News: Two Apple medical trials shed light on how HealthKit will work
Apple is trying to get into the blood glucose testing market.
Highlights From the Rueters article:
Two prominent U.S. hospitals are preparing to launch trials with diabetics and chronic disease patients using Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) HealthKit, offering a glimpse of how the iPhone maker's ambitious take on healthcare will work in practice.
Longhurst said that in the first Stanford trial, young patients with Type 1 diabetes will be sent home with an iPod touch to monitor blood sugar levels between doctor's visits.
DexCom Inc (DXCM.O), which makes blood sugar monitoring equipment, is in talks with Apple, Stanford, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about integrating with HealthKit, said company Chief Technical Officer Jorge Valdes.
Video: Sierra Sandison on Dr. Oz #ShowMeYourPump
Sierra Sandison became Miss Idaho 2014, dreamt up the viral hashtag #ShowMeYourPump and is competing to be Miss America – all with her insulin pump clipped at her side.
Now she's on the Dr. Oz Show showing her pump to his audience and making every person with diabetes about as proud as can be.
I first met Sierra in July when I interviewed her about the events that led up to her #ShowMeYourPump tweet; which inspired people everywhere to share photos of themselves with their insulin pumps. During our conversation I learned about McCall Salinas and how a talk that she had with Sierra led to the Miss Idaho wearing her insulin pump on stage.
The Miss America Pageant is on ABC Sunday at 9 pm est. The top 15 contestant make it to the live stage and I'm hoping, as I imagine are all of you, that we see Sierra show her pump Sunday night on national television. Good luck Sierra, the entire diabetes community is behind you!
Diabetes Breaking Bad
I wrote about this the day after it happened a few months ago but haven't posted until now.
My story about last night begins one week prior... it is an epic opus that answers the age old question, "Will diabetes ever get easier".
My son Cole and I left for Virginia early last Friday morning to attend a four day baseball tournament. The ride took nearly six hours and the games began soon after we arrived. It was during that road trip that I first notice how different the weekend would be without Arden with me, you know, because when I got hungry and reached for a snack... I realized that I didn't pack any food for the trip. If Arden was with me – I would have had enough food to feed ten people.
The next thing I knew I was at a rest stop paying $400 for pretzels and an iced tea, it occurred to me as we checked out that this was the first time that I didn't experience any sort of separation anxiety about leaving Arden in another person's care. Don't get me wrong, my wife is an amazing D-Mom, but I still worry. You know what? It's not worry, it's more a feeling of shirking my responsibilities. This was the first time that I didn't feel like I was passing off my responsibility, it was the first time I didn't feel guilty. "Maybe", I thought, "maybe diabetes is getting easier?".
Kelly and I spoke once during the four day trip (Cole's team came in second place!) about diabetes, Kelly was handling things perfectly and really just needed help deciding if a high BG she was battling with was food or pump related. When she called, I felt like a consultant.
When we returned home Monday night it was almost eight in the evening, thirty minutes later Kelly and Arden arrived at the house from Arden's softball practice. Kelly promptly packed a suitcase and left for a three day business trip. We almost didn't see each other except to pass on the details of Arden's BGs.
The next morning I was unprepared for reality and still pretty tired from all of the driving I did on Interstate 95 so I took the kids to a morning movie. We sat down with a little popcorn, ready to enjoy the show. Then things broke bad...
Arden's insulin pump experienced an error and shut down about half way through delivering her popcorn bolus. I took a deeeeeep breath and said, "No big deal, just eat a little less popcorn and I'll keep an eye on you BG with the DexCom receiver". I remember thinking that we could stay for the movie and Arden could snack a little. I didn't want to drag everyone out of the theater and back home. Arden looked disappointed to begin with (and hungry) and she had brought a friend with her. Lots to consider. I reached into her bag for the DexCom receiver, and it never ceases to amaze me when this happens but, it also was having trouble operating.
I'm not going to lie, I recited a string of extremely offensive curse words to myself as I looked down at those tiny, glowing and useless screen.
