D-Mom Blog

The sweet life with a diabetic child

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5 Tips for Getting Ready for Diabetes Camp and Summertime Camping

Diabetes camp is a great way for a child with type 1 diabetes to learn new skills, gain independence, and meet other kids also living with diabetes. And you get a caregiving break!

Camping

Q is going to diabetes camp for the 6th time this summer. She looks forward to it each and every year and will probably continue going as a counselor or volunteer when she ages out. Are you thinking about diabetes camp or are you signed up for the first time? Do you always forget to pack something? Do you want to take time to connect with your other children or take some time for yourself? Read these five articles about diabetes camp and summertime camping.

Diabetes Camp

Diabetes Summer Camps: One of the best ways for children to meet other d-kids is by going to diabetes camp. There are a variety of diabetes camps throughout the country, including family camps, day camps, and overnight camps. There are also a number of sports camps, like snowboarding and basketball, geared toward type 1 kids.

Read the excerpt Diabetes Summer Camps from the book Kids First, Diabetes Second.

Diabetes Camp Packing Tips

Diabetes Camp Packing Tips: Here are a few diabetes camp packing tips that I have picked up over the years as well as a checklist of items you might not think to pack. Of course, you will receive a packing list (and a list of what not to pack!) and instructions from the particular camp your child will attend, but here are a few things to think about.

Read more about Diabetes Camp Packing Tips and Checklist.

Kids First Diabetes Second Book - Camping

Camping with Diabetes: I know many families are making plans to go camping with their family this summer. Camping is fun, and with a little planning, diabetes can be managed. There are some really important things you need to think about–like keeping insulin cool–but one of the biggest necessities is knowing the carb count on s’mores!

Read the excerpt Camping with Diabetes from the book Kids First, Diabetes Second.

Bacon Flowchart

Meals at Diabetes Camp: At diabetes camp, kids learn to meal plan and count carbs. At check-in one year I just had to laugh at this exchange between Q, the dietician, and myself.

Read Breakfast of Champions.

Caregiving Break: And sending your kiddo off to diabetes camp isn’t just about the experience that they will have. It is also a chance to practice a little self-care and take a caregiving break. If you have other children, it can also be a great time to connect with them one-on-one without having to divide your attention.

Read Caregiving Break.

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Kids First, Diabetes Second Book: Type 1 Described

Summary: In this excerpt from my book Kids First, Diabetes Second I talk about some differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. It’s never my intention to pit people affected by one type against the other, but there is always a lot of confusion between these two types.

Type 1 Diabetes Described

As with most families, the day our daughter was diagnosed was the first time we learned more than just the basics about type 1 diabetes. Our nephew had been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes two years earlier, but since we weren’t involved in his daily care, we didn’t have much firsthand knowledge other than seeing him check his blood sugar or get an injection at family get togethers. It’s very difficult to get a true understanding of what’s involved in diabetes care unless you live with it on a daily basis.

Most people are familiar with type 2 diabetes—they hear commercials for testing blood sugar or they may have a relative who takes oral medicine or maybe even insulin injections—but many people have little or no knowledge about the less-common type 1. Statistics show that only about 5 percent of the 16 million Americans with diabetes have type 1. However, understanding the differences between the two types is very important for parents, caregivers, and anyone else interacting with your child.

While type 2 diabetes is a metabolic disease, type 1 is an autoimmune condition. This means that a person with type 1 diabetes does not produce his or her own insulin and never will again. A person with type 2 diabetes still may produce insulin (although sometimes not enough), but their bodies have a hard time using the insulin properly. Therefore, with diet and exercise change, a person with type 2 diabetes can sometimes improve the body’s ability to produce and use insulin, while a person with type 1 cannot.

As parents, we naturally reacted by asking whether we did something to cause the diabetes. It was reassuring to learn that there is nothing you or your child can do to cause or prevent type 1 diabetes. Even medical experts are not sure what exactly triggers the body to develop type 1 diabetes. In the simplest of terms, the cells of the immune system begin to attack the body instead of protecting it. These “T cells” attack the pancreas’s beta cells, which produce insulin to help convert food into fuel. As these cells are destroyed, the body begins to lose its ability to process food into fuel. Once this ability is lost, it cannot be reversed. There is only one basic treatment option—replacement insulin therapy.

