This deck is way better then my desk
Good morning everyone!
I just got Cole and Arden their breakfast and now I'm sitting on the deck writing to you.
The trip thus far has been pretty steady as far as Arden's diabetes is concerned. We made the ten hour drive overnight and had a low around 2 am that we uncharacteristically handled at a McDonald's drive-thru with some fries. The french fries came back to haunt us a number of hours later but we bolused cautiously and didn't experience a low later even though Arden hadn't eaten in eight hours. Her BGnow was 107 when we stepped foot into this house for the first time!
The beach hasn't caused any lows yet but so far she has mainly been walking the sand and looking for shells. I'm not sure how much time we'll get in the ocean, it's very warm but still pretty rough from Hurricane Irene.
Arden did wake up low his morning but that was a product of us sleeping in, as her basal rate increased for breakfast but there was no food in her system. At Arden's weight a .05 increase in basal can act like a bolus.
I'll check in again when I can, Arden just came out to ask me if I'll go with her to put "our toes in the water".
Hello fellow Podders!
I just received the email that Insulet sent today and I wanted to take a moment to say hello! If you are visiting the site for the first time... there are a few ways to navigate that I think you'll find helpful.
Consider going back to the beginning and watching how the site evolved from a personal blog about type I to what it has become.
You can also search through the over 400 entries by keyword. For example 'OmniPod', 'DexCom', 'transparency' and much more.
You can begin at the 'Blog' link in the navigation bar or the keyword cloud in the right most column near the bottom
of the page.
Thank you so much for visiting. If you'd like to know when new blogs are posted, please take a moment to subscribe to the blog or send me an email and ask to be added to our mailing list.
You can follow me on Twitter @ArdensDay and on FaceBook, www.Facebook.com/ArdensDay
Best,
Scott
On the road to OBX
After days of uncertainty and bad weather our vacation has finally gotten underway! We did have a minor D-tour 90 minutes into the trip, Arden's BG dropped unexpectedly to 55 but a few McDonald's french fries have gotten things back to normal.
Okay, I have to get a little sleep now while Kelly drives.
NEWS: Dean Clinic says diabetes patients may have been exposed to hepatitis, HIV
From Madison.com
RON SEELY | rseely@madison.com | 608-252-6131 | Posted: Monday, August 29, 2011 4:30 pm
As many as 2,345 Dean Clinic patients may have been exposed to the bloodborne illnesses hepatitis B and C and HIV because a diabetes nurse educator reused the handles of insulin demonstration pens and finger stick devices over a five-year period, from 2006 to 2011, clinic officials said Monday.
Both Craig Samitt, Dean's chief executive officer, and Mark Kaufman, chief medical officer, described the risk as "small" because the educator, who worked out of the Dean clinics on Stoughton Road and in Sun Prairie, did not re-use actual needles.
Even so, said Kaufman, it is possible that blood from patients contaminated the bases of the re-used demonstration pens, which are supposed to be used to show how to inject insulin and aren't intended for use on people, or the plastic handles of the finger stick devices.
"We're confident the person always changed needles between uses of the devices," said Kaufman. "But even if you're changing the needle, there is the possibility that the first person's blood could come in contact with the next person's blood."
Abigail Tumpey, a spokesperson for the federal Centers for Disease Control and Protection, said Dean has consulted with that agency about the incident. Craig said the clinic has also been in touch with the state Division of Public Health. Officials with both agencies were unsure Monday whether further investigations will be conducted.
"We would agree that the risk is small," said Tumpey. Regardless, she added, most people in such education programs expect no risk. Tumpey said the CDC works with clinics in such situations to make sure patients are notified and that their needs and concerns are met.
"The goal is more health care transparency," said Tumpey. "It is a very scary time for many of these patients."
Samitt said this was an "isolated" incident involving the single educator, who has since been fired. He declined to identify the individual. Samitt said clinic officials learned of the potential exposure on August 10 from another employee and conducted an investigation. Monday, the clinic mailed letters to all 2,345 patients to inform them that they may be at increased risk.
Also, Samitt said, a team of 25 nurses is taking telephone calls from affected individuals to determine whether they should be tested for HIV, which is the virus that causes AIDS, or for either form of hepatitis, a disease that attacks the liver. He said calls were already being received Monday after stories about the possible exposure began appearing in the media.
