Diabetes and Fear
Come back Monday and we'll talk about #DiabetesAndFear
Arden was diagnosed with type I diabetes on August 22, 2006 – just a few weeks after her second birthday. One year later, having never read a blog in my life, I began to write Arden's Day. My goal back then was to share with family and friends what living with type I was like so that they could hopefully understand our new life a bit better.
Before long someone shared the site with a person outside of my circle and a month later I received my first email from a mother who lived in England – she was thanking me for sharing our life with type I diabetes and wanted me to know that my blog was helping her family.
It would be an understatement to say that I wasn't expecting that.
At the end of her note the woman offered me her support should I ever need it... that was my first interaction with someone in the diabetes community. That email reshaped my intention for this blog. I gave it a name, bought a url and set about sharing our days with the hope that our struggles may make yours a little easier.
In honor of Arden's last eight years of living with type I diabetes, I will be dedicating all of next week to stories about diabetes fear – with the hope that our struggles may make yours a little easier.
Beginning on Monday I will post five blogs - one each day - about how I overcame the biggest problem that diabetes brought to my life. I'll talk about the specter that arrive at the moment Arden was diagnosis, tell you the stories of how we escaped it, muse a bit about life since I got rid of it. And talk about what to do if it should comes back.
Come back Monday and we'll talk about #DiabetesAndFear
JDRF Partner ViaCyte to Immediately Initiate Type 1 Diabetes Clinical Trial
We are extremely pleased the FDA has allowed the company to move forward with a human clinical trial of its innovative type 1 diabetes (T1D) encapsulated cell replacement therapy...
From JDRF.org
JDRF’s partner ViaCyte recently announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is allowing them to move forward with a clinical trial of its innovative type 1 diabetes (T1D) encapsulated cell replacement therapy called VC-01™ product candidate. The company plans to immediately initiate the first ever clinical evaluation of a stem cell-derived islet replacement therapy for the treatment of people with T1D. The trial will enroll approximately 40 people at multiple clinical sites.
Trials on people, not mice.
Vote for Sierra Sandison so she can #ShowMeYourPump on Television
Vote for Sierra Sandison to put an insulin pump wearing contestant on television during the Miss America Pageant. Takes 5 seconds, no kidding.
People's Choice: Miss America
There will only be 15 contestants featured on television during the Miss America pageant next month and WE have the ability to vote for one of them...
It takes less than 5 seconds to vote: Let's use those five seconds to propel Sierra Sandison, our favorite insulin pump wearing pageant contestant, into the top 15!
VOTE, VOTE, VOTE!
Just click on this link and check the only option you will see (it says, "Click here to vote for Miss Idaho 2014 Sierra Sandison), then press the "Finish Survey" button and you are done, it's that easy. Voting ends on September 12th.
Let's all help Sierra take #ShowMeYourPump from the Internet to your television and give her the chance to tell the world what that thing on her hip does.
After you finish please share the People's Choice news with your friends any way that you can. Use my social media share button below, write a note on your favorite social media platform and include this link - http://bit.ly/SS-AD - or shout from the highest mountain!
#DOC
#ShowMeYourPump
Coco and Friends are now Digital Books!
As a writer, I normally prefer when people buy books -- but I'm very happy to make an exception for this!
As a writer, I normally prefer when people buy books -- but I'm very happy to make an exception for this!
From: t1everydaymagic.com
Lilly Diabetes and Disney have joined together to create special materials for type 1 families, including popular books that cover real-life issues. Now, you can experience them right here on your desktop or tablet! This site also features inspirational videos, carb-friendly recipes and other useful resources for type 1 families like yours. As you explore, find out about all the other supportive Lilly Diabetes programs and initiatives for your family
There are currently six titles available to read online: Coco Goes Back to School, Hannah Montana: Uptight, Running Interference, Up for the Challenge, Coco and Goofy's Goofy Day and Power Forward.
You can also access the recipes of the 'Dishing It Up Disney Style' cookbook.
No CGM, No Problem
I completed a rather exhaustive set of parent, user and creator interviews last week about CGM in the Cloud.
Arden turned ten years old in July but in softball years she is consider to be nine. 9u Little League all star play is a one tournament and done setup -- district play does't begin until 10u when it is then possible to play in a District, Section, State and finally Regional tournament (The World Series only exist at 12u).
Arden's team won the 9 tournament in our district and with that, softball was to be over.
Until she tried out for the 10u team and made it as a sub. Now you know, if you already didn't, that the "u' in the age bracket stands for "and under".
Arden's 9u tournament began in early June before school was over and they practiced for weeks before the Father's Day tournament. SO she had already been playing for a while when..
The 10u practices started just days later in June and on the evening of August 8th, the 10s played their last game. Three straight months of softball. There were practice almost daily and games when there weren't practices. It's been a mild summer here but at times the heat has been grueling. Blood glucose levels have been mostly stable during play but late night lows have been more common this year than in the past. We are handling it well.
With three games left in the Regional Tournament, oh yea by the way... they won the whole thing (Arden had the winning hit in the championship game). Anyway, with three games left in the fourth tournament Arden showed up at the field without her CGM. Too far from the hotel to go get it, we went old school diabetes and never missed a beat.
With DexCom we test after warmups which is about thirty minutes before the game begins and make any adjustments that are necessary. After that Arden uses hand signals (she holds up her fingers) about every two innings to let us know what her DexCom is reading. If there is an issue, we handle it.
Without DexCom we tested after warmups which was about thirty minutes before the game began and made the necessary adjustments (she needed a few carbs). After that Arden used hand signals (thumbs up or thumbs down) about every two innings to let us know how she felt. We tested before the fourth inning. There were no issues.
Why did I blog this non-story about not having Arden's CGM?
I completed a rather exhaustive set of parent, user and creator interviews last week about CGM in the Cloud (I'll be explaining CGM in the Cloud soon for those who aren't aware) and if I'm being quite honest, I'm still wrapping my head around all that I learned. So much good stuff there, between having better access to data and comfort for parents, but there's something about it that makes me uneasy and I'm trying to find the words to share that feeling without diminishing the joy that I felt hearing the parents talk about their peace of mind and the people who are using the data to better their health. But there is a conversation to be had about fear and I want to have it... just need to find the words.
More great blog posts of Arden's Day