Dealing with loss and my new a1c.

   Hi again! Lots has been going on in my life recently ans since I haven't posted anything for awhile I thought I'd do a big post to bring everyone up to date.

   First of all, I think if you had asked me a year ago how hard it would be to make it through 3 family deaths in 7 months time I would have said I don't even want to think about it. October 2012 to May 2013 has forced my family to do more then think about. In October my aunt (uncles wife) lost a 6 year battle to cancer. While I wasn't really that close to her the funeral and the time around the funeral was very hard because her family has daughters nearly exactly the same ages as my sisters and I and it was REALLY hard to watch them have to say good bye to their mom.
   Then, come December, we had to face something that we had been preparing somewhat for since earlier in the year and that is say hello and goodbye to my beautiful nephew Bryson Paul. Even though we knew for quite awhile, there is really no way to prepare for something like this. Bryson died due to Potter's Syndrome which is a condition where the mother lack amniotic fluids during pregnancy and the baby never develops lungs or kidneys. Bryson lived for about 40 mins before God gave him his angels wings. I think I cried more through that whole process then I ever thought possible and just writing this as my eyes full of tears again. The 7th of this month would have been his 6 month birthday. I spent the evening of the 7th babysitting for a friend who has a little boy who is 7 months old and that made me miss him VERY much. Right now he would be sitting up, laughing with us, smiling, being able to play with his 2 big brothers and SO much more. Make no mistake, I fully believe that God makes no mistakes and that Bryson is in a much better place but that doesn't mean it doesn't hurt.
   The 3rd death in the family was more recent and was my Grandpa who just passed away on May 17th. He had spent years now in poor health and his body was worn out. My Grandma has been amazingly strong but after being married to someone for 54 years, there is no way that it is not extremely hard and painful for her. My mom was able to travel out and spend sometime there over the time of his death and most of the family was able to go and be together over the funeral. He is now is a MUCH better place and no longer has to struggle to do the things in daily life that were so hard for him.
   Having gone through this much loss recently I have to say this about it: you are only given the strength to make it through things like that once you need it. The important things to remember and hold tight to are God and your family. God will never leave you or forsake you during those times so draw close to him for strength and comfort.

   Moving on to my current health, my recent a1c and my eyes re-check brought GREAT news. My eyes look awesome with NO sign of problems from diabetes :) that makes me really, really happy cause I know that eyes can easily be affected by diabetes and my eyesight is really important to me. My newest a1c made me terribly happy too. It is now down to being a 6.8!! This is a big deal to me because it is the first time in my 5+ years of being diabetic that my a1c has been under 7. Last May I had my second straight 8.3 and then by October I had gotten it down to a 7.4 and by January is was a 7.1. I working at wrapping my mind around the fact that I have now gotten to where I wanna be and am facing a new challenge. Instead of getting my control to where I want it to be I now I have to keep it where it is and I think that may prove to be harder! I am seeing my endo on the 26th and I want to talk to her about possibly starting a CGM. I have in the last months had some overnight lows that plain old scare me and I think I would really benefit from using a CGM.

   Well I hope you guys have an awesome day! We, here on the east coast, are bracing for storms today.

Love and hugs, Leanna