Ka-chunkers in their natural habitat
Hi. High. High, high, high. 12AM 196, correction. 2AM 294, correction. 4AM 189, mini-correction. 9AM 192, breakfast w/correction. 12PM 193…Change site, no need wait around this disastrous state any longer. Already wait too long! Seem so dramatic unwrap new ka-chunker, giant needle, every other day quite often enough see that needle thank you. Can’t be normal ka-chunk daily, use so many ka-chunkers. Archaeology museum of future very grateful Bigfoot family leave behind so many these lasting treasures.
Some smart person mention switch from Humalog —> Apidra for better pump experience. Fewer cloggy site. Really want try something new. Can’t be good so many 200+, 300+. Gag Bigfoot with spoon-feeling wait around while child’s insides get wrecked.
It was the tiniest sip of peppermint nettle tea from the world’s cutest little teacup, which I now notice has an utterly menacing expression on its face.
Not so accidentally Bigfoot let Bubs slurp from nighttime teacup, peppermint nettle tea. Nettle known lower blood sugar. March? April? when learn this, Bigfoot horrified gasp! I fed my baby dangerous herbs from those gamine hippies at the Pawtucket farmer’s market! Not recommended diabetic people b/c difficult control strength/efficacy. (Like Humalog?) But just tiny slurp. Think maybe can jump-start insulin for night. Now convinced all corrections plan kick in together 2AM + sip nettle tea = ?
Also this weekend, Bubs visit West Bay Bubs. Fantastic time. While in WBB’s natural environment, notice three distinguishing traits Bubs/WBB: 1. WBB detest peanut butter (Bubs love); 2. WBB exclusive use belly for infusion site, never buns (Bubs inverse); 3. WBB’s parents totally awesome geniuses w/acts together. One is MD, other is diabetes science Ph.D., also design rock gym in garage and Wii studio w/ample cup holders, and he has even more Legos than ME. Basically, WBB has total package, diabetes- and regular kid-wise.
Dr. Mrs. WBB + Dr. Mr. WBB all manner sophisticated pump tricks: temp basal zero if low at night, check every 45 minutes for rise. If WBB eat pizza, double amount insulin pump recommend & extend dose with double wave. If WBB sit in car, make sure seat belt not touch infusion site/obstruct flow. If WBB on plane, stand up during bolus. Dr. Mrs. WBB + Bigfoot agree it seems impossible that dumb people can do this! How do dumb people do it? Giggling guiltily over Diet Cokes I know! I’m a knee-jerk liberal too! I feel terrible saying this! Once Bigfoot back out of WBB fabulous driveway, realize desperately need read Pumping Insulin book + absorb all lesson + then giggle Diet Coke w/ Dr. Mrs. WBB over how dumb people keep diabetic children alive. Not make it over to non-dumb side yet.
Not all boo-hoo so insecure. Was fun time. Only now read Pumping Insulin loom so large, feel just like traditional nightmare where must take final exam in class didn’t realize enrolled, show up/questions make no sense, just try fill in answers obvious bullshit.
We have spent all freaking weekend in the neighborhood of high 200s despite multiple corrections and site changes. Don’t like it in this neighborhood…we would like to move. My husband and I say all the time if this is hard for us, fairly educated people (he is paramedic/fireman and I’m a lawyer…but a nice kind!) then how do people without the education and resources handle it. I’m reading Think like a Pancreas but mostly between corrections at night so I have to start over b/c I don’t remember it…so tired.Pumping book next on list. Good tip from the M.D. on the pizza…this is the kind of stuff I LOVE to get when I pick the brains of type 1 parents. Hey, can you tell me what kind of infusion set your son uses? We are only 2 weeks in with the Ping and have only tried straight. Easy insertion but it doesn’t seem we can get very long out of a site. Wishing you a night of lovely BGs…
Oh thank you thank you thank you for meeting me here. I am not glad that you’re in the neighborhood, but I AM happy (relieved!) to not be alone in this dump.
We have been using the Inset 30 since beginning with a pump (Ping!) in March. We were told the Inset 30 might slip out less often (it has never slipped out) and that for a skinny kid it’s better because it won’t plunge through the fatty bits and into muscle (it still makes him scream in agony 5% of the time because we hit something). We leave the site in for 48 hours max (if working.) Also I should say I haven’t tried the straight one, but this one is easy to insert. So that’s a plus.
I feel like I need some expert hands-on guidance–maybe a live-in doula to examine each site and give me notes on what went wrong or right.
I have read about one page of Pumping Isulin. Over and over and over and over.
