September 10, 2022 • 54 mins
This episode is all about our summer of 2022. We had such a busy but FUN few months with, of course, type 1 diabetes tagging along every step of the way. Listen in as I talk about traveling with type 1, what to pack for those long trips, summers camps, swimming, keeping those devices on in the heat and during water activities and a little about our switch from the DIY Loop system to the Omnipod 5 automated system. It was a whirlwind, y'all! Enjoy and be sure to check out all the links below to the episodes and products that were mentioned throughout!
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OTHER INFO MENTIONED IN THE SHOW
Mom's Night Out hosted by Stacey Simms in Charlotte, NC
Episode #53 featuring Moira McCarthy
Episode #8 all about TSA Cares
Episode #56 with Stacey Simms
Loop Docs Website
Looped Facebook Group
T1Pal Website (they will build Nightscout for you)
Simpatch patches on Amazon
Skintac on Amazon
IV Prep on Amazon
Cavilon Barrier Cream on Amazon
Follow the show on Instagram @sugarmamaspodcast
Come join the Facebook Group!
Visit the Sugar Mama's Podcast Website
Donate to the show through Buy Me a Coffee!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Katie (00:00):
Hey everybody.
It's Katie.
And this is episode 84 of thesugar mamas podcast today.
I just want to unpack my summerof 2022.
We had so much going on.
It was so busy.
You may have noticed, cause Iactually took three weeks off
from the podcast to.
Take a break because of traveland mostly travel.
(00:24):
I just didn't want to be editinga podcast while I was on
vacation.
So between the three big tripsthat we took, we went to flew
into Nevada, did Arizona, and alittle bit of Utah.
To go to Zion national park.
And then I spent a week atsummer camp with my two oldest
kids chaperoning that situation.
It was a church camp.
And then we went to lake lore,North Carolina for a week, which
(00:47):
is something that we do everyyear with some of our friends
and family.
So it was a very busy summer.
Sarah also did.
Let's see.
A week of art camp.
She did a week of just kind oflike a general summer camp.
And she did a three dayVolleyball camp during the
summer.
So she was a very busy lady.
There wasn't a ton of downtimefor her.
(01:09):
I mean, vacations are downtime,but you know what I mean?
So it was big.
So I want to talk to you alittle About travel.
I want to talk to you aboutillness because we had our first
major illness with type onediabetes.
It was actually when we were onvacation.
Since Sarah to the hospital.
So I want to talk about that alittle bit and what we learned.
We swam a ton.
We have a pool in our backyard.
(01:30):
We also love going to the beach.
We also spent a week at a lakehouse, so there was just tons of
water activity.
We went to a couple ofwaterparks, so it was definitely
a summer of fun and the sun.
And in the water.
So I want to talk to you aboutthat and about devices and
keeping devices on and the besttechnique that we have found to
do that.
(01:50):
I want to talk to you aboutsending Sarah to summer camps,
that weren't diabetes camps andjust how I handled that.
And then another huge thing thatwe did was we switched from the
DIY loop system to the Omni Omnipod five system at the very end
of the summer.
That was a huge deal for us.
I really wrestled with thedecision of whether or not I
wanted to do that.
(02:11):
And I'll explain a little bit ofthat later.
But first we're going to do ourintro.
And we will jump in by me, justtalking a little bit about.
My summer mindset.
And how it has changed from lastsummer.
To now.
Because this is our secondsummer with type one diabetes.
Okay.
Let's get started.
(02:36):
You're listening to the sugarmamas podcast, a show designed
for moms and caregivers of typeone diabetics here.
You'll find a community oflike-minded people who are
striving daily to keep theirkids safe, happy, and healthy in
the ever-changing world of typeone.
I'm your host and fellow T one Dmom, Katie Roseboro.
(02:58):
Before we get started.
I need you to know that nothingyou hear on the sugar mamas
podcast should be consideredmedical advice.
Please be safe, be smart, andalways consult your physician
before making changes to the wayyou manage type one diabetes.
Thanks.
Okay.
(03:18):
My friends, before we start theshow, we have an exciting
announcement from Stacy Sims
host
of the diabetes connections podcast, Stacy has
put together something veryspecial for type one moms in her
community, which is in andaround Charlotte, North
Carolina.
Let's take a quick listen, andthen get back to the show.
Stacey Simms (03:37):
What's one thing you need as a mom of a child
with type one, it's time toyourself.
I know, go ahead and laugh, butthere really is a way to treat
yourself to some time away withother moms who get it.
I'm Stacy Sims and my son wasdiagnosed with type one almost
16 years ago, just before heturned two.
Since then I have attendeddozens of diabetes, conferences
(03:59):
and meetups, and now I've takenthe best stuff from those.
And created something brand new.
I'm calling it mom's night outand we're gonna have lots of
diabetes technology for you tosee and learn about stress
relieving, social time, whereyou can meet other moms, just
like us and speakers who willleave us feeling energized and
ready to face the challenges ofparenting a child with T one D.
(04:22):
Katie's gonna hook you up withall the info, but head on over
to diabetes.
Dash connections.com to getstarted.
Mom's night out is happening inJanuary in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
I hope to see you there.
I can't wait.
Katie (04:35):
Thanks so much, Stacy, if you're interested in signing up
for that event, or you want tofind out more information.
Check out the link that I willleave in the show notes.
All right, you guys let's getback to the show.
All right guys, before we diveinto everything that we did this
summer, I just want to talk toyou about my summer mindset in
general.
So if you remember my daughter,Sarah.
She was diagnosed in the middleof August of 20, 20.
(04:58):
She was eight years old and itwas the day before she started
third grade.
So it was at the very tail endof the pandemic summer.
So I don't count that summer asbeing our first summer with
diabetes, even though Sarahcertainly was showing signs and
symptoms of having type oneprobably for weeks, if not
months before she was actuallydiagnosed, but we weren't
(05:19):
dealing with diabetes managementat that time.
Because we had no idea.
So I do not consider that ourfirst summer with type one
diabetes.
So she gets diagnosed.
You know, we obviously had thedeal with all the school stuff,
getting her settled in school,learning how to manage diabetes.
The school year, it goes by.
She finishes third grade.
Thank God.
And the summer is upon us.
And I remember thinking thatvery first summer with type one
(05:41):
diabetes.
So that would be the summer of2021.
I remember thinking, oh my gosh,I'm so excited to have Sarah
home with me during the summer.
It's going to be so greatbecause she'll be close to me
all day long.
I'll be able to keep a littlebit more of a tighter control on
her blood sugars.
And it's just going to be somuch easier having her home and
(06:01):
not having to kind of juggle thewhole texting diabetes
situation.
And not having a nurse at theschool and then interrupting her
teacher's day.
If there was kind of like a lowblood sugar emergency.
So I was just so ready for herto be home with me during the
summer to have better control.
What I didn't realize is thatnone of that Managing diabetes
(06:23):
was not easier in the summer.
In fact, I honestly think it'sso much harder to manage
diabetes in the summer.
Now that's not to say that otherparts of life aren't easier,
right?
It's always a give and a takeand a trade off because.
I would say lots, lots aboutlife is easier in the summer.
I love having a break of nothaving to pack school lunches,
(06:45):
packing school lunches are thebane of my existence.
And I know everybody says, haveyour kids pack their own
lunches?
And they do a lot of the time,or at least they'll help me kind
of figure out what they want tohave.
But you know how it is, like theday gets away from you and all
of a sudden it's bedtime andit's like, Aye.
I don't, we don't have time foryou to pack your lunch, or I
(07:06):
don't want to deal with this ateight 30 at night.
Like just go to bed.
So anyway.
I load packing lunches.
I always love summertime to havea break from that.
I just love, I just lovesummertime.
I'm a Florida girl through andthrough.
I love being in the pool.
I love being at the beach.
I just love the more relaxed.
Summer vibe.
I love a break from homework.
Oh my gosh.
(07:26):
Can't stand, have him to help mykids with homework.
I'm really sounding like a greatparent.
I know, but you know, it's justalways sister struggle.
I mean, I'm happy to help themand I'm glad I'm available to do
that, but you know how it islike Do so much better listening
to their teachers and they do totheir parents trying to be their
teacher.
And explain how to do longdivision.
I also love just having a breakfrom extracurriculars.
(07:48):
You know, we don't, I don't haveto shuffle people here, there,
and everywhere to baseball,practice and dance.
It's really wonderful.
However, while all of thosethings are a nice break from
life, I would say managing typeone, diabetes is a lot harder in
the summer and it's definitelybecause.
There is no routine, you know,in school they eat lunch at the
(08:09):
same time.
Every day, they eat snack at thesame time every day.
You know that they're going tobe sitting and doing schoolwork
from this time to this time.
And at this time they're goingto go outside on the playground.
So you know what their scheduleand what their activity levels
and when they're eating, whenall that's going to happen
during the day, well, in thesummer, there's no schedule,
there's no routine, unless ofcourse they're out of summer
(08:32):
camp.
But.
That was so hard for me, youknow?
People would wake up and theywouldn't want to eat breakfast
until 10 30.
And then right after theybreakfast, they'd want to jump
in the pool.
But they had all this insulin onboard.
From their breakfast bolus.
And then maybe at two o'clock,we'd get around to eating lunch,
but it's not a real lunchbecause people just want to eat
cheese sticks and yogurt forlunch.
(08:53):
And then who knows when we'regoing to be eating snack later
in the day.
And there's late nights becausepeople are staying up later.
We don't have to have that tightbedtime.
People are getting in and out ofthe pool, again, running up down
the street, playing withfriends.
I mean, it all sounds magicaland wonderful, and it is, but
when it comes to managing typeone diabetes in the midst of all
that, it makes it prettychallenging.
And I know some of you arethinking some of you type a moms
(09:15):
out there are thinking like OKT,you could just have a routine
and have a schedule during thesummer.
Like you could tell your kids.
We're eating snacks at 10o'clock every day.
End of story.
And we're eating lunch every dayat 1230, blah, blah, blah.
But, you know what?
That's just not how I roll.
That is not my personality.
I have tried.
(09:36):
Schedules like that.
And I just feel like that neverworks for me.
Like we always fail at keepingto a routine and a schedule in
the summer when it comes toeating lunch and snack and
things like that.
I am definitely that mom, thatevery single summer I'm like,
okay guys, we're going to do a15 minutes of math and 15
minutes of reading every day.
And I bought you these workbooksand look at these aren't they
(09:58):
great.
And then about two weeks intosummer, I'm like, you know what,
forget this, this was a badidea.
Let's just go to the beachinstead.
So that's the kind of mom I am.
If you're looking to a littleinsight into my world But
anyway, so.
All that to say.
Just give yourself some grace inthe summertime, things are off
schedule, things are off routinethat makes managing type one a
(10:19):
little bit more challenging.
So just keep that in mind, gowith the flow.
I will say this summer was a lotwith the swimming situation,
cause I've kind of learned.
How to manage insulin and bloodsugars while Sarah is swimming.
And I will talk a little bitabout that later in the episode.
Please always keep in mind.
I am not a doctor.
(10:39):
I am not an endocrinologist.
I'm not a diabetes educator.
I'm just sharing with you allwhat we do and what has worked
for us most of the time and ourexperiences.
And maybe that will get the ballrolling for you or give you some
ideas, but I'm not telling youwhat to do.
I'm just telling you what we doso you can kind of compare
notes.
All right, let's talk a littlebit about traveling.
(11:00):
Listen, if you are a newlydiagnosed family.
And you have travel plans comingup.
And you are a little bitfreaking out about those travel
plans, because now you have tothink about and worry about
diabetes while you are onvacation.
I'm here to tell you that it'sgoing to be okay and do not let
fear.
Control your decisions when itcomes to travel plans and
(11:22):
vacation plans.
you just keep on keeping on withthe plans that you have or the
dreams that you have, or thevacation bucket list that you
wrote down five years Do notcancel your travel plans or your
vacation plans because of typeone diabetes.
my favorite piece of advice thatI have ever been told was by.
Was from Maura McCarthy.
(11:43):
She is the author of raisingteens with diabetes.
I interviewed her in a previousepisode, I will leave a link to
that episode in the show notes,but she said to me, Ask
yourself, by the way, she has adaughter with type one who is
grown and flown out of the houseand doing really, really well in
life.
So she's a seasoned type one Andshe told me, ask yourself, what
(12:06):
would the answer have beenbefore diabetes?
If the answer would've been yes.
That it needs to be yes.
Even after diabetes, you justhave to figure out how to make
it work.
If the answer would have been nobefore diabetes, then the answer
needs to be now after diabetes.
I like to think of the exampleof, you know, I've never been
the mom that's like here kids.
(12:27):
here's a dozen donuts fromDunkin have at it.
I'm like, okay, we're going togo out and get donuts, but we're
going to get one donut becausereally, and truly, nobody needs
more than one donut.
We're going to continue eatingdonuts, even though one of our
family members now has type onediabetes, but we're also going
to continue with our.
Rule of you make it one donut atSo it's stuff like that.
(12:49):
What I have said no to threedonuts before diabetes.
Yes.
And am I still going to say noto three donuts after diabetes?
Uh,
He, I, I am.