This can be very confusing for people who are unfamiliar with type 1 diabetes. As a result, you can expect people to think that your child has the same condition as their old Aunt Agnes who has “sugar diabetes.” They may offer well-intentioned, but inaccurate, advice. Some common misconceptions include:

  • The parents caused it (i.e., they let the child drink too much juice or eat too many sweets).
  • The child watches too much TV.
  • Only overweight children get diabetes.
  • The child will outgrow it or will have type 2 diabetes when they become an adult.
  • It’s the “bad kind” of diabetes, and they will have complications someday like Aunt Agnes.
  • The child should not have desserts and should eat only sugar-free foods.
  • The child can’t play sports.
  • The child won’t be able to have a baby when the time comes. (She may have kidney failure and be found in a coma on the kitchen floor just like Julia Roberts in Steel Magnolias.)
  • Insulin is a cure.

While these misconceptions can be frustrating and even hurtful, I have found that the best way to handle them is to calmly explain the differences between type 1 and type 2 diabetes. Of course, sometimes it’s not worth the effort. There are situations where it may be better to just ignore these comments completely.

Kids First Diabetes Second BookLearn More

If you’d like to learn more about the book, you can read more on the Kids First, Diabetes Second book page. It’s available widely in print and as an eBook from book sellers such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and IndieBound. And if you do read it and find it to be a valuable resource, I would greatly appreciate if you could write a review on any of the online retail sites. Thanks!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to booksellers.

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Going Home After Your Child Is Diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes

Excerpt from the book Kids First, Diabetes Second written by Leighann Calentine about being released from the hospital after your child is diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and going home to take care of your child on your own.

Going Home

Photo: Pixabay

To this day it still astonishes me that they just send newly diagnosed kids home with their parents who have to suddenly act as their child’s pancreas and make any number of daily decisions! Now I’ve got a handle on things (except those days when diabetes throws me for a loop…thanks, growth hormones!) and I am not very frequently stressed about helping my daughter manage her type 1 diabetes. But I remember that first night on our own.

Going Home

Your child’s blood sugar has stabilized, you’ve learned how to count carbs and figure out insulin dosages, and you’ve even given a few injections to that poor little protesting child. Just when you start to feel comfortable performing these duties with the nurse looking on, they send you home. Wait, can they do that?

I remember thinking at that moment that my child’s life was literally in my hands. She needed constant medical supervision, and, after a scant three days of training, they were sending us home, and we were supposed to somehow keep her alive. Leaving the hospital with our child newly diagnosed with diabetes, tightly clutching our binder of information, was incredibly scary.

Looking back, our departure from the hospital was kind of comical. If you thought our trip down there on the day of her diagnosis was chaotic, we had a heck of a time getting back home.

The hospital overlooks a large park, which includes an awesome zoo. Since we had to leave that day, we prodded the staff to let us go as early as possible so we could squeeze in a little fun. We did manage to visit the zoo, ride the carousel, and take a quick ride on the train before it closed. We hopped back on the highway and, when we crossed the state line, we stopped at a Denny’s for dinner.

In the hospital, we had a menu that included the carb counts. But did Denny’s have nutritional information available? Uh, no. In fact, the waitress was dumbfounded that I would actually need to know the carb counts. So there we were, enjoying our “breakfast for dinner,” and I had the logbook, pen and paper, The CalorieKing, and various diabetes supplies spread out across the table. I tried my best to figure out how many carbs were in that meal. I called the endocrinologist on duty to tell her Q’s blood sugar and the number of carbs she had eaten, and to explain my math to make sure I was about to give my daughter the right amount of insulin for the meal. How frustrating!

(In defense of Denny’s, they now have laminated nutritional data at their restaurants. Q and I have made it a tradition to stop at Denny’s to have “breakfast for dinner” every time we make the long trip to see her endocrinologist.)

By the conclusion of dinner, it was getting dark. I don’t know if we were overwhelmed or just tired, but we missed our exit and didn’t realize until it was too late that we were headed due north on the wrong highway instead of northeast on the right one. Both highways get us home in about the same amount of time, but the highway we inadvertently took has far fewer rest areas, towns, and gas stations.

At about 8:00 PM we pulled over to check Q’s blood sugar, give her a bedtime snack, and an injection of long-acting insulin. The test showed that her blood sugar was really high. I freaked out and was back on the phone with the on-call endocrinologist. She explained that it was probably a combination of factors, including guessing the carbs at dinner, a long day, and sitting still in the car. I thought to myself, “Seriously? Not five hours into caring for her on our own and I’ve already messed up?” The endocrinologist told me to give her some fast-acting insulin. She reassured me that everything was okay, and said she’d speak to me again in a few hours when we returned home and checked her blood sugar again.

