Our D-history:

My daughter, *Rosie, was five years old when she was diagnosed on September 19, 2008, with Type I Diabetes. We started out on MDI, but in October 2010 we switched to a pump. We also added a Dexcom CGM in May of 2011. In February 2014 we changed to the Medtronic Enlite system- a pump and CGM all in one.

*Rosie is not her real name... I let her pick her own pseudonym for the blog!

Sunday, August 7, 2011

D's Attempt to Ruin Camping

This is one of those I-hate-Diabetes vents.  Feel free to skip it.  :)  Sometimes I just have to let it out.

Diabetes couldn't let itself be left out of our Girl Scout camping weekend... instead it decided to show off and drag Rosie through every possible D-related scenario on Saturday:
  • She woke up Saturday at 400, despite never being above the lower 200's during night checks.
  • Breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and milk= seemingly easy to carb count.  Rosie was feeling fine and had come down from that crazy wake-up high. 
  • Within an hour and a half Rosie suddenly CRASHED while walking to a playground about ten minutes from our cabin.  All I had on me was one tube of glucose tabs and her Dex... since she'd been so high, and we were so close to our cabin, I didn't feel the need to carry juice or her meter with me.  Another mom walked back to the cabin and got juice and her meter for me while I stayed there, trying to get her to chew glucose tabs.  (When she's crazy-low Rosie won't chew the glucose... and of course this was one of those times.)  Rosie stayed in the 40's for a good half hour or more.. a bad low, complete with her trademark "zombie eyes".  Rosie sat with the adults while all the other kids played.  After 45+ carbs and turning her pump down, she finally came back up to 97.  She got to play for about five minutes before it was time to leave the playground.   (In hindsight I'm wondering why I didn't just turn her pump completely off instead of just turning it down.  Duh.  D-mom brain, I guess.) 
  • We went back the cabin and changed for the pool... her blood sugar was still only up to 120.  I had worried about a rebound high... actually would have welcomed one at that point.   I was still trying to get Rosie's blood sugar up a little higher before swimming, so I gave her 20 more free carbs.  I think she was only up to 129 when we hit the pool.
  • Swimming went great.  Every 45 minutes there was a mandatory break, during which we ate lunch and/or snacked on pretzels.  Blood sugar after swimming for nearly three hours- low 100's.   Yay!
  • We got back to the cabin and discovered that the IV patch over her pump site had basically disintegrated in the chlorinated water.  As we're changing it, her pump site pops out and she's bleeding.  New site inserted after telling the other girls about 1,000 times that they had to leave the area and not stare.  Rosie usually loves to show off her d-gear, but she was upset and tired of D holding her back that day!
  • An hour after the site change, she was suddenly 300.  Argh.
  • The rest of the evening her blood sugars were all over the place.: 70's to mid-200's. Then around bedtime she finally leveled out, and stayed in the 100's most of the night.  I was especially happy considering the guesstimating I had to do on those bedtime snacks.  :big sigh of relief::
I did take advantage of the chances to educate the other moms when they asked questions, and they were all very supportive, which we appreciated.  It's not that.  I just HATE that all of this had to happen while on her one and only camping trip this year.. why couldn't we deal with a crazy d-day on a regular day at home?   Arrrrghhhhh!

In the end, of couse, WE won.... D did not get to spoil the trip for her.  She made crafts, played with her friends, had a s'more, did chores, and did everything else that her friends did.   I just hate that D had to make itself such a big, obnoxious presence on what should have been a fun, carefree weekend with her friends.
Do I seem familiar? :) This blog is new, but I've been around the DOC for a while, and I've been blogging about other topics for years. I'm AmyMCGS pretty much everywhere online- CWD, Twitter, etc.

1 comment:

  1. Totally hear you! We can deal with those obnoxious D-days, no problem...why do they have to come at the most inopportune times!
    Glad that you were able to kick D's behind and Rosie was able to enjoy the rest of the trip.
    In a way, it was great timing so that there was the opportunity to educate and it was 'real D' instead of 'carefree D' so that the other moms could see how intense this disease can be.

    ReplyDelete

Next to the doctor's office, I think some of the best diabetes tips I've ever gotten have come from discussions in the comment sections of diabetes blogs. :)