Strike a pose
The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia called us a few weeks ago to ask if Arden would like to “be part of a photo shoot featuring patients of the Diabetes Center for Children at CHOP. Arden’s photos will be featured in brochures and other material that the Diabetes Center uses to educate parents, families and patients, and may also be featured in more general CHOP marketing material, such as advertisements.”
How cool is that!?
The photo shoot is this Thursday afternoon, I’ll be updating this post with photos as soon as I can but if you need a quicker fix... We’ll be posting live images on Twitter the day of the shoot, look for them sometime after 1:30pm. You can follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ardensday or (for the Twitter aware) @ardensday
CHOP is a wonderful hospital and we feel very fortunate that we live close enough to use them for Arden’s endocrine needs. Their juvenile diabetes care is, in my opinion, second to none. A big thank you to everyone at CHOP that thought of Arden when this opportunity came up, I’m very glad that we can help with this project!
UPDATE: Photos from the day
Everything went great! Look for pictures from the photographer in a few weeks.
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Final version
Thanks to everyone who provided feedback during our “artistic” process. It’s a far better ad due to your help and support.
Here is a link to the JDRF Ad Book final.pdf that we just sent off to the JDRF.
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I am glad that you are going to adveritise your web-site through JDRF. And, the ad looks great.
As you know, we learned about your web-site through my friend's daughter who works with your wife. My daughter and I always talk about how fortunate we are that found out about your web-site.
Now others, who also have type 1 diabetes in their family, will be given the same opportunity to read your caring and knowledgeable words on taking care of a child with type 1 diabetes.
Thank you for all you do.
Barbara
Our eyes met
Arden and I were in a restaurant recently, after we sat down I accessed her carb needs and gave her a bolus with her PDM. I was about to begin eating when I saw that the family next to us was doing a blood glucose check one of their children. Though we don’t pay attention, I’ve long assumed that people see us with Arden and watch. I don’t mind, I don’t even blame them. I’ve always just thought that it must be captivating if you aren't accustom to seeing the process. I couldn’t believe it when I found myself transfixed on the little boy’s BG check. Caught up in the moment, (seeing what pump they had, lance device and so on) I held my stare a bit too long and the boy’s father looked up, our eyes met. I felt horrible that he may think that I as judging his situation, so without missing a beat I picked up Arden’s MultiClix lancet (the same one he was using) and showed it to him.
He nodded and then looked at Arden with a sadness that could only be realized by another type I parent. We spoke throughout the meal about insulin pumps and other type I topics... it was nice. If that family is out there, I want to thank them for the few moments of normalcy that our exchange provided me and I hope that you got a similar feeling.
Good luck Max, be healthy!
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It was such a good moment. We spend a lot of time feeling singled out, stared at, like a needle-wielding weirdo, that we tend to get defensive, and when we find another diabetic out there (or, I would expect, another parent of a diabetic) it's hard to not tell each other all of our stories in one breath.
Nanovaccine helped mice overcome type 1 diabetes
CHICAGO (Reuters) - An experimental vaccine containing tiny molecules of an immune-system protein was able to reverse type 1 diabetes in mice, raising hope that it might work in people, Canadian researchers said on Thursday.
Type 1 diabetes is caused when certain white blood cells, called T cells, go haywire and begin attacking insulin-producing cells in the pancreas.
But not all T cells cause harm, said Dr. Pere Santamaria of the University of Calgary in Alberta, whose study appears in the journal Immunity.
"Essentially, there is an internal tug-of-war between aggressive T cells that want to cause the disease and weaker T cells that want to stop it from occurring," Santamaria said in a statement.
Santamaria's team wanted to find a way to counteract the harmful autoimmune response without compromising general immunity.
They developed a so-called nanovaccine -- particles many times smaller than a cell and coated with protein fragments specific to type 1 diabetes. These were bound to molecules that play a critical role in presenting these protein fragments to T cells.
When the team gave the vaccine to mice with an early form of type 1 diabetes, they found the vaccine slowed the progression of the disease. And in mice that had full-blown diabetes, the vaccine helped restore normal blood sugar levels.
The team said the vaccine appears to work by expanding the number of T cells working to fight off the attack of aggressive T cells that destroy the insulin-producing beta cells.
And they said the findings may lend clues about how to reverse other autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis or rheumatoid arthritis.
Teodora Staeva of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation said in a statement the study was promising because the treatment worked only on the immune cells specifically focused on aggressively destroying beta cells, without compromising the rest of the immune system.
Type 1, formerly called juvenile diabetes, represents about 10 percent of the estimated 180 million cases of diabetes globally. Most diabetics have type 2, the kind linked with a rich diet and lack of exercise.
(Editing by Eric Walsh)
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Parents Key in Managing Type 1
Posted: April 9, 2010
Study shows that lax parental oversight leads to poor juvenile diabetes management
A diagnosis of type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes, can be scary for any family, but what happens next determines how well the child is able to manage the disease, suggests new research scheduled to be presented Friday at the Society of Behavioral Medicine's annual meeting in Seattle. When parents don't monitor their kids' conditions closely, children and teens with type 1 diabetes are less likely to take proper care of themselves, the study found.
Lax management of type 1 diabetes can result in heart disease, kidney failure, and blindness. If not properly controlled, the disease can also shorten life expectancy by seven to 10 years, according to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Still, following doctor's orders can be a daunting task because it means measuring blood glucose throughout the day, administering insulin injections or using an insulin pump, eating regularly, watching fat and carbohydrate intake, exercising, and adjusting insulin dosage based on meals and exercise.
In the new study, University of Utah researchers studied specific measures of parental involvement in the management of their child's type 1 diabetes, such as knowing what the child eats, quality of the parent-child relationship, and how well parents helped kids get needed medical supplies, among other tasks. Study participants included 252 children and teens, ages 10 to 14. The researchers found that as the children aged, parents became less strict about monitoring their kids' treatment regimens. They also found that children and teens who experienced the most trouble following a proper diabetes treatment plan were those whose moms were less accepting of them and those whose parents were the most slack about monitoring their treatment and care.
Even parents whose children haven't been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes should be aware of the symptoms of the disease, experts say, since type 1 diabetes is on the rise. Untreated, the disease can be fatal. The symptoms may appear suddenly and can mimic the flu or other childhood illnesses. Here are the warning signs, provided by the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation International:
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• Extreme thirst
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• Frequent urination
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• Sudden vision changes
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• Sugar in urine
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• Fruity, sweet, or winelike odor on breath
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• Increased appetite
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• Sudden weight loss
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•Drowsiness, lethargy
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•Heavy, labored breathing
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•Stupor, unconsciousness