Saturday, Day #2 (Part 2) of Friends For Life Canada

After lunch on the second day all of a sudden we had two seminars simultaneously....hmmm what to do? what to do?  Oh ya, I have my husband here with me.  We GOT this :)

My husband attended Managing Hypoglycemia with Gary Scheiner and BOY DID HE LEARN A LOT... about what we are doing WRONG with Cara & LOWS and he is going to share that with you right now...

So with out further ado please put your hands together and welcome my very first guest blogger...my husband,

Thank you, Nic.  I am writing this VERY reluctantly, but by following Gary's points he says you should be able to reduce lows by 80%,  we all know that is easier said than done and of course...before making any changes to your diabetes plans please seek medical advise, we are not doctors, we are just sharing what were helpful points for us.

• Set a Target  - a mild low according to Gary is 4mmols and less than 10% of readings should be below this target.Gary divides lows into three categories (we consider a low to be anything less then 5mmols), moderate less than 3 and Severe which would mean the person would be unconscious or unable to consume foods.   
• proper insulin program setup - do a basal test, all you pumpers know this is the only way to match natural basal needs. 
• caution during high risk days which means a day after a severe low the body requires 24hrs to return to "normal"
• account for insulin on board when correcting: 1hr 70%, 2hr 40% 3hrs 10% and 4hrs 0%
• accurate carb counting, I find this to be the most difficult with a 5 yr old
• large portions extend digestion times.  We often see this with pasta and pizza, very difficult for us to get right, on a pump a extended or split bolus works well to counter length of digestion
• activity - reduce bolus by 25-35% returning to normal 15min before activity concludes to cover post workout spike
• Watch for delay onset hypoglycemia, can occur up to 24hrs after exercise, pumper's can lower basal rate
• keep accurate records, best way to determine changes to insulin plan is to know exactly what was going on with our food and activity when we have lows and highs. Nic's least favorite thing to do.
• lows are best treated with dextrose, or foods high on the glycemic index.  This next point was a big surprise to me, but juice is not that best/fastest treatment for a low.  It takes much longer than dextrose to start acting. 
• don't over correct, a forty pound child with a blood sugar of 4 should receive 6 carbs.  We were always treating with 15 and then fighting highs.
• to restore hypo awareness, increase your target bg and avoiding any lows for 14 days.  

Of course you should consult your doctor before making any changes to you plan, but a few good points Nic and I wanted to share.  I am sure Gary has a lot more in his book Think like a Pancreas.  As you can see I wasn't able to follow Nic's instructions on "keep it short", but I didn't know what to leave out, all good info...


While he was learning all that good stuff I was learning Carb Counting Basics with Dana Dignard, well kind of?!? There was a mom in the "class" who's daughter was diagnosed 11 weeks prior and she was having a HELL of a time.  I could not even imagine myself at FFL only 11weeks into D and most of the discussion was heavily focused on trying to help her and her daughter.  Dana did share a website that I still need to check out www.ellynsatter.com

After a snack break and hanging with the girls for a bit it was time to get some more education,

Next up for me, Managing Transitions in Childhood with Jill Weissberg-Benchell.  Jill is a Pediatric Psychologist and because I love my children soooo much I'm willing to sign over my guardianship of them to her BECAUSE she is AMAZING (this of course is a joke).  If we all had mothers like her...ahhh, no...I won't go there...but trust me every single thing that came out of that woman's mouth I wanted to frame and hang on my wall, I'm not kidding!! My neck hurt from nodding in agreement so much.

As I was hanging on to every single word that Jill was saying my husband was Making Sense of Sensor Data with once again Gary Scheirner.


Hello again, This session was much more technical, with lots of charts and graphs, but what I did get out of it was sensors are a more than important part of pumping and pump setup and should be on the top of every T1's next year Christmas wish list. HO.HO.HO

LOL, ya Cara would just love that gift!!

While trying to digest all that wonderful food & information it was time for a nap, we all went back to our room and passed out for about an hour before we started to get ready for The Family & Friends Banquet & Dance in the Grand Ballroom.  And thank goodness we had a nap because my dear Kirstin and I closed the dance floor with all the teens :)  that's right, we got some moves!!

Cara had gotten a blister half way though the night and my husband was happy to take her swimming but not before my two shorties burned up the dance floor.  See video below...

a little break dancing...Oh Ya!

one of many conga lines and Kirstin was in every single one

Somewhere between the amazing break dancing and the 500th conga line it hit me like a ton of wet soggy bricks, if it was not for type 1 diabetes the horrible beast that it is, we would never had the chance to be here at this very moment, laughing & smiling & dancing, we would never have had the chance to meet all these wonderful people and make some who I'm sure will be amazing new friends and we most defiantly would never have had this most wondrous, inspiring weekend. So don't pass out or anything when you read what I'm about to write BUT thank you type 1 diabetes for giving me these moments!!

Boy that was a long post today, stay tune for Day 3 and some wonderful friends...later!