Location, Location, Location
There are a few suggested locations to wear the OmniPod; back of the arm, abdomen, thigh, bottom of the back and buttock. So far we’ve only been able to use Arden’s abdomen and thighs. Her arm isn’t wide enough to support the pod and well she doesn’t have a butt yet.
We haven’t had any real issues with placement and I’ve begun a rotation schedule that should allow the sites to rejuvenate in between uses; left abdomen, left thigh, right thigh, right abdomen, repeat. This schedule will allow each site a nine day break before it gets used again. Additionally, I’m doing a smaller circular rotation at each site to avoid the cannula entering at the same place over and over. I think this will work out well until Arden gets bigger and other “real estate” becomes available.
We’ve had two delivery failures so far, one was a bent cannula (because the pod wasn’t on a fatty enough site) and the other is a bit of a mystery to me. I’m not sure if the second issue was because the cannula was to close to the muscle or if the pump just failed. Every day is a learning experience and we are definitely making great progress.
Next thing we need to do is some fasting based testing of Arden’s BG... These test are tough because they include Arden not eating for hours and hours at a stretch but the results are very helpful in adjusting the pump. More on that soon...
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I would just like to say that people do read your blog entries and I am always checking back for new blog entries. Thank you for this website, it is a great tool for learning about diabetes and how it effects daily life. So once again Thank You.
Two Pounds
Arden has gained just over two pounds since she started using the OmniPod! This is a clear sign that switching to the OmniPod insulin pump has had an immediate and positive impact on the control that we have on Arden’s blood glucose levels.
Aunt Megan
Hello my name is Megan and I am Arden’s aunt. To say that I love Arden is an understatement and when my husband and I found out almost three years ago that Arden had type I diabetes our heart sank, yes for Arden but also for Kelly and Scott.
Arden was sick, I wasn’t educated about the disease and all I could do was watch how Kelly and Scott were handling it to try and understand. I can still remember Scott asking me to come to the hospital and sit with Arden so that he and Kelly could go to a nutrition class that would help them to better manage Arden’s diabetes. Of course I said yes, and I was touched that they felt comfortable enough to leave Arden with me for even just an hour.
When I walked into Arden’s hospital room my heart broke and at that moment it became real for me. She was so pale and was hooked up to an insulin drip, a saline drip, ECG leads and many other monitors. She looked exhausted and it was only three days post-diagnosis. She was thin and quiet and scared - so was I.
Jump forward to March 2009—Arden has come such a long way! She is currently learning how to manage her diabetes through the use of the OmniPod. She wants to sleep at my house so badly and before the Omnipod, I never thought it would be possible for Kelly and Scott to leave her with me overnight but now I have hope that one day she’ll be able to!
But like all things, nothing is perfect. Arden recently joined me for my birthday dinner and greeted me with that adorable smiling face as I entered the restaurant. She was so excited to see everyone especially her cousins. After the entire family arrived (all 17 of us) we ordered our dinner. While we waited for the food to come out Arden’s BG went low, dangerously low - in the 50’s. Her blood glucose had dropped unexpectedly in what seemed like an instant. Before (the pump) I would have known how to manage her low. I would have to know when her last shot was, how far into it she was, was she on her way up or her way down, had the insulin peaked yet? All these questions flew through my head as I watched but everything is different now because she is using an insulin pump I didn’t know what to do...
What happened next opened my eyes even more to just how diabetes effects Arden’s and her family. As Scott and Kelly’s food came out they worked off in a lonely corner of the room to get Arden to eat something so that her blood glucose would come back up. Cole (Arden’s brother) asked if she was okay and then he went back to eating, this was clearly a normal situation for him. We offered to help but there wasn’t anything that we could do.
Arden had become temperamental as she does sometimes when her BG is too low... the time to reason with her had gone out the door. As the situation became more dire Scott gave Arden an option, glucose gel or clementine. She finally relented and forced herself to eat the clementine. Her blood glucose rose a little but it can take about 30 minutes for her to return to “normal.” Everything was “fine” again - for now.
Meanwhile Kelly and Scott ate nothing, they missed out on the meal and the birthday celebration. This story only covers two hours of one day, I still find it difficult to image what it would be like managing a diabetic child all day, every day.
I now understand even more our obligation as family, friends and acquaintances of a person with type I diabetes and how important it is to become an advocate for the children that have it. I know the economy sucks right now and that it may not be the best time to make a charitable donation. So, instead please tell someone about Arden’s day, about how far she has come and how much farther she has to go. Become an advocate for type I diabetes and help children like Arden become free of this disease.
Thank you,
Megan
Diabetes management comes to the iPhone
On March 17th Apple unveiled it’s latest software upgrade for the iPhone and iTouch (available this summer). This event featured a number of developers that helped Apple demonstrate what the new software was capable of and they each gave a presentation about how they were planning to utilize the software.
Johnson and Johnson is developing a blood glucose meter that is capable of “talking” to an iPhone.
The meter will transmit, via Bluetooth technology, the users BG to an application that is installed on the iPhone. Then the user will be able to do all of the necessary calculations in the application to decide their insulin dosage.
The application will be preloaded with carbohydrate values for foods and the user can input their tolerance levels and insulin needs. To be fair, Arden’s OmniPod handheld device does all of this now (as do many other pumps) and it also acts as the ‘command center’ for her pump but this is a wonderful leap for diabetics that are not using a pump.
This iPhone integration is going to benefit the diabetics that inject their insulin immensely. It will eliminate the guess work, do the math and suggest a dosage. This automation will reduce mistakes, time wasted and the worry every diabetic feels every time they eat or drink. The application or ‘app’ for those of you who aren’t using an iPhone will also keep records and graphs that the user can refer to, helping them to understand and manage their diabetes better in the future.
I want to applaud Johnson and Johnson and encourage every other meter manufacturer to follow their lead. There is no reason that the technology that many of us carry in our pockets everyday shouldn’t be utilized to make the lives of diabetic easier and safer. Sure Arden’s pump does what this application will do but it also requires her to carry another thing with her. Additionally, if I’m being honest, I don’t feel like the pump manufacturers put much time into the design of their products; they are often clunky, ugly, difficult to hold and made out of cheap feeling materials. If the OmniPod for example was integrated with an iPhone and other smart phones Arden may well be able to get through a day without anyone “seeing” her diabetes - she would just look like a little girl sending a text message.
Check out the image below, the app is also capable of sending results to the user’s parents (that’s my favorite option!) or to yourself or your endocrinologist by email or text message; the possibilities are nearly endless.
Apple’s iPhone software media event can be viewed here and Johnson and Johnson's presentation begins at the 43 minute mark.
45 Day Trial Period has Ended
It has been 45 days since we received Arden’s first shipmentof OmniPods and things are going fantastic! Arden has her quarterly endo appointment on Monday the 23rd and even though she has only been needle free for a little over a month I am expecting to see a decrease in her hemoglobin A1C level... Seeing a decrease in that number is maybe the most exciting thing that I can imagine; second only to a cure being found. Check out Daddy’s blog the morning of the 24th to find out her results.
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