Raising Ryker: Type 1 Strong

03/16/2026

Last night, I was sleeping with my Zadie’s heart. I sleep with it every night! 💕 My numbers have been all over the place for no apparent reason. It’s always great when I drop for no reason (not a compression low) and then Dexcom gives us the warning of a brief sensor issue. Talk about nerve racking for Mama. At least I slept through the is and was snug in my bed.

03/14/2026

Last night was a rough night. Around midnight, the alarm went off - I was heading low. Mama came into my room and waited and sure enough, I didn’t need anything to treat the low. I was sweaty though. Mama gave me some water. My sensor was way off! Mama fell asleep on my floor for an hour and finally went back to bed. 3am, uh oh! I was downstairs wide awake. My sensor was showing 42 and double arrows down! I feel fine though. Mama had me test my BG, which showed 98. Phew! Well, then we had to wait another 15 minutes for the sensor to finally catch up and be a reasonable number. Back to bed again. 8:45am, alarm went off again. I was sitting around 80 and heading down. Again, didn’t need to treat, but was aware of the trend. Being diabetic means that I don’t get any time off of being a pancreas. Sleep is interrupted, constantly checking and being aware of what my number actually is. Being tied to electronics is hard. I told Mama yesterday that I wish there was a cure! I am not even one year in, but yet I am wore out already. 😢

03/12/2026

Guess what??? Wylie ISD Bus Barn, where my Daddy worked before he passed away with COVID, did a fundraiser for me! They raised $968!!!! Thank you so much to my Daddy’s former work family - y’all have made a HUGE impact in my life: you supported us before and you did it again!

This time, we hit our first milestone!!!!! We have put the deposit down on my diabetic alert dog with Bowen Elite Service Dogs!!! I am SOOOOO HAPPY!!!!

My dog will be coming from the breeder and going to Bowen Elite at 8 weeks old to start training in December. I have decided to get an Australian Labradoodle. The dog should be between 20-30lbs. Aren’t they adorable??? Training is going to take 14 months, which is a long time, but I will be able to see the progress and watch my dog grow. 💕

Thank you for everyone’s support so far! We have raised $6,167 in a month and a half. Our goal is $32,000, so we still have a long way to go, but this was a huge milestone and are so happy that y’all are here to follow along and share this journey with me.

03/11/2026

Today I got the opportunity to join a Zoom call for Breakthrough T1D. I am going to be a Breakthrough T1D Ambassador! I might be young, but I know that I can advocate for diabetes awareness and research.

Also, we hit 15% towards my diabetes alert dog so far! Yay!!! I can’t wait to bring home my diabetes alert dog. 💕 Help me by sharing my GoFundMe, looking on Mama’s Facebook Marketplace, or sharing our information to help us raise money. Thank you for everyone’s support and love!!!!

03/04/2026

This week has been a busy week so far. Mama and I are putting together Easter Baskets for an additional fundraiser - hopefully this helps us get further along to our goal - we are at 11% right now, which is great. We also decided we should sit outside and enjoy some fresh air, so we played a game of checkers (I won!), but don’t tell Mama that I tried to let her win multiple times. The highlight of my week so far was Cub Scouts - we learned all about computers and got the opportunity to take them apart! I surprised Mama when we were asked what are some items inside of a computer and I answered ‘a motherboard.’ I guess I do take after Mama and I really want to be an engineer like her.

Oh yeah, I also got a haircut - no more sideburns. 😊

The past few days, we have been trying to keep my numbers under stricter control. I tried Quest chips and liked them, which was a plus. Don’t ask me to eat lettuce again though - yuck! 🤢 Mama keeps trying to get me to eat vegetables, so if you have any ideas, let her know. So far, I dislike them - maybe it’s a texture thing.

03/02/2026

Hey Mama, can we play this game again tonight? I know we started the day with a sensor that soaked overnight, then changed out my pump. Oops, my brand new pump fell off in the shower, so we had to change out a second pump today. But hey, the pizza at dinner stuck with me and caused me to go really high. I started to come down and it was time go to sleep. Well, for me anyways… You can watch me ramp down from a really high BG and see where I land! I’ll just sit up if I need too, drenched in sweat, close my eyes, and smile while I doze back to sleep. Oh, and when I get too low, I’ll pucker up my lips and take a sip and never even know I went low because you were raking care of me. Thank you Mama for being here every day to make sure I am alright.

03/02/2026

Mama told me we are going to work on keeping my numbers low this weekend. Well, I laid down for bed and 15 minutes later, I was below 80 and drenched. She tried to get me to drink juice and I didn’t move. Eventually, I sat up and told her “I already got dressed and am ready to go. Even my shoes are on.” I looked at her and smiled big. 😂 I was apparently dreaming and couldn’t focus on what was needed in the moment. I am so happy my Mama is here for me!!

