When Q was first diagnosed, once her blood sugars were somewhat regulated after getting insulin to carb ratios and the bedtime dosage of Lantus figured out, we were told that we didn’t need to do overnight blood sugar checks. So we didn’t. If her blood sugar was fine at bedtime, she was good for the night.

I’m not sure if she was more “even” overnight when she was on injections or if it was because her blood sugar range at the time was higher (100-200), but if she went to bed fine, her morning BG was okay too.

Sometime after we started an insulin pump, we began checking blood sugars overnight. I can’t remember what made me start doing it. First it started with checking her at 10:00 or 11:00 pm before we went to bed. It has progressed into that late evening check and then setting my alarm sometime during the night, usually 2:00 am, to check her again.

Like I said, for the first couple of years after diagnosis, we weren’t checking in the middle of the night. But now we are. When I awake at 2:00 am, I can’t just roll over and fall back asleep and sometimes I’m up for hours, finally falling asleep close to 5:00 am. I know what you are saying: have my husband do the overnight checks. He does sometimes, but if he’s up and walking around it wakes me up, so I may as well do it myself.

So last night (I’m typing this at 2:46 am, by the way), I was tired. I laid down in bed after the kids went down and fell asleep sometime around 9:30 pm. I remember being tired at that time. I set the sleep timer on the TV’s remote to turn itself off in an hour. I contemplated setting my alarm to awake me at 10:00 pm, but thought that I would check on her if I was still awake, but that I’d let myself fall asleep early if my body would let me.

My eyes opened and I looked at the clock. It was exactly 2:00 am on the dot. Is my body trained or what?

I walked to the kids’ bathroom to grab the meter off of the counter where it’s placed each evening at bedtime. I fumbled a little in her room trying not to wake her brother who was having a “sleepover” with her.

Her blood sugar was 82.

I walked back to the bathroom and grabbed a juice from our overnight kit and returned to her, rubbing her back to partially wake her and whispered to her to drink the juice, which she can do in one giant gulp while still sleeping.

I went downstairs to pour her a glass of milk, thinking that I’d give her a little protein to keep her even through the rest of the night.

I checked her blood sugar again: 70.

70?!

How low would she have gone had I not awoken without my alarm?

I have no idea why she was low. She was 84 before bedtime and my husband gave her 15 uncovered carbs including protein for her bedtime snack, just like our plan dictates for a number between 80 and 100.

One of the biggest lessons learned is that her brother does not in fact function as a diabetic alert dog, despite spending the previous day insisting he be called “Ruffy” the puppy.

Further Reading

{Diabetes Management} Overnight Supply Kit

{Our Story} Overnight BG Checks is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

They seem to be multiplying!

Q counted out 50 pods to send in for recycling through Insulet’s Eco-Pod program. She was happy that there were a few leftover to use for craft projects.

If you are wondering about the pods marked with an X, we leave the old pod on anywhere from 15 minutes to hours. If I think I’ll have a difficult time remembering which is the new pod and which needs to come off, I’ll mark the old one with an X.

All images are copyright D-Mom Blog and D-Mom Media and may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.

{Diabetes 365} Pods, Pods, and More Pods! is a post from: D-Mom Blog

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People often ask why we chose the OmniPod over insulin pumps. I always give a diplomatic answer about how all pumps have their pluses and minuses before giving our reasons. But the reality is that there was never a question for us. We wanted a patch pump.

My friend Stacey has been wearing a traditional pump with tubing for a while and she decided to give OmniPod a try. In the spirit of encouragement, Q made a little video for Stacey to tell her some of the reasons why she likes the OmniPod.

(E-mail and feed subscribers click over for embedded video.)

Disclosure: OmniPod did not ask me to write about their product and I am not compensated in any way by the company. Though they should because Q is one of their greatest spokespersons.

Further Reading

More of Q’s videos

More post about OmniPod

{YouTube Tuesday} Why Q Likes the OmniPod is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

The petals of the flower are OmniPods and the center is a butterfly test strip, a ketone strip, a vial of test strips, and a syringe (to fill the pods, not to stick her with).

Q drew this picture and sent it, along with a l-o-n-g letter to my friend Karen.

We’re still holding out for colorful pods. Do you hear that Insulet? We would love a little variety!

All images are copyright D-Mom Blog and D-Mom Media and may not be copied or reproduced without express written permission.

{Diabetes 365} Flower Power is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

I’m sure your house is just like ours in the morning. Your family has just the exact amount of time you need to get everyone clean, fed, clothed, and ready to go off into the world.

Q’s school is starting 15 minutes later this year which helps us quite a bit. But if anything goes wrong, all bets are off.

When I awoke this morning I couldn’t open my eyes. Sealed shut. I’ve been battling allergy eyes all fall and even gave in and bought the teeny tiny bottle of eye drops that cost FORTY-EIGHT dollars.

I was about to make my way to the bathroom for a warm compress when Q came in, a high pitched squeal preceding her entrance.

“Mom, my pod woke me up.”

Before I could unglue my eyes and wash my hands thoroughly so as not to goop up everything I touched, my son came in the room.

“Mommy, when I woke up my eyes had tears.”

Oh no, crusty eyes on him too. Please don’t let us have pink eye!

Okay. Uncrust my eyes. Wash hands. Uncrust 4yo’s eyes. Wash hands again. Grab PDM and look at the records to see what time Q’s pod deactivated and how long she’s been without basal insulin.

6:58 a.m. Good to know. If it had been hours her blood sugar could be through the roof.

Run downstairs to grab a pod, alcohol swab, and Q-tip. Run back upstairs to Q who has snuggled back under her covers.

(I could have grabbed one of the extra pods from our upstairs supply kit, but that would mean replacing it later.)

Start the pod activation process.

Yell down to hubs to bring me a new vial of insulin because I realized I didn’t have quite enough to fill the syringe to the minimum mark.

See big air bubbles. Ask 4yo to go get me the pen that’s on the clipboard in their bathroom.

He brings the whole clipboard and everything on it.

As I fill the pod with insulin 4yo says, “I wish I had diabetes.”

I say, “No you don’t.”

To which he says, “If I can’t have diabetes at least I can play guitar.”

Okay. Have no idea what that means but he starts playing with several used test strips that were on the clipboard. He shows me the guitar on his t-shirt and strums it with the test strips.

Debate with Q about the best pod placement for roller skating. Decide on her tummy, which she sucked in as the cannula inserted making it sting more than it would have had she just relaxed.

Get Q dressed in her awesome 80′s inspired roller skate tee and send her down for breakfast.

Get in the shower and wash my eyes thoroughly again.

Hubs comes up to get dressed (he makes the kids breakfast every morning and then brushes their teeth & washes their faces while I get my shower).

Realize I was so tired the night before that I forgot to write out guidelines for school staff about roller skating and her blood sugar.

(When I skated with her class the other day she went low afterward despite the pre-PE snack. I want Q to carry her supply bag to class & test her blood sugar afterward & treat/snack accordingly. She normally doesn’t test right after PE, but she skates FAST.)

Typed out a note quickly on the computer. Printed four copies, one for her PE teacher, classroom teacher, nurse, assistant principal. Grabbed them from the printer. Only three? Gah!

Change ink cartridge. Print fourth sheet.

Run downstairs to remote start my car because as my son said earlier “Jack Frost got mommy’s car.”

Wrote out the carbs for Q’s lunch which she packed herself. Stuck her lunch slip in her PDM pouch, put her pouch in her d-supply bag, put her d-supply bag and her lunch in her backpack, and set it by the front door.

Ran back upstairs and dried my hair.

8:20 a.m. In the car and on our way to school. Only 5 minutes late, but plenty of time to get there before the bell.

So, uh, yeah. How was your morning?

{Our Story} Oh What a Morning is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

I always say that Q is “loud and proud” about her diabetes and our recent trip to the endo further illustrated what a great diabetes advocate she’s becoming.

Since I would be picking Q up from school at the end of lunch we packed what we needed the night before. I gathered our preparedness kit, which we also use for traveling since it has supplies for any contingency, the clipboard with our log book, and my questions. Q wanted the iPad to play games or watch movies during the 90 minute drive and she put a notebook in her bag.

After our appointment Q asked if she could go talk to a girl that was in the waiting room while I scheduled our next appointment. This is the first time we’ve seen a kid at this office (this is only our second visit and they just added the pediatric endocrinologist to the practice).

When I came over, the girl was putting her supplies back into the lunch box that she uses to carry her supplies. Q said, “Let me organize that for you.” She proceeded to stack everything just so and put it all back in. (Which proves that she’s my child more than you know!)

I told Q that she should show the girl her supply bag and how we have it organized. Q wanted her snack so she tested her blood sugar while I peeled the clementine I had brought for her. (I was thankful that it was 145 since we showing others.) I asked the girl, who uses an insulin pen, if she would like to see how I give Q insulin with a pump.

