All in a swim day

Monday afternoon we were sooo happy to have Wendy and the girls over for some summer swim fun! I tell ya..all those pictures of the Rose girls you see in Wendys blog just don't do justice! Addy, Maya and Kaelyn kept my girls LAUGHING over and over again all afternoon! Those little ones are too funny, they just made my day :) Beth and the kids came along too, pre-teens must hang out with other pre-teens ya know! Hannah and M....those two are growing up too fast!!
So whats happening on a HOT swim day when 3 kids and 1 mom all have Diabetes poolside? Well, I wish I could say Diabetes behaved without mention, but i can't. Ms Addy's 48 blood sugar during swimming broke my heart(sad when Diabetes interferes with fun!)but she seemed to not even notice the low as she happily sucked down her juice box within seconds. Then she was cheerfully on her way to find more fun. Maddison dropped from 146 to 72 within minutes of eating her lunch. Not a low per say, but with .8 units of insulin on board it was about to be! Thats called a good time for Gatorade and (gluten free)cookies poolside! Yes, lows are just a part of this game we play every day. Throw in some crazy swimming and I suppose we all did well considering we caught lows before they became SCARY!

Maddison's meter decided it was too hot outside (107 degrees people!) and wanted to be thrown in the ice chest zipper bag with all the insulin pumps to be kept cool.....See that tiny thermometer warning beside the number on the meter? Yep...even blood sugar meters don't do well in the heat! I wonder if that 146 mid-swimming was even accurate?

Then there's "M's" Navigator (continuous blood sugar monitor, displays BS reading every few minutes) that didn't behave as well as planned. Maybe it was the heat AGAIN? The Navigator wasn't picking up "M's" blood sugar readings as it should! UGH. Why are Diabetes devices so dang frustrating sometimes anyway? Picky Picky Picky! By the end of the swim day that darn Navigator sensor was barely hanging on.

And to end the swim day off in an even crazier way......it appears that when the kids were scooping ice out of the ice chest (too throw in the pool) the zip lock bag containing 4 insulin pumps, two meters, and one Navigator receiver BURST OPEN. Yep, as in, all was WET. Nearly $20,000 of Diabetes equipment that was supposed to be tightly sealed atop the ice was partially submerged in melting ice water. The good news is, Addy's insulin pump was fine. "M's pump was fine too, but the meter attached to her Cozmo....DEAD. Maddison's Freestyle Lite meter that once complained of being too hot just minutes before, was now DEAD cold. My meter was fine. Navigator receiver was fine......My pump (still wet inside from our last swim date!!) is now barely hanging on. Maddison's pump however, started to scream out loud. Yep. The alarms sounded....and then.....Maddison's pump was DEAD.

And who again comes to my rescue? Who will save the day when my little girl now has a DEAD pump and must resort to Lantus AND Novolog injections until her new Pancreas arrives?WENDY of course!! My CHERISHED friend!! This is the second time in months that Wendy has come to my rescue! Last time my pump failed she insisted I come pick up a vial of Lantus (we didnt used to have a back up plan!)instead of resorting to Novolog injections every few hours to fend off ketones and stay ALIVE. This time, Wendy just so happened to have a brand new Medtronic pump stashed away in her closet thanks to Mr Sanders. Thank you Wendy for loaning us the pump for the night!!

YIKES. I'm thinking from now on I'm leaving the pumps and meters INSIDE the house on hot swim days no matter how many times I have to run back and forth to grab them for a quick sugar check or bolus of missing basal! Thanks to Medtronic's speedy CS department I had a new pump for Maddison delivered to my work this morning at 10am sharp. Just like they promised, just 16 hours after calling them, overnight air :)

With the new replacement pumps in hand, I had to program ALL Maddison's basals, ratios, targets, sensitivities and specifics into the new ones! Thank goodness I started logging again a few weeks back when everything with Maddison's sugars started to go wonky! Just days ago I had written down every pump setting in Maddison's pump and started adjusting everything imaginable to fight off the highs. Its been ALOT of work getting Maddison's numbers back on track the past few weeks.....Thank you log book! Without an updated log I wouldn't have had any idea what I have changed recently in Maddison's insulin doses! Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who has a log book that looks like THIS.....the log pages with all the highlighted numbers were HIGHS that needed attention. When I started this new blood sugar log three weeks ago Maddison's average was around 210. After lots of highlighting highs, adjusting and logging EVERY detail of Maddison's day, I can now say I have her back on track! Her meter average now shows 170. Not bad for just three weeks of logging and adjusting.

By dinner time Maddison's meter appeared to be dried out and ready to work. Not so sure I could trust the number that may appear.....we got a 46 the first time around! WHAT!!?? She doesn't even feel low! I'm re-checking that with my own meter! 48. AHHH! Juice!! Bring out the control solution to see if that meter is working correctly after its little swim in the ice chest! Its working just fine, she sure is 48!

Recheck 15 minutes later.....she's 281!!?? NO WAY! I'm cleaning that finger again and rechecking that....she's 152. I agree! Damn Diabetes! Enough chaos for one day dont ya think? Time for blood sugars to behave! I wish they did. For whatever reason hours and hours later Maddison hit 403 somewhere between midnight and 2am. -Sigh-

Yep, all this in just one swim day at our house! It's been a l-o-n-g summer already! Despite the Diabetes interuptions, it was a ton of fun to have everyone over and I can't wait to do it again! Of course, the pumps and meters will stay inside the nice cool house this time! Love ya Wendy and Beth!