he could add a third time, being before lunch. We shouldn't be surprised if the amount of times checking his BG levels increases as the years go on. This is normal.

Q. What are the BG levels that Dustin should be striving for?
A. Around 100 is what we are striving for at any point in time (give or take 20)

• 160 two hours after a meal is good
• 180 is a little high
• 200+ on a consistent basis means that we need to come back to the doctor and look at new treatment options
• When Dustin's levels are seriously high (i.e. above 250) we should stay away from vigorous exercise until they drop

Q. What kind of Insulin Injections will Dustin go on?
A. Levemir. His daily dosage is 12 units. Levemir is a synthetic insulin. Years ago they used to use animal insulin, but now it is mostly all synthetic. This means it is exactly like human insulin and has very few side effects

Q. What time will Dustin need to give himself the injection?
A. Dustin will need to give himself the injections in the morning. It needs to be at a consistent time. Always within an hour of the same time

Q. Why does Dustin need to give the injections in the abdomen?
A. This is because it will give the best and most even absorption. There is a small area on the back of the arm that you can also give the injection, but it is hard for a person to do that on their own without help.

Q. Where should Dustin store the insulin?
A. The insulin needs to be stored in a cool place, preferably the refrigerator. When traveling we will need to have a little cooler that we can carry everything with us.

Q. Tell me more about the injections?
A. The insulin is not stored in a typical looking syringe. They call it a little pen. It carries up to 300 units of insulin in it and has disposable needles. So the one pen will last us approximately 3 weeks. Dustin will need to prime the pen using 2 units of insulin and then inject 12 units of insulin daily. This is a VERY small dosage of insulin. To give you an idea, this pen can inject up to 80 units of insulin at one time. It is a very small needle, and very fine. They told him that it goes in gently (not like throwing darts). You would give it the same force that you would use with a pin to pop a balloon. Dustin gave himself one placebo injection and one real injection while we were there. The placebo injection hurt more because it was sugar water, and this burned a little. He said that although it wasn’t comfortable, pricking his finger to get his blood glucose levels hurt more.

Q. Can Dustin drink alcohol while on insulin?
A. You should limit your alcohol content while on insulin. Although many people don’t adhere to this, this is the best thing you can do for your body. He can have 2 drinks a day. And Margaret was quick to tell us that if you didn’t have your two drinks one day, you couldn’t save them for another day. Alcohol can lower your blood sugar levels, but you typically won’t see this happen until hours after you stop drinking. The liver does actually play a role in insulin production. But when you drink, it spend so much energy processing the alcohol that it stops helping the pancreas produce insulin. This is the reason he should limit his alcohol intake.

Q. What should Dustin' diet look like?
A. As most of you know we have been on a very strict diet the last six months as we have tried to manage this. The doctor, diabetes educator, and my friend who is a registered dietitian do not believe that this is a diet we should remain on. Dustin can consume 60-75 grams of carbohydrates per meal. He needs to be prudent with his fat content and have reasonable size servings of protein (i.e. not too much). Here are four things Margaret told us to remember in regards to his diet:

1. Be consistent with your meal routine. The time and volume of meals should be consistent day to day.
   
2. Be smart about your portion sizes.
   
3. Keep added sweets to a minimum. Sugar substitutes are fine. Coke Zero and sports drinks such as Propel and Power 0 are okay as well.
   
4. Keep down the fat in each meal

We will meet with Cristi Owen soon to learn more about diet!! Thank you Cristi!!

Q. What other things did we learn?
A. It is not uncommon to see wheat sensitivity and celiac disease with diabetes, because this is also an auto-immune disorder. We should continue to manage this as much as possible, while keeping up with the 60-75 grams of carbs per meal.

Many of you asked us why Dustin’s case was unique. Mainly this is because of his deficiency with his GAD antibodies (I still don’t understand this). And mostly the doctor said that Dustin is unique because he was able to manage to survive with almost no insulin production without being hospitalized. PRAISE GOD FOR THIS!!!!

Q. Whats the next step?
A. Back to the doctor in four weeks for our follow up and to see how Dustin’s body is reacting to the insulin. It is very likely that we will go up with insulin units at this time. He started Dustin on such a low level of insulin units because of the very strict diet that he has been adhering to. He didn’t want to shock Dustin’s system with the new treatment.


I hope that this is helpful and gives you all a little insight into our day!! Love you all very much and am so thankful for the support and help you have given us!!

Type 1

At 2:30 today we met with Dustin's endocrinologist. We made this appointment six months ago and have just been waiting for the day to arrive. It was a blessing that our appointment was today after finding out last Tuesday's news.

We knew that today would be a difficult day, but we in no way anticipated how hard hearing the news would actually be. We were very well prepared patients and took in with us a copy of Dustin's last three blood test results. We took a record of his blood sugar levels from the last several weeks and a food diary. The nurse was very impressed by our preparedness. And in fact this worked out well for us because they didn't need to take a baseline blood test and were able to make an official diagnosis right on the spot.

Short Story... Dustin is Type 1 Diabetic and will need to begin daily insulin injections as soon as we can meet with the diabetes educator (which will be next Wednesday)

Long Story... Dustin has lost 90-95% of his insulin production in the last six months. When we first began on this journey over six months ago his levels of insulin production were labeled as normal on his blood test. The blood work that he had completed just a few weeks ago came back with insulin levels that were undetectable. It is a little unique that Dustin has developed Type 1 Diabetes so late in his life. Technically speaking his doctor said that he isn't quite yet Type 1 Diabetic (I'm not sure the reasoning for this and will hopefully learn more on Wednesday), and would be officially classified as having Latent Autoimmune Diabetes of Adulthood (LADA). The doctor said that he was really shocked that Dustin hasn't been hospitalized as of yet, and said that this is most likely due to the strict diet that he has been keeping. We still have a ton of questions, so I'm sorry that I can't give you more information. But hopefully we will be finding out more very soon!

Please pray for strength during this difficult time. Although we knew that this was coming it still doesn't make it less difficult to hear.

More pork leftovers... Tostadas!!

Well... the Kalua Pork that we made on Wednesday night has been put to some very good use! Tonight we used the remaining leftovers to make pork tostada's. This was a very similar recipe to the nachos. But this recipe we created on our own... this great idea was courtesy of my mom!

First, we took four corn tortillas and coated them with olive oil and put them in the oven to cook the tostada hard shell.



We didn't have a can of refried beans, so we made our own!! Then we chopped up some cilantro, onions and tomatoes.





We added the beans, pork, and cilantro mixture to the tostada. Topped it with some sour cream, avacado and cheese and called it good!! Super yummy and absolutely healthy!