Look, I’m telling it that Q is having 9 carbs. Look, it did all the math for us. Look, I’m pushing the button to start insulin delivery. Look, it’s giving her insulin right now. Q, do you feel it when you get insulin? No. See, insulin with having an injection.

We explained how the insulin pump works and how for every 15 shots that this girl gets, Q has only one pump change. The mom said she was going to take the CDE up on her offer to teach her more about pumps.

(And I’m not saying that the insulin pump is right for every family or every child, but it has given Q so much more freedom and it’s much easier for us from a caregiver perspective.)

Since we had a long drive home, Q hugged the girl, we said our good bye’s and hit the road. Q wanted breakfast for dinner since that’s our tradition, but there isn’t a Denny’s between the new endo and our town. Instead we stopped at Cracker Barrel (come back Friday to hear THAT story!).

Our waitress saw Q checking her blood sugar (125!) and said that she was recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and that her mom was recently diagnosed type 2. She asked about the meter and I told her that it was a pump. She had never heard of the pump before.

We went through our spiel about how it works just as we had earlier in the day. Throughout the meal we chatted off and on with the waitress about diabetes-related things. She said she was going to ask her endocrinologist about the pump because she is having a hard time with her NPH and regular treatment (wild fluctuations in blood sugars).

As we got up from the table, Q hugged our waitress tightly and skipped off to the gift shop.

Just another day in the life of a young diabetes advocate.

{Our Story} Young Advocate is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

Laptop.

Coffee.

Write. Write. Write.

{Diabetes 365} Penned is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

Uh, yeah. So I was going to explain the above scene. But I think I’ll just leave it up to your imagination.

And if you are wondering, Q chose the S’more cupcake with a graham cracker layer, chocolate cake, toasted meringue frosting and roasted mini marshmallows. I chose the tirmisu. And no, I have absolutely no idea how many carbs it should have been counted as.

Flying by the seat of my pants!

What do you think really happened?

{Diabetes 365} Cupcakes and Pod Changes is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

Rufus in the car wearing his own insulin pump.

One recent night Q grabbed the book Rufus Comes Home to read together at bedtime. I took the opportunity to talk with her a little about her diagnosis, wondering if she could still remember any of the details or if they were fading away in the three years since.

When we got to the end of the book (I always skip a few of the last sentences because Q doesn’t need to hear about the mother’s burden), I ended with the line about everything being all right.

I asked Q if everything is all right, to which she replied “yes.” But she continued:

I sure hope that Brian gets an insulin pump soon. Then he’d only have to have a shot every three days. And in kid time, three days is a long time!

When Q got an insulin pump, I can’t say we really gave her a choice in the matter. After talking in person with Kerri and Allison over that summer I thought that it was the right choice from a caregiver’s perspective and that it would also give her some more freedom. I was never 100% sure it was the right decision, but I felt like it was the best decision given the knowledge I had at the time.

Seeing a video of Caleb jumping into a swimming pool sealed the deal for me. What freedom!

The week of the saline trial was taxing to say the least. You do twice the work with none of the benefits! If you’ve done a saline trial before, you know what I mean. You have to act as if you are actually using the insulin pump, figuring out boluses and corrections, giving saline as if it was insulin, writing down every single thing to document the week so that the pump trainer or endo can confirm that yes, you are indeed capable of operating the thing…and all the while you are doing double duty because you have to actually give your child injections with real insulin.

Like I said, twice the work, half the fun.

But at the end of the week as I was packing up the PDM and paperwork to send back to the CDE and give her the thumbs up or thumbs down, Q said she wanted to let the nurse know her thoughts too.

Without a doubt I can say that we made the best decision possible for our family and for Q. It’s been over two years on the pump, and though we sometimes have to troubleshoot, change a pod early, or deal with a post-pump change high, it provides so much more freedom.

{Our Story} Why Brian Needs a Pump is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.

We change Q’s pump at 4:00 pm usually. We soak the adhesive with baby oil to loosen the adhesive and let it sit for 15 minutes or longer so that it slides right off. On gymnastics days I literally change it as we are heading out the door. This day she took off the old pod as she came over for a drink of water, handed it to me, and returned to her class.

See all Diabetes 365 photos, documenting a year in the life of diabetes.

{Diabetes 365} Pod Sighting at Gymnastics is a post from: D-Mom Blog

The information provided here is for entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Please read the disclaimer, disclosure, and privacy policy statements.