Wednesday, 20 July 2011

Getting the Levels Right

We are 10 months into our diabetes journey.

We started off knowing nothing, and quite often feel we havent learnt much in the intervening almost-year.

At the moment we are struggling with a lot of highs. We decided (after seeing the idea online) to plot K's daily blood glucose reading on a chart to try spot trends.

Wow, what an eye opener. Where, in the book, weeks of 13's and 14's (with the odd 17-19) can slip by, when you see it on a chart it really concentrates the mind.



So, we've been charting since the start of July and (I hope) we've moved from passive management to more agressive managment. We've also been changing the insulin levels as the day demands it.

I now understand the term SWAG (scientific wild assed guess)!

We've really seen the wild differences in blood sugar that can happen where all the variables, carbs/insulin/activity, are seemingly constant.

K is on twice daily injections, and I spoke to the Diabetes Nurse this morning about the level of highs and asked for an appointment to discuss what we can do to level out the peaks and troughs.

The attitude of the hospital seems to be more tolerant of highs than I like as they dont want K to be brought in as an emergency hypo (the actual words used were along the lines of 'well we see a lot of children brought in having seizures after 8 or 9 serious lows in a 5 day period', thanks for the words of encouragement).

So we are in a quandry; avoiding the lows is obviously the way to go, but I'm worried about the impact on K's poor little body; I dont want to be dramatic but she could be facing into serious difficulties later on in life if we dont do our job properly now.

I also need to man up and take equal responsibility with my wife for meal and snack planning, i've not done my fair share of this part (she's always taken responsibility for this part of family life, when i was living on my own my idea of dinner was a bowl of Special K) and its just not fair.

We'll get a call later in the week to arrange an appointment and take it from there.......
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11 comments:

  1. Joanne24 July 2011 at 00:30

    Hi Chris... Thanks for your comment on my blog and welcome to the DOC! As for my response to Mr. Fowler, believe me I toned it down quite a bit before I published. I didn't want to come off sounding as crazy as he did.

    I love how on your chart you write down the food your daughter eats. I've been wanting to do that, but I'd have to redesign her logs and who has time for that?

    When Elise was dx's at 12 months, our doc preferred us to run her higher. As I got more comfortable with her care and stopped relying on them for help with adjustments, I felt I could do better. I too was worried about long-term problems with her help.

    Just curious, what insulins is your daughter on?

    Do you mind if I add you to my blog roll and do a post on my blog introducing you to the DOC?

    BTW, great job on stepping up and helping your wife. So many husbands don't. Thankfully mine does.

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  2. Anonymous25 July 2011 at 04:26

    Hi Chris! and welcome to the wonderfully crazy DOC! ;) I, too, lurked for a while then ventured into my own blog. It's amazing how therapeutic it can be typing and hitting the publish button...then getting all the wonderful comments from those living the 'same' life.

    I hear you about not wanting your daughter to be high just because that's the way the nurses would prefer...what was with her comment?!?!
    I hope you are able to get the answers you need!
    It's an ongoing process for sure...my Bean is almost 14mo into D and we still have those days/weeks that it feels like we are back a square one again!

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  3. Our Diabetic Warrior25 July 2011 at 04:53

    Hello and welcome to the DOC! My son was diagnosed 8 months ago. He is currently honeymooning and takes 3 injections per day.

    I love the fact that you are willing to step up and help your wife!

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  4. Valerie25 July 2011 at 06:13

    Welcome! Diabetes is very tricky, but it helps to do everything you can to understand it and figure out patterns (although sometimes, there really are NO patterns). Good luck to ya.

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  5. Unknown25 July 2011 at 12:43

    Welcome Chris. The D-OC is a wonderful place where you will make some of the best friends and receive some amazing support.

    My son Joe is 8, he was diagnosed almost 5 years ago now. He uses a pump and a CGM. It is a challenging journey...one that brings us all closer for sure.

    Good to meet you!

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  6. Melissa25 July 2011 at 13:41

    Welcome to the DOC. I have found it to be very supportive and friendly community. My daughter was diagnosed last April at almosts 9mo.

    I thinks it great that you recognise that your wife has been taking more of the load in certain areas and you want to do more. Supporting eachother is important. D is a marathon.

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  7. Misty25 July 2011 at 13:46

    Hello. Thanks for blogging. My youngest son was diagnosed 7 months ago. We just started with the omnipod and cgm last month. I have been very thankful for blogs/DOC. They have been a wonderful support.

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  8. Lorraine of "This is Caleb..."25 July 2011 at 16:21

    Hi Chris!

    ReplyDelete
  9. Unknown25 July 2011 at 17:10

    Hi Chris,
    good to see an Irish blog. Our daughter was dx'd last Sept aged 10 also. We also got the bonus prize of a coeliac diagnosis last March. It's a tough road and we're still on that rollercoaster ride. Right now we're on 3 injections following a long time on MDI (4 injections). Today we've had one low and two narrowly averted.
    The DFI (Diabetes Federation Ireland) have information on local parents groups which can be helpful. I keep a blog (sligosweetspot.blogspot.com) that you might find useful though it's more about working out coeliac (and carb) friendly foods (for now). Be happy to swap war stories if you want to get in touch.
    You probably already have books on D but I found Type 1 Diabetes (Hanas) to be really good (Amazon link below).
    Good luck, J


    http://www.amazon.co.uk/Diabetes-Children-Adolescents-Young-Adults/dp/1859592309/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1311610156&sr=8-2

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  10. Amy25 July 2011 at 19:01

    Hello Chris! And welcome to the DOC. I hope your server can handle all of Joanne's peeps coming over her to say Hi!

    My daughter, Ellie (9), was diagnosed T1D in late September 2010. We are about in the same place as you. We are about to start pumping with Omnipod in the next couple of weeks.

    http://www.three30three.blogspot.com

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  11. ChrisK25 July 2011 at 23:13

    Thanks to you all for the very nice welcome.

    Over the last few months I've gotten a lot of comfort reading about how ye all deal with D on a day to day basis. Its meant a lot.

    ReplyDelete

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