Day One: This Site

I’m very happy with how it went today regarding the chronicling of Arden’s Day online.  Today was a pretty average day.  Some days her BG is high and I can’t figure out why or get it down quick enough... That’s called riding high.  Some days she rides low and I hardly give her any insulin.  But today was pretty average.  I kept her in range for the most part and had one high and one low test.  Having to give Arden “sugar” to get her up quickly is thankfully not the norm.  It happens maybe 2 times a month which is an amazing improvement over last year when it seemed to happen non-stop.  

Taking care of Arden is the ultimate in OTJT (on the job training).  I’ve been disseminating Arden’s day how we experienced it in the beginning.  You get a crash course in what-is-what and then you dive in (actually it feels like you’re pushed in).  So today I pushed you into the pool that is caring for a child with Juvenile Diabetes.  Once you summon up the nerve to watch the video of me getting Arden’s BG back to good you’ve completed my one day online crash course in Type I.

 I sent the emails to you as things were happening today to give you the feeling of immediacy that the disease creates.  I won’t be sending the updates like that from here on out.  Over the next few days I’ll be adding more pages with different information.  I’ll share a few “scary” stories, a few funny stories and show you why there is hope for a cure.  I sincerely appreciate the time you’ve given to this so far...

Day One: After the Low

Arden’s BG was 167 when we left to get her hair cut.  She had a great time even though see was so tired.  

A Recap of her low BG...  Everyday I take some time to reflect back on the shots I’ve given Arden and the results they produced.  In hindsight I should have given Arden a quarter of a unit less at 1:30 pm.  I didn’t give the proper weight to two factors.  1. She has been a bit under the weather over the past couple of days and 2. She sometimes trends lower in the early afternoon.  Then again had I gotten to the food 10 minutes sooner none of this happens and her BG would have been near perfect when I checked her at the 2 hour mark.  So it goes...

The rest of the afternoon... Here are the rest of Arden’s BG for the day: 7:18 pm she was 348 after an ice cream cone.  I gave her a half of a unit then.  At 9:15 pm (2 hour mark) she was 220 and at 10:43 pm she was 199.  I’m going to let her rise up a bit over the next hour or so and then administer a half of a unit of Levemir around midnight.  She should wake up under 200, should.  We’ll see in the morning.  Good night.

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The following are archived comments from this post. You can post new comments below.

mom

scott  after watching all the video i can only guess how much it affects
you. i thought i really knew all about diiabetes but watching the video i saw there is so much to learn

Friday, August 17, 2007 - 12:05 AM

Day One: 2:59 pm... Arrived at home with Lunch

We’re home and have lunch with us.  Arden was acting strange in the car so I’m going to check her BG before she eats.  By acting strange I mean she was getting upset about her haircut that we have scheduled for 4:30 today.  

2:59pm...  Arden’s BG was 75 right when the insulin was peaking.  What that means is the little bit of food she had in the car saved us from her being at 50.  At 75 I have about 5 minutes to get her BG up at least 20 points because the insulin is dragging her lower and at it’s quickest.  If I hadn't been aware of what was happening Arden would have seized in about 15 to 20 minutes.  All because I made a 20 minute unscheduled stop.  I thought that a juice she had on the way would buy me more time then it did.  

3:01pm... Arden was hungry and she was eating so I let her eat and hoped that it would be enough to keep her BG from dipping any lower.  I tested her again at 3:14 and she was 79.  The food held her but wasn’t bringing her up and the peak was here.  She told me she couldn’t eat anymore because her head was shaking (some times she says her face is wiggling), shaking head or wiggling face she’s tanking and I’m out of time so I ran through all of the foods with Arden that she could have but it’s too late...  She’s now upset and agitated and beyond reasoning with.  It’s time for Strawberry Syrup.  The syrup goes down easy and brings her up very fast!  But it’s going to be a struggle...

3:22...  Test again, she is 87... I’m winning.  Can’t get her to take any more syrup besides she say’s she is feeling better.  So I’ll wait a few minutes and test her again.

3:26... she is 100 and the peak is over.  We aren’t done yet but definitely out of trouble.  The insulin is still going to drag her down a bit (maybe 15-20 points) over the next hour.  Her hunger is back now that she isn’t low but now she doesn’t want the food she wanted before.  I have 20 minutes to get her to eat before we have to leave for her haircut.  

Arden is in good spirits and eating a donut... Which will undoubtedly send her BG too high.  

I set the video camera on a desk while I was getting Arden stable. Be warned it’s going to be shocking to anyone that has never seen a diabetic child go low. The video is at this link.

Day One: 1:30pm at the Dentist Office

I checked Arden’s BG at the dentist office at 1:30 pm she was 259.  She got one unit of Novolog to cover the high (259) and lunch that I knew/thought she’d be eating at 2:30. We made one unscheduled stop on the way to lunch that took me 20 minutes off of my schedule.  When we got home with the food...

Day One: 12:11 pm... Getting out the door

This update will include a few things....

I actually got to take a shower and shave!!!  Believe it or not the tortilla chips afforded me the peace of mind to get in the shower during her Novolog.  I’d never get a shower during the 3 hour cycle of the Novolog normally.  

The Bag... Cole has a dentist appointment in 45 minutes so I have to “pack the bag”.  Those words you hear in our house every time we go out.  “Did you pack the bag”... “Let’s go, I packed the bag”... “is the bag packed we have to go”.  That bag is omnipresent. The bag has Arden’s meter, test strips, lancets, the lance, Novolog, Levemir, at least 10 syringes, alcohol wipes, an emergency glucagon kit   (wait till you find out what that is),  fast acting glucose, glucose tabs, chips, cookies, candy, juice, & gum.

BG Check... It’s 12:30 pm, time to test her BG again.  Even if it wasn’t time I wouldn’t leave the house without knowing what it was.  So after all of that Arden’s BG is 236 three hours later.  Not good but not bad considering she had waffles and snacked just 30 minutes ago.  We have to leave for the dentist now.   The appointment is at 1 pm and will be over before 2 pm.  We’ll have lunch immediately after that.  So I’m probably going to give Arden a half of a unit of Novolog at the dentist office (I’ll test her there again).  She’ll probably be lower by then even though the makers of Levemir say it doesn’t drag BG down but keeps it stable.  However, that just isn’t our finding.  You’ll see a good example of that tonight.  

To Do... So dentist in 30 minutes, lunch, Arden has a haircut at 4:30 and we need to replace those yucky bananas she talked about on the video.  I need to get these things done and be home making dinner by 6 pm at the latest.  I don’t want to give Arden a Novolog shot much later then that or I’ll be up all night waiting for it to peak.  Got to go!

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The following are archived comments from this post. You can post new comments below.

Maria - Thursday, August 16, 2007 - 03:12 PM

This is unbelievable.