On November 22nd, Andrew had his first mini-dose of glucagon to help him through a stomach virus. It was frightening, but a blessing to have!
Soon after dinner that night, Andrew started running low. We kept feeding & feeding, but he stayed in the 60s even though the dinner carb counts & ratios were fine. He had just started to come up when it became obvious that the culprit was a stomach virus and he wasn't digesting his food. Now, he's been low for an hour, is vomiting, and has insulin on board! He was cooperative & drinking carbs between trips, but Zofran didn't work and a perfect storm was brewing. I started to consider the ER, 911, or the Big Red (Glucagon). Glucagon was the fastest option, and he needed help NOW! I've read about mini-glucagon and Vanderbilt reminded us of the option during their sick day review on Family Day. You can mix the glucagon & then use an insulin syringe to give 1u per year of age. Gene mixed it up and I gave it to Andrew in his arm. It was a surreal feeling, but he responded really well! He came up and stayed around 150 most of the night.
I was glad that it worked out well, and I know Andrew was more comfortable at home. I'm less afraid of glucagon now. It's no longer the scary thing for the most dire of circumstances. It's another tool for keeping my baby safe. I've been frightened twice this fall by lows that didn't want to come up, so I'm going to talk to the doctor about it when we go. Andrew commented, "I like the Glucagon... it's better than all the eating."
Andrew's appointment is the 28th. Kaitlyn's OGTT is the same day. I was worried about her getting the stomach virus. She felt nauseous the same night, so I tested her BG too, and it was normal! I was so relieved! She hasn't shown any symptoms, but I admit I'm nervous about the next test for her. Please pray that Lord keeps a hedge of protection around her! Thanks!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Sunday, November 14, 2010
A FREE Birthday Gift For Andrew
Ten years ago today, the Lord blessed us with a precious little boy that we named Andrew. I am so thankful for him, for all God is doing in him and will do through him, and for what a blessing he is in my life. Happy birthday, Andrew! And yes, Andrew, it is a big deal to hit double digits in age!
Today is also World Diabetes Day. We don't usually celebrate - diabetes shouldn't get to steal your birthday too. Today, though, the local support group is having a bowling party since it's on a weekend. We're going & then Andrew is taking a friend to our first 3-D movie. (Who pays for seven people to go to 3-D movies? Okay, I'm still not taking the youngest ones.) To him, it's like two parties in the same day. Woo Hoo!
You can give a free gift to Andrew this year by downloading George Canyon's song I Believe In Angels. For every download, George Canyon will make a donation to JDRF to search for a cure for type 1 diabetes. The link is www.georgecanyon.com/jdrfusa A couple of weeks ago, we went to Vanderbilt's Family Day & met George Canyon. He's a country singer who also has type 1 diabetes. He spoke to the kids about his struggles, how mad he was that he couldn't follow his dream to be an air force pilot because of his diagnosis. He also shared how his path changed to become a country singer, he now has a pilot license, and he has been made an honorary officer in the air force (in Canada)! He also shared frankly with the kids about how they could only follow their dreams if they took care of themselves & their diabetes. Would you hire a teacher to take care of kids if they didn't take care of themselves, their BG was always high, & they were always irritable? Would you hire them as an ER doctor? It was a balanced but inspiring message! If you download in Andrew's honor, would you leave him a message so that he knows you did? Thanks!
Today is also World Diabetes Day. We don't usually celebrate - diabetes shouldn't get to steal your birthday too. Today, though, the local support group is having a bowling party since it's on a weekend. We're going & then Andrew is taking a friend to our first 3-D movie. (Who pays for seven people to go to 3-D movies? Okay, I'm still not taking the youngest ones.) To him, it's like two parties in the same day. Woo Hoo!