"This is a very difficult situation for us at Dean," said Samitt. "I'd like to apologize for the concern this has caused patients and their families. We'll do whatever it takes to care for affected patients."
Kaufman said risk to individual patients depends on whether the nurse actually used one of the insulin devices on them. "Did the nurse use any sharp instrument on you? If the answer is 'No,' then there is no risk. If you don't remember, then we could assume there was a risk, no matter how small."
But Samitt said anybody who is concerned about exposure will be offered testing. He said while most of the involved patients are from Dane County, a handful from outside the county and even outside the state may have been referred to the educator. "We're casting a very broad net to include each and every patient the nurse could have seen," said Samitt.
As for how the misuse of the devices could have gone for so long without being detected, Samitt said the clinic is still trying to figure that out.
"We'd like to know the answer to that question as well," said Samitt. "This is an active investigation."
Samitt said the nurse was certified through state and federal programs, including the Association of Diabetic Educators, to work as a diabetes educator. Also, he said, the nurse went through Dean's own training program. An important part of that training, he said, is learning not to re-use the testing devices. The insulin demonstration pen, for example, is not supposed to be used on people but rather is used on oranges or pillows to show patients how to inject insulin.
"This is upsetting to us as well," Samitt said. "There is a basic standard of care principle here."
Samitt added that it was unclear whether the nurse went through the clinic's refresher course on standard practices. He said there was apparently little oversight or evaluation of the nurse's work.
"There weren't regular, routine observations," said Samitt.
Samitt said that in the wake of the incident the clinic is requiring staff to be retrained in the use of the devices, improving monitoring the use of the devices and also making sure that practices by clinic staff are routinely observed.
The state Department of Safety and Professional Services is also reviewing information about the case, according to John Murray, executive assistant at the agency.
Carolina, here we come?
First, I hope that everyone made it through Hurricane Irene unscathed. I must say that the worst that happened here was a power outage that caused us to move our insulin to a neighbor's house becasue we lost power for so many hours. I know that others had it much worse and our hearts go out to you!
This last few days have been something...
When our part of Irene reached us it was mainly a lot of rain. We spent the first few hours watching the rain and being thankful that our house is on a bit of a hill. A few hours into the storm, things went batty!
Around 11pm there was a tornado warning. So we brought everyone to the first floor and camped out on sofa cushions. I'm not sure if I overreacted or not but I took a case of water, food and Arden's D-supplies into the basement just in case we ended up down there - which we never did.
At 1:15 am Arden's blood glucose dropped sharply and unexpectedly and let's just say that she didn't wake up in the best mood to deal with a #BGnow of 44. I too was not at my best...
2 am, power lost.
I began to miss our WiFi at 2:08 am.
In the light of the morning I walked the house as everyone slept and found that we didn't have any damage, just a ton of leaves and branches in the yard. Still without power I moved the Apidra and other cold D-supplies to our neighbor's generator backed up house.
But it's the rest of the day that you're interested in...
Information was tough to come by regarding our pending vacation in the Outer Banks or as we referred to it for a while, "the exact spot the hurricane made landfall". Most of the information we were able to get wasn't good. Roads are washed out, no water or power to the island and no word if our house survived the storm. To add insult to injury, I found a current photo online of the ocean in OBX and the sky is clear and sunny.
We all handled the news differently...
Kelly cleaned the house and had a very zen response, I furiously tried to get information and was spouting hair-brained plans for how to get to the beach (which if Kelly's face is any indication, got annoying). The kids are taking it in stride but I wish we could give them a more definite answer as to what's happening next.
Sunday evening after a lot of raking, we gave up and headed to one of our favorite resturants to come to terms with the idea that we lost our money and our much needed get away.
Then we got the craziest news...
Somehow the amazing people in that beach town restored the power... and the water... and they fixed the washed out roads! All in a day... An entry time of 10am on Tuesday has been set for vacationers. There is only one thing left to find out, did our house survive?
and we'll find that out in a few hours...
Part one of this series is located here.
We are watching an interactive map that the rental company provided. They are three houses away from ours and we haven't seen any houses that were uninhabitable yet. We should know very soon!
We are on the list! Let the packing re-commence. We are actually, going on our vacation!
Bags are packed, truck is loaded.