I had a mom reach out to meonce.
And she was just in a panicbecause her teenage son had just
gotten diagnosed with type one.
It was right at the end of theschool year and they had all
these travel plans for summerand she just.
(13:10):
Was.
Very very concerned about whattheir vacation was going to look
like.
Now that type one diabetes wasin the mix.
I told her and I encouraged her.
You just have to go and do it.
You have to show your child thatlife is not going to stop.
Or be put on pause because ofthis disease.
Like I know you're scared and Iknow it's so incredibly
(13:31):
intimidating, but for the sakeof your child's mental
wellbeing, you've got to justpush through your fear and make
it happen.
I always remind myself thatreally in truly, as long as we
have insulin with us in a way toget it into my daughter's body.
And as long as we have enoughlow snacks with us, plenty of
juice, boxes, candy, whatevermeat you may use, we're going to
be fine.
crazy things could and probablywill happen sometimes.
(13:54):
But as long as you have insulin,And as long as you have enough
low treatments, you're going toget through any situation.
Is it always going to lookpretty and amazing?
No.
Nothing's perfect.
But you will get through Sodefinitely don't try cancel your
travel plans because of typeone.
One of my very good friend'sdaughter was diagnosed at the
beginning of the summer lastyear.
And.
(14:14):
I think she was diagnosed on aweekend, maybe like a Friday or
Saturday.
And they had plans to go out oftown for an entire month.
The following, I think Thursdayor Friday.
And she spent about an hourpanicking about that, but
thankfully Her daughter'sendocrinologist told her.
Not to cancel that trip.
Just take all the supplies withyou.
(14:35):
I know where you're going to bevacationing.
If I need to write Extraprescriptions while you're
there.
it's okay.
You're going to figure it out tonot cancel your travel plans.
And you know what they went andit was great.
And they learned how to do typeone diabetes while they were on
vacation.
I was really proud of her fornot canceling those plans.
I think that was a really harddecision for her, but I was
(14:55):
really proud of her for pushingthrough, so it can Okay, let's
talk a little bit about packing.
Basically, I could justsummarize this by saying you
need to pack a lot of stuff.
But specifically.
You just need to have extrasupplies.
My daughter is on the Omni podsystem currently on the Omnipod
five system.
So when we travel, we bringenough pods, honestly, for about
a month, which would be about 10pods.
(15:17):
We usually don't travel anywherefor longer than a week.
So that's kind of a ridiculousamount of pods.
We absolutely have never usedthat many pods while we're on
vacation.
In fact, usually we just have touse like one extra pod, if any,
at all.
But I like to be prepared.
You never know what's going tohappen.
And I also like to spread themout a little bit.
Like I don't like to have themall in one place.
(15:38):
Like I might put a couple in mypurse and I might put a couple
of my suitcase and I might put acouple of my daughter's diabetes
go bag.
And then our travel bag.
Just so they're spread out incase something gets lost, we
will have a few extra pods.
Obviously you need insulin.
Um,
Even if you're on a pump, I would bring lots of fast
acting insulin, whether you'reon NovoLog, graphy, Asper,
(15:59):
Humalog.
And then I would also bring,even if you're on a pump, I
would bring a couple pins oflong acting insulin.
We were on Tresiba before Sarahstarted on the Omnipod.
And I always just throw a fewpins of Tresiba in our travel
bag to have just in case,because you never know the pump
might fail.
The pump might break.
You might run out of pods.
(16:19):
Or your kid might just get sickof wearing a pump while you're
on vacation and want to take alittle break and that's fine
too.
So make sure you're preparedwith both.
Fast acting and long actinginsulin.
When you travel.
Of course, we have all thenormal stuff.
Adhesive, remover, wipes,alcohol prep, wipes, test drips,
glucometer land sets.
Extra Dexcom sensors.
(16:41):
I usually bring two or threeExtra Dexcom sensors.
We have lost a Dexcom sensorwhile on vacation.
In fact, we lost two once onvacation.
So I usually bring three justbecause I've experienced that
before.
And I was really glad I had Andthen of course, we called the
company and got the other onesreplaced.
That was a little bit of a mess.
I think that was actually ourfirst trip after diagnosis.
(17:02):
It was, we went to the keys.
In Thanksgiving of 2020.
Which I know y'all are thinkingyou're doing an awful lot of
traveling for the year of thepandemic, but you know, you only
I always bring an extra Dexcomtransmitter to.
The way I kind of a hack thesystem as far as prescriptions
is I just make sure I refill myprescriptions as soon as I
possibly can, which is usuallyearlier than when you're
(17:25):
actually going to run out.
So like Dexcom sensors, forexample I can usually, after I
fill that prescription and pickit up from the pharmacy, I'll
get on the app that I use.
We, we pick up our prescriptionsat CVS pharmacy.
So I'll get on the CVS app andsee when is the earliest time I
can refill those prescriptions.
And typically it's like, Alittle less than three weeks,
(17:46):
maybe 20 days out from the daythat you picked up the
prescription.
So technically if you do thatevery single time, and I set a
reminder in my phone, so I don'tforget.
To refill it when the earliestthat I possibly can.
But if you do that every time,whether it's Dexcom sensors or
insulin or.
Omni pods or whatever it may be.
(18:06):
You will eventually have alittle bit of a stockpile and
that way.
You'll always have a few extraon hand in case something goes
wrong.
So that's my little tip andtrick for you today.
What else do I pack?
I pack scissors.
I pack glucagon, of course.
And I, now that we have gonethrough a major illness on
trips, I like to pack.
I'm one of those.
(18:26):
Old school, red glucagon kitsthat Lilly makes, which
unfortunately, I think it'sbeing discontinued at the end of
the year, which is reallyunfortunate, but make sure you
bring your glucagon, whether youhave the injectable kind or the
nasal spray.
I would pack a few extra ofthose.
Bring lots of low treats thatgoes without saying we always
have lots of juice, boxes andcandy on hand.
(18:47):
When we travel, even though Iknow you can stop and buy that
pretty much anywhere.
Oh always bring a waterproofpouch for your phone.
We, when we travel, we usuallyend up near some sort of body of
water.
And I like to have waterproofpouches.
In fact, I like to have it frommy phone as well, even though I
think my iPhone is waterproof.
But I like to have my phone in awaterproof pouch and Sarah's.
(19:09):
Phone in a waterproof pouch aswell.
And if you're on Omnipod, youmight want to think about
getting an extra waterproofpouch for the Omnipod PDM.
Oh, patches bring lots ofpatches.
Usually vacations involve eitherwater or lots of activities.
So there's a lot of sweat andyour devices can fall off more
easily.
So bring patches for the Dexcom.
(19:30):
Bring patches for the OmnipodLibris whatever it is you're
using.
Skin TAC.
I'm going to describe thetechnique we have for keeping
devices on a little later in theepisode.
But bring those things.
Ketone strips.
That's something that you wantto pack.
I didn't think I would needthose until Sarah got super
sick.
But bring those ketone strips.
(19:52):
I feel like I'm missingsomething that's super obvious,
but for now I think that's apretty comprehensive list of the
things you need to bring.
While you are traveling.
Okay.
I want to talk about airplanesbecause this was our first time
flying with type one diabetes.
When we went to Arizona.
But honestly, it was kind of anon-issue.
I thought it was going to be abig I've done an episode.
(20:13):
I will link to this one in theshow notes as well with TSA
cares.
If you're really, really worriedabout navigating the airport
with your type one diabetic, youcan always, if you were in the
states, you can always call TSAcares.
And they will help you when youget to the airport, you can.
Have the meat you.
At the front of the airportbefore you even go through
(20:34):
security and they will walk youthrough the entire process, they
are so sweet.
They're there to help.
So take advantage of that.
If you're a little worried aboutyour.
Type one diabetic gettingthrough security in the airport
for us.
Honestly, it wasn't even athing.
We went right through.
Sarah went through the metaldetector.
She didn't have to go throughthe body scanner.
I think the Dexcom and theOmnipod would have been fine in
(20:56):
the body scanner.
But had they made her go intothe body scanner?
I probably would've gone into myspiel about type one and what
her devices did, maybe try andavoid that.
And just do the metal detectorinstead, but that was not an
issue.
They did.
They just let her walk onthrough and didn't even say
anything about her devices.
So.
I will say flying.
I didn't really notice a hugedifference with Sarah's blood
(21:18):
sugar.
When we were taking off, when wewere landing.
They were pretty, I would say.
Normal quote unquote, causewhat's really normal.
Throughout the whole flight.
We were on the DIY loop systemat the time.
So I think I had said anoverride to give her.
A little bit more insulin whilewe were like sitting on the
plane, just cause she's inactiveand we were eating snacks.
Um,
And that worked out pretty well for us.
(21:39):
I don't, I don't remember havingany, any significant highs or
lows while we were on theairplane.
Once we got off the airplane inArizona, I was very prepared for
her blood sugars to be.
A lot lower because of thehigher altitude.
but honestly, I didn't notice ahuge different with that either.
I mean, We had done a few thingsdifferently with the loop system
to be prepared for that.
(22:00):
We had set the target glucoselevel, a little higher.
I think we had set an override,so it was giving her maybe 20 or
30% less insulin than what shenormally gets for basal and
bolus.
But.
Again, that didn't seem to be asbig of a deal as I thought it
was going to be, which is kindof true for everything with
diabetes.
We've got Halloween coming upand I remember the first.
(22:21):
Halloween.
I was totally freaked outthinking, oh my gosh, this is
going to be awful, but it was,it was fine.
It was fine.
All that extra walking withSarah, going from house to
house, gathering up her candyhelped keep her numbers nice and
steady and stable.
Okay.
So what I really want to talk toyou about with travel is the
illness that we experienced.
We landed in Las Vegas on aSaturday.
(22:45):
We had a great afternoon.
We went to red rock canyon onSunday.
We drove to the Hoover dam anddid the Hoover dam tour.
And then we drove to Flagstaff.
And then on Monday we woke up,it was actually Memorial day
that day.
And we drove to the grandcanyon, which is something
that's on my bucket list.
So I was so excited to go seethe grand canyon.
(23:05):
We got to the grand canyon.
We saw the views, they weremagnificent.
We went and did a little hikethat was highly recommended for
first-timers.
And ended up being only about athree mile hike, but.
It was intense.
It was.
I think he was Angel's landingor something like that.
Angel something.
But we made the mistake ofwearing some warmer clothes
(23:26):
because it was pretty cool inthe morning when we got there.
And.
You know, we could kind of stripoff our shirts.
We had tank tops underneath.
We had, well, we had jacketsfirst.
We could take those off.
Then we could take the heaviershirt off and just wear the tank
top.
But we wore everybody worepants.
And that was a mistake becauseit was.
Pretty exert.
It was pretty hot by the time wewere done hiking.
(23:46):
So it was a beautiful hike.
We went a mile and a half down.
And then we had to turn around.
And come a mile and a half backAnd Sarah, I could just tell she
was struggling a little bit likeshe was having, she was saying
she was having troublebreathing.
Like she, she was a littlecongested, which we probably
shouldn't even have attempted ahike with her being congested.
(24:06):
Not horrible, but still anyway,she was a little congested and
on the, when we turned around tocome back up, she was just.
I don't know.
I couldn't tell if it was causeshe was panicking a little bit.
Cause she felt like she couldn'tbreathe very well or if she
truly couldn't breathe verywell, by the way her blood
sugars were totally fine.
This whole hike.
I think I had increased thetarget.
(24:26):
The target glucose level on herDIY loop before we started
hiking.
So that held her pretty steadyand stable.
She only had to.
Drink a juice box once and ate afew Skittles here and there.
But.
Anyway, long story short, thehike up was rough for Sarah.
She just wasn't feeling verywell and she was a really hating
life coming back up that we hadto end up stopping like maybe
(24:48):
every 30 feet or so, so shecould just kind of rest and
catch her breath.
My husband gave her a piggybackride for some of it.
I mean, it was only a mile and ahalf back up, but it was a
struggle to get to get back up.
So we get back.
We get back up to the top.
We're just.
Refilling our waters resting.
We go find some lunch.
Everybody's happy.
Now we check out a few giftshops.
(25:09):
Sarah eats a full lunch andseems perfectly fine.
Happy hippy Skippy.
And then we get on the grandcanyon trolley to go see some
more of the sites.
And we were on that trolley formaybe 10 minutes and Sarah just
kind of went.
Paleish green.
And looked up at my husband andsaid, I think I'm going to be
sick.
And low and behold, as soon aswe got her off that trolley.
(25:33):
And thank God we got her off andwe did, but she just got sick
everywhere, like vomiting,profusely all over the loading
platform of the grand canyontrolley.
So if you happened to me at thegrand canyon on Memorial day of
2022, And you saw a 10-year oldgirl throwing up right next to
the trolley.
(25:53):
That was probably my daughter.
She threw up twice after that.
Of course by this point in time,we are immediately walking to
the car to get her set back upin the car.
And it was, it was just alldownhill from there.
Thank goodness.
Cause I was worried because shehad taken all, you know, she'd
taken this insulin before sheate her lunch and not even an
hour later, she had vomited upher entire lunch.
(26:16):
So I was worried that she wasgoing to start tanking.
Really quickly.
I was thinking we needed to getsome food in her ASAP.
So luckily she was able to kindof suck on a few Smarties.
She was able to get a juice boxdown.
Thankfully, she didn't have, Ihad like shut her insulin off at
this point in time.
And thankfully she
uh,
was able to get that down.
Anyway, she fell asleep in thecar on the way back to the
(26:37):
hotel.
And we get back to the hotel andprobably once we get her inside
and get her settled.
She just started vomiting.
And she got sick, probably every45 minutes.
From let's see, what time wasit?
Maybe four o'clock in theafternoon until the next morning
she was throwing up profuselyevery 45 minutes.
(26:57):
It was rough.
I mean, she was.
It was almost like she wasbarely conscious.
She was kind of like, couldn'teven sit up straight.
I would, I was obviously tryingto push fluids.
Trying to get water and icechips in her sips of Gatorade,
nibble on a goldfish, whateverwe could do to give her
something in her system, but shejust could not keep it down.
(27:17):
I have never seen my daughter,this sick.
She had to go into the hospitalwhen she was five days old
because she had RSV.
so other than this time at thegrand canyon that I'm telling
you about right now, that wasprobably the sickest I've seen
her, but in between.
That stint in the hospital whenshe was a.
Five days and then of course, Ifwe're not counting the diagnosis
of type one diabetes, but thisillness that I'm telling you
(27:41):
about right now is the sickestI've ever seen.
My daughter.
She's never had a stomach viruslike this.
So immediately I start thinking,oh my gosh, what am I going to
do?
So I, I pull out my think, likea pancreas information.
That's tucked away in the backof my brain.
And I know that.
You want to try to be pushingfluids as much as possible
because you don't want them toget you hydrated.
You want to try to be pushinginsulin as much as possible
(28:03):
because you don't want thoseketones to develop and you want
to get them flushed out of theSo I started.
immediately when Sarah startedthrowing up her blood sugar
numbers started climbing, whichyou kind of think it would be
the opposite, right.
You'd think, oh, they can't keepanything down.
They're going to drop.
Well, she immediately startedclimbing, so I start pushing
insulin and I honestly wasprobably pushing about a unit or
(28:28):
maybe more of insulin into herevery single hour.
From the time she startedvomiting until the next morning
at like eight o'clock in theThat's a lot of insulin for
somebody who's not eating anyfood and who weighs like 70
pounds.
And let me tell you her numberwould not budge.
I mean, she probably sat in themid.
The upper.
(28:48):
To lower two hundreds for thatentire time.
I don't know that she ever gotover 300.
I don't remember, but even withall that insulin and her not
eating a single thing, shestayed.
Up there.
And I just had to keep remindingmyself.
That we have glucagon if we needit.
Right now she needs insulin andshe needs fluids to get those
ketones out of her system.
(29:09):
Because at this point in time,because I had those ketone
strips, I could test her ketonesand they were very large.
So I knew that what she neededat that moment was insulin and
fluids.
And I just had to keep my ridingmyself, you know, it's
terrifying giving your childthis much insulin when she can't
hold anything down.
But I have the glucagon, if Ineed it.
That's what it's there for.
So I just kept pushing thatinsulin.
(29:30):
By the time we woke up the nextmorning.
Because my husband and I werehaving the conversation of
course, of what should we do?
What if she doesn't get better?
Should we take her to thehospital?
So by the time we woke up thenext morning and Sarah was still
throwing up every 45 minutes orso still couldn't keep even an
ice trip down.
We decided, okay.
It was time to go to thehospital.
(29:50):
Her ketones were large.
Her blood sugar was high.
We knew that it was time to goto the hospital, which that's a
scary thing to do when you'rehalf way across the country or
more, you're almost all the wayacross the country actually.
Going from Florida to Arizona.
So we took Sarah to theFlagstaff medical center.
They were amazing.
I wish I could remember theirnames and give them a shout out.
(30:12):
But they were fantastic.
I had to be pretty bold upfront,and I immediately said, You
know, she has type one diabetes,she's wearing a glucose monitor
and she's wearing an insulinpump.
I didn't even say if it's okaywith you.
I just said.
I want to leave those on herbody and I will manage her
diabetes while we're here.
I'm not going to leave her side.
And they were, they didn't evenfight back.
(30:33):
They were like, fine.
That's great.
That's awesome.
We would appreciate it if youdid that.
Take take some of the work awayfrom us.
So I just went in bold and bigand was like, look, you're not
taking this stuff off of herbody and they were fine with it.
So definitely advocate for yourkid.
If they ever have to be in thehospital.
Try to keep those devices onthem.
If you can.
So luckily they did not have toadmit us into the hospital.
(30:55):
They started running an Ivy offluids on Sarah immediately.
Once we got settled in the ERand it was the craziest thing
I've ever seen.
I'm not even kidding you.
Within five minutes of herhaving that Ivy in her arm, in
that Ivy, drip Her blood sugarhas started coming down.
It is that I, the one lesson Itook away.
(31:17):
From that experience.
Is how important hydration is toblood sugar numbers.
Like I had no idea the effectthat dehydration could have on
your blood sugar until I saw.
That happened.
I mean, it was crazy how Sarahcouldn't keep any fluids in her
for over well.
Not even, not even 24 hours, butthe instant, she started getting
(31:38):
fluids and getting hydrated.
Her blood sugar started comingdown immediately.
And it leveled out prettynicely.
I, I didn't even have to haveher treat a low.
It just kind of gradually camedown and leveled out, which was
great.
They pumped her full of fluids.
They only gave her half a bag offluids.
And I was like, Hey, look, weare on vacation.
And we would like to attempt tocontinue on with our vacation if
(32:01):
possible.
So considering the fact that shehas been vomiting for the past,
like 12 hours straight, couldyou maybe give her that second
half of the fluid bag?
They did the calculations basedon her weight and everything.
And they decided that it wouldbe fine.
So they gave her the second halfof the bag.
So just keep that in mind again,advocate for your kid, if you
think they need it.
They ran a bunch of tests onSarah.
(32:22):
They checked her for multipleviruses and stomach bugs and all
that sort of stuff.
And.
Nothing came back positive.
So.
We have no idea what caused herto get so sick.
I kind of think it might've beenaltitude sickness.
But honestly, by the end of theweek, I was actually had come
down with a little something notnearly as bad as Sarah's, but
still bad.
So maybe it wasn't altitudesickness, maybe it was a
(32:44):
contagious virus that they justdidn't test for.
So we didn't know about.
Anyway, that's what I wanted totell you about illness and
traveling.
We did our best to continue onwith the vacation.
Sarah, it took her the rest ofthe week to recover her.
And I spent a lot of time.
Taking naps and watching TV.
My husband and I would switchoff doing activities with the
(33:04):
boys.
Unfortunately Sarah missed outon quite a bit of stuff on our
trip.
But truth be told she was justnot well enough or strong enough
to even attempt it.
Thankfully, she was well enoughand strong enough to by the time
we left on Saturday to getthrough the airport.
And get through the plane ridehome.
And
uh,
we made it home safely, but I've already told her, I was
(33:26):
like, sweetheart, we need tohave a redo maybe one day in
life when you're an adult, youand I can go back and do some of
the stuff, especially some ofthe stuff in Zion national park
that we missed out on becauseyou were so sick.
So I've got that in the back ofmy mind.
All right.
I want to talk to you a littlebit about swimming and insulin,
because that was such a hugepart of our summer.
And I know it's a big part of alot of people's summers.
(33:47):
So, as I mentioned, you know,there was times where Sarah
would eat a meal and I wouldgive her all the insulin for the
carbs in the meal.
And then she, a friend wouldknock on the door and they would
want to hop in the And I'msorry, but I'm just not the mom.
That's going to be like,sweetheart, you need to wait
till hours before you couldn'tgo on the pole with your friend.
(34:08):
I'm like, no, you can, you canget in the pool.
We'll figure this out.
So.
Kind of my strategy was if Sarahwas going to go swimming and she
had a lot of insulin on board.
I would turn her insulin offimmediately or do a very
significant temp basal decrease.
Like as soon as I knew she wasgoing to get in the pool and
then I would all cause she's ona pump again.
And then I would also give Somesort of a snack.
(34:30):
Usually it was something withlike, I don't know, anywhere
from 15 to 30 carbs, dependingon how much insulin she had on
board.
And you're just going to have tofigure that out for yourself.
If Sarah did not have a wholelot of insulin on board
sometimes like if it had been along time, like three or four
hours before she had any bolusinsulin in her, a lot of times
she could just jump in the pooland swim without any
(34:51):
intervention and she would befine.
If we were kind of in the middleof that period you know, it had
been maybe an hour and a half ortwo hours since she had eaten.
So I know she still had someinsulin on board.
But not as much as in thebeginning.
Then I might give her a littlesnack again, turn the insulin
off or do a tent Bazell decreaseway down, maybe like 80 to 90%
(35:11):
down.
As soon as she got in the pool.
And just check her in about 40to 45 I have learned that with
Sarah.
It's good enough for us to gether out of the pool.
Every 40 to 45 minutes to haveher reconnect to the Dexcom or
to do a finger prick to check Idon't feel like we need to get
it her any sooner than that.
But I feel like going a littlebit longer an hour or so would
(35:35):
be too long to maybe catch alow.
That was happening.
So I would just know, Hey, we'vegot about 45 minutes.
You can enjoy yourself.
And then we're going to have tohop out of the pool and check
your number.
I will say one of the biggestthings that I learned about
swimming for Sarah and insulinis that if I had to turn off her
insulin, Or turn it way down.
When she was swimming and then.
(35:55):
I figured out that as soon asshe got out of the pool, I would
have to give her a bolus ofinsulin for the Bazell insulin
that she missed.
Like immediately or she wouldstart to climb.
Very very quickly.
Which is just insane to me thatshe could spend, you know, two
hours swimming with her insulinoff or her insulin way down.
And if I didn't give her a bolusfor the Bazell that she had
(36:18):
missed while she was swimming,she would immediately start to
climb as soon as that activitywas over.
So, you know, an example of thatwould be Sarah's Bazell rate is
one unit an hour, which it'snot, but I'm just easy math.
If she was getting in the poolfor two hours, I would turn the
insulin.
Let's just say I would turn itoff for that two hours.
(36:38):
As soon as she got out of thepool, even if her blood sugar
was like 80, I would have togive her a bolus of two units of
insulin and turn her pump backon.
Her basal insulin back on andrunning.
Or else she would climbsignificantly.
Her blood sugar would climbsignificantly.
That's kind of a scary thing todo.
When your kid has been swimmingfor two hours and they get out
(37:00):
of the pool and their bloodsugar is 80 and steady.
It's like, yikes, am I reallygoing to give her two units of
insulin right now?
Because her Bazell has been offfor two hours.
But for us, we just kept seeingthis pattern over and over and
over again of her blood sugarshooting up after she would get
out of the pool.
When our insulin was off and Ijust, it would just became a
pattern for us.
So finally, I was like, look,we're just going to give this a
(37:22):
I'm in a bolus for the Bazellthat you missed.
Worst case scenario.
I've got to give you a juice boxor two.
Okay.
Or we got to eat some popsicles.
I mean, that doesn't sound likea worst case scenario to me.
And honestly, I don't think Iever had to utilize those
popsicles or juice boxes oncebecause.
those patterns continue tohappen.
And when I would bowl us for theBazell that she missed, she
(37:44):
wouldn't spike.
She wouldn't climb.
She would just stay nice andsteady.
So maybe pay attention to that.
Maybe that's not a problem foryou.
Just something to think about.
All right.
I want to talk about keeping onthose devices when you're having
a really a heavy water day.
Maybe you're going to the beach.
Maybe you're spending the day ina lake in the pool at a water
park, or maybe it's just areally hot and sweaty day in the
(38:05):
summertime.
And you need something to keepthose patches on.
Okay.
This is what we do.
We have found that this is thebest strategy to keep things on
really, really snug and really,really securely.
What I do.
Let's say I'm going to put onSarah's Omni pod.
I rubbed the skin down withalcohol.
Let that Then I take the liquidskin TAC and I put it on her
(38:26):
skin and I leave a little spotwhere the Omnipod tube is going
to be inserted.
Or I had a very smart listenertell me that they.
Actually put the skin TACdirectly on to the Omnipod
backing.
So that way they can just paintaround the hole where the
Omnipod cannular is going tocome out.
But I, so I was putting skintack on Sarah skin.
(38:48):
And then I was putting the Omnipod on top of that.
Activating the pod.
And then I was putting a SIMpatch patch.
Over the Omnipod.
Listen, if you need a patch thatis going to withstand a nuclear
bomb and keep your child's Omnipod on their body.
It's it's going to be the SIMpatch patch.
These things are so supersticky, they will get the job
(39:10):
done on those crazy water daysor crazy hot and sweaty days in
the In fact, they're almost toosticky.
Like I love them, but I alsohate them because when you go to
take them off, there is so muchsticky, goo left over that.
I have to go through a lot ofadhesive remover in order to get
all that extra sticky goo off.
