Sick of Sickness

Warning: Based on how I'm feeling, this one might be whiny & you may want to skip it!
I've been running a fever since Thursday, and I NEVER run fevers. My normal is 97.1. Tonight I'm 101. I spent all weekend of my "Fall Break" resting & pushing fluids & couldn't beat it. So, I went to the doctor yesterday. He looked at my throat (old-fashioned, no culture) & pronounced strep throat.

Well, Andrew & Ben have been sick too. It's mostly a headache & nasty cough, no fever (so I started that ahead of Thursday). I took them both in for cultures this morning, but they were negative. They did get antibiotics for sinus & ear infections. The pharmacy was FAST (Wow!) & filled them while I waited. First dose by 10:00. Mom is watching Ben, so I head to bed for a nap. I wake to Andrew who has just thrown up. I ask for BG & ketones. He pulls out Dex & reports it says he is LOW! Panic wakes me completely - must get sugar in a vomiting child NOW! He seems okay with juice & I hope that it's just coughing induced. He seems to feel better, so I give him some sherbet. He is supposed to have a complex carb for lows.... I don't bolus until I see him eat it all & seem okay. So I give insulin to cover the carbs, and then ... it isn't okay any more. Now I have a vomiting child with insulin on board! He started out with BG 66 & negative ketones. I was able to keep his BG around 99, but he started quickly getting dehydrated. I gave zofran for nausea. No luck. I called Vanderbilt to see if I could give another. They mentioned they'd had a lot of sickness today. They must have because I gave up & gave another zofran before they called back. Still no luck. Ketones are rising. 2:00 .6 3:00 1.0 (moderate) I finally hear from Vandy & get the ultimatum. He starts keeping liquids down this hour or goes to the ER for IV fluids. He fell asleep & it finally stopped. Vandy & ped agree no more antibiotic tonight. Sure hope he doesn't need it! The nausea is now gone, the ketones cleared, I almost breathe a sigh of relief & here comes the fever! The one I've had since Thursday! He can't handle a fever that long! So, congratulations! If you've read this far, you are a trooper & a true friend! Please say a prayer for Andrew & his family tonight!

JDRF Walk To Cure Diabetes

If you would like to donate toward finding a cure, we would love to have your support in the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes! The link is http://walk.jdrf.org/walker.cfm?id=87728372. The Walk itself is two weeks from today. We are getting excited! Thanks for helping us move toward a cure!

Dex Pictures & Update

On the left is Andrew's pump site, and on the right is the Dexcom Seven Plus. The gray part is the transmitter that we use everytime. The rest is a sensor that gets thrown away when finished. Andrew is only on his third sensor, but we love the Dex! The first sensor lasted two weeks! We put the second sensor in last Wednesday night. It wasn't that accurate, but it still showed trends. At 2 am, Saturday morning, Andrew was fine. At 3 am, the Dex alarm went off. He was very low! We wouldn't have checked him for hours! So, thank you Dex! That sensor failed yesterday after only 3 days. Bummer. However, they replace any sensors that don't make it 7 days. Customer service was great, even on the weekend. We put the latest sensor on the arm. It is the most accurate sensor yet, usually within 5 points of the BG!

Andrew woke up yesterday with moderate ketones. I'm not 100% certain whether it was a bad site or illness, because I've been sick & he's coming down with it. We gave him a shot, changed the site, and went up 30% on his basal all day. That's probably the most we've ever done, but he needed it. Absolutely no daytime lows! I'm not sure I'd have the confidence to do that without Dex. The ketones cleared quickly & he did fine.

Here is a picture of the receiver & graph. We took this picture during a basal test (no eating) & the graph was so perfect! You can see he was 136 & that he had been steady for the last 3 hours. You can change the view to last 1 hour, 3hours, 6 hours, 12 hours, or 24 hours.

A Good Day at Vanderbilt!

After June's difficult day at Vanderbilt, I'm pleased to report a very good visit yesterday! Andrew had his lowest A1c yet (7.3) and everything looks good. We made some more changes to his insulin, so hopefully the lows will be less frequent soon as well. He also had his last Fall baseball game last night & is taking this season off. That will make fine-tuning his basals so much easier!