You can give a free gift to Andrew this year by downloading George Canyon's song I Believe In Angels. For every download, George Canyon will make a donation to JDRF to search for a cure for type 1 diabetes. The link is www.georgecanyon.com/jdrfusa A couple of weeks ago, we went to Vanderbilt's Family Day & met George Canyon. He's a country singer who also has type 1 diabetes. He spoke to the kids about his struggles, how mad he was that he couldn't follow his dream to be an air force pilot because of his diagnosis. He also shared how his path changed to become a country singer, he now has a pilot license, and he has been made an honorary officer in the air force (in Canada)! He also shared frankly with the kids about how they could only follow their dreams if they took care of themselves & their diabetes. Would you hire a teacher to take care of kids if they didn't take care of themselves, their BG was always high, & they were always irritable? Would you hire them as an ER doctor? It was a balanced but inspiring message! If you download in Andrew's honor, would you leave him a message so that he knows you did? Thanks!
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
D-Blog Day! “6 Things I Want You To Know About Diabetes”
Apparently, today is D-Blog Day and the topic is “6 Things I Want You To Know About Diabetes”. I should probably skip the assignment given the time of night, but I'm going to at least get started:
1. I appreciate our support group! Thank you to friends who came out and walked with Andrew at the JDRF walk and/or gave toward finding a cure!!! I wish I knew how to tell you how much that means to us. You don't have to say or do anything special. You've been there, listened, encouraged, and prayed for us! I can't thank you enough!
2. He CAN eat that! A carb is a carb is a carb. Your grandmother with type 2 may limit her carb intake to manage her diabetes. My son gets deathly ill without insulin in his sleep even without eating and will still need insulin if he only eats salad for lunch. Yes, some foods are easier to match to insulin action than others. Candy by itself is only for lows. Candy can be worked in with a meal okay. My mother gave me a book on curing diabetes with diet soon after Andrew was diagnosed. It promised that if he ate almost nothing & drank green juice (even I didn't recognize the ingredients) that he might be cured. Most of the type 2's were off their medication & some of the type 1's. Most of the type 1's used half to a third of the insulin they used before. It induced a lot of guilt at first. Sounds great right? Well, it may be for type 2's. For a growing child, our nutritionist thought it was dangerous. If you don't allow many carbs, of course your insulin needs will go down. That's not a cure, it's arithmetic & a carb ratio. My son is also a growing child. The nutritionist said that by restricting his carbs, we were masking his true insulin needs & not allowing him to freely chose what his body needs as he grows. She wants him on a normal diet treated with insulin. He can even have treats if he learns how to incorporate them into his diet, bolus correctly for them, etc. So, again, YES, he can eat that!
3. It's not that bad. Where there is a will there is a way. Andrew will do everything that he wants to do. If you want to invite him over, don't be afraid, we will find a way to safely make it happen. He's fairly responsible & will check his blood sugar & call me as needed. I can make it easy on you and you don't have to be a nurse. He's still a normal kid and wants to do normal kid things.
4. Okay, it really is that bad. So, yes, Andrew can do anything he wants to do - as long as he has a safety plan. Low blood sugars are scarier than I have the energy to write about tonight. I have heard and read so many new stories lately. He can't go anywhere without sugar, glucagon, juice,... just in case. Andrew is a trooper. He sticks his finger countless times a day, measures every morsel he eats, wears an insulin port to deliver insulin that has to be changed every few days, also wears a CGM sensor, has to carry all this junk around with him even to play in the front yard just to stay alive. I'm stronger now than at first, but I still worry about him. Last night, when I checked on him at 2 am, Dex said "LOW, BG under 55". BG confirmed he was 57. The graph showed he had been low for over an hour and at one point had been much lower than the 57. Last night could have easily been the night he had his first seizure, or we could have even lost him. Thankfully, by the grace of God, he is still here to face another day. His face changes as his blood sugar changes and I can see the war that this disease plays within his body. I still hate this disease and the threat it poses to him every day. So, yes, it is that bad.
5. Insulin isn't a cure; it's life support. He will never get well or outgrow the disease. He will inject or wear a pump & infuse insulin all of his life or grow deathly ill...FAST!!! Even with good control, complications still come. Please pray against complications for Andrew!
