midnight honey

Diabetes doesn't sleep...

What that means for us is that Bryce's blood sugar levels need to be tested in the middle of the night to make sure he doesn't go too low. Being the super amazing dad/husband that he is, John takes care of these midnight and 3am tests (he figures I have to take care of Drew, so he will take care of Bryce. Man I love that guy!!) There have been plenty of times where John will be battling a low while I sleep, totally unaware of what is going on. Now in case you are wondering, if he is just borderline low, we can turn off his pump, maybe give him a sip of milk and all is fine but if he is really low, he needs fast sugar. Our go to is usually honey. Last night, we were both up (Drew was screaming like a mad man) so I went in with John when he brought in some honey. John sat Bryce up and told him he had honey. Without even opening his eyes, Bryce devoured the spoonful of honey, making sure to lick every little bit of it. It was quite an amazing thing to watch. And when he was done, he went back to sleep. BG up to 150...we went back to sleep too :-)

diabetes camp

A couple weeks ago, we went to Gales Creek Camp for children with diabetes. The preschool camp consisted of us and 7 other families with 4-5 year olds with diabetes. It was just one day and an overnight (when the kids get older, camp runs for a whole week.) While the kids played games with the camp counselors, the parents met to share stories, ask questions, and go over things like how to prepare for sending your kid to school, latest research in finding a cure, etc.

The boys seemed to have a really good time. Here are some memorable things from our time at GGC:

*we rocked out family skit night (Bryce sang "I've got diabetes!" and we backed him up "he's got diabetes!"...this little 'rap' was a fave of the counselors. Other verses went "I'm ready for a poke", "Time to get a new set", etc)

*Bryce got this obnoxious whistle from the camp store (every time he blew it, all the staff would look around wondering of it was time to gather everyone "on the log")

*swimming in the pool was fun (until Jaden swallowed a gallon of the water and proceeded to throw up into the pool- Everyone out!!)

*Jaden said the food was amazing (grilled cheese on white bread-w/american cheese for lunch and huge fluffy pancakes for breakfast)

*Drew was dropped off by my mom at dinner time (he was dubbed 'PB boy' cuz after snack, he was covered head to toe in peanut butter)

*night time blood sugar tests (we stayed in the boys dorm with 4 other families and all night long I could hear the click click of test vials opening, lancing devices cocking, and fingers being poked)

*after breakfast, Bryce was really out of it and zoning (he was 529!! bolused him according to the pump, later got an unbolused snack, when tested before lunch he was 36! wtf?)

so long

It surely has been a while since I last posted. So long that I forgot my login and password!! Of course with no time to figure out what they were since I am chasing a 15 month old, battling highs and lows, and trying to keep cool, it meant a couple more weeks with no postings. Go figure, I finally have some time with the two oldest playing outside and the little one napping. So I get logged back in and the baby wakes up....well hopefully it won't be too long before I can actually update you all!! Gotta get Drew!!!

pump 101

BRYCE SHOWING OFF HIS PUMP  

It is about the size of a pager which he wears in a little pouch around his waist.  It has a little cartridge filled with insulin.  The insulin is delivered through a thin tube the connects to a "set" that is inserted into his lower back.  We change this set every 2-3 days switching sides each time.  

THE SET ALL ATTACHED

This is what the set looks like when attached.  The blue part and tube can be disconnected leaving just the quarter sized sticker part.  There is a thin tube, cannula, that goes under his skin so he can get insulin.

SIDE VIEW OF SET

The cannula is the tiny tube you see under the white sticker part.  A very small part goes under his skin so the insulin can get in.

THE INSERTER THING

This is the contraption that gets that cannula under his skin.  It has some spring action that pops the needle out fast and when you take the needle out, it leaves the cannula.  We have had a ton of probs with this part.  Mostly not getting enough of the cannula under the skin or the sticker part curls or we've even had it not puncture the skin.  Because Bruce has such little amounts of fat, we use the angled set.

THE PUMP

While there are controls on the pump itself, his blood glucose meter serves as a remote control.  We test his blood then enter the number of carbs he is going to eat and it calculates how much insulin he needs to cover it (bolus).  We then decide how much insulin to give him based on that recommendation.  If he wants more food, we just give him another bolus.  The pump also gives him very little amounts of insulin every few minutes throughout the day (basal) for the time between meals.  

There is a lot more to all this but I think that gives a good overview of what pumping is all about.  Any questions?  I'd be glad to answer them :-)

tele-blogging

So I wish my super power right now was tele-blogging.  You know, like tele-porting or tele-kinesis.  I have so many things I want to blog about but haven't had the time to write.  So if I could just 'think' and it would automatically go to this blog that would be great!!  So much has been going on....we started Bryce on his pump.  With this, there has been a lot of  excitement...the 'angels' that made this possible financially, the training for using it, the highs, the lows, Drew's first birthday, Easter, dropping the pump in the toilet, meeting other moms of kids with diabetes, seeing the mom I blogged about last month, etc.  Since tele-blogging is not an option here, I will wait till I have another spare minute to hit on those topics.  I need to take the boys outside now that I have corrected Bryce's low....fun stuff!!

it's here!!

The insulin pump for Bryce came in today.  BIG box with lots of stuff.  No wonder they send out a trainer to go over using it.  She will be out here on Wednesday to get us started.  I know that John and I will have to try on a "set" (the tubing inserted under the skin that administers the insulin drip)  I hate needles, so I am not looking forward to that part!  I will pretend to be brave for my sweet little guy though.  Anyhow, we are hoping to have him pumping very soon....

pump

We have been wanting to get Bryce on an insulin pump for a while now.  From what we have heard, it will allow us so much more freedom.  As things are right now, he gets two shots a day.  His morning shot has two types of insulin, a short acting (Novolog) to cover breakfast and an intermediate (NPH) to cover lunch.  This means that he needs to eat lunch as close to 4 hours after his shot because that is when the NPH kicks in.  In the evening he takes another shot that has the short acting (Novolog) to cover dinner and a long term (Lantus) that lasts 24 hours.  Because of the long term insulin, he needs to get this shot at the same time every night.  This means that we have a very rigid meal schedule of when he needs to eat combined with how many carbs at those meals.  Very little leeway with regards to how hungry his is or isn't or other circumstances that come up.  With a pump, he will only be on the short acting (Novolog).  The pump will administer small doses throughout the day as a "basal" dose (much like the long term, Lantus) and when he eats, he will get a "bolus" dose to cover how ever many carbs he is going to eat.  This means if we wants a bagel one day, he can bolus for the whole thing.  If we go to a birthday party, he can have an extra cookie after eating cake and ice cream.  If he isn't hungry, we can bolus for less carbs.  We won't be stuck to a schedule.  We won't have to force him to eat when he doesn't want to.  We will still count carbs but we won't have to give him a set amount, no more, no less.  He will be able to eat like any other kid.  Freedom, peace of mind.  We can't wait!!