Don’t let the numbers rule you..

 

One thing you will want to learn early on when dealing with Diabetes is you will never “ALWAYS” hit those perfect numbers. You shouldn’t live your life number to number trying to strive for excellence, and getting disappointed when it doesn’t happen. This is just letting the numbers rule you.

We test, either correct, or treat and move on. Obviously when there is a high after high, it really starts to get to you, but you have to try to bolus, correct, move on. Change site, inject, move on. IT’s your new part of your everyday normal, don’t let it control every aspect of your life, because in no time at all it will begin to feel like you have no life other than working around the numbers.

I say this from experience. We have days where we have great numbers, and we celebrate small victories, you have to in this life. Then there are days when we are hit with highs out of no where. We rule out quickly all the possible culprits, (bubbles in tubing, site coming out, ketones, etc.) then we bolus and move on. Just today after 2 great days with no numbers higher than 170, we were hit with a 305. Only 0.1 ketones, so we corrected, dual bolused for breakfast, and he was 123 at his 2 hr. check.

Diabetes already takes up so much of your life that you can’t let it take complete control over it. Try the bolus, treat and move on method, and see how this works for you.

Upcoming-Keep a lookout

Keep a look out for my upcoming post on “Back to school with Diabetes”. There is a lot of work even before school starts. If you are just starting out and need a bit of advice it may be helpful. If you happen to have any questions you’d like to have addressed ahead of time, let me know and I’ll do my best to get them answered for you. In the mean time check out “Back to School with Disabilities” this is an article I wrote that helps discuss a little bit of heading back to school with diabetes. Look for another one soon in further detail.

Diabetes has….

There are many things that diabetes has done, some good, some well mostly bad. But here is a compiled list to let those who may  not have experience with the disease know just what Diabetes has done.

• Stripped my son of a normal childhood
• Turned our world upside down
• Taken away his freedom to do what he wants, or eat what he wants
• Made him grow up way to fast
• Become the center of our universe
• Taken the energy right out of me
• Made me fearful that when I put my son to sleep at night he won’t wake up in the morning ( I just wish someone would tell me that he is going to live until he’s 85 despite this disease, that would take so much worry away.) No one should have to put their child to bed at night fearing that might be the last time you see them.
• Made doctor’s appointments more frequent ( gone are the days of yearly check ups), instead it’s a visit every 3 months to see how we’re doing as his new pancreas.
• Made us human calculators (calculating carbs, activity levels, insulin active, etc, to try to figure out the correct dosage,yeah pretty much impossible)

 

In all of this there is one positive that diabetes has brought into our lives

The diabetic online community (DOC) when I found others that KNEW what we were going through it changed my entire outlook on the disease and has helped tremendously.

So there you have it. I’m sure there are more things that could be added, and other’s have different ones as well. This is just my opinion on what diabetes has brought into our lives.

The Good with the bad….

 

As with life in the Diabetes world you have your good days, your funny days, and your not so good days. One thing I have learned in 2+ years of Clifford’s dx with Type 1 diabetes is you cannot dwell on the numbers, it sucks, he’s high, he’s low. The concern in lies figuring out why they happened and move on. The majority of the time you may never be able to pinpoint why they happened. There are 800 different things that affect your blood sugar, and only 3 are within your control (basal, bolus, and carb counting). You can’t take in account for hormones, moods, weather, stress, illness, etc) If you are constantly in worry mode you will stress yourself out beyond belief. So as with life, we must learn to accept the good with the bad. We’ve handled it and moved on, now time to kick more Diabetes butt.

For those of you who may not be familiar with what the above picture is, it is Clifford’s infusion set, this is what gives him insulin all day long. You can see that near the adhesive (white part) it is raised up. The little tiny tube that gives him his insulin (the cannula) is underneath there, when the adhesive raised up it pulled out the cannula causing no insulin to be delivered resulting in a blood sugar of over 400. Thankfully we caught it before ketones had a chance to rear their ugly heads, and it was site change day!

Point to this all is. If you are new to the D world, it may take some time, but try to not get too worked up and learn to take the good with the bad. You will have your moments, and it’s important to not let those moments become you. Not to let the whole issue with Diabetes take over every aspect of your being. Doesn’t Diabetes already take over our lives enough?

Diabetes is a family disease

 

It all begins and ends with family. No matter what when you are faced with a diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes it becomes a disease the whole family has. You may not realize it at first with one parent taking on the brunt of the responsibility (In the case of a child being dx’d) But little by little your eyes open up to how much Diabetes affects the whole family.

I can only imagine the fear from Abigale who at 4 years old found her brother passed out from a low blood sugar and came to tell me. She still remembers it to this day and talks about it like it was yesterday. She then had to experience me holding her brother this past month, quickly trying to squirt icing into his mouth to recover from a low blood sugar.

Just today our 4 year old asked if she was supposed to squirt icing into Clifford’s mouth if he were laying down and not talking. She has never been talked to about this, it’s just what she has picked up from living in a family with D.

