The Blood Won't Come Out: Day of Diabetes Deeper Look

This post is an indepth look at a 20-30 minute window from our #DayOfDiabetes.

Last night Arden's DexCom transmitter sent a message that it needed to be replaced (That is expected as it is over a year old).

Today, during a moment that I thought would be calm, I called DexCom to order a new one. DexCom told me that I needed to call EdgePark Medical Supply.

I called Edgepark. Long explanation. Was transferred.

Arden texts that her CGM is ready for calibration - I tell her to test and put number in.

Someone picks up at Edgepark. Long explanation. Was transferred again.

Arden texts, "The blood won't come out, I did it like 12 times".

So now I'm talking to Edgepark and texting with Arden because for the first time in over seven years of having type I diabetes. She can't get a blood drop no matter how hard she tries.

Edgepark is explaining my insurance, the guy is nice and making small talk but I need him to shut up because I can sense that Arden is getting upset. 

"Still not working, not going to the nurse" - Arden's Text

I tell her to try different fingers, different sides, to squeeze her arm toward her hand and then her finger toward the tip. Nothing is working.

"221" - "I got it dad but I had to do the middle finger and it hurts" - Arden's Text

I tell her that I'm proud of her by text while confirming our address with the Edgepark CSR and while that is all happening, no shit, Arden's timer for lunch goes off.

Cell phone in my left hand, telephone in my right, credit card on the counter, lump in my throat because Arden is upset yet unwilling to quit and the alarm goes off. I laughed... "At least we don't have to test", I text...

That's a #DayOfDiabetes all packed into 20 minutes.

Fool proof tips for handling Halloween with Diabetes

Every year, just before Halloween, I receive a few inquiries about writing a freelance piece about 'How to handle Halloween with Diabetes' and every year I politely decline to write about that topic. Why... because I think it adds unnecessarily, to the hysteria that exists online surrounding this non-issue. However today I'm feeling kinda giddy... So without any further ado, here are the tried and true ways that we handle Halloween in our house, you may want to write them down so you don't forget. 

• We count carbs and cover them with insulin.
• Due to the nature of how some simple sugars react to the insulin, we test more frequently.
• Walking can decrease a BG so you'll need to carry some sugar... hey wait a second.

Seriously, that's all we do though having a DexCom CGM does help. Tell you what, just so you don't feel ripped off for clicking on this blog entry, here's the stuff I would have written if I excepted those writing jobs. 

• Trust yourself, you know what you're doing.
• Practice moderation.
• Test a little extra.
• Get home with enough time to allow active insulin to finish before bed.
• Check on your little ghoul a few times after they go to bed to make sure there's no crazy drop in BG.
• Relax and eat your kid's candy so you don't have to deal with this crap tomorrow.

Okay, well, that's it, except to say this to my freelance suitors... aren't you glad you didn't pay for that!?

Happy Halloween and don't forget to log your BGs and exercise with The Big Blue Test!

Update on Monday, November 25, 2013 at 10:40AM by Scott Benner

Finally getting around to post a picture of Arden as a zombie.

Bermuda Triangle

Last week around eleven in the morning, Arden texted from school to say that it was lunch time and she couldn't get any of her test strips to work. "I've tried five and they've all errored", her text read. 

No problem I thought, "What's your CGM say?"

"???", Arden replied.

We found that Arden could still deliver insulin with her OmniPod PDM so we bolused for lunch in the blind and I told Arden that I was leaving to bring her a backup meter. On the way to the school I spoke with OmniPod customer service (Picked up on the first ring!) and they suggested that I try a new vial of test strips. The CSR finished the conversation by saying that if the test strips weren't the issue, they would happily overnight us a new PDM.

I met Arden in the office a few moments later and we tested successfully with the new strips. The CGM sensor however, was toast, so we changed our testing strategy slightly and synched our reminder alarms. Arden went back to lunch and we managed the remaining four hours of the day the ole fashion way... with a meter.

