Cuz Alexis wants to know!

Alexis from Justice's Misbehaving Pancreas posted that she just wants to know! So here you go!

For informative purposes: J is going to be twelvish (I refuse to say 13!) on Sunday, and was diagnosed at 8 months old. B is 9, and was diagnosed at 5 years old. L is 7 and was diagnosed at 2 years old. We also have a 15 year old son, M. He does not have diabetes.

When did you guys start pumping?
J started pumping 5 years after diagnosis, at 5 years old. B started pumping two months after his “official” diagnosis, he was 5. L started pumping 3-4 months after his diagnosis, at age 2.

What do you use to change sites? What’s your "process"?
We peel off the old site, have the boys take showers and then insert the new. No tapes, no adhesives, no nothing extra.

How often do you check ketones?
When a child has a fever or is throwing up. Around here…we only test for blood ketones on sick days or if there are some seriously unexplainable wonky numbers.

When do you do an unscheduled site change?
If a site falls off. OR if we JUST did a site change and there are a couple unexplained highs in a row that won’t come down. And then obviously if the tubing breaks or if there is an error message.

What’s your child’s target?
90-120 during the day. 150 at night. My endo insists on this so that I will sleep. She doesn’t want me to have to correct anything under 150.

What was your child’s last A1C?
6.6, 6.8, 7.1

What kind of strips do you use?
One Touch

Which do you prefer?
One Touch…it’s all we know.

What kind of Peanut Butter do you use?
Hello! Random! Jiff extra smooth.

Do you allow juice when not low?
Nope.

Do you still check your child at night?
Heck yeah. When you have three…9 times out of 10, someone needs something. It is a necessary evil of Our Diabetic Life. Plus, it is like half the battle. If I can get them good at night…that is 50% of the work done for a better A1C.

What is your rule on sweets?
We have dessert a couple times a week. Usually Sugar free jello or pudding with whip cream. Sometimes something more fun like brownies or cookies. They get special occasion treats at school ALL the time! Seriously, I think I get a call almost every day. They know they can have the treat, and not the juice that is usually there with it. Every wed. after school the school sells ice cream, and the boys get a juice bar.

What about veggies and fruits?
My boys are FRUIT-Ivors. They could probably live on fruit. They prefer Honey Crisp apples, bananas, oranges, grapes, all kinds of berries and any kind of melon. They will also eat the occasional grapefruit, pomegranate or peach, plum or apricot. Veggies are big with my older guys…J will eat salad before anything else. But it is a bit of a battle with the two little guys. Rule is, you have to try a few bites of it before you say you won’t eat it.

White bread or whole wheat?
This has been an issue. My boys will only eat white. When we owned the bakery, we made our own and the boys lived on it. When we closed, I went to the store and bought all different kinds of white and wheat. They refused to eat any of them. They threw away their sandwiches and wouldn’t eat their toast. Hello! Bread Snobs!! We finally found bread they will eat from a bakery an hour away. We buy it in bulk and freeze it. But it is not good for them and the slices are 25 carbs each, at least. So they get half sandwiches in their lunches now, with extra fruit. It is what it is.

Do you use glucose tabs?
This is going to sound bad…but my boys would rather go into a coma than eat glucose tabs. Period.

What do you use to treat lows?
The go to’s right now are Yogos, bananas, apple juice or pudding at night. If we give the boys apple juice in the middle of the night…there is no fat in there to keep their sugars up. So if we treat them with juice…we usually have to treat again. Pudding has been our godsend. Brings them up. Keeps them up. Win win.

What does your child use to hold their pump/cgm?
J puts it in his pocket. B and L use Spibelts.

Alexis also mentioned we should put up a pic of our heroes. Below is a picture of the boys 3 1/2 years ago. It was in the newspaper when we got our Medical Alert Dod Lawton. They look so little! They are HUGE now!