Slacker + Little G

I haven't kept Riley's food intake/insulin log since he returned home from camp - camp where he rocked it and kicked diabetes butt!

It might be time to get the log book out. Right before dinner last night he called down to say that he felt weird, tested and his number was some ridiculous number like 400. He corrected along with his dinner insulin (10 units) and was 168 within an hour and half. I believe he was 89 and dropping by 7 pm.

The day before had a very similar story line. Theme was exactly the same.  Granted - after testing for his dinner of Sweet Frog frozen yogurt with the kitchen sink on top, he did need a few extra units of insulin to cover the high and the yogurt.  Why frozen yogurt for dinner, you ask?  Well...Riley just had his annual physical, the kind at the pediatrician office where they check you out for mundane stuff like myopia. We hadn't been there in almost a year. Riley remembered the parking spot we were in that day, Septemeber 20, 2011. The day he was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.


It all went well. Better than well. On the way to frozen yogurt paradise, Riley said that was the best doctor appointment he ever had. The doctor swore (without signing a promise note) that Riley would be at least 6 feet tall. After I picked up my jaw from the floor, I asked how he knew that. The dr. asked me how tall my husband was "6 feet right?" Uhhhh ... no, more like 5'9" on a good day. Then he asked about my family. All males are at least 6'4" or 6'5". Oh yeah...Riley is definitely going to be more than a mere 5'9" probably closer to 6 feet!


Riley is the shortest kid in his class except for Sam who is a little shorter but an amazing soccer player so Riley might as well be the shortest. So while all his classmates are possibly done growing or will be in the next year. Riley is just getting started at 5'3". This means the world to him. And he didn't need any booster shots, whew... He did suggest that he could do it himself were they required.

He's now being referred to as LG at our house, Little Giant.

Breakfast Cookie + Glucerna Shake

Is this a good healthy breakfast?

I found a breakfast cookie recipe in Martha Stewart Living magazine this month. The ingredients look a lot like my granola recipe except it calls for 1 cup of olive oil and 1.5 cups of maple syrup compared to the cookie recipe which has 4 sticks of butter  and 3 cups of brown sugar. ( I thought that was way too much sugar even though the recipe calls for 2 cups of whole wheat flour, 2 cups of white flour and 2 cups of rolled oats. So I used Coconut Crystals for the last cup of sugar when I realized after tasting the dough that just 2 cups of brown sugar wasn't enough)  The important thing is that Riley doesn't eat my granola even if I put chocolate chips in it, but he does eat the breakfast cookies.

The recipe calls for all kinds of dried fruits. I eliminated them and used cinnamon chips. I did however add handfulls of flax seeds and wheat germ.

This recipe makes a huge amount of cookies. I've gotten 30 so far and I'm a little more than half way through the dough. I haven't figured out the carbs yet. For now I am counting them as a regular cookie (15 gr).

Glucerna shake. 15 grams of carbs. He's been drinking these as his breakfast for the past few days. I think because he wakes up late (around 9 or 10 am), drinks the shake without covering with insulin, then eats lunch around 11:30 or noon. I've warned him that when school starts in a few weeks he will need to eat something with the shake like breakfast cookies and a banana.  This is what he did this morning and it seemed to work well with a couple units of insulin.

I Survived Camp and Riley Did Too

It is Saturday morning! We are leaving to pick up Riley in 25 minutes. His numbers looked great. His activity level got his nightime insulin (Lantus) down to 3 units-that was the only insulin change I needed to make all week.

He called me on Wednesday night from the health aide's phone because his bg was 250. I loved hearing his voice. He asked if he should increase his Lantus because it was around 10:30 pm. That was awesome, he saw a number and had an idea of how to adjust it.  I reminded him that his before breakfast number was 120 that morning, so it was not necessary. Because they had just finished Capture the Flag or such activity, his bg number would drop on it's own.

Also, the pictures the camp posts online during the week look like Riley was having an awesome time.

When I stopped by the camp to drop off some sugar-free drinks/Crystal Light drink packets AND did not talk to him, all the kids had just finished dinner and were heading to the pool for noodle sparing. Two kids from different teams stand atop inner tubes with some mesh across the hole and spar with noodles, basically trying to push the other off their inner tube. I was there standing 30 yards from the pool and was able to see Riley win - on a technicality - but win, nonetheless.  And then eat a few starbursts without testing.