In all of the years that Arden has had diabetes, this is the first time we've experienced a total and simultaneous loss of the ability to quantify her BG. Even though the timing couldn't have been worse, I never felt frazzled and I can only attribute that calm to having so much experience. I'm quite certain that this moment would have given me an aneurysm five years ago. 

Before I say this next bit, I want to remind you that I am not a medical professional and that the things that I share on Arden's Day are never meant as advice. There is a disclaimer at the bottom of the page if you'd like to read it. I gave Arden her lunchtime insulin in this situation without testing or the benefit of a CGM based on a number of factors. Time of day as it relates to her last bolus, we spoke about how she felt at length, based on historical data - Arden's BGs at this time of day over the week, the fact that she was going to immediately begin eating and I would be there with a new meter and strips in less than 10 minutes. I would never bolus without knowing the state of her BG in a normal situation.

We swapped Arden's DexCom G4 sensor (It had done more than its fair share... if you get my drift) when she arrived home and we were back on the path of technology based diabetes care, by dinner time. The PDM/meter has not given us a problem since, so I'm chalking this all up to an anomaly caused by faulty strips - but who knows.

4 am Scavenger Hunt

I'm not embarrassed to tell you that more than a few times a year I fall sound to sleep on our sofa while trying to watch television at night. I am however embarrassed to admit that a handful of those times I am so stone cold tired that my wife can't wake me up to go to bed. This is apparently my signal to Kelly that I need a night off from BG patrol and she always, no matter how tired she may be, picks up the reigns and carries on.

One thing these nights seem to have in common, I always wake up a bit disoriented around 4 am, usually with pillows pilled on top of me acting as a blanket. 

Last week when this happened to me I woke on schedule around 4 am, stumble to the second floor and went directly to Arden's room to check on her. I picked up her DexCom, saw that she needed a small temp basal and reached for her bag but it wasn't where I expected it to be. I found my phone, realized I didn't have a flashlight app and proceeded to download one from the App Store.

This is the exact moment when all of this would get funny

There I was standing in the doorway of Arden's room, leisurely browsing the flashlight apps because I didn't want to download one that I would regret later - which is of course ridiculous. My hair was standing straight up, my shorts were twisted about 180º counterclockwise around my waist and I was incredibly thirsty, but in my exhausted daze I couldn't let go of the feeling that I didn't want to download an inferior flashlight app. This process took a few minutes and then I set out, armed with my new flashlight, to find Arden's bag that holds her OmniPod PDM, MultiClix lance, test strips and all of the rest. 

I quick scan told me that it wasn't in her room, "must be with Kelly" I thought. It wasn't. So I headed back to the first floor where I finally found Arden's bag under a pillow on a chair in our living room. I walked back upstairs, opened the bag and found that it only contained test strips. I laughed to myself and I made my way back downstairs. I won't bore you with every detail of the next twenty minutes but sufficed to say that the contents belonging in that bag could not have been more spread out throughout our home. 

Our poor dog Indy looked quite cross when I finally gave up on my new flashlight app and turned on all of the lights in the living room.  When I finally set the temp basal rate and went to crawl into my bed, I realized that I never folded the laundry that I put on the bed earlier in the day. One more trip around the second floor netted me a laundry basket large enough to hold the clean clothes... and I was finally off to dreamland. 

If only I wasn't wide awake from my scavenger hunt...

Karma Ebbs, Karma Flows

As you read keep this thought in the back of your mind... "The story is about a juice box that saved the day"

This story begins weeks ago on a day that was one hundred and fifty percent unlike any day that I've ever experienced. I woke up early that morning to travel to New York City to be part of a panel of stay-at-home dads for an episode of the Katie Couric Show. A shiny black car arrived early that morning to transport me for a few hours to a world that I'd never before seen. Green rooms, backstage areas, even people styling my hair and applying makeup to my face - it was strange, fun and more than a bit exciting. When my time on television was over, I climbed back into the shiny chariot only to find an email from the National Basketball Association that featured a story about me. I read the article (written by the DOC's own Moira McCarthy) and then closed my eyes for a few minutes because I was already exhausted from the day. I needed to catch a bit of sleep on the ride home because this crazy day wasn't nearly over, I still had to sign books at a Barnes and Noble in Philadelphia that evening, like I said before... a day like no other.

