See me on The Katie Couric Show June 19th
I'll be on Katie Couric's talk show, 'Katie" this Wednesday, June 19. It's a syndicated show so it runs at a few different times of day. Use Katie's station finder to find the station and time near you.
After we taped the interview last week Katie asked me if I would also contribute to her blog! I've sent the piece to her digital producer and I'll link to it as soon as it posts. This has been an exciting few weeks and Katie has been so very nice, I actually have a message on our home answering machine from her TV producer that says that she is sorry for calling and asking me to appear last minute (As if I cared!) but that, "Katie asked for me personally" during their production meeting.
The next day, I was on her stage - I had the audience laughing a few times during the segment that I was a part of, hopefully it all won't be edited out. I can't wait to find out! We are away right now on a family vacation so you may well see the episode before I do - let me know what you think.
Number Thirty Seven
Have you ever heard that if you ask a person to name a number between one and one-hundred, the most common answer that people give is thirty-seven?
I don't know if that's something that can be proven mathematically but I have noticed it a lot over the years, that number just pops up all of the time.
Arden's All-Star softball team competed in their All-Star tournament last week. They played their first game on Thursday night and lost. Friday was rained out so they were scheduled to play two games on Saturday but they couldn't lose again or they would be out of the tournament - you can only lose two.
Thursday's game required a large bolus to battle Arden's adrenaline and the same was needed for the first game on Saturday. They won that first game Saturday and after a thirty minute break to recharge, they played again. During that second game her BG held steady until about the fourth inning. Arden's DexCom CGM was hung on the fence of the dugout during the games and I would check it every inning or so depending on how her BGs were acting. Arden ran out on the field when the forth inning began, as she did I walked into the dugout and looked at her CGM. Her BG was 120 with two arrows pointed down, she was falling fast but I knew that a juice box would handle it. I was actually waiting for this fall. Arden ran in to the dugout, drank a juice box in about ten seconds and ran right back to third base. Her BG balanced out as I expected and the girls won the game about an hour later. When Saturday ended, the team was 1 and 2, and scheduled to play again the next day at 1pm.
Arden's BGs were on the low side overnight, as I expected they may be and I handled them with a little juice and some temp basals. Nothing out of the ordinary after a day of activity.
Sunday brought high temperatures and a clear sunny sky, it was very hot. The girls warmed up at twelve-thirty, the game began at one and the adrenaline hit her about 45 minutes later. I bolused when her BG began to climb but I was too late, Arden's BG was on the move. I tried desperately to get it to come back down without going to low. Arden has trouble running when her BG gets above about 200 - she is normally very fast but above 200, her speed and dexterity become average, so my goal is always to keep her under that number when she plays. They won the first game and the next game was going to start in a half an hour. Arden's BG wasn't moving but I still only gave her a slight bolus (.20) for all of the food that she ate after game one. I thought that the .20 was a conservative approach to her game break snack as I was still leary of a fall from the earlier adrenaline bolus.
We were now into the second game and my plan was to check her CGM after the third inning. The last time I looked at it was before the second inning began, it read 192 with an arrow diagonal down. Before I could get up after Arden made the last out of the third inning, she ran through the gate toward me holding her hands over her head and gesturing for me to come to her...
"I feel really dizzy!"
I didn't bother to test before I handed her a juice. She sucked it down as I tested her free hand...she was 37.
I said to Kelly, "Give her another one" as I ran to get the CGM from the fence. Arden's BG was dropping so fast that the CGM hadn't caught up yet, it read 101 but now both of it's arrows were pointed down. Arden's BG was falling way too fast, she drank two juices, ate a fast acting tablet and was now chewing on a handful of Mike and Ike's. I tested again, BG was 49 and she was still very dizzy.
Arden and I went into the dugout to get out of the sun, she alternated between sipping cool water and fuetly holding her head to try and stop the dizziness - seeing her press her hands into the side of her head broke my heart. I hugged her as she laid into me, I quietly told her that it would stop soon. We tested again, 69 but the arrows on the CGM were still pointed straight down. I decided to follow what the meter was indicating, I believed that her BG was climbing and stoped considering more carbs. It was then that Arden's place in the lineup came up... it was her turn to hit. "They can skip you for one inning", I told her.
