Memories of a year ago

Fridays are lifeguard inservice days. For an hour, they drill and practice their lifeguarding skills, as well as work on fitness. One drill involves the team treading water while holding a backboard out of the water. One at a time, the team members swim one lap. This continues until all team members have done a lap. That was one of the drills they did today,  and it brought back a memory of the same drill at about this same time last year. The biggest difference?  Last year, Seth could barely complete the drill and threw up after it was over. He had NEVER had problems with any of the drills before. I was worried, but he felt better and seemed to be ok. Less than a month later, he was in ICU in DKA. I don't beat myself up over it, but I do think of it sometimes.

Today, he swam and treaded like a champ. No vomit. What a difference a year has made!

Another thing the lifeguards do every week is have lunch together after inservice. Today, when Seth pulled the needle out after injecting, a stream of insulin shot out of the needle.  Not a drop, a stream. He tested 2 hours later: 104. He ate a snack, then tested at 4 hours: 137. That stream of insulin was a blessing in disguise. 

Getting away

Jason and I haven't had a get away since either of their diagnoses. Time,  money, and being scared to leave the kids alone have kept us at home.  That ends today! We are getting away for a few days, just the 2 of us. We are headed to the state lifeguard games. Jason is the coach of one of the teams competing, and I'm just along for the ride.

Prep for a trip has really changed since type 1 diabetes entered our lives. I have checked and rechecked supplies.  Josh has had a refresher on glucagon, just in case.  Supplies, snacks,  and low treatments have been packed for Jason. We have a small cooler for insulin so it can stay cool on the trip.

I'm a little nervous about being gone, but my boys take great care of each other. Seth self-manages incredibly well, and Josh is excellent back-up for him. We have one neighbor that is type 1, and several that are nurses. So off we go for a few days of fun at the guard games!

Last year at State Games

PS Today is check-in day for d blogs. I'll be commenting on all the ones I read.

Quarterly check-up

Friday was Seth's quarterly check-up with the endocrinologist.  This visit was with the nurse practitioner,  not his awesome doctors. We sure do love both of them.  I was a little bit apprehensive because the last appointment with the NP wasn't awesome.  This time, however, it was great! She was engaging and helpful, as well as very complimentary of how Seth is tackling this awful disease. His numbers have been all over the place lately, and she affirmed that a) summer is even harder and b) the changes we have made were the ones she would have suggested. She noted that even though his numbers have been crazy,  none have been incredibly high so that was a good thing. His A1C was down 0.2 from last time (Yea!!). Even though it's not a report card, it sure felt like an A! Numbers aside, the compliments on how well we are doing were really a confidence booster! Our daily fight is worth it, and it's really really nice to have that recognized by a professional.

Seth has decided he wants to try pumping. Not gonna lie, I'm a little nervous about it. I feel like we have shots down, at least as much as you can with anything diabetes-related. It will almost be like starting over.  But you know what parents do, right? We do whatever our kids need. So we scheduled pump class and I asked other D parents in the area what the pump homework is. We plan to turn it in when we go to the class so we can speed this thing up. He has researched and decided on the Tslim pump. Of course, all that will coincide with the start of school, and me at a new job. Isn't that how it always works? Wish us luck!

After the awesome appointment,  we celebrated with carb-o-licious Mike Anderson's BBQ. Seth has decided to take advantage of our trips downtown to try out a new restaurant every time. If you have suggestions,  we'd love to hear them!

I really love watching this kid eat. It's a thing of wonder....it makes you wonder where he puts it all!

Is it worth it?

I have some super awesome friends that want to learn about type 1 diabetes. One of these awesome friends asked me to write about foods that are technically ok, but not really worth it to my guys to eat. In the DOC (diabetes online community), I have seen the phrase bolus-worthy used often....is it worth the insulin (either from injection or pump)?

First, if you can eat it then a person with type 1 can eat it. A big misconception is that PWD (persons with diabetes) can't eat sweets. Truth is, no one should eat sweets often. Same for PWD. As a treat, sweets are fine.

So here are a few things that my guys have determined really aren't worth it.