So they get the job done, butthey're a pain in the butt to
(39:32):
take off, but just keep that inmind.
I'd rather deal with the extragoo in the end.
Then have pods and Dexcom'sfalling off left and right.
We spent a week at lake Laura,North Carolina.
And I mean, we, we play hardwhen we are on vacation.
Sarah was swimming like all daylong.
They had one of those floatingmats that you can lay on and run
on and jump off of.
(39:53):
They were wrestling We wenttubing and Sarah wears her Omni
pods on her thigh and she laysdown on the tube on her stomach.
So her thighs are like bouncingup and down on this tube.
The whole time you guys, we didnot lose one Omnipod, the whole
trip.
And we were on the water forlike six straight days.
It was amazing.
So it will get the job done.
You're just going to have todeal with a little extra sticky
(40:15):
goo on your kid's skin, youknow, that nice, that nice dirt
patch that forms, when you thinkyou got all the goo off, but you
really didn't get all the goooff.
And then like two days goes byand You know, see your kid's arm
or leg or whatever in themirror.
And you're like, oh my gosh, whoknew there was this much dirt in
our life?
How did that collect on yourarm?
(40:36):
Like You guys know what I'mtalking about?
I had a couple people, cause Iactually did a post about those
patches a while ago or aboutskin tack and just our
technique.
To hold things in place.
And I had a couple parentscomment that their children are
allergic to skin TAC or thatskin TAC burn their skin or the
kids had sensitive skin.
So there was a couple ofcomments that were helpful.
(40:56):
One lady said that they used Ivyprep instead of skin TAC and
that, because their child's skinwas also very sensitive to skin
TAC and that seemed to helpreally well.
I also had another parentcomment that Cavilon cream.
Is a barrier cream.
And if you put that on the skinbefore you put skin tack on, it
(41:18):
creates a nice barrier betweenthe skin and the skin TAC but
still allows the skin TAC to doits job.
So those might be some thingsthat you could try.
If you have a kid that is proneto irritability.
With those adhesives.
The other thing I wanted tomention about our summer of 2022
is that Sarah went to quite afew camps.
She went to a week of art camp.
(41:38):
She went to a week of just aregular summer camp and she did
a three-day volleyball As Noneof these camps were diabetes
camps.
Again.
Don't be scared to send yourkids to camp.
Just because they have type onediabetes.
Are you going to need to findthe director of that camp?
And the camp counselors and makesure they are well-informed and
prepared and well aware thatthey have a camper with T one D
(42:01):
yes.
Should you also maybe considerlooking for camps that have a
nurse on staff at the camp?
Yes, I think that would be agood idea.
One of the camps, just thegeneral summer camp that Sarah
did.
I had no, I, it was at a littleprivate school.
That's around the corner fromus.
And I had no idea that they hada full time nurse on staff.
(42:22):
During the week.
And so like the week beforecamp, I emailed the camp
director to let them know, Hey,My daughter's 10.
She has type one diabetes.
This is how we manage it.
Do you think I could have thenumbers of her counselors and
blah, blah, blah, and just kindof getting the ball rolling for
like, You know, I didn't ask forpermission, like, Hey, can my
daughter come to your camp?
I'm telling you, my daughter iscoming to your camp.
(42:43):
And this is how this is how Iwould like to handle it.
How can we work together to makeit a successful week But the
director emailed me back and waslike, we actually have a full
time.
A nurse on staff.
That's going to be here.
During our summer camp.
So I'm going to put you incontact with her and you all can
discuss best ways to manage andkeep Sarah safe next week while
(43:04):
she's here.
You guys.
I was so excited.
Well, actually, to be quitehonest at first, I'm like, okay,
that's great.
But we're used to kind ofmanaging things without a nurse.
Her school doesn't have a nurse,so it's really just her and I,
so I will definitely get thenumber and the email of the
nurse, but I really don't knowhow much I'm going to need her
or use her.
Let me tell you guys, I wastexting with that nurse probably
(43:26):
like six or seven times a day.
Cause there was a pool at thissummer camp.
And my daughter, isn't great atpre bolusing when she's not with
me.
So, you know, there were somethings, some highs and lows to
say the least during the week.
And I was so grateful that thatnurse was there.
Could it have been done withoutthe nurse?
Yeah, probably.
And also the summer camp wasliterally eight minutes away
(43:47):
from our house.
So in a true emergency, I couldhave hopped in the car and
driven there.
But I was so grateful that thatnurse so maybe ask around, Hey,
do you have a nurse that's onstaff and that's going to be
here during the summer.
Also a good idea might besending your kid to camp with
another friend that has type onediabetes.
And that way they can kind oflook out for each other while
(44:07):
they're Another really goodreason to get plugged into the
type one community around you.
JDRF is a great place to See ifthere's a local chapter Next
year, I really want to sendSarah to a diabetes summer camp.
Like spend the nights, sleepaway.
There's one, that's pretty closeto us.
A couple hours away in our stateof Florida.
It looks really fun.
(44:27):
I was following their socialmedia page over the summer and I
was kept showing Sue Sarah'spicture.
I kept showing Sarah thepictures of the camp and she
seemed really excited about it.
So I'm actually reminding myselfthat I need to email the camp
director and see whenregistration starts and what
weeks.
They are going to have camp nextyear.
So stay tuned on how that goes.
(44:48):
I already have a couple offriends that I'm planning on
sending her Okay.
The last thing I want to talkabout.
With our summer of 2022 is thefact that we switched from the
DIY loop system to the Omnipodfive system.
Very soon.
I'm hoping to do an episode kindof comparing the two and just
talking about how our.
(45:10):
Experience with the Omnipod fivehas, is going so far.
I think that would be a reallyinteresting one for listeners.
Again, I wouldn't be telling youwhat to do.
I would just be telling you whatwe've done.
So you can maybe.
Kind of think about a fewthings.
But I will say last may.
So may of 2022.
At the beginning of that month,we had a couple of weeks that
(45:31):
were just awful.
Just awful.
It was, it was kind of one ofthose things where I was like
dumping insulin into Sarah andlike nothing was moving.
She was very, very high for avery long time.
And I just got so frustrated andso fed up.
That I made a pretty rashdecision to Put her on the DIY
loop system.
(45:51):
And that is a big deal for thoseof you that don't know, DIY loop
is a non FDA approved.
App.
That you have to build yourselfon a computer and then transfer
onto your phone.
To deliver your kids insulin.
I actually went out and bought aMac book air to do this.
I mean, honestly, my othercomputer was a dinosaur and it
(46:14):
was time for an upgrade anyway,but so I went out and I bought a
Mac book air.
Just so you know, it is possibleto do it on other computers.
Other laptops and computers,but.
Like I said it was time for usto upgrade our computer anyway,
because it was a dinosaur and itwas working so very That whole
process was extremelyintimidating to me.
(46:36):
However, I will say.
There is a website.
Called.
Lupe docs.
That will walk you through theentire process of how to do this
from step one until the end.
And it is amazing because I,first of all, I read the loop
docs website probably two timesall the way through before I
even started.
(46:57):
And then I read it through veryslowly and carefully when I was
going through how to build thismyself.
I followed each step.
Exactly.
And to my surprise, I actuallyended up building this program
successfully and putting it onmy daughter's phone.
I honestly was shocked.
I did not think I could do it.
But they're the instructionsthey give you on the loop docs
(47:18):
website are phenomenal.
The people that created the loopsystem are geniuses.
I will leave a link in the shownotes to the loop docs website.
So you can see it.
For yourself, if you'reinterested.
Loop is an app that's onlyavailable on iPhone.
There is also another DIY.
System.
That you can build for Android.
(47:38):
And that is called open APS.
There's information on the loopdocs website about open APS.
But I can also leave a link inthe show notes to more about
that.
If you're interested.
Honestly, I'm going to leave itlink in the show notes to the
looped Facebook group, becausethat was created by the people
that developed the loop.
System and that maintain it.
(48:00):
And they're kind of like, Techsupport and customer customer
support.
Like if something goes wrongwith your loop system, You hop
on that Facebook group and youask your question and they will
help you troubleshoot and figureit out.
They are also amazing and geniuslevel people.
So if you're interested in theloop system, it really is an
amazing system.
It might've already come out,but pretty soon, I don't know
(48:22):
exactly when, but loop three isgoing to be.
Out of the dev branch and intothe master branch in loop three
allows you to use Omnipod dashpods.
And.
Your iPhone.
Without the need for a Rileylink.
I didn't even mention the Rileylink, but you also need this
little device called a Rileylink or an orange link.
(48:43):
To help your pod.
And your Dexcom communicate.
It's a whole thing.
Y'all.
Honestly, I'm just not superwell versed in it.
So take a look at the links thatI'm going to leave in the show
notes.
If you want to take a look andfigure it out for yourself.
But with loop three, if I didn'tcomplete that thought before
with loop three.
it would eliminate the need forthe orange link or the Riley
(49:03):
link.
You would just need your Dexcom.
You're Omnipod dash and yourphone.
So that's one huge benefit ofloop.
Another huge benefit of loopwithout going into a lot of
detail is it's verycustomizable.
You can set the targets a lotlower than what you can on like
other FDA approved automatedsystems, like the con tandem
control IQ and the Omnipod five.
(49:25):
So there are definitely somehuge benefits to doing the DIY
loop.
But honestly it just, it justwasn't for us.
Do I respect the people thatcreated it.
Absolutely.
Do I think they're amazing ingeniuses.
Yes, do I think it's an awesomesystem.
E S I do.
But it just wasn't for us.
And I think it was the tech,like I just found that I w I
(49:45):
never had a whole lot of peace.
About having to build this tech.
You also have to rebuild itevery single year.
There is a chance that it couldcrash and then you'd have to go
in and start from square one andrebuild the whole thing.
So I just always had the, thatin the back of my mind and it
just never sat well with I neverhad a peace about the whole
technology piece side of it.
(50:05):
And to be quite honest.
We didn't really have that muchbetter control using the loop
system.
Then we did just using theOmnipod arrow system, which we
were on before loop.
So once the Omnipod five gotapproved and we finally got
approval through our insurance,I was like, you know what?
I really want to give this atry.
There was a couple things Iwasn't crazy about, but.
(50:26):
One being, we couldn't use ourphone.
To control the pod because we,Sarah had an iPhone and that's
not compatible with Omni FOD.
Five at the moment.
I didn't love the fact thatthere was not a view app.
With the loop system, you canuse Nightscout.
Which is another thing that youhave to build on your computer.
But there are companies outthere that will build it for you
(50:47):
and maintain it for you for like$10 a month.
Um,
That's called T one pal.
And I will put a link to that inthe show notes as well.
Which I had to, I had to pay forthat service because honestly,
after having to build the loopsystem, I was like, I cannot
possibly build one more thing.
That's going to stress me out.
So I paid somebody else to dothat for me.
For$10 But Nightscout wasamazing.
(51:07):
I could see every singletreatment decision that Sarah
made on Nightscout.
I could see what the system wasdoing, whether it was giving her
more basal insulin or less basalinsulin.
I could see what the predictionline was like, what it was
predicting.
Her glucose was going to be.
In a few hours.
Nightscout was truly amazing.
And with Omni pod five, I lostall of that.
(51:28):
There's no view app.
I have no way of seeing whatSarah's treatment decisions were
when she's not with me.
And I don't have the PDM to pickup with my hand and look at.
So I feel a little bit more inthe dark with the Omnipod five
system.
But the pros of Omnipod five,for me at least outweigh the
cons.
So I'm going to talk more aboutthat in a separate episode.
(51:50):
All about what our experiencehas been with Omnipod five so
far.
So stay tuned for that.
But as for our summer 2022 andreview that's about it.
Everybody went back to schoolabout.
Three or four weeks ago.
I think we just started ourfourth full week of school.
And I'm happy that I can nowcomplete a full thought without
(52:10):
interruption.
I really do love having my kidshome for the summer, but I am
also ready for them to go backto school once it's over.
All right.
You guys, I hope you found thathelpful.
I hope you were able to glean alittle bit of Information off of
that, get a few nuggets ofwisdom.
Let me know if you have anyquestions or comments about
that.
You can always emailme@sugarmamaspodcastatgmail.com.
(52:32):
Happy to answer any of yourquestions or send me a DM on
Instagram or Facebook.
But that is it for our episodethis week.
As always, I'm going to link toa lot of stuff in the show
notes, so be sure you check itthere's three episodes that I'm
going to link to the episodewith Maura McCarthy.
I'm the episode with TSA caresand I'll link to the episode
with Stacy Sims.
(52:53):
Remember Stacy made a littleannouncement at the beginning of
the show.
For moms in the Charlotte, NorthCarolina area, she's going to
host a mom's night out event.
But I had.
I actually interviewed Stacy ona previous episode.
And it was a great conversation.
If you want to take a listen andlearn more about her podcast.
I'm going to link to the loopdocs website.
If you want to learn more aboutthe DIY loop situation and the
(53:17):
looped Facebook group, which isbasically tech support.
If you are going to jump intothe whole DIY loop community.
Those are two great resources.
If you're thinking about doingloop.
Or the open APS system, which isthe system for Android devices.
