This past Sunday, I took on an ambitious project for Diabetes Awareness Month. Every time something happened that was diabetes related, I posted about it on Facebook. It was a fairly uneventful day, diabetes-wise, until bedtime....
10:34 am For Diabetes Awareness Month, today I am going to attempt to post everything that happens in our house today that is diabetes related. Already this morning, I have checked both Dexcom receivers, both pretty good numbers. Jason just got up, Seth is still sleeping. Now would be a good time to hide me from your newsfeed if you don't want a constant stream of info
10:42 am I'm out of bed now. Seth's Dex says 136 and steady. A little higher than we like, but he had dinner a little late last night. Hard to calculate needed corrections at bedtime. Jason is eating cheese since we slept late. Too late for real breakfast or lunch numbers will be high. BS check (finger stick). Meter says 124, Dex says 123.
11:46 am Lunch time for Jason! Another finger stick blood sugar check. Dex says 143, meter says 130. Lunch has been weighed and measured, carbs calculated, insulin injected. Seth is still asleep, so I checked his Dex. 113 and steady. He'll need to get up and eat soon.
12:29 pm Seth is still sleeping. He had a really long day yesterday doing mission work with his class from church. Dex says 105 and is asking for a calibration. I'll let him sleep just a few more minutes. Without Dex as a guide, I'd have gotten him up a while ago.
1:18 pm Possible problem with Jason's Dex sensor. No trend arrow. Hopefully it will sort itself out soon. Seth is awake, his Dex says 97. It's still asking for calibration. Hard to get a sleepy teenager out of bed.
1:37 pm Seth is finally up. Dex says 84, finger stick check says 127. Dex is calibrated again. Now it's time for lunch. Time to weigh and measure the food, calculate carbs, and inject insulin.
1:42 pm Jason's Dex has corrected itself. 171 with a steady arrow. Not bad for after lunch.
3:19 pm Quick Dex check. Jason is slowly coming down from lunch. He has been napping this afternoon so it has been slow to come back down. Seth is 100 and diagonal arrow down. He may need a snack soon.
3:46 pm Well, I was right. Seth is now 67 and still a diagonal down arrow. Skittles in. Recheck in a few minutes.
3:55 pm Dex says 61 and steady, but finger stick check shows 75. He's coming back up, Dex is just a little slow sometimes. He wanted some juice just to be sure, so we may be dealing with a high later. We always listen to his body over Dex or the meter. Now a little protein to help it stay up.
4:03 pm Jason and I are headed out to run a few errands now that Seth is back in range. Gotta check the D bag and make sure we have everything. Insulin, pen needles, meter and test strips, Glucagon, and candy for lows. All check, so we're off!
4:20 pm 2 boxes of these bars for bedtime snacks. They are the perfect combo of carbs and protein.
5:26 pm Standing in line waiting to check out, so a quick peek at Dex. 133 and steady.
6:16 pm Foods I didn't buy, at least not often or in bulk, before diabetes entered our life. Now they are staples.
6:51 pm Supper is ready. Finger stick checks, blood sugars are in range so no corrections needed with dinner. We're having a meal we make often, so no major calculations tonight. They just have to measure out their portions, calculate their total carbs for the meal, and inject their insulin.
7:50 pm Jason didn't give his insulin soon enough in relation to his supper, so now Dex is showing arrow up (blood sugar rising quickly). Seth is actually showing a higher number on his Dex, but only a diagonal arrow up (rising but not too fast).
8:02 Apparently the Dex transmitter can't send signal through the dog. She is between the transmitter and receiver, and signal has been lost to the receiver. Ugh.
8:23 pm Connection has been restored, and Dex is buzzing that he has reached his high alert (210). Hopefully he will start coming down again soon.
9:44 pm Even though we eat pasta fairly often, it's difficult to dose for correctly. Both guys are coming back down slowly according to Dex, but may need corrections at bedtime.
11:30 pm Bedtime blood sugar check #1: Jason. 140, which is a great number for bedtime and no correction from dinner is needed. We did better than I thought. Only 1 injection tonight, the long-lasting background insulin Lantus. He's eating one of those yummy protein bars to help keep him stable overnight. Dex has become our best friend, especially overnight, alerting us to possible problems. I definitely sleep better with Dex x 2 in the house.
11:39 pm Bedtime check #2: Seth. 144, another great bedtime number. The 2 of them are almost never that close at any point during the day. Lantus (long-lasting background insulin) injection and a yummy protein bar. Dex will alert for Seth as well, if there is a potential problem.
12:10 am And now it's time for me to go to bed. If you have read my posts today, thank you. It was a pretty routine day, diabetes-wise. My purpose was to give you a glimpse of what a day is like for us. I lumped some things together in single posts just to keep it from being a truly steady stream. You see, it never ends, never lets up, never sleeps. We do this every day because we really have no choice. It doesn't stop us, it merely slows us down at times. Until there's a cure, this is our life.
12:22 am Well, I just thought it was time for bed. Jason's Dex just alerted that he is below 70.
12:25 am Finger stick confirms 57. Looks like we'll be up just a bit longer. Skittles work your magic!
12:33 am Jason: Oh, I can feel it. I'm dizzy.
Me: Well sit down!
12:43 am 15 minutes later he's come up all the way to 61! At this rate, it's gonna be a long night. Trying a Quick Stick now.
1:16 am Dex says 85, but it's usually a little slow to respond. Finger stick says 77. Hmmm, let's try one more treatment...more Skittles.
1:37 am 108 finally. Another snack with some carbs and some fat/protein to keep that number up overnight. A little bit of ice cream should do the trick!
2:00 am Dex is finally catching up. 99 with a diagonal up arrow. Now to sleep for a little while. Good night!
9:45 am (Monday) Last night, I posted that yesterday was a fairly normal diabetes day. I thought I was done for the day, headed for bed. But diabetes has a way of changing our plans. For reasons unknown, Jason's blood sugar started dropping and didn't want to come back up. You may have noticed that I continued posting into the night. That is not a typical night, thankfully, but we never know when it might happen or why. This morning, I'm happy to report that wake up blood sugar numbers were excellent. Thanks again for taking a glimpse into our daily life yesterday.
It was really interesting and exhausting to write it all down, but I really think it helped raise awareness of what we deal with every day.
