Due to site enhancements the RSS feed address for Arden’s Day has changed.

Due to site enhancements the RSS feed address for Arden’s Day has changed.

Please subscribe to our new feed located at - feed://www.ardensday.com/blog/?format=rss

or visit www.Ardensday.com and click on the new RSS link located under the ‘Navigating the Blog’ heading on the main page.

Thank you!
Scott

Arden's Day - RSS Feed address has changed

Due to site enhancements the RSS feed address for Arden’s Day has changed.

Please subscribe to our new feed located at - feed://www.ardensday.com/blog/?format=rss

or visit www.Ardensday.com and click on the new RSS link located under the ‘Navigating the Blog’ heading on the main page.

Thank you!
Scott

'Life Is Short' shout-out on FEaB

There I was two weeks ago minding my own business on the sofa, watching television out of one eye and looking at Twitter out of the other. I saw that Matt Mira (From The Nerdist) was asking if anyone wanted to ask Scott Mosier (Film producer and all around great guy) a question for the next episode of their PodCast, FEaB. I had no context for his question, but as it turns out, they were about to sit down to record an episode and wanted listener questions.

I, having taken a photograph of Scott in the distant past, replied... 

@MattMira Does @smosier remember/still have this photo that I took of him? #preDogma and just as I was about to press send I thought, "What the hell" and added, ...& Would you guys read my book?

I haven't thought about sending the tweet since that moment, until today when I heard this.

Audio from (Life is Short shout-out) FEaB #27

Anyway, how mind-bending is it that a photo I took in 1998 when I was twenty seven, at a Kevin Smith film festival, would lead to a book mention in 2013? The Internet is indeed a strange and wonderful place.

Sports Induced Adrenaline

It that time of year, basketball and other indoor running sports are in full swing. Diabetes common sense dictates that an hour of running could and likely would cause a drop in your child's blood glucose level. Some of you, heck - most of you, probably have that exact situation going on. Basketball, soccer and other running based sports probably have you checking BGs, whipping out juice boxes and worrying during early morning games in gymnasiums all over the world. 

But if you have a very competitive child... you may be experiencing rising BGs that are impossible to trace. This is the case for Arden. During basketball practice last week her starting BG of 130, never moved throughout the almost ninety minute practice. Arden ran drills, shot the ball and played defense at practice speed (Slower than in a game) without experiencing a change in her BG. As it turns out, when the scoreboard lights up, Arden wants to win, and she wants to win enough for her fight or flight response to kick in. 

I've devised a plan in which we bolus at the beginning of her basketball games in the amount equivalent to what a juice box would require. Most games, I can keep her BG around 180, but last week it jumped up to over 200 and caused me to have to bolus again during the game. The problem we run into with covering adrenaline is this... As soon as the game is over, the adrenaline disappears, and Arden's BG quickly begins do drop.

That's when the adrenaline bolus needs to be feed, luckily Arden is particularly hungry after she plays. This week she fed the bolus a waffle.

You can really see what I'm talking about in the DexCom image above. Arden woke up at 8 AM and I gave her a small correction that didn't do much by the time the game started at 9 am. By the end of the first quarter though, I had to give Arden a huge correction bolus (Big for her, 1 unit) to combat the significant rise (Her DexCom arrow was straight up). By the time the game ended and we sat down in a diner, Arden's CGM was reading 140 with an arrow straight down, I still bolused for half of the waffle, and as you can see Arden's BG was 101 and steady as we left the restaurant. Be aware that these mornings need to be tracked closely in the hours that follow, because after all of the insulin and food finishes, you never know which way BGs are going to go.

Please also keep in mind that the amount and severity of the adrenaline fueled rise will vary from person to person or it may not happen at all. It really does depend on the individual's level of competitiveness, for some children, basketball may react like other exercise. Arden's team lost on Saturday, but she scored all eight of her team's points. You should see her go, she definitely plays with adrenaline! 

Tech Note: Don't forget that the DexCom G4 signal seems to become amplified in some gymnasiums. You may be able to keep the receiver with you as your child runs up and down the floor without losing connectivity. It works for us. I even gave Arden a bolus with her OmniPod PDM this week while she was playing in the game.

MicroCell to the rescue

Lately the cell coverage has been spotty in Arden's classroom. The school does have WiFi and Arden's phone is connected to it but we still seem to be having interment signal issues. The other day Arden sent me a text that said...

"58 one arrow down", but none of my return texts made it back to her phone. I quickly called the office and they put me through to the room, but I don't want that to ever happen again so I called AT&T to inquire about the poor signal quality and find an answer to our problem.

The CSR thought (and I agreed) that a good fix would be to install a MicroCell in Arden's classroom. A MicroCell creates a cell signal with the a wired Internet connect, Arden's class has ethernet. We have one in our house and get good results so I thought it was worth a try. A few minutes later the CSR explained that he thought he could help with the price (It's $200) because of the medical need. Later that afternoon I went to my local AT&T store, purchased the MicroCell and by the time I dropped it off at Arden's school, AT&T had credited the purchase price back to my cell phone bill.

As I was saying goodbye to the gentleman on the , I expressed my gratitude one more time and he responded, "Think nothing of it, my dad has diabetes... I understand."

A huge thank you to the kind CSR and another to AT&T for hiring great people who take the time to listen.