Could I really do this? Well, I had no choice. I had to gain confidence in myself and my ability to make decisions for her care. Eventually, it would become routine, but, on that day, it was simply overwhelming.

Kids First Diabetes Second Book

Learn More

If you’d like to learn more about the book, you can read more on the Kids First, Diabetes Second book page. It’s available widely in print and as an eBook from book sellers such as Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and IndieBound. And if you do read it and find it to be a valuable resource, I would greatly appreciate if you could write a review on any of the online retail sites. Thanks!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to booksellers.

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Kids First, Diabetes Second Book Feedback

Kids First Diabetes Second Book Feedback

My Book Kids First, Diabetes Second may be updated for a second edition (yay!). I would love some feedback on your experience reading the book. Please take a few minutes — I promise it’s not terribly long — to answer these questions about the book.

Thank you so much!

-Leighann

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Kids First, Diabetes Second: An Introduction To The Book

Summary: Introduction to the book Kids First, Diabetes Second written by Leighann Calentine sharing advice for parenting a child with type 1 diabetes.

Book Introduction

Since it’s the beginning of a new year, this month I thought I would share the very beginning of my book Kids First, Diabetes Second with you. The introduction gives a little bit of the background of the book and the tone it takes. It’s not a medical book, but it is full of tips and tricks to help you get through and hopefully you will find a book full of support, especially if your child is newly diagnosed.

Introduction

I’m a parent just like you. I’m not a doctor. Nor am I a nurse, dietician, or nutritionist. But when my daughter was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes a few months shy of her fourth birthday, I had three days to become an expert in all of those fields in order to keep her healthy. We were sent home from the hospital with a heavy bag full of diabetes supplies, a notebook overflowing with instructions and new terminology, and a phone number to call each time we checked her blood sugar or fed her a meal. It was daunting and, quite frankly, the scariest thing I have faced in my life.
If you are looking for a guide on how to manage the medical aspects of your child’s type 1 diabetes—how to bring that A1c down a full point in a mere three months or how to figure out the perfect basal rates that keep your child’s blood sugar at an even 120 all day and all night long—this is not the right book for you. These aspects of diabetes management continue to be a work in progress for our family. But if you’re looking for advice on how to manage your family’s life with diabetes; how to streamline the seemingly endless tasks involved with diabetes care each day; how to handle school and sports; and how to help your child with diabetes be a child first and foremost; then pull up a chair, grab a mug of sugar-free hot cocoa, and let’s chat.

I’ll be the first to admit I don’t have all the answers. However, I think our family has come to terms with this chronic health condition. We’ve decided that it is what it is, and we deal with it the best way we can. In fact, that’s always my advice: you need to do the best you can with the information and knowledge you have at a particular time.

In this book, I’d like to share with you what has taken us four years to learn. Oh, how I wish that the experienced mom I am today had been there in those first weeks and months to give me the tips found in the following pages. What a comfort it would have been to have her put her hand on my shoulder and tell me that I was strong enough to do this. So, let me put my hand on your shoulder right now and tell you that you, too, can and will do this. You will soon become an expert in your child’s care. Before you know it, diabetes will become your new normal, and your child will be happy and healthy. Diabetes will fade into the background and become just another part of daily life … if you let it.

I can’t think of many medical conditions other than type 1 diabetes where the patient, or for young patients the parents, make any number of life-and-death decisions daily. Other medical conditions are overseen by a doctor who prescribes a method of treatment and expects you to follow a very specific protocol. With type 1 diabetes, the care team trains you and then sets you free. And while the nurse educators give you the knowledge to do the basic care—counting carbs, checking blood sugar, and giving insulin—there are so many other aspects to caring for a child with diabetes that these medical professionals just can’t teach in a few days of classes. We were lucky enough to be diagnosed at a facility that’s strong on education. Some parents get even less instruction than the three-day crash course we received.

That’s where this book comes in.

I offer you my perspective as a parent of a child with diabetes who was enrolled in preschool at the time of diagnosis and now attends public elementary school. I won’t bore you with medical jargon or indecipherable studies on the latest treatments and outcomes. Rather, I will tell it like it is, hopefully with wit and wisdom, sharing all that I have learned over the past four years.