I will put a link in the shownotes to the mom's night out
(53:37):
event that Stacy Sims mentioned.
So go to that link to find outmore information and sign up for
that.
I will also put a link to theSIM patch patches.
The skin TAC, the Ivy prep andthe Cavilon barrier cream, which
are all the products that Imentioned.
We use to help keep Sarah'sdevices on nice and snug during
(53:58):
the summertime.
Okay.
I hope you guys have a fabulousweek and a relaxing weekend.
I hope diabetes behaves for you,but until next time, stay calm
and bolus on.
Bye.
Hey everybody.
It's Katie.
And this is episode 84 of thesugar mamas podcast today.
I just want to unpack my summerof 2022.
We had so much going on.
It was so busy.
You may have noticed, cause Iactually took three weeks off
from the podcast to.
Take a break because of traveland mostly travel.
(00:24):
I just didn't want to be editinga podcast while I was on
vacation.
So between the three big tripsthat we took, we went to flew
into Nevada, did Arizona, and alittle bit of Utah.
To go to Zion national park.
And then I spent a week atsummer camp with my two oldest
kids chaperoning that situation.
It was a church camp.
And then we went to lake lore,North Carolina for a week, which
(00:47):
is something that we do everyyear with some of our friends
and family.
So it was a very busy summer.
Sarah also did.
Let's see.
A week of art camp.
She did a week of just kind oflike a general summer camp.
And she did a three dayVolleyball camp during the
summer.
So she was a very busy lady.
There wasn't a ton of downtimefor her.
(01:09):
I mean, vacations are downtime,but you know what I mean?
So it was big.
So I want to talk to you alittle About travel.
I want to talk to you aboutillness because we had our first
major illness with type onediabetes.
It was actually when we were onvacation.
Since Sarah to the hospital.
So I want to talk about that alittle bit and what we learned.
We swam a ton.
We have a pool in our backyard.
(01:30):
We also love going to the beach.
We also spent a week at a lakehouse, so there was just tons of
water activity.
We went to a couple ofwaterparks, so it was definitely
a summer of fun and the sun.
And in the water.
So I want to talk to you aboutthat and about devices and
keeping devices on and the besttechnique that we have found to
do that.
(01:50):
I want to talk to you aboutsending Sarah to summer camps,
that weren't diabetes camps andjust how I handled that.
And then another huge thing thatwe did was we switched from the
DIY loop system to the Omni Omnipod five system at the very end
of the summer.
That was a huge deal for us.
I really wrestled with thedecision of whether or not I
wanted to do that.
(02:11):
And I'll explain a little bit ofthat later.
But first we're going to do ourintro.
And we will jump in by me, justtalking a little bit about.
My summer mindset.
And how it has changed from lastsummer.
To now.
Because this is our secondsummer with type one diabetes.
Okay.
Let's get started.
(02:36):
You're listening to the sugarmamas podcast, a show designed
for moms and caregivers of typeone diabetics here.
You'll find a community oflike-minded people who are
striving daily to keep theirkids safe, happy, and healthy in
the ever-changing world of typeone.
I'm your host and fellow T one Dmom, Katie Roseboro.
(02:58):
Before we get started.
I need you to know that nothingyou hear on the sugar mamas
podcast should be consideredmedical advice.
Please be safe, be smart, andalways consult your physician
before making changes to the wayyou manage type one diabetes.
Thanks.
Okay.
(03:18):
My friends, before we start theshow, we have an exciting
announcement from Stacy Sims
host
of the diabetes connections podcast, Stacy has
put together something veryspecial for type one moms in her
community, which is in andaround Charlotte, North
Carolina.
Let's take a quick listen, andthen get back to the show.
Stacey Simms (03:37):
What's one thing you need as a mom of a child
with type one, it's time toyourself.
I know, go ahead and laugh, butthere really is a way to treat
yourself to some time away withother moms who get it.
I'm Stacy Sims and my son wasdiagnosed with type one almost
16 years ago, just before heturned two.
Since then I have attendeddozens of diabetes, conferences
(03:59):
and meetups, and now I've takenthe best stuff from those.
And created something brand new.
I'm calling it mom's night outand we're gonna have lots of
diabetes technology for you tosee and learn about stress
relieving, social time, whereyou can meet other moms, just
like us and speakers who willleave us feeling energized and
ready to face the challenges ofparenting a child with T one D.
(04:22):
Katie's gonna hook you up withall the info, but head on over
to diabetes.
Dash connections.com to getstarted.
Mom's night out is happening inJanuary in Charlotte, North
Carolina.
I hope to see you there.
I can't wait.
Katie (04:35):
Thanks so much, Stacy, if you're interested in signing up
for that event, or you want tofind out more information.
Check out the link that I willleave in the show notes.
All right, you guys let's getback to the show.
All right guys, before we diveinto everything that we did this
summer, I just want to talk toyou about my summer mindset in
general.
So if you remember my daughter,Sarah.
She was diagnosed in the middleof August of 20, 20.
(04:58):
She was eight years old and itwas the day before she started
third grade.
So it was at the very tail endof the pandemic summer.
So I don't count that summer asbeing our first summer with
diabetes, even though Sarahcertainly was showing signs and
symptoms of having type oneprobably for weeks, if not
months before she was actuallydiagnosed, but we weren't
(05:19):
dealing with diabetes managementat that time.
Because we had no idea.
So I do not consider that ourfirst summer with type one
diabetes.
So she gets diagnosed.
You know, we obviously had thedeal with all the school stuff,
getting her settled in school,learning how to manage diabetes.
The school year, it goes by.
She finishes third grade.
Thank God.
And the summer is upon us.
And I remember thinking thatvery first summer with type one
(05:41):
diabetes.
So that would be the summer of2021.
I remember thinking, oh my gosh,I'm so excited to have Sarah
home with me during the summer.
It's going to be so greatbecause she'll be close to me
all day long.
I'll be able to keep a littlebit more of a tighter control on
her blood sugars.
And it's just going to be somuch easier having her home and
(06:01):
not having to kind of juggle thewhole texting diabetes
situation.
And not having a nurse at theschool and then interrupting her
teacher's day.
If there was kind of like a lowblood sugar emergency.
So I was just so ready for herto be home with me during the
summer to have better control.
What I didn't realize is thatnone of that Managing diabetes
(06:23):
was not easier in the summer.
In fact, I honestly think it'sso much harder to manage
diabetes in the summer.
Now that's not to say that otherparts of life aren't easier,
right?
It's always a give and a takeand a trade off because.
I would say lots, lots aboutlife is easier in the summer.
I love having a break of nothaving to pack school lunches,
(06:45):
packing school lunches are thebane of my existence.
And I know everybody says, haveyour kids pack their own
lunches?
And they do a lot of the time,or at least they'll help me kind
of figure out what they want tohave.
But you know how it is, like theday gets away from you and all
of a sudden it's bedtime andit's like, Aye.
I don't, we don't have time foryou to pack your lunch, or I
(07:06):
don't want to deal with this ateight 30 at night.
Like just go to bed.
So anyway.
I load packing lunches.
I always love summertime to havea break from that.
I just love, I just lovesummertime.
I'm a Florida girl through andthrough.
I love being in the pool.
I love being at the beach.
I just love the more relaxed.
Summer vibe.
I love a break from homework.
Oh my gosh.
(07:26):
Can't stand, have him to help mykids with homework.
I'm really sounding like a greatparent.
I know, but you know, it's justalways sister struggle.
I mean, I'm happy to help themand I'm glad I'm available to do
that, but you know how it islike Do so much better listening
to their teachers and they do totheir parents trying to be their
teacher.
And explain how to do longdivision.
I also love just having a breakfrom extracurriculars.
(07:48):
You know, we don't, I don't haveto shuffle people here, there,
and everywhere to baseball,practice and dance.
It's really wonderful.
However, while all of thosethings are a nice break from
life, I would say managing typeone, diabetes is a lot harder in
the summer and it's definitelybecause.
There is no routine, you know,in school they eat lunch at the
(08:09):
same time.
Every day, they eat snack at thesame time every day.
You know that they're going tobe sitting and doing schoolwork
from this time to this time.
And at this time they're goingto go outside on the playground.
So you know what their scheduleand what their activity levels
and when they're eating, whenall that's going to happen
during the day, well, in thesummer, there's no schedule,
there's no routine, unless ofcourse they're out of summer
(08:32):
camp.
But.
That was so hard for me, youknow?
People would wake up and theywouldn't want to eat breakfast
until 10 30.
And then right after theybreakfast, they'd want to jump
in the pool.
But they had all this insulin onboard.
From their breakfast bolus.
And then maybe at two o'clock,we'd get around to eating lunch,
but it's not a real lunchbecause people just want to eat
cheese sticks and yogurt forlunch.
(08:53):
And then who knows when we'regoing to be eating snack later
in the day.
And there's late nights becausepeople are staying up later.
We don't have to have that tightbedtime.
People are getting in and out ofthe pool, again, running up down
the street, playing withfriends.
I mean, it all sounds magicaland wonderful, and it is, but
when it comes to managing typeone diabetes in the midst of all
that, it makes it prettychallenging.
And I know some of you arethinking some of you type a moms
(09:15):
out there are thinking like OKT,you could just have a routine
and have a schedule during thesummer.
Like you could tell your kids.
We're eating snacks at 10o'clock every day.
End of story.
And we're eating lunch every dayat 1230, blah, blah, blah.
But, you know what?
That's just not how I roll.
That is not my personality.
I have tried.
(09:36):
Schedules like that.
And I just feel like that neverworks for me.
Like we always fail at keepingto a routine and a schedule in
the summer when it comes toeating lunch and snack and
things like that.
I am definitely that mom, thatevery single summer I'm like,
okay guys, we're going to do a15 minutes of math and 15
minutes of reading every day.
And I bought you these workbooksand look at these aren't they
(09:58):
great.
And then about two weeks intosummer, I'm like, you know what,
forget this, this was a badidea.
Let's just go to the beachinstead.
So that's the kind of mom I am.
If you're looking to a littleinsight into my world But
anyway, so.
All that to say.
Just give yourself some grace inthe summertime, things are off
schedule, things are off routinethat makes managing type one a
(10:19):
little bit more challenging.
So just keep that in mind, gowith the flow.
I will say this summer was a lotwith the swimming situation,
cause I've kind of learned.
How to manage insulin and bloodsugars while Sarah is swimming.
And I will talk a little bitabout that later in the episode.
Please always keep in mind.
I am not a doctor.
(10:39):
I am not an endocrinologist.
I'm not a diabetes educator.
I'm just sharing with you allwhat we do and what has worked
for us most of the time and ourexperiences.
And maybe that will get the ballrolling for you or give you some
ideas, but I'm not telling youwhat to do.
I'm just telling you what we doso you can kind of compare
notes.
All right, let's talk a littlebit about traveling.
(11:00):
Listen, if you are a newlydiagnosed family.
And you have travel plans comingup.
And you are a little bitfreaking out about those travel
plans, because now you have tothink about and worry about
diabetes while you are onvacation.
I'm here to tell you that it'sgoing to be okay and do not let
fear.
Control your decisions when itcomes to travel plans and
(11:22):
vacation plans.
you just keep on keeping on withthe plans that you have or the
dreams that you have, or thevacation bucket list that you
wrote down five years Do notcancel your travel plans or your
vacation plans because of typeone diabetes.
my favorite piece of advice thatI have ever been told was by.
Was from Maura McCarthy.
(11:43):
She is the author of raisingteens with diabetes.
I interviewed her in a previousepisode, I will leave a link to
that episode in the show notes,but she said to me, Ask
yourself, by the way, she has adaughter with type one who is
grown and flown out of the houseand doing really, really well in
life.
So she's a seasoned type one Andshe told me, ask yourself, what
(12:06):
would the answer have beenbefore diabetes?
If the answer would've been yes.
That it needs to be yes.
Even after diabetes, you justhave to figure out how to make
it work.
If the answer would have been nobefore diabetes, then the answer
needs to be now after diabetes.
I like to think of the exampleof, you know, I've never been
the mom that's like here kids.
(12:27):
here's a dozen donuts fromDunkin have at it.
I'm like, okay, we're going togo out and get donuts, but we're
going to get one donut becausereally, and truly, nobody needs
more than one donut.
We're going to continue eatingdonuts, even though one of our
family members now has type onediabetes, but we're also going
to continue with our.
Rule of you make it one donut atSo it's stuff like that.
(12:49):
What I have said no to threedonuts before diabetes.
Yes.
And am I still going to say noto three donuts after diabetes?
Uh,
He, I, I am.
I had a mom reach out to meonce.
And she was just in a panicbecause her teenage son had just
gotten diagnosed with type one.
It was right at the end of theschool year and they had all
these travel plans for summerand she just.
(13:10):
Was.
Very very concerned about whattheir vacation was going to look
like.
Now that type one diabetes wasin the mix.
I told her and I encouraged her.
You just have to go and do it.
You have to show your child thatlife is not going to stop.
Or be put on pause because ofthis disease.
Like I know you're scared and Iknow it's so incredibly
(13:31):
intimidating, but for the sakeof your child's mental
wellbeing, you've got to justpush through your fear and make
it happen.
