Your Favorites: May 2013

 

The most popular blog posts from May 2013:

Tears of Insulin

OmniPod Rash (from November of 2011)

Arden's Hands are Growing

 

The FaceBook posts with the most likes:

Pictures from my Katie Couric Interview

This photo of Arden...

The announcement that my book won the Gold Mom's Choice Award

 

May of 2013 was the second most popular month in the history of Arden's Day! So much has been going on both recently and over the past year. Yesterday, I did my last bit of book promotion for a few weeks when I sat down with Katie Couric to film a segment for her Yahoo/ABC program, 'Katie's Take'. The segment is scheduled to go live the week of June 10th, just in time for Father's Day. I can't wait to see how they edit what I said. 

I'll be doing a book signing that same week on June 13th in Pennsylvania and then we leave for a little family getaway a few days later. When I return, I'm going to start thinking about how to best celebrate Arden's Day's sixth birthday. My little blog has been going since August 16, 2007 when I posted for the first time at 3 am and I want to throw it a party... I'm just not sure yet how to do that. 

Enjoy your summer!

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Pictures from my Katie Couric Interview

 

Hey guys!

I'm back from New York City with some pictures from the day to share. Miss Katie Couric was absolutely delightful and I think I gave her a fun and interesting look into my life as a stay-at-home dad. Her producer tells me that the interview will run the week of June 10th on Katie's Yahoo show, 'Katie Takes'. I'll be sure to share video and links as soon as they are available.

Get this... Katie told me after the interview ended that she thought I would be great for her television show! Fingers crossed that something comes of it. What an amazing and exciting day, I can't imagine that I'll ever forget it.

These pictures and more can also be found in my Visual Record. I'm expecting a few more shots to arrive by email, I'll add them as soon as they arrive.

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Daddy's Blog, DexCom Blog, OmniPod Blog Scott Benner Daddy's Blog, DexCom Blog, OmniPod Blog Scott Benner

Super Bolus, I Fear You No More

I just couldn't take it anymore. I'd count the carbs perfectly, pre-bolus at exactly the right time and still there are certain foods that require another bolus an hour later. On the surface you would think that I wasn't administering enough insulin but that couldn't be because every once and a while the bolus would work - but not usually.

 

Example: Movie theater

Arden is a nacho and popcorn lover at a movie, and we see our fair share of movies. Most times, I measure, count carbs and bolus only to watch her DexCom G4 point it's arrows to the sky before the second act is over. Then I spend the rest of the afternoon dropping random measurements of insulin on the number in an effort to get things back to a desired level without going too low. Sounds like a bad Price Is Right game, doesn't it?

Then it just hit me a few weeks ago, we have a CGM, why am I erring on the side of caution and chasing highs when I could be living on the edge of glory with Arden's DexCom G4. Suddenly, I felt stupid. All of this time I was playing scared when I know that's how you get hurt. Time to put my head down and run through a few wood be tacklers. (Sorry, my metaphors are all over the place today)

So I looked at that food on Arden's lap, counted carbs and then added every drop of extra insulin that I ended up given her at the last movie. My new thought, "What's the worst that could happen... she starts to get low, the DexCom catches it and we throw back a fast juice box and catch the fall".

That's exactly what happened

We watched Star Trek, Arden munched on her snacks and about an hour into the movie Arden's DexCom line had never wavered, her BG was 118 and steady. This was either going to be the perfect amount of insulin or too much. About fifteen minutes later, "Beep, Beep, Beep", 92 one arrow straight down. No big deal I thought - then I leaned over and said, "Here Arden, drink this juice". Twenty minutes later the CGM line was steady at 88, Arden was able to graze her remaining popcorn without worrying about bolusing and her BG never fluctuated, even hours after the movie had ended.

All of these fancy diabetes gadgets and I was using them to chase numbers instead of staving them off. I know that this sounds scary to many of you and I know that it takes time to find your comfort level, but please believe that on the day that you gain that level of comfort... this is all going to seem so much easier. Sadly, you can't rush that day to come, but it's so worth getting to and it makes me incredibly happy to know that you will all be there one day with me - kicking type I diabetes in it's annoying ass.

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My Newspaper Interview with the Deseret News

 

The Deseret News is a well respected, national publication and I am very excited to be a part of their piece, 'More dads staying home with the kids while mom works'...

 

Scott Benner told his wife she should quit working and stay home with their new baby. But she had the better career path. So he stayed home and 13 years later, he's practically a pioneer in a trend that keeps growing: The stay-at-home dad. 

 

I hope that you have a few minutes to hop over to their site and read the interview by Lois Collins. Sharing via the newspaper's website is greatly appreciated.

 

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