highs and lows of day camp

Last week was Camp Harlow. 5 days filled with activities like swimming, bumper boats, mini golf, horseback riding, go-karts, rock climbing walls, crafts, songs, games, etc. When my older son went in the past, it was a week at Mimi & Granddaddy's to just have fun. Now that Bryce is old enough to go, there is his diabetes to deal with.

We decided I would go down with the boys and come up with a D-plan after spending the first day at camp with the boys and talking to the nurse. Unfortunately, Bryce's bgs are all over the board. He will be sky high only to drop low 45 mins later or when expecting him to go low, is really climbing. (Boy that CGM we were awaiting approval on would have been great!) Trying to make a simple plan for the counselor/nurse was near impossible because there is nothing SIMPLE about diabetes management. As a D-mom, I do so much guestimating and adjusting on the fly that making a "plan" was a lot harder than I thought. For instance, I might hand him a couple fruit snacks after a bg of 120 an hour before lunch or he may need a full snack (bolused or unbolused) depending on the IOB (insulin on board) and the amount of activity he will be doing and even depending on what it was he had for breakfast! Now how do you write those specifics down? The other issue was lunch time...the nurses station is on the complete opposite side of the camp so for Bryce to get his lunch, bring it to the nurse to be tested and bolused, then go back to his group, lunch time was pretty much over. So basically, it would just be easier on everyone, if I was just there to manage his diabetes....and that is what I ended up doing. A choice that was solidified when they changed nurses mid-week!

This is how it ended up going...my in-laws drove the boys to camp in the morning and tested Bryce, checking his IOB. Then the counselor would check him later in the morning and give him a snack or take him to the nurse depending on his bg. I would come at lunch and take care of his bg/bolusing then get him ready for swimming. (this was a great time for me to just laze by the pool and read) then retest him after swimming, reattach his pump, and give him a snack. I then would take a couple hours and either read or go shopping then come back to bg/bolus for the afternoon snack and take the boys back home to Mimi and Granddaddy's.

Every day we had different issues to deal with. Many lows with rebound highs. A day of highs, probably due to the hot weather killing the insulin. The set change was followed by more lows as the insulin and activity kicked in. I was glad I could be there to take care of all these things so that Bryce could have fun (and my in-laws not have to worry about what to do)

Overall, it was a good week. Bryce had a blast. I was more involved than I originally planned but it was worth that peace of mind.

And... we got a call that our insurance approved the cgm....YAY! Our Dexcom will be waiting for us when we get back. :-)