So to recap the morning... Fancy black cars, Katie Couric, I met Steve Schirripa from the 'Sopranos' in the makeup room, joking in front a a live studio audience and a my name on an NBA email blast that landed in a half of a million inboxes across the country. And in a few hours I was going to get to sit in a book store and sign my book. All extraordinary stuff that no one imagines will ever happen to them, and it was happening to me all on the same day.

The book signing went great, one of the real highlights was when I met a gentleman who reads Arden's Day and his son. The best part of the night? Arden came with me to the signing. Perhaps this book writing thing will lead to more and maybe it won't, but for a few hours that night my little girl got to sit next to her dad as he signed his name in a book he wrote. You don't get too many opportunities in life to be a hero to your kids, this day was special. 

As Arden and I drove home that night through a teeming rain storm, we talked about the day. She asked me about what it was like to tape a TV show and we anxiously spoke about what the vacation that we were leaving for in two days would be like. It was as we were talking about our impending trip that I saw a small group of children standing on the side of the road. I instantly wondered why they were outside in the rain and it was so late at night. Then I got my answer out of the corner of my eye when I witnessed one of the kids reaching back as if they were going to throw something. I remember thinking, "Aw fu$k...". 

Bang, pop, thump, thump, bang, bang, crash...

The right side of my car was being pelted by hooligans, malcontents I tell ya... We were under attack. I stood on the side of the road staring through the rain hoping that I could see one of the little bastards, but they were gone. Arden was frightened, I was angry and the rain wasn't giving up, so I got back into the car and we went home. I stood in the rain washing my car and wondering what the light of the next day would reveal. When I woke the next day I was greeted by multiple and significant points of damage. I informed our insurance company and we left for our vacation.

Fast forward to yesterday...

This morning the insurance adjuster came to our house to assess the damage. A few minutes before the adjuster was finished, Arden wandered outside with that "just woke up" look on her face to find out what was happening. As she was fresh from her bedroom, Arden had her bag full of D-Tech with her. OmniPod PDM, DexCom receiver, MultiClix and a juice box all in a small leather purse. She set the bag down on a box in our garage and walked over to me to find out what was going on. Arden and I decided to pass the time as we waited for the gentleman's assessment by cleaning up the garage and taking the recycling down to the corner. 

Soon enough the adjuster finished and I asked Arden to move out of the way so I could put my car back into the garage, but she wanted to ride with me for the ten foot trip and so she climbed into the passenger side instead.

Moments before I was joking with the insurance guy about the day that my car was attacked. I told him that I must have used up all of my allotted good karma when I found myself on TV and at a book signing all on the same day. He laughed and as I sat down in my car to put it back into the garage, I quipped through the window, "I guess the universe was rebalancing itself when those kids pelted us". Then Arden and I drove forward...

POP!

I jammed on the brakes and my stomach dropped as I remembered leaving Arden's bag on the floor when we took the recycling to the street. I backed up slowly and Arden jumped out to see what made the loud pop but I already knew it was her bag. I felt sick when I realized that I drove over her PDM and DexCom receiver. I thought I was going to throw up... But it turns out that the pelting my car took all those weeks before must have been an overcorrection, and it seems that the universe owed my a credit. 

It was a juice box that exploded and acted as a warning signal to stop. Not only that but the juice was in a separate compartment so none of it got on the electronics. I was about to drive right over Arden's PDM, DexCom, MultiClix, and her bag but that little juice box happened to be on one end of the small bag while all of her gadgets were on the other. Thankfully, the juice was closer to the tire than the electronics and they remained untouched by my car's tire. 

Karma ebbs, Karma flows...

Arden pulled her gadgets from the bag and placed them onto the seat that she just vacated and said, "Well... this is the first time that I don't hate those juice boxes". ––– I thought to myself, "Me too".