I think by now you should all know how I feel about
adjusting basals...
(When I get really upset I do this thing I
like to call the "frustrated Yeti."
It is a gurgling noise that sounds like it comes from the back of my
throat, but really it comes from my soul.
I'm Yeti-ing all over the place
people.)
But...
Summer cometh! And as
such, so doth the basal changes!
It happens like clockwork every year for our family. Last day of school and WHAM! High blood sugars. A new routine means new basal changes for the
boys.
It is a necessary evil that comes along with Our Diabetic
Life.
I made basal adjustments on L and B, JUST before we left on
our little vacation last week...fun!
To make up for the lack of basal lately, I've been rage
bolusing at every meal. Rage bolusing
means bolusing WAY more than needed to make up for the extra insulin needs the
change of year/routine requires.
Now that I've changed basals, I need to dial down my raging
and find the sweet spot. That takes
trial and error, and leave it to me to pick the days we are going on vacation
to do said trials and errors...
Boo yeah! I'm wicked
wild like that!
We've seen more lows the past three days than we have seen
in the past three months. Not cool...but
a bit of a relief not seeing so many highs.
I now feel confident enough to bolus what I SHOULD be bolusing at meals,
rather than padding the boluses to compensate for the lack of basal.
(In my world...that means progress!)
Poor J had to learn the hard way when it is right to change
basals. As you may or may not be aware,
J is 95% on his own diabetes wise. He
counts his own carbs, he boluses himself, he changes his own sets. He does it all. When we were in Santa Cruz this weekend, and
we all had some ice cream on the boardwalk, I asked J how much he bolused for
it.
"40 carbs," was his reply.
"Huh," I said.
"I bolused the littles 60 carbs."
"Trust me mom...I'm always right."
And you know what...he usually IS always right. But man, that one little mistake brought him
to the high 400's. Somewhere he hasn't
seen in a long while. He was
MISERABLE. He refused dinner and would
only drink water. He was whiter than usual, he had the chills and felt crappy
from head to toe. I had him sit next to
me while I ate dinner and we had a heart to heart. We talked about basals, and I asked him how
his numbers have been.
"Pretty ok." he said. "Not great. Not horrible."
"When was your last low?" I asked.
"I can't remember."
Which is great. But
if you can't remember when your last low was...then maybe you are running too
high. This is the first time in awhile
that "I" have changed basals for him.
Usually it's our endo who changes it up.
They have some kind of great system, because his A1C's have been great
in the past. But it seemed logical to me
that if B and L have MUCH higher insulin needs right now...so must J.
Time will tell.
Blah. I want answers
now.
Patience is a virtue I'm learning to tolerate. (Man that sentence is the story of my
life. For serious!)
The boys went to bed 87, 102 and 79. They had a bit of a snack and now I'm off to
see if we nailed it or not.
God, grant me the serenity to accept the basals I should not
change, the courage to change the ones I can...and the wisdom to know the
difference.
That should be on a T-Shirt.
That is all.
Excellent post! And I love the modified serenity prayer! So perfect, and I would buy a t-shirt. :)
ReplyDeleteI too need that Tshirt! We are opposite in the summer with lows, good riddance to the stress of the school day I guess! Good luck on this new basal "trip" I hope you find your way there QUICKLY!
ReplyDeleteWhat an eye opener. Your writing is beautiful...and your substance brings a whole new awareness to type I diabetes for me.
ReplyDeleteI would buy the t shirt too! ... along with "How to parent a child with a chronic illness classes" from you! Seriously, you are an amazing mom, Meri! I love how you talk and TEACH your boys! This is why I read your blog - to LEARN how the heck to do this. You really give them what they need to do it on their own (with you and Ryan as huge support). I know reading your blog is one of the big reasons I'm giving my little guy a big push way before I thought I would. Good luck with the summer adjustments on basals!! .. we are in the just high phase over here.
ReplyDeleteContinued prayers for each of you!
Part one summer holiday basal tweak done this evening, thanks for the prompt Meri!
ReplyDeleteOh gosh..when are we supposed to teach them to adjust their own basals? I need that class too! I have to figure out if Mary Claire's body is going to go higher or lower this summer..it's sending me mixed messages!! Hugs, girl! : )
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder Meri! I haven't sat down to analyze BGs recently, and as I was reading your post, I realized...we're also running high! Gonna go download Dexcom now and see what needs to be tweaked. I seriously wish you all lived closer...your fun personality shines through your writing! :) Hugs from Brooklyn. :)
ReplyDeleteI want a t -shirt!! :)
ReplyDeleteUgh, basal changes are sucky, for sure!!
ReplyDeleteThankfully, Bean's been cruzing pretty nicely on the 'weekend' setting she needs during the school year for the few weeks she's been out of school.
Totally, totally want that on a t-shirt!!!
Ahhh Meri you are such a rock star. I'd take one of those t-shirts for sure! And you said it perfectly, "Patience is a virtue I am learning to tolerate," story of my life! I had a friend not too long ago, who teaches yoga, ask me to sign up for his weekend retreat - I laughed and said I practice peace and patience ALL DAY LONG with parenting my two boys, instead I need kick boxing to get out the frustrations and irritations in a rational way! Have a great week :)
ReplyDeleteDUDE...I SO.SO.SO need to do a basal assessment on Joe. Haven't done one in 4-evah. Love how J and his endo tweak...and your gentle talk with him. Very endearing.
ReplyDeleteI was just looking at cool diabetes T' the other day for my kids to wear to T1D camp in July because of the animated one, "Type Awesome" at the top of your page. (Does one really exist because I could not find one.) I would definately get a basal (and a bolus) one like you came up with.
ReplyDelete