"I can hit", Arden stood up squeezed her head between her hands one last time and put her helmet on, we tested again and her BG was 131 but she was still feeling the low. What came next was Arden's only strikeout of the tournament. She fouled off two pitches, running them both out before swinging and missing the last pitch of her at bat. I sat in the dugout staring at her, I was sure that I shouldn't have let her hit but I just couldn't find the parental wisdom in telling her that diabetes was going to make her miss that at bat. Secretly, I was so happy that she didn't get on base because I didn't want her to run but you can't imagine how proud I was of her for trying. She sat out the next half inning, opting to lay on the bench with her head on my lap so she could try to get her bearings. She only said two things to me during that time... "It's getting better" and " I can't believe two balls went to my position". She was annoyed that she missed the opportunity to make two plays.
When her team made the last out, she sat up, looked at me and said, "I'm okay, go back with mom".
Arden and her team went on to win that game and then they won the next one too. They never lost after losing the first game on Thursday and they won three in a row on that hot Sunday afternoon. I'm still not positive that I should have let her hit but, well, check this out...
That's Arden holding her trophy. Her team won the 2013 eight year old All-Star tournament last weekend! She played all but three outs in the field and never missed an at bat. Arden beat all comers, including diabetes - I think that if I was any prouder of her... my heart would burst.
A Happy Father's Day Indeed
Last year Cole and Arden got me a gorgeous baseball glove for Father's Day. I use that glove with them all of the time, and it's one of my favorite possessions. This year they surprised me with a new laptop so I could, "Write another book". It's a pretty great laptop, and a fine gift, but it's apparently not destine to be the best surprise of my 2013 Father's Day.
I've been giving a lot of interviews over the last few months to support my new book, and it sounds weird to say but because I don't get to see those interviews before they run, I never know what they are going to say or how the writer intends to use my answers. In short, what the reporter writes is nearly always a surprise to me.
I've been waiting for Father's Day with cautious optimism for an article to run in my hometown paper, The Bucks County Courier Times. Even at 41 years old... I was just super happy to think that my mom was going to sit down with her coffee today and see her little boy in the newspaper. What I got when I woke up today was far more amazing than I ever could have hoped for.
Besides the wonderful article, this piece also ran in two sister papers and online at PhillyBurbs.com. I'm still waiting for confirmation from someone at home (We are on vacation) but I'm hearing that the story may have also been blurbed (See image at top) on the front page of this mornings paper!
Happy Father's Day Indeed!
I hope that you all have a fantastic Father's Day, I want to wish you all the best. Thank you so much to Gwen Shift of the Courier for her great and touching words, to my family for being so loving and all of you for reading Arden's Day!
Video: My Interview with Katie Couric
This was, without a doubt, one of the highlights of my year.
I had the chance to sit down last week with Katie Couric at the ABC News studio in Manhattan. We talked about life as a stay-at-home dad, my new book, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal' and how I feel about family. The interview is live now on Yahoo News. I genuinely would appreciate if you could check out the video and share the link while you're there. Thank you so much!
There is no way for me to convey how fantastically down to earth and amazing Katie was. Our private conversations, both before and after the interview, were truly something that I will never forget.
Please know how grateful I am for the consistently jaw dropping support that I feel coming from all of you as this crazy year continues forward. From the personal messages, to the amazing book reviews that you leave online, a person could not possibly be more touched and humbled than I am today. - Best, Scott
Holy @#%&*$% A1C
Seven years in dog years is what, 49? Well in A1C years, it's 28. Arden has had twenty-eight A1c tests since she was diagnosed and most of them didn't go too well. As I've shared in the past, Arden's A1c began it's journey above nine and drifted lower over the years as I learned how to better manage diabetes. It wasn't until recently that we've made real strides in decreasing that elusive number.
From the American Diabetes Association's explantation of Estimated Average Glucose (eAG) - check it out!
August is rapidly approaching which can only mean two things around here. The seven year anniversary of Arden's diagnosis, and the sixth anniversary of this blog are both coming soon.
Seven years in dog years is what, 49? Well in A1C years, it's 28. Arden has had twenty-eight A1c tests since she was diagnosed and most of them didn't go too well. As I've shared in the past, Arden's A1c began it's journey above nine and drifted lower over the years as I learned how to better manage diabetes. It wasn't until recently that we've made real strides in decreasing that elusive number.
I spoke in the past about the things that I attribute to helping Arden's A1c to fall. Things like finding the correct insulin for Arden, and technology like her DexCom G4 and OmniPod insulin pump. I recently wrote about Arden's decision to stop eating Fruit Loops and I think that may have put us over the top in this battle against "the number".
One year ago Arden's A1c was 8.1. Nine months ago we made real progress, 7.5 and back in January it was 7.4. I loved that 7.4 because it showed that the reduction wasn't a fluke, we were on to something! Today when we went to her Endo appointment I was certain that we would see another incremental reduction, and I was secretly hoping for 7.1. As I watched the timer count down on the testing equipment, my heart sped up just a bit. The last 10 seconds ticked away slowly, as I hoped to see that 7.1.
I'm not sure how I kept the words in my head when I saw the number, but somehow I didn't say, "Holy F*ck" outloud when the machine displayed Arden's latest A1C.
It was 6.5.
Six point five.
Six and a half.
Arden's A1c had dropped .09 in five months. I must of read that wrong I thought, so I stood up and looked closer and there it was just as clear as day, 6.5. I turned to Arden and said, "We did it Arden!". Then, without missing a beat, Arden warned the nurse that I was going to cry - but I never did. I wanted to cry, I wanted to scream into the air but I just sat back down, smiled, and told the nurse how Arden decided all on her own after our last visit to stop eating cereal for breakfast. "This was all her", I told the phlebotomist, "Arden asked after her last A1C what she could do to help it to go lower and I told her... she did the rest".
Back in February when Arden's A1C was 7.5 I listed a few simple reason that I thought helped the most to decrease her average daily blood glucose. I'm going to post them again here and then add two new ones.
Support - Love and support from family, friends and teachers is huge.
Insulin Pump - Being able to give insulin quickly and unobtrusively for meals, snacks and high BGs.
CGM - Arden's DexCom is a window to the past, present and future of her BGs and I couldn't make the pinpoint adjustments that helped us get to this new level without it. It's sad to me each day that the FDA doesn't approve it's use for young people.
Over night monitoring - Arden is sleeping almost half of each day, if you can control the night then a few bumps during the day don't hit the A1c average so hard.
Apidra - Arden's BGs are move stable on Apidra then they ever were with the other insulin she was using in the past. Make sure you are using the insulin that works best for you... not just the one some sales person gave your doc.
D.O.C. - You all give me strength to do these things when I otherwise feel like I can't. It's knowing that one of you is awake, sad, crying, happy or running around out of your mind like me that makes me realize that I'm doing okay.
new
Aggressively dealing with BG spikes - You know the ones, after a site change or miscalculated meal. In the past I preferred smaller boluses in the attempt to avoid a low but now I lean on the CGM and smack a high number in the face, preferring to catch it with carbs if I've administered too much insulin. The other way always left me bolusing and rebolusing for hours on end. The only thing I was accomplishing was taking five hours to guide Arden's BG back into place. Now, insulin, watch, catch the fall - done.
The new way that we manage BGs during the school day - Arden has four more days of school left this year and she has NEVER been to the nurse for a diabetes related reason, never. Arden and I text and speak by cell phone to manage her moment to moment type I needs. This new plan is one of the keys to her A1C reduction. In the past, I would make insulin and carb decisions only when Arden was with the nurse. This schedule left large gaps of time when high BGs, miscalculated carbs and the other diabetes anomalies would be left unaddressed. Now, Arden can text me if her BG is slightly elevated after lunch and we make small adjustments as we would if she was home with me. Lows are handle in kind, no more big carb intakes because I won't be in contact with Arden for many hours. We bump borderline lows and readdress if that bump didn't do the trick. No longer is the school day an eight hour crap shoot, Arden's diabetes is being dealt with immediately when in acts up. I plan on speaking more about this at length in the coming months.
This seems like a good time to remind you that I am not a doctor and that there is a clear message at the bottom of this page that insists that you never take anything that I say as medical advice because I do not mean these words to be such. I would however suggest talking about these easy adjustments with your doctor...
Update
on 2013-06-11 19:02 by Scott Benner
I originally posted an image with this piece that had some bad information on it. Thank you to Sara (@saraknic on Twitter) for pointing it out and leading me to the new graphic from The American Diabetes Association. Please check out their page about Estimated Average Glucose (eAG) and howitrelatestoA1C. Very cool stuff!