1) Sugar-sweetened tea and soft drinks, especially fountain drinks. These are super hard to calculate! Example: A Route 44 Powerade from Sonic is supposed to be 64 g of carbs, according to the nutrition info on their website. Is that with or without the ice? What if the mix is not quite right? Too many variables, so it's not bolus-worthy. Sugar free drinks are just easier. Also, they are so used to sugar free drinks that they don't even LIKE the regular ones anymore.

2) Fruit juices. Seth uses juice boxes for lows, so they just aren't appealing to him otherwise. He had a big glass of orange juice with brinner (breakfast for dinner) one night, and the blood sugar spike was not fun for him. He felt icky for several hours. He decided to reserve oj for lows, or only small amounts for breakfast. 

3) Milk. Neither of them have acknowledged this one, but our milk consumption has SERIOUSLY gone down since their diagnoses. Unless it's with a meal, they don't drink milk anymore. 

Seeing a trend here? Drinks appear to be the biggest carb issue.

4) Cereal. Jason isn't a huge cereal eater anyway, so this isn't a big deal for him. But for Seth....oh my. This kid LOVES cereal. It has really been causing him problems lately, so he is taking a cereal break. Every time he has cereal for breakfast, he goes low in the afternoon. Weird. He is hoping to figure out how to dose for it so he can enjoy it again! 

Other than that, everything else is fair game. Sometimes they will choose not to eat something because they don't want to take a shot right then. But nothing is truly off limits. All things in moderation.

Oops!

Calculating lunch carbs seems simple. Except when it's not. Combo meals usually come with small fries, right? This time, it appeared they came with medium fries.
Me, looking at nutrition info: Medium fries, right?
Jason: Yep

Fast forward a few minutes.

Guess who got an extra 15 g of carbs for dessert?

Another 6 months

Six months ago today, our lives changed yet again. As I've written before, Jason had struggled as a type 2 diabetic for several years. Despite diet and exercise,  his blood sugar numbers were always terrible. High A1C results at every dr appointment. I think he tried every type 2 drug on the market,  and some that are no longer on the market. All to no avail. He endured a foot ulcer that almost resulted in the loss of a toe. The last thing I noticed last summer and fall was a loss of muscle tone despite swimming almost daily (including a 5k at the end of the summer). I figured it was just because we are in our 40s, getting older....

Then Seth was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. Through my research to learn all I could to help him, I discovered that maybe Jason had been misdiagnosed.  The symptoms fit, so he asked his doctor. His doctor concluded that yes, he had been misdiagnosed.  Scrap everything and start over....he is type 1, not type 2. The change in how he felt was almost instant. At his 3 month check up, his A1C was the lowest it has ever been, and all other lab values were NORMAL!!

Now that he is feeling better and his blood sugar numbers are much better, we are beginning to realize just how sick he was. He has energy now, and muscle tone has returned. He is able to continue doing the things he loves, like training lifeguards. All part of our life of KDA.

Don't let diabetes stop you

In the past few days, my guys have been really busy! On Wednesday,  they acid washed a friend's pool. Seth had a little  fun in the empty pool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDHoTxDYhJY&feature=youtube_gdata_player

(Sorry, I don't know yet how to put videos directly into the blog.)

On Thursday,  Jason taught a lifeguard recertification class. That night, it took 4 low treatments (60 grams of carbs) to get him up high enough to go to bed!  He still woke up during the night with a 67 and had to treat again! I thought since he was in bed with me, I would know if he was low and needed help. Wrong!  I slept through the whole thing. Thankfully, he wasn't too low and didn't need my help. Gonna have to figure that out too.

Summer will mean changes to all their doses, I imagine. This past weekend was another lifeguard class. They keep close tabs on diabetes, checking not only before meals but extra checks as well. Lots of extra snacks to keep their numbers in range.


 


Lots and lots of activity, including being the victim  during a spinal rescue scenario.

 

 Morning blood sugars today were 66 (Seth) and 81 (Jason). The extra activity really makes a difference! Just a few more days of school, then we'll be at the pool every day. A new setting for us to learn how to KDA.