Katie's Personal Page

As many of you are aware, Katie was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes on September 15, 2009 at age 4- her first day of preschool.  This is the type of diabetes that cannot be controlled with diet or exercise.  The only treatment is careful monitoring of blood sugar levels (5-8 times a day) and insulin adjusted to cover the carbohydrates Katie consumes.  We measure and monitor everything she eats with the focus of keeping her blood sugar in a safe range to prevent dangerous lows and complication inducing highs.  When Katie was first diagnosed she needed 6-8 shots a day.  For the past three years, Katie has used an insulin pump, which is amazing.  It has a small tube that goes under Katie?s skin.  It delivers small doses of insulin each hour and allows us to increase the dose when Katie eats.  This has allowed for more freedom and better blood sugar control.  She also uses a continuous glucose monitor that displays where her blood sugar is trending- with updates every 5 minutes.  It alerts us if her blood sugar is going too high or too low.  We pray for a cure, but are appreciative of the technology that makes living with diabetes more manageable.  Quite frankly, having this disease stinks!  It is a day to day grind of blood sugar checks, counting carbohydrates, and worrying about variability in her blood sugar.  It complicates playdates, dance practice, birthday parties and going to waterparks.  A cure can?t come fast enough! 

In Katie?s words, ?I want my friends to come to support diabetes research so we can cure diabetes.  If I didn?t have diabetes, I would not have to have so many pokes and needles.  I could just focus on dance or piano or basketball or reading or playing without having to worry about my blood sugar.  That would be fantastic, the best thing in the whole entire world or even universe!?    

If you think this page contains objectionable content, please inform the system administrator.