Thursday, November 18, 2010

FYI

Alexis, over at Justice's Misbehaving Pancreas, is looking for some info. Here's mine...

For informative purposes:
Grace is 9 years old. She was diagnosed T1D 1/23/09. Coming up on our 2 year diaversary.

When did you guys start pumping?
September 2009. Animas Ping - blue.

What do you use to change sites? Whats your "process"?
She's never had a problem with sites sticking. When she first started pumping the nurse educator suggested, due to her age, that we use IV Prep. Tried it... couldn't pry the sucker off! So now we just use an alcohol prep to clean the site (bum only), and Unisolve to remove the old one. Even three days in a pool isn't an adhesive problem.

How often do you check ketones?
If she's over 250 more than once and we can't attribute it to food. And any time she's sick. Just blew threw a bunch of blood ketone test strips, checking her every two hours, with our last bout of the stomach bug.

When do you do an unscheduled site change?
LOTS of unexplained highs. As in, at least a full day of over 300. Rarely has she yanked the site out. (I know, I've just jinxed her.)

Whats your childs target?
110 during the day, 150 at night.

What was your childs last A1C?
6.2. This is misleadingly low. She was having a ton of lows over the summer that lead to this number. So this is a bad 6.2.

What kind of strips do you use?
One Touch blood glucose strips and Precision Xtra blood ketone strips.

Which do you prefer?
I've used the Precision Xtra bg strips in the past but don't like how they're individually wrapped. Just personal preference.

What kind of Peanut Butter do you use?
Sunbutter, sunflower seed butter. I prefer chunky but my grocery store doesn't carry it, only creamy.

Do you allow juice when not low?
No, out of the question.

Do you still check your child at night?
Yep, almost every night. Our routine is to check at her bedtime (8:30ish) and our bedtime (11ish). If she's holding steady both those times, as well as before dinner, I'll sometimes not check her again till morning. But, lordy lordy, that's rare. For example, if she's 155 at her bedtime and 120 at mine, I'm left wondering if she'll continue to drop. So it's the odd night that I don't check her again between 1 and 2am.

What is your rule on sweets?
Even before dx we never aloud many sweets. After school the kids can have one "snack" (chips, pretzels, cheeze-its etc.) and then a piece of fruit. They've all been aloud one piece of Halloween candy a day, but thankfully I think that's at an end.

Regular pasta or whole wheat?
Both, but more whole wheat.

What about veggies and fruits?
Fruit with every meal and after school snack. Veggies usually only with dinner. All my kids love both.

White bread or whole wheat?
We use Market Basket (our grocery) whole wheat "sandwich" bread. Yes, it's actually called "Sandwich" bread. It's thinner slices than normal bread and only 11 carbs per slice.

Do you use glucose tabs?
Maybe Grace is a bit wacky here, but she likes glucose tabs!

What do you use to treat lows?
Juice, glucose tabs, Starburst.

What does your child use to hold their pump/cgm?
She uses the clip and clips it onto her waist band or pocket. During soccer she wears a Lycra waist band. Never uses her pouches anymore.


Unfortunately, my camera crapped out. No pics you haven't already seen!

Thanks, Alexis, for helping us learn more about one another!

4 comments:

  1. awesome! So nice to meet you and learn so much about you guys!

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  2. Great information. Sounds like you treat lows with exactly the same sources we do for Joe. I cannot imagine a life without pouches. I know he will come to not use them daily at some age...but I cannot imagine them not involved with his athletics.

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  3. I think there are a lot of kids that LOVE the tabs. I think my boys are the ones that are weird! :)

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  4. I love these posts and getting to know one another better.

    Sunflower seed butter - I must try that! Sounds delicious!

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