I always remind myself thatreally in truly, as long as we
have insulin with us in a way toget it into my daughter's body.
And as long as we have enoughlow snacks with us, plenty of
juice, boxes, candy, whatevermeat you may use, we're going to
be fine.
crazy things could and probablywill happen sometimes.
(13:54):
But as long as you have insulin,And as long as you have enough
low treatments, you're going toget through any situation.
Is it always going to lookpretty and amazing?
No.
Nothing's perfect.
But you will get through Sodefinitely don't try cancel your
travel plans because of typeone.
One of my very good friend'sdaughter was diagnosed at the
beginning of the summer lastyear.
And.
(14:14):
I think she was diagnosed on aweekend, maybe like a Friday or
Saturday.
And they had plans to go out oftown for an entire month.
The following, I think Thursdayor Friday.
And she spent about an hourpanicking about that, but
thankfully Her daughter'sendocrinologist told her.
Not to cancel that trip.
Just take all the supplies withyou.
(14:35):
I know where you're going to bevacationing.
If I need to write Extraprescriptions while you're
there.
it's okay.
You're going to figure it out tonot cancel your travel plans.
And you know what they went andit was great.
And they learned how to do typeone diabetes while they were on
vacation.
I was really proud of her fornot canceling those plans.
I think that was a really harddecision for her, but I was
(14:55):
really proud of her for pushingthrough, so it can Okay, let's
talk a little bit about packing.
Basically, I could justsummarize this by saying you
need to pack a lot of stuff.
But specifically.
You just need to have extrasupplies.
My daughter is on the Omni podsystem currently on the Omnipod
five system.
So when we travel, we bringenough pods, honestly, for about
a month, which would be about 10pods.
(15:17):
We usually don't travel anywherefor longer than a week.
So that's kind of a ridiculousamount of pods.
We absolutely have never usedthat many pods while we're on
vacation.
In fact, usually we just have touse like one extra pod, if any,
at all.
But I like to be prepared.
You never know what's going tohappen.
And I also like to spread themout a little bit.
Like I don't like to have themall in one place.
(15:38):
Like I might put a couple in mypurse and I might put a couple
of my suitcase and I might put acouple of my daughter's diabetes
go bag.
And then our travel bag.
Just so they're spread out incase something gets lost, we
will have a few extra pods.
Obviously you need insulin.
Um,
Even if you're on a pump, I would bring lots of fast
acting insulin, whether you'reon NovoLog, graphy, Asper,
(15:59):
Humalog.
And then I would also bring,even if you're on a pump, I
would bring a couple pins oflong acting insulin.
We were on Tresiba before Sarahstarted on the Omnipod.
And I always just throw a fewpins of Tresiba in our travel
bag to have just in case,because you never know the pump
might fail.
The pump might break.
You might run out of pods.
(16:19):
Or your kid might just get sickof wearing a pump while you're
on vacation and want to take alittle break and that's fine
too.
So make sure you're preparedwith both.
Fast acting and long actinginsulin.
When you travel.
Of course, we have all thenormal stuff.
Adhesive, remover, wipes,alcohol prep, wipes, test drips,
glucometer land sets.
Extra Dexcom sensors.
(16:41):
I usually bring two or threeExtra Dexcom sensors.
We have lost a Dexcom sensorwhile on vacation.
In fact, we lost two once onvacation.
So I usually bring three justbecause I've experienced that
before.
And I was really glad I had Andthen of course, we called the
company and got the other onesreplaced.
That was a little bit of a mess.
I think that was actually ourfirst trip after diagnosis.
(17:02):
It was, we went to the keys.
In Thanksgiving of 2020.
Which I know y'all are thinkingyou're doing an awful lot of
traveling for the year of thepandemic, but you know, you only
I always bring an extra Dexcomtransmitter to.
The way I kind of a hack thesystem as far as prescriptions
is I just make sure I refill myprescriptions as soon as I
possibly can, which is usuallyearlier than when you're
(17:25):
actually going to run out.
So like Dexcom sensors, forexample I can usually, after I
fill that prescription and pickit up from the pharmacy, I'll
get on the app that I use.
We, we pick up our prescriptionsat CVS pharmacy.
So I'll get on the CVS app andsee when is the earliest time I
can refill those prescriptions.
And typically it's like, Alittle less than three weeks,
(17:46):
maybe 20 days out from the daythat you picked up the
prescription.
So technically if you do thatevery single time, and I set a
reminder in my phone, so I don'tforget.
To refill it when the earliestthat I possibly can.
But if you do that every time,whether it's Dexcom sensors or
insulin or.
Omni pods or whatever it may be.
(18:06):
You will eventually have alittle bit of a stockpile and
that way.
You'll always have a few extraon hand in case something goes
wrong.
So that's my little tip andtrick for you today.
What else do I pack?
I pack scissors.
I pack glucagon, of course.
And I, now that we have gonethrough a major illness on
trips, I like to pack.
I'm one of those.
(18:26):
Old school, red glucagon kitsthat Lilly makes, which
unfortunately, I think it'sbeing discontinued at the end of
the year, which is reallyunfortunate, but make sure you
bring your glucagon, whether youhave the injectable kind or the
nasal spray.
I would pack a few extra ofthose.
Bring lots of low treats thatgoes without saying we always
have lots of juice, boxes andcandy on hand.
(18:47):
When we travel, even though Iknow you can stop and buy that
pretty much anywhere.
Oh always bring a waterproofpouch for your phone.
We, when we travel, we usuallyend up near some sort of body of
water.
And I like to have waterproofpouches.
In fact, I like to have it frommy phone as well, even though I
think my iPhone is waterproof.
But I like to have my phone in awaterproof pouch and Sarah's.
(19:09):
Phone in a waterproof pouch aswell.
And if you're on Omnipod, youmight want to think about
getting an extra waterproofpouch for the Omnipod PDM.
Oh, patches bring lots ofpatches.
Usually vacations involve eitherwater or lots of activities.
So there's a lot of sweat andyour devices can fall off more
easily.
So bring patches for the Dexcom.
(19:30):
Bring patches for the OmnipodLibris whatever it is you're
using.
Skin TAC.
I'm going to describe thetechnique we have for keeping
devices on a little later in theepisode.
But bring those things.
Ketone strips.
That's something that you wantto pack.
I didn't think I would needthose until Sarah got super
sick.
But bring those ketone strips.
(19:52):
I feel like I'm missingsomething that's super obvious,
but for now I think that's apretty comprehensive list of the
things you need to bring.
While you are traveling.
Okay.
I want to talk about airplanesbecause this was our first time
flying with type one diabetes.
When we went to Arizona.
But honestly, it was kind of anon-issue.
I thought it was going to be abig I've done an episode.
(20:13):
I will link to this one in theshow notes as well with TSA
cares.
If you're really, really worriedabout navigating the airport
with your type one diabetic, youcan always, if you were in the
states, you can always call TSAcares.
And they will help you when youget to the airport, you can.
Have the meat you.
At the front of the airportbefore you even go through
(20:34):
security and they will walk youthrough the entire process, they
are so sweet.
They're there to help.
So take advantage of that.
If you're a little worried aboutyour.
Type one diabetic gettingthrough security in the airport
for us.
Honestly, it wasn't even athing.
We went right through.
Sarah went through the metaldetector.
She didn't have to go throughthe body scanner.
I think the Dexcom and theOmnipod would have been fine in
(20:56):
the body scanner.
But had they made her go intothe body scanner?
I probably would've gone into myspiel about type one and what
her devices did, maybe try andavoid that.
And just do the metal detectorinstead, but that was not an
issue.
They did.
They just let her walk onthrough and didn't even say
anything about her devices.
So.
I will say flying.
I didn't really notice a hugedifference with Sarah's blood
(21:18):
sugar.
When we were taking off, when wewere landing.
They were pretty, I would say.
Normal quote unquote, causewhat's really normal.
Throughout the whole flight.
We were on the DIY loop systemat the time.
So I think I had said anoverride to give her.
A little bit more insulin whilewe were like sitting on the
plane, just cause she's inactiveand we were eating snacks.
Um,
And that worked out pretty well for us.
(21:39):
I don't, I don't remember havingany, any significant highs or
lows while we were on theairplane.
Once we got off the airplane inArizona, I was very prepared for
her blood sugars to be.
A lot lower because of thehigher altitude.
but honestly, I didn't notice ahuge different with that either.
I mean, We had done a few thingsdifferently with the loop system
to be prepared for that.
(22:00):
We had set the target glucoselevel, a little higher.
I think we had set an override,so it was giving her maybe 20 or
30% less insulin than what shenormally gets for basal and
bolus.
But.
Again, that didn't seem to be asbig of a deal as I thought it
was going to be, which is kindof true for everything with
diabetes.
We've got Halloween coming upand I remember the first.
(22:21):
Halloween.
I was totally freaked outthinking, oh my gosh, this is
going to be awful, but it was,it was fine.
It was fine.
All that extra walking withSarah, going from house to
house, gathering up her candyhelped keep her numbers nice and
steady and stable.
Okay.
So what I really want to talk toyou about with travel is the
illness that we experienced.
We landed in Las Vegas on aSaturday.
(22:45):
We had a great afternoon.
We went to red rock canyon onSunday.
We drove to the Hoover dam anddid the Hoover dam tour.
And then we drove to Flagstaff.
And then on Monday we woke up,it was actually Memorial day
that day.
And we drove to the grandcanyon, which is something
that's on my bucket list.
So I was so excited to go seethe grand canyon.
(23:05):
We got to the grand canyon.
We saw the views, they weremagnificent.
We went and did a little hikethat was highly recommended for
first-timers.
And ended up being only about athree mile hike, but.
It was intense.
It was.
I think he was Angel's landingor something like that.
Angel something.
But we made the mistake ofwearing some warmer clothes
(23:26):
because it was pretty cool inthe morning when we got there.
And.
You know, we could kind of stripoff our shirts.
We had tank tops underneath.
We had, well, we had jacketsfirst.
We could take those off.
Then we could take the heaviershirt off and just wear the tank
top.
But we wore everybody worepants.
And that was a mistake becauseit was.
Pretty exert.
It was pretty hot by the time wewere done hiking.
(23:46):
So it was a beautiful hike.
We went a mile and a half down.
And then we had to turn around.
And come a mile and a half backAnd Sarah, I could just tell she
was struggling a little bit likeshe was having, she was saying
she was having troublebreathing.
Like she, she was a littlecongested, which we probably
shouldn't even have attempted ahike with her being congested.
(24:06):
Not horrible, but still anyway,she was a little congested and
on the, when we turned around tocome back up, she was just.
I don't know.
I couldn't tell if it was causeshe was panicking a little bit.
Cause she felt like she couldn'tbreathe very well or if she
truly couldn't breathe verywell, by the way her blood
sugars were totally fine.
This whole hike.
I think I had increased thetarget.
(24:26):
The target glucose level on herDIY loop before we started
hiking.
So that held her pretty steadyand stable.
She only had to.
Drink a juice box once and ate afew Skittles here and there.
But.
Anyway, long story short, thehike up was rough for Sarah.
She just wasn't feeling verywell and she was a really hating
life coming back up that we hadto end up stopping like maybe
(24:48):
every 30 feet or so, so shecould just kind of rest and
catch her breath.
My husband gave her a piggybackride for some of it.
I mean, it was only a mile and ahalf back up, but it was a
struggle to get to get back up.
So we get back.
We get back up to the top.
We're just.
Refilling our waters resting.
We go find some lunch.
Everybody's happy.
Now we check out a few giftshops.
(25:09):
Sarah eats a full lunch andseems perfectly fine.
Happy hippy Skippy.
And then we get on the grandcanyon trolley to go see some
more of the sites.
And we were on that trolley formaybe 10 minutes and Sarah just
kind of went.
Paleish green.
And looked up at my husband andsaid, I think I'm going to be
sick.
And low and behold, as soon aswe got her off that trolley.
(25:33):
And thank God we got her off andwe did, but she just got sick
everywhere, like vomiting,profusely all over the loading
platform of the grand canyontrolley.
So if you happened to me at thegrand canyon on Memorial day of
2022, And you saw a 10-year oldgirl throwing up right next to
the trolley.
(25:53):
That was probably my daughter.
She threw up twice after that.
Of course by this point in time,we are immediately walking to
the car to get her set back upin the car.
And it was, it was just alldownhill from there.
Thank goodness.
Cause I was worried because shehad taken all, you know, she'd
taken this insulin before sheate her lunch and not even an
hour later, she had vomited upher entire lunch.
(26:16):
So I was worried that she wasgoing to start tanking.
Really quickly.
I was thinking we needed to getsome food in her ASAP.
So luckily she was able to kindof suck on a few Smarties.
She was able to get a juice boxdown.
Thankfully, she didn't have, Ihad like shut her insulin off at
this point in time.
And thankfully she
uh,
was able to get that down.
Anyway, she fell asleep in thecar on the way back to the
(26:37):
hotel.
And we get back to the hotel andprobably once we get her inside
and get her settled.
She just started vomiting.
And she got sick, probably every45 minutes.