Whole childhood, adulthood till maybe 48, was high, high, high,high high HIGH… And only lately not high so much. and, am OK, mostly, well, not entirely, but ok enough? So if children get it together, somewhere in late 20′s, 30′s 40′s, maybe be ok for duration? Not punish selves, earthling say. be kind, points for effort! Lucky D children have parents care, educate selves. Bless you all.
oh, earthling. how i love you. it must be annoying to read this “my baby has been over two hundred all day so his toes are going to fall off!” drama. thank you for sticking with me. we do know a few 70+ T1D’s who had pretty bad control all of their lives and are fine, even if a little bit drunk.
i meant 70+ in years old, not in BG#.
Annoying? Bigfoot never annoying, Only wonderful writer of things too difficult not laugh about. Time of babies in belly = time earthling obsess minute to minute what eat, what meter say, what do?? ohhhh baby mine! earthing so sorry fetus helpless, piggy back mother, so low, so high, so scary for tiny new being? Not know, but {8::::( Want hug people need do this 24/7 year after year. For year after first baby, he cry (from crib, from other room, all places?) every time earthling go low. Very strange. Break heart.
So how Bigfoot know earthling keep keg of stout (Obsidian – so delicious!!) in root cellar?
The highs you have difficulty getting down are usually due to growth spurts during which time the child is insulin resistant. During puberty, we had tripled the hourly basal rate — yes, tripled, enough to kill a man twice her size –, often along with corrections every few hours on top of that ridiculously high basal. Thankfully, for us this occurred in the evenings and overnights and not during school. I would eventually change insulin sensitivity, basals and also give more insulin for food. Sometimes it seemed like I was giving her water instead of insulin as no amount pumped in seemed to work. After a few nights of this, she would usually turn the corner. Sometimes these bouts lasted a week or two. The good news is, for girls, about a year or two after menstruation starts, you will see an improvement. For boys, not sure when growth stops but I believe males will have it easier because they are not dealing with the monthly hormones which effect blood sugar. I believe these kids will be fine because, for the most part, we do get their blood sugars down. They do not stay high most of the time, just when growth hormones, steroids, other factors intervene. Very frustrating while it is happening and you will feel the same way each time it happens even though you know why this is occurring and have experience dealing with it. Exercise helps immensely (though obviously you can’t drag the kid out of bed overnight and put him/her on the treadmill). But during growth spurts try to get in a lot more exercise during the day. It helps. And, of course, when this is happening, lower the sensitivity on the pump and increase the temp basals. P.S. You will not be able to sleep until the wee hours of the morning because these growth spurts abruptly stop at some point overnight, when the “break” in the pattern occurs. This happens to all our kids and most of them turn out fine. This factor is really beyond our control. Most of the time insulin does work.
thank you for this, julia! that’s exactly how i feel: like i’m pumping water into him, but water that might suddenly become powerful and kill him because it’s in such a huge amount! i hate it, but i love feeling understood. so thanks.
and thank you for the tips! i will DEFINITELY encourage more exercise–for a while, we were swimming daily. i had kind of let that drop with all of the good weather outdoor playing. as i write this, he is playing minecraft, sitting on his duff, probably kinking his cannula, and definitely not getting exercise. (minecraft is a video game.)
Yes, I hear and feel your anxiety. That which saves their lives daily can kill them. Goes without saying that when you are too tired and don’t think you can make it staying up all night, you just can’t correct aggressively. I usually begin an aggressive correction with the second high (if I know positively the site is good, otherwise I’ll switch that out). Putting an aggressive temp basal on, coupled with a higher amount of correction will either take effect or not. If it takes effect, I can surmise I will not be up all night. If it does not, I either continue with aggressive correx, and plus temp basals or if too exhausted, do a regular correction, go to sleep for a few hours, then get up and correct. It’s exhausting and you really are going to have to somehow find the time to get a few hours of sleep in the next day or two, even at unorthodox times. P.S. The exercise helps but it is not a panacea. You will still be up correcting during growth spurts. Hang in there!
Oh, do I feel you… And I love, love, love your blog. I’m in Rhode Island too – name’s Nicole. I write for dlife, buddy of Kerri, and 30 year haver of the d-thing. Would love to go see those gamine hipsters at one of the local farmer’s markets sometime and perhaps spy the bigfoot? Email attached!
Hi Nicole! I’d love to meet up at the market! Will you attend FFL?
Great! Unfortunately no FFL for me this year – so much, so busy, too much, too busy!
If you’re headed to a local to Prov market, please let me know, would love to meet you and your Bub.
Forgot to put phone #s… four oh one four seve four five five three one!
yay here’s the WBB story yay! sounds like a grand time was had by all and i sure know the feeling of not knowing what i’m doing but take comfort in the knowledge that we were all newbies at one point and some day (though i hope not) you might be talking to a new friend who feels as lost as you do now, encouraging them about the light at the end of the tunnel.
also, is bubs getting a new site in his nekkid bum *while playing a video game*? so badass.