more information, more changes, more plans

Hannah had a check up at the Minnetonka Children's Diabetes Clinic yesterday. She has been having pretty good blood sugar levels lately that I really thought she was doing well. Overall she IS doing well, but some things I came to realize today that need some attention.

First off her Hbg A1C level, which they check every 3 months, was a bit high this time. The test is an average % of blood sugar levels over a 3 month time period. Today it was 8.4%, which is high, but her Dr pointed out that her BS levels over the last month, do not show that it should be quite that high. She did have 17 "very highs" over the last 30 days,(above 301) and 14 "highs" (200-300)...and that is just in June. The majority of her levels have been good otherwise-- 69% in the normal range.

Her Dr adjusted her doses, to compinsate for the times of day she has been high, and we need to be more tight when we dose her and give insulin.

The reason she thinks her A1C is now elevated is possibly, the inbetween times after we test her, she is getting too high. Her BS may come back down to normal range when we test her next, so that along with the highs we know of, which has increased, she may also be getting too high inbetween tests as well. Just needing to keep on top of the carbs vs insulin ratio and giving her a bit more insulin for what she eats now. She also thinks she is going to bed at a good level, but because we usually give her a snack and then test her right after, that she is getting high overnight and then coming down by morning. If we give her insulin before bed though, we should be testing her 3 hours later, to see where she's at, and I really don't like doing that. So we either have to do an earlier snack, or a free snack at bedtime.

information overload today, and I wasn't prepared for it.... I wish Steve was able to be there.

We will see how the next 2 weeks go and we are supposed to call into the diabetes nurse educator with her levels, to see if the new doses will work in elminating some of the high's. At that time we will discuss the possibility of putting her on a sensor for 2-3 days, called I-pro. It will stay on her body for a few days and record her blood sugars continually. It is then removed and downloaded into a program to see if she is getting some highs between tests or during the night.

Amazing.

Her doctor also talked about putting her on a insulin pump, and strongly advised us getting started looking into it, although it is optional. Hannah wants nothing to do with it and when her doctor asked her if she would rather use the pump, her answer was, "no!". Well-- I said she has no clue what it involves so she will be hesitant, but I think we need to decide what's best for her. It would be better for her long term, and elminate all the needle pokes daily, as her legs are getting "lumpy", and we are to use her butt more now. She just has no fatty areas on her body. ( wish I had that problem)......
Anyway the pump involves a site change weekly, and it is programed to deliver her insulin when she needs it, by pushing a button. That's about all I know about it, and we will probably be scheduling to take the Pump Intro class in the near future to find out more. Then there will be 3 more classes to take, Pump Prep, Pump Start and Pump follow-up. The Intro class will be in St Paul, and the other ones she said they can maybe accomodate us in Minnetonka. So that is the plan over the next 3 months to maybe get her on the pump.

more information, more changes, more plans as we trudge along this uncertain journey, but we must continue on.

The kids and I spent the day out in the Cities then, after the appt, which lasted longer than expected cuz the doctor was running behind, but we filled the waiting time talking with the diabetes nurse educator and nutrionist. After the appt. we went and had some lunch at the Southdale mall, (near where Steve was working and just up the road from the clinic). We were also supposed to meet Steve at the job site for a check to run to the bank. So after lunch it was supposed to be to do that and go home....just try to get my kids out of a mall!! :). We rarely visit malls, certainly not on a regular basis, like when I was a kid and we had a mall 10 min away. Having a boy and a girl 4 years apart in age also is like being pulled in a million directions. Hannah didnt' understand why we had to go into several sports, and video game stores, looking at stupid stuff, and Bailey was pretty good in all the clothes and jewelry stores like Justice, Children's Place, and Claires. He even likes "fashion enough, to find things he likes in Children's Place. I got them each an outfit for about $25 total bill, thank goodness for sales and no tax on clothes. We were there SO long, I kept saying daddy is probably wondering where we are. I left my phone at home to charge and Bailey's phone was in the van, so I felt like we were trapped to the outside world in the mall. goofy.

We got ice cream later, and checked out the movie times. Decided a movie wasn't gonna work and went to meet Steve at the job site,(finally) which was only about 5-10min. from the mall. We got the check, and then the kids saw a playground across the street--MONKEY BARS, yells Hannah. So we stopped, and they played as I listened to the annoying roofers across the street pound away. We stayed for about 1/2 hr or so, and decided that the movie sounded like a good idea now. I had a gift card to use for that type of theater, and so we told Steve we were off....back to the mall for a movie--Ice Age 3-D. The check wasn't getting into the bank after all today, but will drop it off off the way home in the deposit box anyway.

The movie was the kids first real 3-D movie and they loved it, Bailey was hesitant on whether he was gonna like it, but he really enjoyed it-- lots of laughs. It was really good, better than I even thought it would be.
We got out of the mall by 6:15pm full of popcorn and soda, we decided to just get home.(finally)
Stopped at the bank and then Coborns in Delano for a quick snack, (aka supper), and ate it on the rest of the way home. Finally got home at 8pm. whew. what a day. It was fun though, and now I have to work all weekend. uuggh.

Happy 4th of July anyway !!