Snow Ice Cream

For the past 2 1/2 years, 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk have haunted me from the top shelf of my pantry.  You see, those 2 cans were bought before Seth's diagnosis, when we thought he had mono.  He was losing weight and we were making shakes trying to put some pounds back on.  I couldn't throw the cans away, but I didn't have an occasion to use them either.  So they just sat there on the top shelf of the pantry, bringing back those scary, sad memories.

Today, we turned the sad memory into a happy one.  It snowed quite a bit overnight, unusual for Texas and almost unheard of in March.  We set out some big bowls in the back yard last night, and this morning I made snow ice cream.  I used both cans of that sweetened condensed milk.  Yum!

And with that, I can open my pantry for the first time since diagnosis without thinking about diagnosis.

Trying Dex

I decided to try Dex for a week.  I was using an old transmitter and receiver, so the first few days of my data isn't stellar (lots of gaps).  Even though I was only getting sporadic readings, the data was fascinating  enough that I decided to leave it on for a few days.  Then, on day 4 it sprang to life.  Don't know how long it will keep giving consistent readings, but I'll try to keep it on as long as I can.

Here are some things I have observed:

1) I have spikes after meals.  They aren't as large and don't last as long, but they're there.

2) I really need my 2 pm snack.  I eat lunch at 11, so I have gotten into the habit of eating a snack after my last class leaves (2:08 to be exact).  I was afraid it was just a bad habit, but Dex revealed that my blood sugar is actually getting pretty low at that time of day.  That snack is not just a bad habit.  I need that snack to make it through the rest of the day!

3) Apparently I need a snack at 10 as well.  I wouldn't have known except Dex buzzed below 55.  It was only an hour before lunch, but ate a snack anyway because I was giving a test and didn't want Dex to alarm!

4) I've seen lots of women/parents of t1 girls talk about how their menstrual cycle affects their blood sugar.  I can confirm that it affected me as well. Higher for the first day or 2, then lower.  Lower than normal?  I have no clue.  Maybe I'll be able to leave it on long enough to figure out what "normal" is.

5) Wake up is not my lowest fasting blood sugar.  It actually goes down a little bit between the time I wake up and when I eat breakfast (an hour or so).

6) Mexican food caused a pretty long spike for me as well.  Not as high or as long as it does for Jason or Seth (and I assume all PWD), but it's there.

Jason had one interesting observation.  He came in the bathroom when I was showering and said, "That looks weird on you."  I know what he meant, but doesn't it look weird on everyone?  I mean, I love the security/information/help it gives, but having something like that attached to a human just isn't normal.

The thing that keeps coming up in my mind over and over is how if things affect ME this way, how much more they affect those without functioning beta cells.  It is absolutely fascinating.  Strange, I know, but I'm a science teacher so all this data is really intriguing.

Stay tuned....if I get any more earth-shattering revelations I'll be sure to share!  I've had several requests of things to try out, and as long as I'm getting data I plan to try all the things I can.

24 hour graph.  It's not a flat line, and you can clearly see the Mexican food!

New Year, Fresh Start

I've been absent from blogging for a while, and today seems like a great day to get back to it!

First and foremost - Seth was featured in the blog Happy Medium last Monday!  Stephen is doing a series of blog posts about Champion Athletes with Diabetes.  You can read his awesome article here.  I'm so proud of Seth and his accomplishments. Thank you Stephen, for recognizing these awesome type 1 athletes!  Leave a comment on Stephen's blog thanking him, if you don't mind. And read the others in his series.  There are some type 1 athletes out there seriously KDA every day!

Second - last semester in school was really difficult.  Jason and I were both taking a graduate chemistry course and it pretty much consumed every spare second.  Also, starting back at the beginning of the school year, Jason is now the swim coach for our campus (assistant coach for the district). That takes quite a bit of our time as well.  Grad school is over, at least for now, so hopefully I can get back to regular posts.  As I'm sure you know, diabetes has not been silent or easy these last few months, so I have lots to tell!

