I really couldn't think of what I wanted to write about today. You see I'm trying to not be very emotional over the fact that Cliffy's 1 year dx date is approaching on February 28th.. The one thing I haven't done yet in writing about Cliffy and his T1 is include a little insight on what he goes through on a daily basis. In thinking about the number of fingersticks per year just to check his blood sugar that we told DD (The Diabetes Dude), it had me thinking about what he does daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly.
Before I move any further, in case you are not familiar with DD please take a look at his site here:
http://www.thediabetesdude.com/
Noah is a great kid who like Cliffy has T1 diabetes, but he most definitely isn't letting that stop him. He is raising awareness not only for himself, and the disease, but all his T1 friends. Cliffy is actually the PA ambassador for DD, and we are hoping to tons of awesome things to help raise awareness in our area very soon! To take a look at Cliffy's page please see here:
Now to move on with what this post is about.
A day in the of life of Clifford, a 7 year old Type 1 diabetic kid!
Cliffy starts his day around 7-7:30 am. Before eating breakfast he must have his blood sugar checked, which involves at least 1 fingerprick as long as we don't receive a strip error, or have a funky number, then that involves rechecking.
His carbs, protein and fat grams are all counted out according to his daily diet for breakfast. After his food is ready to go, his insulin is drawn up according to his sliding scale( a sliding scale is because Cliffy is still on Multiple Daily Injections "MDS's" it is how many units of fast acting insulin, which is called humalog, he should receive based on his blood sugar number.) Once his insulin is drawn up, the injection site is cleaned with alcohol( it can be his arms, legs, or tummy he refuses a top of the bum site.) Then his shot is given. NOW and only now can he sit down to eat his breakfast.
Now Cliffy can eat no sooner then 2 hours later and no later then 4 hours later since he received an injection of Humalog. Based on this schedule it is now time to start all over, count his carbs, protein, and fat grams for lunch. Another fingerstick to check his blood sugar, draw up the insulin based on the sliding scale (humalog), clean the site, which by the way should be a different spot then before, site rotation is very important. He gets another shot, then can sit down to eat lunch.
Again 2-4 hours later it is snack time. This time his carbs are counted out to 15 grams. He then gets yet another fingerstick, to check his bs#, insulin is drawn (humalog) and another shot, now he can eat his snack.
2-4 more hours later it's DINNERTIME! Carbs, protein, and fat grams are counted, Fingerstick, insulin drawn (humalog), and shot is given.
2-4 hours later it's bedtime snack. Here it is a little different, carbs and protein counted, fingerstick to check his bs#, then he gets 2 shots, the fast acting insulin to cover his carbs (humalog) and a long lasting insulin that goes for 24 hrs (Lantus). After both shots he can then eat. And it's sleepy time.
Most of us think about enjoying a night of uninterrupted sleep but Diabetes never sleeps. For the most part Cliffy gets "at least" 2 finger sticks during the night at 12 and 3 am to check his levels. This helps his endo team determine if our Long lasting insulin, and bedtime humalog are right on target as to where they should be or if they need switched. On occasion Cliffy may be running a bit higher which I think of as 400+ now I've learned Cliffy's blood sugar a bit more and how it goes during the night to know he tends to jump at least by 50 to 100 between 3-5 am. Most experts refer to this as the dawn phenomenon. If Cliffy is too high, I then have to "correct" him by giving another insulin injection at night when he is sleeping.
If everything runs smoothly Cliffy will only get around 6-8 fingersticks, and 6 injections a day. If we have a sick day he can endure as many as 25+ fingersticks a day or even more injections. On average he gets roughly around 12 fingersticks and injections a day.
For the most part he does all this with a smile. He plays video games, with his sisters, and army guys just like a normal 7 year old boy. But he has a vast knowledge of carbs, protein, bloodsugar numbers unlike a normal 7 year old boy. He can at anytime let you know how many carbs, and grams of sugar are in a cup of milk, and other items of food.
He is a strong boy and most definitely my hero. And for this reason alone, I will not stop trying to raise awareness, and fighting for a cure. Because he and everyone else battling this monster on a daily basis deserve it more then anything.