Arden looked mortified and asked, "We have to leave, right?". I replied, "No way! I want to see the dragon movie, we are staying... just eat the popcorn really slow – like one piece at a time. I know that sucks but its better than leaving, we can go home after and take care of all this".
And that's what we did. Then we went straight home put on a new pump, changed the pesky CGM sensor and bolused like there was no tomorrow. Arden's BG was back to normal again in a couple of hours.
The next few days haven't gone much better. We have a couple of overused sites that need a break, sensors haven't been giving the best feedback and when I finish writing I have to call Insulet because Arden's PDM is causing her Pods to error every time I change the batteries. But none of those annoyances can hold a candle to last night.
Last night was one of the longest diabetes nights that I have ever lived through. Unexpectedly high numbers led to blousing that didn't accomplish much. Those boluses led to an injection, that led to a pod change and more bolusing... I didn't close my eyes at 6:30 am. It was the first time that I was glad that I missed 'Breaking Bad' when it was first on television because no show makes you not care how exhausted you are quite like 'Breaking Bad'.
Kelly is still away for work so the last I did before watching the sun come up was to send my son a text that read,
"Cole. Arden's BG was tough last night. I didn't go to sleep until after 6:30am. Please watch her CGM and wake me if you need to. Don't let me sleep past 11:30. Thanks!"
These last few days have been as unpredictable and taxing as I can recall and I'm fine. I didn't make myself nuts when I left Arden last week, I didn't overreact when shit went wrong, never felt scared at the theater or when I woke up this morning. It's just another day at the office but not because diabetes gets easier, it never gets easier – you just get much better at it (which is kind of the same thing but, you know, different).
Learning to Live with Diabetes
I didn't expect to be so deeply effected when I spoke to a group of D Parents.
Way back in January I received an email from a lovely woman named Carla who is a D Mom, an advocate and a volunteer for a charity called Learning to Live that helps children with diabetes. Thing is where Carla lives, they call the charity Aprendiendo a Vivir because it's in the Dominican Republic.
Carla's email asks if I would come and give a speech at an event they were having that concludes with a 10k. My short answer was, "I'd be honored, but don't speak a word of Spanish and I don't run".
Carla didn't care, she said they would find me a translator and I could walk the 10k. I found apprehensive about traveling to a place where I would mostly be mute, invited by a stranger who found me through my book and blog – but something told me that I should go, so that's just what I did.
I thought that I was prepared to meet children who have limited access to diabetes care and supplies. But when I arrived on the island and began to talk to the people who run the charity, I quickly realized that I didn't - though I thought that I did - have an appreciation for what having diabetes outside of America meant.
Dominicans who do not have private insurance or the means to provide for themselves rely on local hospitals for their supplies. It is not uncommon for a person to receive thirty test strips per month – one a day. That concept overtook me and I struggled to imagine how I would best utilize one test strip a day, keeping Arden healthy with only one strip seemed impossible.
I heard stories about children dying very young from completely ignored diabetes, families that weren't educated about the diseases but trying and others who were culturally predisposed to accept that life with diabetes meant that it would be greatly shortened. After seeing first-hand what having diabetes in the Dominican Republic was truly like and hearing about families, some who existed on the equivalent of one thousand dollars annually; I returned to my room on the first evening of my visit and threw away my speech. I'm still not sure if anything I said the next day was helpful, but I tried my best to relate our experiences in a way that would make sense to the parents listening.
Aprendiendo a Vivir was founded by a young man named José who happened to be studying in America when he diagnosed with type I, when he returned home and saw the difference between the education, tools and understanding that he was given in the U.S. and what was available to his fellow countryman; he sprung into action and created a network that supports children with diabetes in a way that left me awe inspired.
I was so concerned when I stepped onto the stage that what I was about to say wouldn't translate both in language and spirit but when I finished speaking a young mother brought her little girl to me so she could show me her insulin pump. She was very proud of her daughter's pump because their aren't many people living on D.R. that can afford one. I sat down on the edge of the stage and found a picture of Arden with her pump to share, when I showed the little girl Arden's picture she just smiled and hugged me.
A moment later as I walked through the crowd a mother stopped me to say thank you for mentioning that diabetes doesn't make you a broken person. She confided in me that her grown son's father is not accepting of his diabetes because he see's him as damaged. She added that it made her happy to see a father supporting his child with diabetes. I didn't quite know how to respond, so I hugged her just as the little girl had hugged me. We both cried.
As it turns out, it didn't matter that I don't speak any Spanish.
More images from the event can be found in my Image Gallery here.
*I misspoke during the address, Kris Freeman is a 4 time Olympian, not a 4 time gold medalist.
I Feel Really Dizzy
Nothing diabetes can do to us – is as harmful as living in fear.
It took three consecutive wins on one of the most grueling summer days that I can remember, for then eight year old Arden and her friends to become champions of their softball district in the summer of 2013.
If I recall correctly it was around the fourth inning of game two that Arden pushed open the dugout gate waving her hands at me. I jumped up and moved swiftly in her direction, she was repeating something that I couldn't make out until I got closer.
"I feel really dizzy."
Moments later I was in the dugout with Arden, I didn't bother to check her blood glucose before I gave her the first juice box. She would eventually consume over sixty carbs to get her blood sugar up to only 131.
Her BG dropped so quickly that the DexCom CGM didn't alarm until she was drinking her juice, by that time I had already tested – she was 37. The glucose monitor caught up to what was happening moments later and that's when I saw that not only was her BG 37, it was falling at a rate of greater than 3 points per minute.
Arden's spot in the line-up didn't come up in that inning and she didn't go back onto the field after her teammates batted. Arden spent that time lying on the bench with her head on my lap, waiting for the sugar to be absorbed. She told me that she was dizzier than she had ever been, her head hurt, she was flustered, a bit disoriented – it was one of the saddest things that I've ever witnessed as a parent. Until it wasn't.
Arden twice stood up during that time to check herself, hoping to feel better before her friends were finished on defense. She was beyond determined not to miss her at-bat that was due to come up when they got off of the field. Twice she stood in front of me looking ragged while pressing her hands against her temples, trying in vain to make her head stop spinning.
I told this story after it happened but I'm telling again for my #DiabetesAndFear series because even though it's only been a year, I now have a more complete perspective than I did that day.
Last year I was proud of Arden for being tough in the face of adversity. I felt resolute, if not a bit unsure, with my decision to let her hit at her next at-bat. That was the narrative then, proud with a touch of diabetes can't stop Arden.
Today I know that this moment taught us both a greater lesson. We live in a time where many parents try very hard to remove obstacles, no one wants to see their children struggle but I think that a person is made in those struggles and you find out what you're made of when challenged. In a world where I've seen kids leave a sports event because they skinned their knee, my daughter stood at the precipice of having a seizure, she did what she needed to survive – bore down and then won a championship.
This event happened almost 7 years after Arden was diagnosed. I would not have handled this the same way had it happened years earlier. When I was scared of diabetes this would have sent me running for our house and I may never have come out again. It is with great luck that I can tell you that other, smaller events like this happened before last year and they helped me to be able to find a calm focus on this day. Tomorrow, I'll tell you about one of those small moments.
I am reverent of what insulin can do and while there was a time when I was scared of it's power, watching Arden shrug off it's best punch taught me that this is the diabetes version of a skinned knee. Maybe it's not fair that this is our reality, but I am unwilling to allow the added concern to create a life of regrets. I am never reckless with my children's safety but I will be damned if I'm going to allow what was an anomalous event, to bring back the fear that enveloped me when Arden was a toddler.
Nothing diabetes can do to us – is as harmful as living in fear. You can believe me now or believe me later, but I can tell you this with certainty. I miss the time that we lost to being afraid and we can't get it back.
#DiabetesAndFear don't have to go together.