Eric on two occasions has shown how much he has learned as well. When grocery shopping he asked about the carb count in fruit snacks to make sure Clifford could eat them. And recently I heard them playing and he stopped and asked Clifford “Are you okay, because you’re talking really fast” Which prompted me to have him test himself and low and behold he was in the 60s.

It’s little by little you see how Diabetes affects the entire family. It’s not just a disease that one has to suffer with on their own. In our family we are there helping each other along the way. The way I see the kids caring about how Clifford is feeling, and Eric waiting to eat until Clifford boluses, I can tell as they grow up together it will be a united team in helping to make sure he’s safe and healthy everywhere he goes.

And to go even a step further when you are a member of the DOC (Diabetic Online Community) you have a family there to support and help you at all hours. All around the world, it’s a family disease.

D Victory Day

Ever have that Day in D land where you just rocked bg#’s. Well today was that day for us. After some unfortunate highs the previous two days, 1st day due to a bent tip of the cannula (didn’t find this until changing the site for a scheduled change), took a few hours bug bg’s finally came down. Next day highs, here and there, thought it was bubbles in the tubing, so changed the tubing out, still a bit higher than I liked. Told Clifford, in my gut I just had a feeling we had to change the site. So we changed it AGAIN, and the cannula was bent :/. Overnight well that was no fun. New site was definitely working, however delayed lows from all the activity during the day hit us hard, 73, 57, finally got a 92, 130 at 3am, only for him to wake up at 51! Usually a day starting like that doesn’t seem to work out. However that was not the case, all day long no numbers over 136, and only one other low other than the 51 at wake up and it wasn’t even super low at 67! I would like to say that is a D victory day! Have to celebrate them when you get them. I’m hoping our luck continues to keep on going for the remainder of this site. Here’s hoping delayed lows don’t hit us again tonight. But one things for sure if they do I will be up to catch them…. Where’s the caffeine???

Overnight….

Do you remember that feeling in your stomach as a child afraid of the dark, or monsters in your closet, when night time rolled around? Well that same feeling lives in the stomachs of all D parents when they put their child to sleep at night. Overnights plan and simple SUCK. The fear of the unknown, or nocturnal hypoglycemia. After a scary morning with a low and possible seizure situation with Clifford, night time has become even more unsettling to my tummy!  I made a big step in putting that fear aside last night. He was 104 at 12:30 and well honestly that # can go either way. Typically would treat him up a small amount, but NOPE didn’t want to run the risk of running him high, so I let it ride. But just for a peace of mind I tested an hr later at 1:30 .. Rocking a 154 now, YES! I can sleep easy now at least for another hour and a half for a test at 3am. 130 at 3am, and back to sleep it was for me. Morning rolls around and I did my typical checking to ensure the kid was in fact breathing. Good to go. 79 at breakfast (not too shabby I might add) definitely happy with the night’s turn out, thanking God he woke up once again. Now to a day full of fun, running, playing, being a kid and hopefully good BG#’s until night time rolls around again and I’m and at it, kicking D in the butt.

How to prevent summertime “Lows”

 

With summer time here, and an increase in outside activity, one thing is certain with diabetes. LOWS. Kids tend to need less insulin in the summer than they do in the winter season. This is because activity/exercise, whatever you refer to it as helps to drop that blood sugar. Preventing summer time lows can be difficult. And it’s important to remember not to view yourself as failure because you or your child is still experiencing lows. It’s going to happen, it’s diabetes, and it’s inevitable! But from my experience in having an active summertime child with Type 1 diabetes, I have figured out a few tips and tricks to help prevent lows from occurring.

Check more frequently

(when they are active it helps to check before they begin, during, and after, and even more if you feel the urge to)

Checking more frequently can help you get an idea of where your, or their blood sugar is and what you can do about it. As an example, Clifford is on the insulin pump, and one of the benefits of an insulin pump is knowing how much Insulin is on board (IOB), or active. This is a useful tool for us at least in helping to prevent lows from occurring. If he tests and he’s 100 or less with IOB, we make a decision to treat, and with how many carbs. In doing this, we’ve helped to prevent some lows from occurring.

Temp basals

If you are on an insulin pump, or your child is, temp basals can be your best friend. We typically set a temp basal anywhere from 30-50% for an hours time. The percentage basically is reflecting off of what his numbers were like during the day, if he ran lower, then we run it lower.

Frequent snacks

For those on an insulin pump or MDI’s frequent small snacks after checking your blood sugar can help to give you the little boost you need to keep your blood sugar up without dropping low during activities.

Water

Well water will not exactly help prevent lows, but for anyone it’s beneficial to make sure you stay hydrated during activity, and for those with diabetes it’s even more important.

It’s really not a huge list, but these are the few tricks / tools we pull out of our hat during the summer time to help prevent lows from occurring.