As a preview (and because I think every post needs a picture), here's a pic from our recent vacation.  Cruising with diabetes is definitely a challenge, but what isn't with diabetes tagging along?  That's just one of the things I have coming up to write about!

Happy 2015!  May it be the best year yet!

State Lifeguard Championship

Earlier in the summer, Seth was on a lifeguard team that competed and won the regional lifeguard competition.  The top 3 teams from each region advanced to the state competition. Last Monday was the Texas Amateur Athletic Federation State Lifeguard Championship.  This is the first time a team from Jason's pool has competed in the state competition.  Being the only team from a small town (and a small facility), they were by far the underdogs.  Competition was fierce, with several teams that have been to state before and many that come from year-round facilities with hundreds of guards.  Also, if you remember, this team not only has a member with type 1 diabetes, but also a team captain that had a liver transplant 3 years ago.

Each team had 4 events to complete.  The first event was a spinal scenario.  The guards not only had to respond to a spinal injury (fake, of course) but they also had to address rule violations in and around the pool as well.

The next event was a big pool scenario.  There were several incidents the guards had to respond to: an active drowning, a baby in the pool, an unconscious person, and a "shadow baby."

The final part was actually 2 events: first aid and CPR.  The first aid event was crazy!  There were 3 victims.  The first was a baby (doll) that was unconscious, so it only needed to be monitored until EMS arrived.  Victim 2 had heat exhaustion, a bee sting, a broken ankle, asthma, and a seizure. Victim 3 had a gash on the knee, a bloody nose, diabetes (hypoglycemia), and was spitting out teeth.  It was brutal!

The CPR event was immediately after first aid, in the same location.  The mannequin was lying beside what looked like broken glass, with a giant insect on its chest, and a bottle of bleach and an electric cord on the other side.  All hazards had to be dealt with before CPR could begin.  Intense!

After all teams completed the events, scores were tallied and winners announced.  Seth's team didn't place in the top 3, but they weren't last either! They placed 9th, which was so amazing considering it was their first time.

Diabetes did not play incredibly nice, of course.  Seth woke up over 200, and then there was the breakfast spike.  I'm sure he didn't feel his best, but he never complained and he didn't allow it to affect his performance in the events.  He did a conservative correction, knowing it was probably adrenaline. He still crashed on the way home.  I watched Dex while he napped, and woke him up when he was below 70 with diagonal down.

I am so proud of this team!  They worked hard and did a great job.  Watch out for them next year, Georgetown and The Woodlands!  This team may knock you down in the rankings!

Superman

This post isn't about diabetes, just so you know.

I met you in the summer of 2007. I fed you, and you were mine.  Jason says it was like feeding a stray puppy. 

You were a big brother to my boys, and a little brother to my husband.  I loved our twisted "family tree" and how you called the boys "brophews" and they called you Uncle Bubba.  I know you had lots of "moms" and I'm so proud I was one of them.

You were a role model for all the other guards.  They looked up to you, respected and loved you.

And sometimes you were not such a great role model.

You freaked me out when you wore the sunglasses contacts.  I loved seeing your blue eyes.

I loved your deep voice, deeper than it seemed it should be.  And the way you sang just a little tiny bit off key.

And for some reason you loved putting on tiny clothes from the lost and found.

In most crowds, you were the biggest one there.  I think you cried a little bit when Seth passed you up and you became the runt of my litter.

Cancer came back.  We all got scared.  The surgery got it all, but the chemo after was rough.  I hated taking you the couple of times I did.  Hated watching them put that poison in your body. I couldn't even feed you anything that made you feel better. But we all hoped that poison would kill the cancer before the cancer took you from us.  And it did, for a while.

And we had some more fun times.

Then it came back again. We all thought/hoped you would beat it again.  I never gave up on you and held out for a miracle until the very end.  And at the end, we were there. I hope you felt the love as you took your last breath.

How do I heal the hole in my heart?  I will never be the same again.  But I would do it all over again, even knowing I'd lose you.  I could certainly do without this pain, but I wouldn't have wanted to miss the dance of having you in my life.  I'll love you always, and you'll always be my Superman.

Show Me Your Pump

Most of the time, Seth and Jason don't care about their Dexcom sensor showing.  In the summer, they both work as lifeguards (Jason is a pool manager in the summer) so their sensor is pretty much always showing.  The questions are pretty much nonstop at the pool, people asking what it is.  Neither of them really mind telling people what it is, otherwise they would wear it under their swimsuit somewhere.  But they do sometimes get tired of answering the same question over and over.  Depending on who asks and how, the answer may be humorous. (I always make them answer sincere questions with the real answer.  Buzzkill, I know.)

Enter Miss Idaho Sierra Sandison.  She wore her insulin pump ON STAGE during the SWIMSUIT portion of the competition.  Well, she actually wore it during the entire thing, but the swimsuit competition was the only time it was really visible.  In a place where appearance is pretty much everything, this brave young lady wore a visible medical device.  Wow!  I am just blown away by her bravery.  She also started a hashtag on social media, #showmeyourpump.  It's kinda gone crazy, with people posting pictures not only of their pumps, but also of other medical devices.  She is empowering people!  How cool is that???

Anyway, back to my guys.  Their reach is nowhere near that of Miss Idaho, but I have no doubt they are influencing someone with their openness.  Medical devices of all kinds are not easy to wear, and even less easy to wear in the open.  But these devices are what make a more normal life possible. It takes brave people that aren't afraid to show those devices to make them more visible/acceptable to the public.  Brave public figures like Sierra Sandison, and all the regular people that just wear their devices in everyday life like Jason and Seth.

Closing the Loop

These has been lots of talk recently about the closed-loop (artificial and bionic pancreas) trials.  Many of my awesome friends have asked me about it, posted about it, etc.  It is a very exciting development that I have been following for a while.  I do have some concerns, things that will need to be addressed before it becomes available to all type 1s. 

First, the artificial and bionic pancreas both require 3 sites on the body.  2 pump sites, similar to the one shown in the first picture, and 1 CGM (Dexcom) sensor, like the second picture.

 

Having even one thing attached to the body can be a hassle, much less 3.  The pump sites will both be attached to plastic tubing.  Each one is attached to a separate pump. One pump delivers insulin, the other delivers glucagon. Pump sites can cause scar tissue.  Areas with scar tissue can no longer be used, at least not for a period of time to see if they heal. This is especially a concern for children, who have much less surface area for inserting all these devices. All 3 devices are connected to a smartphone that basically controls the insulin and glucagon delivery.

Another issue is that glucagon is not a stable solution.  At the present time, it must be replaced daily in the glucagon pump.  That would be a huge expense in regular use.  Researchers are working on stable forms of glucagon, so hopefully this issue will be solved soon.

At present, CGM (Dexcom) technology is not advanced enough to make dosing decisions.  We use Dexcom as a tool to view trends, but never inject insulin based on the number Dex gives.  A fingerstick test on a blood glucose meter is needed to confirm.  In closed-loop systems, the number from Dex is used for the system to make the decision.  A more accurate Dexcom is currently being worked on, from what I understand.  Until Dex is reliable enough for dosing insulin it really can't be used outside of clinical trials.

Insurance companies are also putting language into their policies to specifically exclude closed-loop systems.  Without insurance coverage, most people will not be able to afford the systems when they do become available.  Some companies do not cover pumps and CGMs, either. There are still many people that do not have the option to use the current technology, much less what is on the horizon.

One important thing to keep in mind...the closed-loop systems are in trials right now.  They have not been approved yet.  The people that are doing the trials are amazing.  They are volunteering their bodies to advance the technologies that will hopefully improve the lives of all those with type 1 diabetes.  Heros in my book, especially the children that have just recently been approved for these trials. Heros like Elise, who just started the bionic pancreas trial.  At 6, she is the youngest person to trial a closed-loop system.  

Don't misunderstand me. These clinical trials are hugely important. This will be life-changing for people with type 1 diabetes.  We're just not quite as far along as I think the media sometimes implies.  There are still some big obstacles to overcome before we get there. I am so thankful for the people that are working tirelessly to make this happen.  We'll have an even better tool to KDA. Until there's a cure.