02/22/2026

Some days are unforgettable! Somehow, we managed to stay in range 96.25% today! For all T1s, you know what an accomplishment this is!!! Such a huge difference versus last week where we were all over the place. Now to figure out how to stay in a tighter range and not have as many highs or lows overall.

In addition, Ryker had his Derby Car race with Cub Scouts. Unfortunately, one of his characters flew off, but he had so much fun! Great job little man!

02/19/2026

This is one of the things that scares me most. My Mom protects me, but if electronics don’t notify us, what signs do I show that will let others know I need help before I pass out?

Type 1 Diabetes is unpredictable and that’s what makes it so challenging to manage.

You can do everything right and still have a dangerous and scary low. Even after almost 10 years of managing T1D, eating in a way that usually eliminates these types of lows, and having 2 diabetic alert dogs, London still had a scary low.

We dropped my oldest off for a quick appointment and went to run an errand at the mall while we waited for him. London ate her usual breakfast and I dosed exactly the same as every other day. I noticed she was trending down and she had a few fast acting carbs. As we were walking through the mall London suddenly stopped and dropped her bag on the floor. I looked over at her and noticed a blank look on her face and she was white as a ghost. I didn’t even check her blood sugar because I knew it was low, I just started feeding her skittles and luckily she ate them. I glanced at my watch and Dexcom said “low” meaning under 40. 😳 Usually Dexcom has a loud alarm and sounds on my iPhone and vibrates my watch but It didn’t this time. She went from 80 when I gave a few carbs because she was active, to under 40 in minutes. Dexcom was slow to catch it and stupid me I didn’t bring Sherlock or Cappuccino for this quick errand. London’s bag was in the car with her gvoke and test kit. Stupid. Why did I think we could run in quick for a 10 min errand without it. Obviously we always carry fast acting carbs and her phone but we don’t always carry her bag everywhere she goes. I figured it was ok in the car.

I was able to get her back to the car and continued to give her carbs. She was mad at me for leaving the mall and got very upset. When we got to the car she was 58 and asked me what happened. She had no memory of it.

We have only had one other low like that in 10 years. I am beating myself up for leaving the pups at home and her test kit in the car. It’s a lot of extra work right now to bring both dogs and it was a 30 minute errand but T1D doesn’t care.

It’s an excellent reminder that even well managed T1D’s can experience scary lows. I know I didn’t cause it and it wasn’t preventable but I still feel terrible for her. It was the prefect storm of a Dexcom that didn’t alert or was inaccurate, a Mom who was busy at the store, and the inherent nature of the disease. I didn’t give her too much insulin, or not pay attention, or do anything wrong and yet it happens.

Sharing this is hard for me but I think it’s important.

02/19/2026

Nights like this I have to remind myself and my Mama that we are thankful for technology….

Yesterday, we had a great day and I was in range 88% of the day! Such a nice feeling. Last night, we “soaked” a sensor and changed my pump. My Mama needed to activate the new sensor around 2am. Mama set my alarm and got up and activated it. Thankful it worked without any problems and it was spot on with reading my BG. Mama waited 10 minutes and went back to bed. 3:15am, she woke by the SugarPixel alarm to an extremely Urgent Low! She double checked the app and all I see are double arrows down. She double checked the numbers on the app and rushed to my room - I was sleeping peacefully, not drenched in sweat. Mama checked my BG and it was 114. Phew - that let Mama breathe again! Configure the sensor. Oh, and because it was so far off, we the get a brief sensor issue and no data for up to 3 hours - no sleep for my weary Mama… ☹️ She waited… 15 minutes and thankfully we have data again.

From the highs to the lows, sensor and pump changes, life with T1D is exhausting for our kids! Thankful I slept through the night. 💕 Our hearts break for those going through this, but we know that every person with T1D and their caretaker, Mama, Daddy, and everyone that supports them are super heroes!

02/16/2026

Before leaving the doctor’s office to head to the hospital, I told my Mom some important words: “ We’ve got this Mama!”

When we arrived at the hospital, “I felt brave!”

Everyone at the hospital was cheering me on. They gave me an XBox to play, I got to go to the playroom when they were open, and I had lots of visitors: my Bubbie and Zadie, Patrick, Kim and Scott, and Larry. Of course, my Mom was there the entire time too.

My Mom, Bubbie, and Scott got lots of training! 3 days worth of training before we were discharged. They learned what diabetes is, highs and lows, insulin types, and how to check blood glucose levels. In addition, I got training to learn that my pancreas (a pancake) was not working properly and why I needed insulin. I even got to check my Mom’s blood glucose.

I know my Mom was overwhelmed with all of the information, but I kept her strong and reminded her everything would be alright. 💕