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Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal 
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Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-at-Home Dad

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Friday
Feb102012

Inserting a DexCom 7+ Sensor

I thought that your children may benifit from seeing how quick and simple it is to insert a DexCom 7+ sensor. Arden and I made this short video to help a friend feel less anxious about using a Continuous Glucose Monitor for the first time and we decided to share it with everyone.

Once you see how quick the process is, all of your concerns about being able to handle the insertion will melt away. When it was finally time for me to insert Arden's first sensor, I had read and heard so much that I felt like I was preparing to launch the space shuttle. As you are about to see... this isn't quite that difficult. I even slowed down a little bit so you could follow along and still the entire process took less then 20 seconds. Don't blink!

The images below are of Arden's SpiBelt, the belt/case she uses to keep her DexCom receiver around her waist.. Clicking on any of the photos will take you to SpiBelt's page for kid's sizes. 

 

 

 

Sunday
Feb052012

Switching from MDI to an insulin pump

This post is in response to the question that Melissa posed on 'Ask Me Anything'.


Hi Scott,

I was wondering how you felt when you got Arden's pump. Alison has been doing MDI since July 2010 and we just got her first pump yesterday.

I have to admit that I was really excited when the girls and I opened the box up. The little ones were excited to see the unit power up and hear the sounds it made and it was a really positive experience.

Once both girls were asleep in their beds, I took another quick look in the box. I was overcome with tears. I felt this enormous weight and sadness, almost like I did when we were coming to grips with Alison's diagnosis.

Just thought maybe others could share how they felt (excited, nervous, sad) about the changes in their child's lives. - Melissa


To answer your question simply... I was nervous beyond compare when we made the move to pumping. In my opinion switching brings up a lot of those old diagnosis feelings becasue it again challenges you to learn something foreign and learn it quick. That should be the definition of pressure, "figure this out or here's the list of bad things that'll happen to your child".

The long answer is this... In a few days we'll be celebrating Arden's third anniversary with her OmniPod insulin pump. I can remember getting more and more nervous as her pump start appointment approached. On the way home from the endo's office that day we stopped for lunch and I thought that I was going to cry right at the restaurant table. Switching from MDI to a pump instantly reduced me from a seasoned type I parent to a rookie. In that moment everything felt new and I was confusing myself with every move that I made. Basal, bolus, cannula... why did they have to rename stuff? What was wrong with long acting and short?

I just about fell apart... Then I looked over at Arden and she didn't care that everything was new. She was beaming, thrilled that the shots had ended... that's all she knew or cared about. I figured that if she could do it then so could I. So I took a deep breath and thought to myself, "bolus is the shot, basal is the long acting insulin, this is going to help her... lower A1c, no more shots... bolus is the shot - I can do this." A week later I felt like a pro again (I wasn't but at least I wasn't scared).

Melissa, I've been overwhelmed by a great many diabetes related moments. My best advice is that we have to go through these things so we can become the people that our children need. The first few years and the changes that come with them are our diabetes education. No one is going to be able to fully explain this disease to anyone else, we all have to live it to learn it, we have to suffer with it to master it.

One night as I was putting Arden to bed she asked me, "what am I going to do when I go to college", referring to overnight management. Poor kid, she's seven years old and she is concerned that she won't be able to be safe ten years from now. After I explained that by then she'd have a system just like mine, I went into the next room and cried. The trick is that I left my sadness in that room when I was finished. I choose to let those moments strengthen me. I considered them a hurdle crossed instead of another chink in my armor. I may be fooling myself but if I am... it's working.

Living this life demands that we get scared and even cry sometimes but always push on...

Congratulations on moving your little girl to insulin pumping, I hope and expect that it will be a wonderful addition to both of your lives! I know that my stress decreased significantly when the OmniPod came into our lives.

If anyone would like to share how changes in their child's care has affected them, please post your remarks after Melissa's at this link.

Great thanks to Melissa for sharing!

Friday
Feb032012

The Untitled Giving Project needs a name

We are on track to file the incorporation paperwork this week for our Untitled Giving Project!

I keep circling back to the name for this charity. I'm 99.9% sure that it should be called 'Arden's Day Gives' but as I find myself committing the name to an application... I get less sure. So I was hoping that I could get some feedback from all of you?

My reasons for the name Arden's Day Gives are as follows:

The phrase 'Arden's Day' has significant penetration with search engines and I think that giving that away and starting new would be a disadvantage.

The name is a simple representation of the charity's goal.

I don't want to pick a super specific name and then one day in the future decide that the charity is capable of doing more, branching out and have the name be restrictive. 

I couldn't find a good acronym for "Helping children afford insulin pumps and continuous glucose monitors". Unless you'd like to be a supporter of the H.C.A.I.P&C.G.M? :)

If you like the name 'Arden's Day Gives' please let me know in the comment section but if you have another thought... please don't hold back. I want you all to love your t-shirt ;)

Thank you for your input and continued support!

Best,

Scott

Thursday
Feb022012

DexCom and Tandem Diabetes Care Announce CGM Development and Commercialization Agreement

Breaking diabetes tech news!

DexCom and Tandem Diabetes to develop a "CGM-enabled insulin pump"

Read the blurb and then continue to the link for the rest... New diabetes tech innovations are always good news, I can't wait to hear more about this and other collaborations. 

 

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--DexCom, Inc. (NASDAQ:DXCM), a leader in continuous glucose monitoring systems, announced today that it has entered into a Development and Commercialization Agreement with Tandem Diabetes Care, Inc. to integrate a future generation of DexCom’s continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology with Tandem’s t:slim™ Insulin Delivery System, the first ever touch-screen insulin pump.

 

You can read the rest of the announcement at this link

Current Tandem Pump

 

Current DexCom Receiver

Tuesday
Jan312012

Arden's Day is the Wego Health 2011 Health Activist Award winner!

So excited... I'll post more later when my heart stops beating so fast.

What a wonderful surprise it was to be chosen from among so many deserving and wonderfully written health blogs. A day after learning that I won WEGO Health's 2011 Health Activist Award in the 'Advocating for Another' category, well,  I'm still a bit in shock. 

WEGO Health houses an amazing collection of communities and blogs about a sweeping range of medical issues. It's members offer advice and support to countless people that need it. If you or someone that you know is living with a medical condition and looking for community, I strongly suggest that you click on this link and see if there is a group tailored to your specific need - I bet that there is.

I want to thank WEGO, the independent judges and the type I diabetes community for embracing what I'm trying to do with this website. It was a genuine honor to be named as the winner in such a broad and powerful community of people. I'm proud of this site and the words that you'll find on it. Moreover, I'm happy beyond words that it helps people. Thank you all very much!