I can't wait to hear all about the week, by asking a million questions in rapid fire style. To which he will put on his headphones and pretend not to hear me.

NOTE: I will not be bringing his headphones.

Just Don't Talk to Me

Dropped night time insulin by two units and
mealtime insulin by two units to compensate for the
heavy activity schedule as well as the heat.

Camp bg numbers so far:

dinner    bg 156
bedtime bg 217
bkfst      bg 145
lunch     bg 158


How did I get these figures from camp, you ask?

The health aide (no nurse or medical personnel on staff) texts them to me! I gave her four pages of information related to managing Riley's diabetes yesterday when I dropped him off.

• Page 1 - their meal schedule for the week with my added carb counts from Calorie King and other sources
• Page 2 - log to keep track of each bg test, carb count per meal and insulin unit amount injected
• Page 3 - list of low symptoms and treatment procedure & list of the supplies and where they can be found in the dining hall. (ie back up insulins in the refrigerator, testing supplies/snacks/ketone strips/glucagon in the plastic bin and ice packs (one for each day) for bg meter in the freezer)
• Page 4 - our contact numbers and MUSTS for Riley: kit in his knapsack on his back with fast acting candy & lists of when to contact me - bg over 200 in the morning, bg over 300 anytime, a low under 65 and any insulin injection error

Also left a 1 cup measuring cup for cereal and pasta and a bottle of lite syprup for the breakfast goodies that will sky-rocket his blood sugar. And an old 33oz water bottle for sharps storage.

As I said goodbye, leaving him in the hands of a 19 yr old health aid, I tested the water by saying I would see him Wednesday just to check his numbers and make any insulin changes on my way to a job in a nearby town. I had to say it twice to really get his attention to which he replied, "OK, but just don't talk to me."

Bread Making Wars

Nutella, pb, pretzel loaf - yummm

The title is supposed to sound like some show popular on television today. I was able to hold off the Craft Wars session but gave into and possibly suggested having a bread making war.

assorted chocolate chip loaf

I made fresh dough - buttermilk recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day. Split it in 1/3s, and gave Reid and her two friends each a bowl with their 1/3 of the dough. They had at it. Reid went with Nutella, peanut butter and pretzels. The next child decided on white chocolate chips, mint chocolate chips, marshmallows and brown sugar and the the last girl put tomato sauce, pizza seasoning, mozzerella cheese and pepperoni.

pizza loaf

There was a 2 hour wait for the dough to rise. Then another 40 minutes after forming the dough into a ball. Then baked them all together for about 35 minutes. Fortunately, they were all at a softball game when the baking was done and I got
to dive into a little slice of each with a little slather
of butter. WOW! Fantastic all 3 of them!

I had to give each girl a prize for PRIZE 1: the
best ingredients, PRIZE 2: the best tasting,
PRIZE: 3 the best dessert loaf. I couldn't call
one a winner and the rest losers.

How We Did Kings Dominion Amusement Park

This is how I remember Kings Dominion 25 years
ago as a middle-schooler

Our youth group does an annual 3-day trip to Kings Dominion for Kings Fest. I am a youth leader so fortunately I was able to go and hang out with lots of teens and my own with T1D.

How we did it: Dropped Lantus by 1-2 units and Novolog by 2 units starting on the first night at the park for the Lantus and dinner time for the Novolog since we arrived at 3 pm.

There was at least one meal that Riley didn't use any Novolog.

His days were spent walking to/from the hotel to the park, in 100 degree heat, walking the park, riding rollercoasters, cooling off in the wave pool.

His bg never went above 150, the only low was on the bus ride down right before lunch.

Big relief knowing Amusement-Parking is totally in the realm of possibility. Will use these lessons learned for Camp next week.

Camp Checklist

• worry
• contacted camp via email outlining diabetes procedures-attempting to overwhelm without success
• contacted CDE to outline procedure for lowering evening Lantus, before meal Novolog, review the camp schedule for hot spots for lows
• worry
• purchased single serving snacks of 15 g carbs
• checked schedule for best time to covertly visit camp
• worry
• watched video of daughter's visit to camp and studied games intensely, very sure of low possibility