From let's see, what time wasit?
Maybe four o'clock in theafternoon until the next morning
she was throwing up profuselyevery 45 minutes.
(26:57):
It was rough.
I mean, she was.
It was almost like she wasbarely conscious.
She was kind of like, couldn'teven sit up straight.
I would, I was obviously tryingto push fluids.
Trying to get water and icechips in her sips of Gatorade,
nibble on a goldfish, whateverwe could do to give her
something in her system, but shejust could not keep it down.
(27:17):
I have never seen my daughter,this sick.
She had to go into the hospitalwhen she was five days old
because she had RSV.
so other than this time at thegrand canyon that I'm telling
you about right now, that wasprobably the sickest I've seen
her, but in between.
That stint in the hospital whenshe was a.
Five days and then of course, Ifwe're not counting the diagnosis
of type one diabetes, but thisillness that I'm telling you
(27:41):
about right now is the sickestI've ever seen.
My daughter.
She's never had a stomach viruslike this.
So immediately I start thinking,oh my gosh, what am I going to
do?
So I, I pull out my think, likea pancreas information.
That's tucked away in the backof my brain.
And I know that.
You want to try to be pushingfluids as much as possible
because you don't want them toget you hydrated.
You want to try to be pushinginsulin as much as possible
(28:03):
because you don't want thoseketones to develop and you want
to get them flushed out of theSo I started.
immediately when Sarah startedthrowing up her blood sugar
numbers started climbing, whichyou kind of think it would be
the opposite, right.
You'd think, oh, they can't keepanything down.
They're going to drop.
Well, she immediately startedclimbing, so I start pushing
insulin and I honestly wasprobably pushing about a unit or
(28:28):
maybe more of insulin into herevery single hour.
From the time she startedvomiting until the next morning
at like eight o'clock in theThat's a lot of insulin for
somebody who's not eating anyfood and who weighs like 70
pounds.
And let me tell you her numberwould not budge.
I mean, she probably sat in themid.
The upper.
(28:48):
To lower two hundreds for thatentire time.
I don't know that she ever gotover 300.
I don't remember, but even withall that insulin and her not
eating a single thing, shestayed.
Up there.
And I just had to keep remindingmyself.
That we have glucagon if we needit.
Right now she needs insulin andshe needs fluids to get those
ketones out of her system.
(29:09):
Because at this point in time,because I had those ketone
strips, I could test her ketonesand they were very large.
So I knew that what she neededat that moment was insulin and
fluids.
And I just had to keep my ridingmyself, you know, it's
terrifying giving your childthis much insulin when she can't
hold anything down.
But I have the glucagon, if Ineed it.
That's what it's there for.
So I just kept pushing thatinsulin.
(29:30):
By the time we woke up the nextmorning.
Because my husband and I werehaving the conversation of
course, of what should we do?
What if she doesn't get better?
Should we take her to thehospital?
So by the time we woke up thenext morning and Sarah was still
throwing up every 45 minutes orso still couldn't keep even an
ice trip down.
We decided, okay.
It was time to go to thehospital.
(29:50):
Her ketones were large.
Her blood sugar was high.
We knew that it was time to goto the hospital, which that's a
scary thing to do when you'rehalf way across the country or
more, you're almost all the wayacross the country actually.
Going from Florida to Arizona.
So we took Sarah to theFlagstaff medical center.
They were amazing.
I wish I could remember theirnames and give them a shout out.
(30:12):
But they were fantastic.
I had to be pretty bold upfront,and I immediately said, You
know, she has type one diabetes,she's wearing a glucose monitor
and she's wearing an insulinpump.
I didn't even say if it's okaywith you.
I just said.
I want to leave those on herbody and I will manage her
diabetes while we're here.
I'm not going to leave her side.
And they were, they didn't evenfight back.
(30:33):
They were like, fine.
That's great.
That's awesome.
We would appreciate it if youdid that.
Take take some of the work awayfrom us.
So I just went in bold and bigand was like, look, you're not
taking this stuff off of herbody and they were fine with it.
So definitely advocate for yourkid.
If they ever have to be in thehospital.
Try to keep those devices onthem.
If you can.
So luckily they did not have toadmit us into the hospital.
(30:55):
They started running an Ivy offluids on Sarah immediately.
Once we got settled in the ERand it was the craziest thing
I've ever seen.
I'm not even kidding you.
Within five minutes of herhaving that Ivy in her arm, in
that Ivy, drip Her blood sugarhas started coming down.
It is that I, the one lesson Itook away.
(31:17):
From that experience.
Is how important hydration is toblood sugar numbers.
Like I had no idea the effectthat dehydration could have on
your blood sugar until I saw.
That happened.
I mean, it was crazy how Sarahcouldn't keep any fluids in her
for over well.
Not even, not even 24 hours, butthe instant, she started getting
(31:38):
fluids and getting hydrated.
Her blood sugar started comingdown immediately.
And it leveled out prettynicely.
I, I didn't even have to haveher treat a low.
It just kind of gradually camedown and leveled out, which was
great.
They pumped her full of fluids.
They only gave her half a bag offluids.
And I was like, Hey, look, weare on vacation.
And we would like to attempt tocontinue on with our vacation if
(32:01):
possible.
So considering the fact that shehas been vomiting for the past,
like 12 hours straight, couldyou maybe give her that second
half of the fluid bag?
They did the calculations basedon her weight and everything.
And they decided that it wouldbe fine.
So they gave her the second halfof the bag.
So just keep that in mind again,advocate for your kid, if you
think they need it.
They ran a bunch of tests onSarah.
(32:22):
They checked her for multipleviruses and stomach bugs and all
that sort of stuff.
And.
Nothing came back positive.
So.
We have no idea what caused herto get so sick.
I kind of think it might've beenaltitude sickness.
But honestly, by the end of theweek, I was actually had come
down with a little something notnearly as bad as Sarah's, but
still bad.
So maybe it wasn't altitudesickness, maybe it was a
(32:44):
contagious virus that they justdidn't test for.
So we didn't know about.
Anyway, that's what I wanted totell you about illness and
traveling.
We did our best to continue onwith the vacation.
Sarah, it took her the rest ofthe week to recover her.
And I spent a lot of time.
Taking naps and watching TV.
My husband and I would switchoff doing activities with the
(33:04):
boys.
Unfortunately Sarah missed outon quite a bit of stuff on our
trip.
But truth be told she was justnot well enough or strong enough
to even attempt it.
Thankfully, she was well enoughand strong enough to by the time
we left on Saturday to getthrough the airport.
And get through the plane ridehome.
And
uh,
we made it home safely, but I've already told her, I was
(33:26):
like, sweetheart, we need tohave a redo maybe one day in
life when you're an adult, youand I can go back and do some of
the stuff, especially some ofthe stuff in Zion national park
that we missed out on becauseyou were so sick.
So I've got that in the back ofmy mind.
All right.
I want to talk to you a littlebit about swimming and insulin,
because that was such a hugepart of our summer.
And I know it's a big part of alot of people's summers.
(33:47):
So, as I mentioned, you know,there was times where Sarah
would eat a meal and I wouldgive her all the insulin for the
carbs in the meal.
And then she, a friend wouldknock on the door and they would
want to hop in the And I'msorry, but I'm just not the mom.
That's going to be like,sweetheart, you need to wait
till hours before you couldn'tgo on the pole with your friend.
(34:08):
I'm like, no, you can, you canget in the pool.
We'll figure this out.
So.
Kind of my strategy was if Sarahwas going to go swimming and she
had a lot of insulin on board.
I would turn her insulin offimmediately or do a very
significant temp basal decrease.
Like as soon as I knew she wasgoing to get in the pool and
then I would all cause she's ona pump again.
And then I would also give Somesort of a snack.
(34:30):
Usually it was something withlike, I don't know, anywhere
from 15 to 30 carbs, dependingon how much insulin she had on
board.
And you're just going to have tofigure that out for yourself.
If Sarah did not have a wholelot of insulin on board
sometimes like if it had been along time, like three or four
hours before she had any bolusinsulin in her, a lot of times
she could just jump in the pooland swim without any
(34:51):
intervention and she would befine.
If we were kind of in the middleof that period you know, it had
been maybe an hour and a half ortwo hours since she had eaten.
So I know she still had someinsulin on board.
But not as much as in thebeginning.
Then I might give her a littlesnack again, turn the insulin
off or do a tent Bazell decreaseway down, maybe like 80 to 90%
(35:11):
down.
As soon as she got in the pool.
And just check her in about 40to 45 I have learned that with
Sarah.
It's good enough for us to gether out of the pool.
Every 40 to 45 minutes to haveher reconnect to the Dexcom or
to do a finger prick to check Idon't feel like we need to get
it her any sooner than that.
But I feel like going a littlebit longer an hour or so would
(35:35):
be too long to maybe catch alow.
That was happening.
So I would just know, Hey, we'vegot about 45 minutes.
You can enjoy yourself.
And then we're going to have tohop out of the pool and check
your number.
I will say one of the biggestthings that I learned about
swimming for Sarah and insulinis that if I had to turn off her
insulin, Or turn it way down.
When she was swimming and then.
(35:55):
I figured out that as soon asshe got out of the pool, I would
have to give her a bolus ofinsulin for the Bazell insulin
that she missed.
Like immediately or she wouldstart to climb.
Very very quickly.
Which is just insane to me thatshe could spend, you know, two
hours swimming with her insulinoff or her insulin way down.
And if I didn't give her a bolusfor the Bazell that she had
(36:18):
missed while she was swimming,she would immediately start to
climb as soon as that activitywas over.
So, you know, an example of thatwould be Sarah's Bazell rate is
one unit an hour, which it'snot, but I'm just easy math.
If she was getting in the poolfor two hours, I would turn the
insulin.
Let's just say I would turn itoff for that two hours.
(36:38):
As soon as she got out of thepool, even if her blood sugar
was like 80, I would have togive her a bolus of two units of
insulin and turn her pump backon.
Her basal insulin back on andrunning.
Or else she would climbsignificantly.
Her blood sugar would climbsignificantly.
That's kind of a scary thing todo.
When your kid has been swimmingfor two hours and they get out
(37:00):
of the pool and their bloodsugar is 80 and steady.
It's like, yikes, am I reallygoing to give her two units of
insulin right now?
Because her Bazell has been offfor two hours.
But for us, we just kept seeingthis pattern over and over and
over again of her blood sugarshooting up after she would get
out of the pool.
When our insulin was off and Ijust, it would just became a
pattern for us.
So finally, I was like, look,we're just going to give this a
(37:22):
I'm in a bolus for the Bazellthat you missed.
Worst case scenario.
I've got to give you a juice boxor two.
Okay.
Or we got to eat some popsicles.
I mean, that doesn't sound likea worst case scenario to me.
And honestly, I don't think Iever had to utilize those
popsicles or juice boxes oncebecause.
those patterns continue tohappen.
And when I would bowl us for theBazell that she missed, she
(37:44):
wouldn't spike.
She wouldn't climb.
She would just stay nice andsteady.
So maybe pay attention to that.
Maybe that's not a problem foryou.
Just something to think about.
All right.
I want to talk about keeping onthose devices when you're having
a really a heavy water day.
Maybe you're going to the beach.
Maybe you're spending the day ina lake in the pool at a water
park, or maybe it's just areally hot and sweaty day in the
(38:05):
summertime.
And you need something to keepthose patches on.
Okay.
This is what we do.
We have found that this is thebest strategy to keep things on
really, really snug and really,really securely.
What I do.
Let's say I'm going to put onSarah's Omni pod.
I rubbed the skin down withalcohol.
Let that Then I take the liquidskin TAC and I put it on her
(38:26):
skin and I leave a little spotwhere the Omnipod tube is going
to be inserted.
Or I had a very smart listenertell me that they.
Actually put the skin TACdirectly on to the Omnipod
backing.
So that way they can just paintaround the hole where the
Omnipod cannular is going tocome out.
But I, so I was putting skintack on Sarah skin.
(38:48):
And then I was putting the Omnipod on top of that.
Activating the pod.
And then I was putting a SIMpatch patch.
Over the Omnipod.
Listen, if you need a patch thatis going to withstand a nuclear
bomb and keep your child's Omnipod on their body.
It's it's going to be the SIMpatch patch.
These things are so supersticky, they will get the job
(39:10):
done on those crazy water daysor crazy hot and sweaty days in
the In fact, they're almost toosticky.
Like I love them, but I alsohate them because when you go to
take them off, there is so muchsticky, goo left over that.
I have to go through a lot ofadhesive remover in order to get
all that extra sticky goo off.
So they get the job done, butthey're a pain in the butt to
(39:32):
take off, but just keep that inmind.
I'd rather deal with the extragoo in the end.
Then have pods and Dexcom'sfalling off left and right.
We spent a week at lake Laura,North Carolina.
And I mean, we, we play hardwhen we are on vacation.
Sarah was swimming like all daylong.
They had one of those floatingmats that you can lay on and run
on and jump off of.
(39:53):
They were wrestling We wenttubing and Sarah wears her Omni
pods on her thigh and she laysdown on the tube on her stomach.
