Andrew had a good check-up today! I checked him out of school, we stopped for lunch at Subway, and then hit the Galleria before our appointment. Andrew has grown and needs new shorts with pockets. Pockets are very important if you have to carry a pump & cgm all the time! When he got to his appointment, his blood pressure was great, which was a relief to me! His A1c was higher, but it was an exact match to his 3 month CGM average! That meant that we were prepared for the number, and it also reinforced that Dex is doing a good job. I also feel more empowered to make changes than ever before due to two relatively new things in our life:
1. Waking to CGM - Being able to wake up to Dex alarms allows us to strive for better nighttime control. We lowered his range from 150 +/- 30 to 130 +/- 20. That makes 150 our upper tolerance limit rather than the target.
2. Diasend! Diasend is new online software service provided by Animas for uploading our pump. Since all numbers taken from our meter are automatically sent to the pump, this downloads every BG, bolus, basal, etc. Diasend is so much better at organizing the data so that I can make good decisions. I admit that we rarely log now that we are on the pump & CGM & everything can be downloaded. The downside is that columns of numbers really show trends well. Diasend sets this up in a perfect, logical fashion! This software was just released this month for Animas Ping & I'm already a fan!
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Sweet Sleep Solution!!!
WOO HOO! I SLEPT FOR 5 HOURS STRAIGHT LAST NIGHT!!! Oh, sorry for "yelling", but I want to shout it from the rooftops! I have found a way to wake up to the Dex alarms!!!
Imagine never getting more than three hours of sleep at a time. Gene and I have been getting up at 2 a.m. for most of the last three years. In the last few nights, Andrew has had two nice stable nights, one where he was HIGH OVER 400 going up, and one where he had been under 55 for an hour when I checked him at 2 am. Dex was alarming, but not waking either of us. We are lucky that he wasn't seizing then, and I shudder to think what could have happened if he had been left until morning. Nighttime checks aren't necessary for everyone, but they've proven to be necessary for Andrew many times. It's exhausting though. Last week, a friend with older children made an innocent comment about having to stay up later with teenagers to be there when they really need you, and I just replied, "I Can't!" It was an epiphany. Figuring out my sleep issue isn't just for me. It's necessary for me to be able to parent these precious kids now while I have the opportunity. They are growing up so fast! I started looking at something I had heard of on CWD. Here is the solution:
Sonic Alert Universal Sound Signalerhttp://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Alert-Universal-Sound-Signaler/dp/B003ESXF6Q/ref=pd_sim_hpc_6
Sonic Alert SB1000ss Sonic Boom Loud Vibrating Alarm Clock with Built In Receiverhttp://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Alert-SB1000ss-Vibrating-Receiver/dp/B000EX9K40/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I748MKP24FM5O&colid=6Z8N3U220YRV
The universal signaler sits beside Andrew's bed with the Dex in front of it. When the signaler goes off, it signals the vibrator in the alarm clock across the house in my room! The super shaker is a round circle that slides under my pillow & shakes when the dex beeps. I haven't figured out if I can get the alarm clock to go off, but the super shaker does the trick! I thought it might give me a heart attack, but it isn't that bad. It's also something that Andrew can use when he goes to college to wake up for lows without bothering his roommates. I slept sounder last night than I have in ages. I wasn't even listening for an alarm. I just slept. At 3:30 in the morning, I was woken by something other than Andrew, but I still felt great! I just can't explain how wonderful this is!!!! It's not like I'll sleep every night from now on. When Andrew's BG isn't stable, I'll be waking to the alarms, but that's what he needs. But when Andrew does have a good night, we will all get sleep! That's something I can live with!
Imagine never getting more than three hours of sleep at a time. Gene and I have been getting up at 2 a.m. for most of the last three years. In the last few nights, Andrew has had two nice stable nights, one where he was HIGH OVER 400 going up, and one where he had been under 55 for an hour when I checked him at 2 am. Dex was alarming, but not waking either of us. We are lucky that he wasn't seizing then, and I shudder to think what could have happened if he had been left until morning. Nighttime checks aren't necessary for everyone, but they've proven to be necessary for Andrew many times. It's exhausting though. Last week, a friend with older children made an innocent comment about having to stay up later with teenagers to be there when they really need you, and I just replied, "I Can't!" It was an epiphany. Figuring out my sleep issue isn't just for me. It's necessary for me to be able to parent these precious kids now while I have the opportunity. They are growing up so fast! I started looking at something I had heard of on CWD. Here is the solution:
Sonic Alert Universal Sound Signalerhttp://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Alert-Universal-Sound-Signaler/dp/B003ESXF6Q/ref=pd_sim_hpc_6
Sonic Alert SB1000ss Sonic Boom Loud Vibrating Alarm Clock with Built In Receiverhttp://www.amazon.com/Sonic-Alert-SB1000ss-Vibrating-Receiver/dp/B000EX9K40/ref=wl_it_dp_o?ie=UTF8&coliid=I748MKP24FM5O&colid=6Z8N3U220YRV
The universal signaler sits beside Andrew's bed with the Dex in front of it. When the signaler goes off, it signals the vibrator in the alarm clock across the house in my room! The super shaker is a round circle that slides under my pillow & shakes when the dex beeps. I haven't figured out if I can get the alarm clock to go off, but the super shaker does the trick! I thought it might give me a heart attack, but it isn't that bad. It's also something that Andrew can use when he goes to college to wake up for lows without bothering his roommates. I slept sounder last night than I have in ages. I wasn't even listening for an alarm. I just slept. At 3:30 in the morning, I was woken by something other than Andrew, but I still felt great! I just can't explain how wonderful this is!!!! It's not like I'll sleep every night from now on. When Andrew's BG isn't stable, I'll be waking to the alarms, but that's what he needs. But when Andrew does have a good night, we will all get sleep! That's something I can live with!
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