Since our last endo visit we've spent some time evaluating our habits to see where we can improve on J.J.'s diabetes care. Here are a few of our observations:
We are trying to dose J.J. BEFORE he eats. Too often he would eat then forget to tell us he ate, or he would get busy, we would get "busy", and forget for an hour or more. I wouldn't say this happened ALL the time, but enough that it makes a difference. So this week we started dosing beforehand. Friday morning I was patting myself on the back for dosing him BEFORE breakfast....until he checked his blood for lunch. A whopping 401!!! WHAT?? Oh yes, that ever so annoying aspect about diabetes: I CAN WORK MY BEHIND OFF CARING FOR J.J. THE BEST WAY I KNOW BUT IN THE END..... THE RESULTS ARE TOTALLY OUT OF MY CONTROL!!! A bright note, however, is that since we've been doing this his numbers seems more in range....however we are seeing more lows.
The other observation we noticed is that with the birth of our son last year I've been less in control of J.J's diabetes than I've ever been. It was hard at first to relinquish control....I was very fearful...but I soon learned that they could "manage" without me as I focused on the issues facing our youngest. They did manage, but I think it's time to get my "game face" on....mainly by recording keeping.
We haven't kept records for J.J. for quite some time. I used to download his meter, and check his numbers quite often. I watched trends and made many adjustments. So, this week I got out the computer program and spent and hour.....TRYING TO GET THE THING TO WORK WITH OUR NEW COMPUTER.....no success. My "extra" time is so limited....so to work on it that long and get NOWHERE......sigh!!! I'm hoping to get it up and running again, but in the meantime I realize I need to start at least getting his numbers down on paper.
I've also spent time this week researching good kitchen scales. We're about due for a new one....we own a cheapy Target clearance scale. I noticed it was off when I tried to ship a package this summer. I'm trying to get one that will give me the carbs to foods...one of the smart scales. I'm not sure which one is the best for our purposes. I posted on a forum but only got one response. Hoping to get that nailed down soon for more accurate carb counting.
Finally.....we're preparing to get J.J. back on the pump. We talked about it with him a few weeks before we went to the endo. Our original plan was to do shots in the summer and pump in the winter. But he absolutely did not want to put the pump back on a couple years ago. So this fall I asked him again what he thought. He was open to it and after our endo visit it looks like we'll go back to it for a bit. However, to do that I need to (re)educate myself on the pump and and get some charting under my belt. I've taken my notes from Pump School and "Pumping Insulin" with me to the gym the past week to refresh my memory. J.J. has been sick for the past month or so, and last week he had a bad chest/croupy type cold, so we wanted to wait to put the pump on him....to get proper readings and such. Our endo gave us the numbers we need to get going again....or at least to start with.
As much as I know all of this is necessary and good for J.J.'s health. I wish there was a good balance. To manage his diabetes well without having life swallowed by...... managing diabetes. I wonder if there is any hope of that happening? Oh well...for now....we'll forge ahead!!:)
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