Kids First Diabetes Second Book

Learn More

If you’d like to learn more about the book, you can read more on the Kids First, Diabetes Second book page. It’s available widely in print and as an eBook from book sellers such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and IndieBound. And if you do read it and find it to be a valuable resource, I would greatly appreciate if you could write a review on any of the online retail sites. Thanks!

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links to booksellers.

Please remember that I never give medical advice. Ask your endocrinologist or pediatrician for advice about your own child. Make your own informed decisions for your own child.

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Kids First, Diabetes Second Book: Don’t Forget the Siblings

Summary: This excerpt from the book Kids First, Diabetes Second is from the “All in the Family” chapter. It’s important to assure and inform siblings when it comes to type 1 diabetes and also make sure they don’t feel left out.

Kids First Diabetes Second Book Don't Forget the Siblings

Don’t Forget the Siblings

When Q was diagnosed, her brother R was just shy of his first birthday. He will never remember her before she had diabetes. He is used to the daily care she receives, including all the blood sugar checks and insulin pump changes. He knows about all the work that goes into putting a meal on the table and knowing how much insulin to give her for it. For him, it’s part of our family life.

But that’s not to say that it doesn’t affect him. Because diabetes management takes so much of your time and focus, it’s easy for the non-diabetic child to feel left out or deprived of your time. What you don’t want is for the other child to feel neglected and to start acting out at home or school as a way to get your attention.

You may be able to find some ways to involve the other child in the daily diabetes routine, though you don’t want it to become a burden or something to worry about. Q never had a bedtime snack before she was diagnosed, and we probably wouldn’t have offered it to R. But he likes to sit at the table with her and have a bedtime snack, as well. Although we have a stash of juice boxes, Smarties, and glucose tablets that are for treating blood sugar only, he sometimes asks for a juice box, a roll of Smarties, or even a glucose tablet when Q gets one. Sometimes I indulge him.

If you have an incentive chart for your child with diabetes, say as a reward for getting injections or changing her insulin pump site, think of something your other child could do to earn stickers or other incentives. This praise will make him feel like he’s accomplishing something, too.

The non-diabetic sibling might feel lost in the commotion, so it’s a good idea to spend some one-on-one time with him or her. Maybe take turns taking non-diabetic siblings to a movie, the park, or the local children’s museum to provide some alone time—time where there is absolutely no diabetes care taking your attention. Make them your focus for those few hours.

R is still too young to understand a lot of the medical aspects of diabetes and why his sister has it, but he has mentioned several times that he wishes he had diabetes like Q. While I wanted to say “No, no you don’t,” I also don’t want either child to feel like it’s something to be jealous of or that Q is somehow deficient. I think the best thing I can do is talk with him about his feelings and try to understand where he is coming from. I will say that one of the bedtime stories we have read over and over is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse: Coco and Goofy’s Goofy Day in which their friend Coco, who has type 1 diabetes, comes to his birthday party. R always talks about the bad choices that Goofy makes at the party. Interestingly, he always wants me to read the Q&A at the end of the book, which addresses why Coco needs to check her blood sugar and what she carries in her supply bag. I think reading this story repeatedly helps him come to terms with it in an age-appropriate way. Or maybe he just really likes Mickey Mouse books.

My son isn’t old enough yet to worry about his sister’s diabetes. But I am sure there will come a time when he will begin to ask if he, too, may develop diabetes or he may become fearful that his sister could become sick or even die. When he begins to have questions or fears, we will talk with him in age-appropriate terms to assure him that he doesn’t need to worry because as his mom and dad, we will always do our best to take care of the both of them and help them to be as healthy as they can be

Kids First Diabetes Second Book

Learn More

If you’d like to learn more about the book, you can read more on the Kids First, Diabetes Second book page. It’s available widely in print and as an eBook from book sellers such as Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com, and IndieBound. And if you do read it and find it to be a valuable resource, I would greatly appreciate if you could write a review on any of the online retail sites. Thanks!

Please remember that I never give medical advice. Ask your endocrinologist or pediatrician for advice about your own child. Make your own informed decisions for your own child.

Diabetes Awareness Month: Day 11

“Teachers may be the first to notice the early symptoms of diabetes. If a child is asking to go to the bathroom and the water fountain more than usual, let parents know.” Every day during Diabetes Awareness Month, I will share a fact, tip, or thought on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram.