Pages

Friday, June 20, 2014

New Tool: Sugar Surfing - The Book

I just discovered this book that is set to come out in the near future and thought it might be of interest. It is written by Stephen W, Ponder, MD, who has had diabetes nearly 50 years and is a pediatric endocrinologist north of Austin. I've seen him speak several times and I love his perspective on diabetes care. The project is fully funded, but you all may be interested in picking up a copy. I've learned more than a few helpful things from his Facebook page and blog, The Power Within, and I bet the book will be cool.



One of my favorite tips I learned was when high from a pump occlusion, take your correction plus two hours worth of basal insulin right away, then set your pump at 0% for two hours. It helps you expedite the descent after a high blood sugar and not crash later. It's worked perfectly for me and my daughter.

Here is a link to the Indiegogo site to read more.

Sunday, June 8, 2014

T1 Teen's First Night at Camp with Major Hypoglycemia

I get a frantic text (6 or 7 actually) about 10:00 pm. She is worried about everything. People, roommates, strange environment. We get her to a place where she is calm and says she can go to sleep. Whew! She was 94.

Thirty minutes later, she texts me and is absolutely having a panic attack. She is struggling with her thoughts, worried about her diabetes and about having a seizure, which she has never had, and was worried she'd be low all day the next day. You name it, she was freaking out about it. She then says she is hot and sweating. Shaking. I tell her to get her key and go to the counselor next door. She argues that it is really late and she is probably sleeping, but that only lasted for a minute.

She makes it next door and the counselor welcomes her in. Her CGM says 74 and dropping. I bet she was already in her 40s. She drinks two juices and turns off her pump for 30 minutes. She gets to feeling better. I change the settings on her pump. I'd rather her run a bit high, than low. Dude. She was in a rough place.

She got to feeling much, much better and realized all her thinking was low-thinking. If you have T1, you know what I'm talking about.  If you're a parent of a kid with T1, low-thinking is not pleasant. Your brain isn't working well. You think erratically and things can feel very bad and pretty scary. It sucks.

Anyway, I had her stay with the counselor until she hit 80.

She spends the day tomorrow in the marshes around Galveston. Say an little prayer for safe equipment (pump and CGM)! May the dry bag keep those items and her safe.

Saturday, June 7, 2014

Sending 13 Year-Old T1 Off to Week Away Camp

My girl is a freshman now! Whooo hooo! And the first thing we're doing is pushing her out of the nest. Tons of supplies packed. Two pages tips and notes for counselors and a reminder to her that she controls the destiny for this trip by looking at her CGM every couple hours and acting on the numbers she sees. Wish us luck!