So her thighs are like bouncingup and down on this tube.
The whole time you guys, we didnot lose one Omnipod, the whole
trip.
And we were on the water forlike six straight days.
It was amazing.
So it will get the job done.
You're just going to have todeal with a little extra sticky
(40:15):
goo on your kid's skin, youknow, that nice, that nice dirt
patch that forms, when you thinkyou got all the goo off, but you
really didn't get all the goooff.
And then like two days goes byand You know, see your kid's arm
or leg or whatever in themirror.
And you're like, oh my gosh, whoknew there was this much dirt in
our life?
How did that collect on yourarm?
(40:36):
Like You guys know what I'mtalking about?
I had a couple people, cause Iactually did a post about those
patches a while ago or aboutskin tack and just our
technique.
To hold things in place.
And I had a couple parentscomment that their children are
allergic to skin TAC or thatskin TAC burn their skin or the
kids had sensitive skin.
So there was a couple ofcomments that were helpful.
(40:56):
One lady said that they used Ivyprep instead of skin TAC and
that, because their child's skinwas also very sensitive to skin
TAC and that seemed to helpreally well.
I also had another parentcomment that Cavilon cream.
Is a barrier cream.
And if you put that on the skinbefore you put skin tack on, it
(41:18):
creates a nice barrier betweenthe skin and the skin TAC but
still allows the skin TAC to doits job.
So those might be some thingsthat you could try.
If you have a kid that is proneto irritability.
With those adhesives.
The other thing I wanted tomention about our summer of 2022
is that Sarah went to quite afew camps.
She went to a week of art camp.
(41:38):
She went to a week of just aregular summer camp and she did
a three-day volleyball As Noneof these camps were diabetes
camps.
Again.
Don't be scared to send yourkids to camp.
Just because they have type onediabetes.
Are you going to need to findthe director of that camp?
And the camp counselors and makesure they are well-informed and
prepared and well aware thatthey have a camper with T one D
(42:01):
yes.
Should you also maybe considerlooking for camps that have a
nurse on staff at the camp?
Yes, I think that would be agood idea.
One of the camps, just thegeneral summer camp that Sarah
did.
I had no, I, it was at a littleprivate school.
That's around the corner fromus.
And I had no idea that they hada full time nurse on staff.
(42:22):
During the week.
And so like the week beforecamp, I emailed the camp
director to let them know, Hey,My daughter's 10.
She has type one diabetes.
This is how we manage it.
Do you think I could have thenumbers of her counselors and
blah, blah, blah, and just kindof getting the ball rolling for
like, You know, I didn't ask forpermission, like, Hey, can my
daughter come to your camp?
I'm telling you, my daughter iscoming to your camp.
(42:43):
And this is how this is how Iwould like to handle it.
How can we work together to makeit a successful week But the
director emailed me back and waslike, we actually have a full
time.
A nurse on staff.
That's going to be here.
During our summer camp.
So I'm going to put you incontact with her and you all can
discuss best ways to manage andkeep Sarah safe next week while
(43:04):
she's here.
You guys.
I was so excited.
Well, actually, to be quitehonest at first, I'm like, okay,
that's great.
But we're used to kind ofmanaging things without a nurse.
Her school doesn't have a nurse,so it's really just her and I,
so I will definitely get thenumber and the email of the
nurse, but I really don't knowhow much I'm going to need her
or use her.
Let me tell you guys, I wastexting with that nurse probably
(43:26):
like six or seven times a day.
Cause there was a pool at thissummer camp.
And my daughter, isn't great atpre bolusing when she's not with
me.
So, you know, there were somethings, some highs and lows to
say the least during the week.
And I was so grateful that thatnurse was there.
Could it have been done withoutthe nurse?
Yeah, probably.
And also the summer camp wasliterally eight minutes away
(43:47):
from our house.
So in a true emergency, I couldhave hopped in the car and
driven there.
But I was so grateful that thatnurse so maybe ask around, Hey,
do you have a nurse that's onstaff and that's going to be
here during the summer.
Also a good idea might besending your kid to camp with
another friend that has type onediabetes.
And that way they can kind oflook out for each other while
(44:07):
they're Another really goodreason to get plugged into the
type one community around you.
JDRF is a great place to See ifthere's a local chapter Next
year, I really want to sendSarah to a diabetes summer camp.
Like spend the nights, sleepaway.
There's one, that's pretty closeto us.
A couple hours away in our stateof Florida.
It looks really fun.
(44:27):
I was following their socialmedia page over the summer and I
was kept showing Sue Sarah'spicture.
I kept showing Sarah thepictures of the camp and she
seemed really excited about it.
So I'm actually reminding myselfthat I need to email the camp
director and see whenregistration starts and what
weeks.
They are going to have camp nextyear.
So stay tuned on how that goes.
(44:48):
I already have a couple offriends that I'm planning on
sending her Okay.
The last thing I want to talkabout.
With our summer of 2022 is thefact that we switched from the
DIY loop system to the Omnipodfive system.
Very soon.
I'm hoping to do an episode kindof comparing the two and just
talking about how our.
(45:10):
Experience with the Omnipod fivehas, is going so far.
I think that would be a reallyinteresting one for listeners.
Again, I wouldn't be telling youwhat to do.
I would just be telling you whatwe've done.
So you can maybe.
Kind of think about a fewthings.
But I will say last may.
So may of 2022.
At the beginning of that month,we had a couple of weeks that
(45:31):
were just awful.
Just awful.
It was, it was kind of one ofthose things where I was like
dumping insulin into Sarah andlike nothing was moving.
She was very, very high for avery long time.
And I just got so frustrated andso fed up.
That I made a pretty rashdecision to Put her on the DIY
loop system.
(45:51):
And that is a big deal for thoseof you that don't know, DIY loop
is a non FDA approved.
App.
That you have to build yourselfon a computer and then transfer
onto your phone.
To deliver your kids insulin.
I actually went out and bought aMac book air to do this.
I mean, honestly, my othercomputer was a dinosaur and it
(46:14):
was time for an upgrade anyway,but so I went out and I bought a
Mac book air.
Just so you know, it is possibleto do it on other computers.
Other laptops and computers,but.
Like I said it was time for usto upgrade our computer anyway,
because it was a dinosaur and itwas working so very That whole
process was extremelyintimidating to me.
(46:36):
However, I will say.
There is a website.
Called.
Lupe docs.
That will walk you through theentire process of how to do this
from step one until the end.
And it is amazing because I,first of all, I read the loop
docs website probably two timesall the way through before I
even started.
(46:57):
And then I read it through veryslowly and carefully when I was
going through how to build thismyself.
I followed each step.
Exactly.
And to my surprise, I actuallyended up building this program
successfully and putting it onmy daughter's phone.
I honestly was shocked.
I did not think I could do it.
But they're the instructionsthey give you on the loop docs
(47:18):
website are phenomenal.
The people that created the loopsystem are geniuses.
I will leave a link in the shownotes to the loop docs website.
So you can see it.
For yourself, if you'reinterested.
Loop is an app that's onlyavailable on iPhone.
There is also another DIY.
System.
That you can build for Android.
(47:38):
And that is called open APS.
There's information on the loopdocs website about open APS.
But I can also leave a link inthe show notes to more about
that.
If you're interested.
Honestly, I'm going to leave itlink in the show notes to the
looped Facebook group, becausethat was created by the people
that developed the loop.
System and that maintain it.
(48:00):
And they're kind of like, Techsupport and customer customer
support.
Like if something goes wrongwith your loop system, You hop
on that Facebook group and youask your question and they will
help you troubleshoot and figureit out.
They are also amazing and geniuslevel people.
So if you're interested in theloop system, it really is an
amazing system.
It might've already come out,but pretty soon, I don't know
(48:22):
exactly when, but loop three isgoing to be.
Out of the dev branch and intothe master branch in loop three
allows you to use Omnipod dashpods.
And.
Your iPhone.
Without the need for a Rileylink.
I didn't even mention the Rileylink, but you also need this
little device called a Rileylink or an orange link.
(48:43):
To help your pod.
And your Dexcom communicate.
It's a whole thing.
Y'all.
Honestly, I'm just not superwell versed in it.
So take a look at the links thatI'm going to leave in the show
notes.
If you want to take a look andfigure it out for yourself.
But with loop three, if I didn'tcomplete that thought before
with loop three.
it would eliminate the need forthe orange link or the Riley
(49:03):
link.
You would just need your Dexcom.
You're Omnipod dash and yourphone.
So that's one huge benefit ofloop.
Another huge benefit of loopwithout going into a lot of
detail is it's verycustomizable.
You can set the targets a lotlower than what you can on like
other FDA approved automatedsystems, like the con tandem
control IQ and the Omnipod five.
(49:25):
So there are definitely somehuge benefits to doing the DIY
loop.
But honestly it just, it justwasn't for us.
Do I respect the people thatcreated it.
Absolutely.
Do I think they're amazing ingeniuses.
Yes, do I think it's an awesomesystem.
E S I do.
But it just wasn't for us.
And I think it was the tech,like I just found that I w I
(49:45):
never had a whole lot of peace.
About having to build this tech.
You also have to rebuild itevery single year.
There is a chance that it couldcrash and then you'd have to go
in and start from square one andrebuild the whole thing.
So I just always had the, thatin the back of my mind and it
just never sat well with I neverhad a peace about the whole
technology piece side of it.
(50:05):
And to be quite honest.
We didn't really have that muchbetter control using the loop
system.
Then we did just using theOmnipod arrow system, which we
were on before loop.
So once the Omnipod five gotapproved and we finally got
approval through our insurance,I was like, you know what?
I really want to give this atry.
There was a couple things Iwasn't crazy about, but.
(50:26):
One being, we couldn't use ourphone.
To control the pod because we,Sarah had an iPhone and that's
not compatible with Omni FOD.
Five at the moment.
I didn't love the fact thatthere was not a view app.
With the loop system, you canuse Nightscout.
Which is another thing that youhave to build on your computer.
But there are companies outthere that will build it for you
(50:47):
and maintain it for you for like$10 a month.
Um,
That's called T one pal.
And I will put a link to that inthe show notes as well.
Which I had to, I had to pay forthat service because honestly,
after having to build the loopsystem, I was like, I cannot
possibly build one more thing.
That's going to stress me out.
So I paid somebody else to dothat for me.
For$10 But Nightscout wasamazing.
(51:07):
I could see every singletreatment decision that Sarah
made on Nightscout.
I could see what the system wasdoing, whether it was giving her
more basal insulin or less basalinsulin.
I could see what the predictionline was like, what it was
predicting.
Her glucose was going to be.
In a few hours.
Nightscout was truly amazing.
And with Omni pod five, I lostall of that.
(51:28):
There's no view app.
I have no way of seeing whatSarah's treatment decisions were
when she's not with me.
And I don't have the PDM to pickup with my hand and look at.
So I feel a little bit more inthe dark with the Omnipod five
system.
But the pros of Omnipod five,for me at least outweigh the
cons.
So I'm going to talk more aboutthat in a separate episode.
(51:50):
All about what our experiencehas been with Omnipod five so
far.
So stay tuned for that.
But as for our summer 2022 andreview that's about it.
Everybody went back to schoolabout.
Three or four weeks ago.
I think we just started ourfourth full week of school.
And I'm happy that I can nowcomplete a full thought without
(52:10):
interruption.
I really do love having my kidshome for the summer, but I am
also ready for them to go backto school once it's over.
All right.
You guys, I hope you found thathelpful.
I hope you were able to glean alittle bit of Information off of
that, get a few nuggets ofwisdom.
Let me know if you have anyquestions or comments about
that.
You can always emailme@sugarmamaspodcastatgmail.com.
(52:32):
Happy to answer any of yourquestions or send me a DM on
Instagram or Facebook.
But that is it for our episodethis week.
As always, I'm going to link toa lot of stuff in the show
notes, so be sure you check itthere's three episodes that I'm
going to link to the episodewith Maura McCarthy.
I'm the episode with TSA caresand I'll link to the episode
with Stacy Sims.
(52:53):
Remember Stacy made a littleannouncement at the beginning of
the show.
For moms in the Charlotte, NorthCarolina area, she's going to
host a mom's night out event.
But I had.
I actually interviewed Stacy ona previous episode.
And it was a great conversation.
If you want to take a listen andlearn more about her podcast.
I'm going to link to the loopdocs website.
If you want to learn more aboutthe DIY loop situation and the
(53:17):
looped Facebook group, which isbasically tech support.
If you are going to jump intothe whole DIY loop community.
Those are two great resources.
If you're thinking about doingloop.
Or the open APS system, which isthe system for Android devices.
I will put a link in the shownotes to the mom's night out
(53:37):
event that Stacy Sims mentioned.
So go to that link to find outmore information and sign up for
that.
I will also put a link to theSIM patch patches.
The skin TAC, the Ivy prep andthe Cavilon barrier cream, which
are all the products that Imentioned.
We use to help keep Sarah'sdevices on nice and snug during
(53:58):
the summertime.
Okay.
I hope you guys have a fabulousweek and a relaxing weekend.
I hope diabetes behaves for you,but until next time, stay calm
and bolus on.
Bye.
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