Arden's Big Blue Test
Monday, October 29, 2012 at 11:23AM 
The walk begins, CGM says 183
We decided to do the Big Blue Test during Arden's 7th Jdrf Walk. Arden woke up in the morning after being a little low overnight, she ate a banana as we were packing for the walk and then bolused appropriately. Normally I wouldn't treat a morning low with such a carbtastic food choice, but we were in a hurry and needed to get Arden's BG up so we could get out the door for the walk. With no pre-bolus to help battle the banana I expected a BG rise to happen in a short time, and as you can see on the DexCom graph (above), that's exactly what happened.
The next BG hurdle came as we waited for the rest of our walk team, and the soft pretzel table beckoned our son Cole. We Cole returned, I watched as Arden's eyes became fixed on the doughy confection. "Dad, can I get a pretzel?". Arden returned with a giant, carb infused, pretzel. I didn't even bother trying to pre-bolus because Arden couldn't decide how much she may eat. I told her to just go at it, and I'd figure it out when she was finished. At 10 AM, just as the walk was beginning, Arden announced that she had eaten as much as she could, which was well over half of the pretzel. I took my best guess at how many carbs she had, closed my eyes, and bolused away. Then we walked...
One hour and fifteen minutes later we stopped on the last leg of the walk to play by the water... Arden's CGM read 189 (image below). I know you are seeing a ton of people holding up their CGMs and meters before and after their Big Blue Test work outs. I know most show a decrease in their BG from just 15 minutes of activity, but this is even more amazing then that, and I'll show you why. I can almost guarantee that without the exercise that Arden did her BG would have been in the mid 300's, if we were lucky. Look again at the few hours prior to the end of the walk. A banana with no pre-bolus, a soft pretzel only 30-45 minutes later, again with no pre-bolus. These two food choices should not only have driven up Arden's BG, but decimated her BGs for the rest of the day. But look what happened...
CGM says 189 after 75 minutes of walking, even with all of those carbs
The rest of the day and night followed suit.
Before lunch, 2 hours since walk start.
12.5 hours since walk began and after Chinese food at 7PM!
Check out the overnight graph that goes from Chinese food to waking. I made no overnight basal adjustments and gave no bolus.
Arden took The Big Blue Test to help The Diabetes Hands Foundation in their effort to send $100,000 in diabetes relief to places in need. In the process we learned that not only does moderate exercise help to control Arden's blood glucose, but it can provide a full day and night of BG stability. The experience also gave me a lot to think about regarding my own activity level.
I hope you take the Big Blue Test right now, you don't have to be a person living with diabetes to benifit from the activity or help the effort, just click the link. I'm very glad that I did!
Advocacy, BGnow, Big Blue Test, JDRF, type I in Daddy's Blog, DexCom Blog 
Reader Comments (3)
I find this interesting because, back in the day, exercise played a huge role in BG control. R and NPH insulins were not very reliable and R could take a long time to bring down a high. It wasn't uncommon for mom to tell us to run around the yard to make it work faster. Pumps are great but they seem to have lessened the emphasis exercise can have for T1s.
What an amazing testimonial for the Big Blue Test. As a father, I love the blog because of the love that it shows through actions, as well as words. Keep up the amazing work!
Sean
Sean, Thank you so much for reading and commenting! I'm touched that the blog is reaching you in the tone and manner that it was intended. Best to you and your family!
Scott