6. Type 1 Diabetes gets managed, but never controlled. It varies, and it always will. Ask anyone living with the disease and you can eat the same thing, follow the same schedule, take the same insulin, and still get dramatically different blood sugars. There will always be highs and lows. 75% of numbers in range is clinically considered great control. We're not even close. So, yes. He's still fluctuating. I know you mean well and are trying to show you care, but I don't like being asked if his numbers are stable yet. The answer is and will always be No. Stable is a myth. We haven't failed and it isn't that we aren't working hard. You see, it's his pancreas that failed. It is a wonderful, God-given and created organ that is so complex that I stink at being a pancreas.
1. I appreciate our support group! Thank you to friends who came out and walked with Andrew at the JDRF walk and/or gave toward finding a cure!!! I wish I knew how to tell you how much that means to us. You don't have to say or do anything special. You've been there, listened, encouraged, and prayed for us! I can't thank you enough!
2. He CAN eat that! A carb is a carb is a carb. Your grandmother with type 2 may limit her carb intake to manage her diabetes. My son gets deathly ill without insulin in his sleep even without eating and will still need insulin if he only eats salad for lunch. Yes, some foods are easier to match to insulin action than others. Candy by itself is only for lows. Candy can be worked in with a meal okay. My mother gave me a book on curing diabetes with diet soon after Andrew was diagnosed. It promised that if he ate almost nothing & drank green juice (even I didn't recognize the ingredients) that he might be cured. Most of the type 2's were off their medication & some of the type 1's. Most of the type 1's used half to a third of the insulin they used before. It induced a lot of guilt at first. Sounds great right? Well, it may be for type 2's. For a growing child, our nutritionist thought it was dangerous. If you don't allow many carbs, of course your insulin needs will go down. That's not a cure, it's arithmetic & a carb ratio. My son is also a growing child. The nutritionist said that by restricting his carbs, we were masking his true insulin needs & not allowing him to freely chose what his body needs as he grows. She wants him on a normal diet treated with insulin. He can even have treats if he learns how to incorporate them into his diet, bolus correctly for them, etc. So, again, YES, he can eat that!
3. It's not that bad. Where there is a will there is a way. Andrew will do everything that he wants to do. If you want to invite him over, don't be afraid, we will find a way to safely make it happen. He's fairly responsible & will check his blood sugar & call me as needed. I can make it easy on you and you don't have to be a nurse. He's still a normal kid and wants to do normal kid things.
4. Okay, it really is that bad. So, yes, Andrew can do anything he wants to do - as long as he has a safety plan. Low blood sugars are scarier than I have the energy to write about tonight. I have heard and read so many new stories lately. He can't go anywhere without sugar, glucagon, juice,... just in case. Andrew is a trooper. He sticks his finger countless times a day, measures every morsel he eats, wears an insulin port to deliver insulin that has to be changed every few days, also wears a CGM sensor, has to carry all this junk around with him even to play in the front yard just to stay alive. I'm stronger now than at first, but I still worry about him. Last night, when I checked on him at 2 am, Dex said "LOW, BG under 55". BG confirmed he was 57. The graph showed he had been low for over an hour and at one point had been much lower than the 57. Last night could have easily been the night he had his first seizure, or we could have even lost him. Thankfully, by the grace of God, he is still here to face another day. His face changes as his blood sugar changes and I can see the war that this disease plays within his body. I still hate this disease and the threat it poses to him every day. So, yes, it is that bad.
5. Insulin isn't a cure; it's life support. He will never get well or outgrow the disease. He will inject or wear a pump & infuse insulin all of his life or grow deathly ill...FAST!!! Even with good control, complications still come. Please pray against complications for Andrew!
6. Type 1 Diabetes gets managed, but never controlled. It varies, and it always will. Ask anyone living with the disease and you can eat the same thing, follow the same schedule, take the same insulin, and still get dramatically different blood sugars. There will always be highs and lows. 75% of numbers in range is clinically considered great control. We're not even close. So, yes. He's still fluctuating. I know you mean well and are trying to show you care, but I don't like being asked if his numbers are stable yet. The answer is and will always be No. Stable is a myth. We haven't failed and it isn't that we aren't working hard. You see, it's his pancreas that failed. It is a wonderful, God-given and created organ that is so complex that I stink at being a pancreas.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
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!
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!
Sunday, October 10, 2010
JDRF Walk To Cure Diabetes
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.
Friday, October 1, 2010
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!
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