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Our First JDRF One Walk as a Family with Diabetes (1)

Our First JDRF One Walk as a Family with Diabetes

When we first learned about the local JDRF walk being close enough to us to attend, we knew that we were going to do it. We told our daughter and she was so excited. It was almost like a holiday for her.

She got her calendar and marked it down and started to count down the days to it. Perfect math lesson at the same time!

My wife and I have done 10-15 JDRF, ADA, and DRI walks over the years, but this was the first one with two people with diabetes in the family.

JDRF One Walk Allentown PA

Our daughter is super proud to have diabetes. At least at this age, she wears it as a badge of honor and thinks it’s cool to have diabetes. So, when we get to do things that are diabetes focused, she is that much more excited about it because it’s a special club that you have to be a part of.

This walk was in Allentown, PA. It was outside at the PPL Center which is where the Lehigh Valley Phantoms play hockey (affiliate of Philadelphia Flyers). We have not spent much time in the downtown Allentown area, so I was not too familiar with the area and the parking was confusing, so I thought we were going to be late….luckily, we weren’t.

It was a pretty cold day too. I hate doing physical activities in the cold because you never know how to dress. You have to dress warm, but at the same time you are going to be sweating and it’s just a confusing situation for me!

We also had a 4 month old baby that was going to be in the stroller the whole time, so we had to make sure she was bundled up and going to stay warm as well.

More than One T1D in the Family

I have mentioned before in my posts that my niece also has type 1 diabetes. She was diagnosed several years ago, so when there are local diabetes related events, we tend to also meet up with my brother and his wife and kids. For this event, we did the same thing. We also met up with my parents to have a total of 10 (plus a 4 month old in a stroller).

We were rolling in #STOCKERSTRONG

Register for T-Shirts

The first part of any walk is to register. You have to make sure you get those free t-shirts at registration. They had some other pretty cool SWAG as well. They had face covers, which are coming in handy now (writing this during COVID19 pandemic).

Honestly, I have given so many diabetes related t-shirts to Goodwill that I didn’t want another shirt. My daughter was so excited to get a diabetes shirt and she wanted it on right away. This goes back to her wearing her diabetes like a badge of honor.

It makes me so proud to know that she embraces the disease and although I know she is still young and naive, it’s a good start.

She still wears that shirt as pajamas all the time. When she is in charge of grabbing her own pajamas, it is definitely one of her favorites. We typically end up reading either Coco, Rufus, Year One with Type One or Open Up Your Bag or another diabetes book.

This is a bit of a side story, but when my daughter asked what Find a Cure meant on the shirt and my wife explained it to her, she was confused as to why they wanted to find a cure.

Our, then 4 year old responded with “but if they cured diabetes, then I wouldn’t have it anymore and I love my diabetes.”

Our, then 4 year old responded with “but if they cured diabetes, then I wouldn’t have it anymore and I love my diabetes.” Click To Tweet

Stock Up on Snacks

Now, my favorite part of these walks is the free food. I’m not afraid to admit it! Unfortunately, this walk did not have a lot of sponsors, which I don’t understand. There were no food sponsors. Just apples, granola bars, chips and drinks.

We stocked up on some of those supplies for the 5K we were about to walk. Everyone needs a little bit of a snack along the way, so it’s good to have these things at the beginning of the walk.

Some of the JDRF walks we have done in the past, specifically the ones in Boca Raton, FL are loaded with food. Pizza, hoagies, cookies, and other random samples of goodies were a staple and the best part of finishing the walk.

3 – 2 – 1 – Walk

It was finally time to walk. After a few speeches from local leaders and JDRF employees, the music started for us to walk.

I honestly thought the walk was only 1 mile down and 1 mile back, but I was wrong. It was actually 5k.

Our daughter was super excited when we started to walk. She was walking with her cousins and couldn’t be more proud to be walking in something that was all about her.

The walk was packed. It didn’t seem like it when we were at the starting line, but as we started walking, my nerves started going crazy, as they do in any large crowd. I am constantly concerned about knowing exactly where my kids are and being able to see them at all times. So, when my daughter was super excited to start walking, she didn’t really care about the rules of staying close to mommy or daddy.

It was all good though.

Snacking During the Walk

When we started to reach the halfway point of the walk…which we knew was the halfway point because we saw people turning around to start walking back…our daughter wanted a snack. Of course she chose the chips, but hey whatever, she’s exercising, it’s fine.

We checked her Dexcom and gave her a bolus for the snack because she was trending a little higher. We waited only about 5 minutes because we knew the activity of already walking a 2.5k that she was going to start trending down.

Walk Over, Trend Down

And that is exactly what happened. As we were approaching the end, she started to go straight down on her Dexcom, so we decided to give her a juice to correct that.

All the excitement that she was having was going to end up sending her low too. We also knew that we were planning on going to a pumpkin patch after the walk, so we wanted to make sure that she had enough glucose in her to prevent lows happening in the near future..

The walk was a lot of fun. Our daughter had fun and so did the rest of the family. I love being able to share these type of fun experiences with my daughter and family.

Swim Lessons and Diabetes

Swim Lessons and Diabetes

We were late to the swim lesson game. We didn’t start swim lessons until after she was 4 years old. She knew how to do some basic stuff in a pool just from our own lessons of teaching her in the pool.

We decided that we wanted to do real swim lessons at our local community center. Of course we had to take extra steps and precautions with her type 1 diabetes.

Meeting with the Teacher Ahead of Time

When we signed her up, we explained to the community center that she had Type 1 Diabetes and wanted to speak directly to the teacher so we could talk to her about symptoms of lows and diabetes in general.

It’s important for us to meet with any teacher beforehand to discuss diabetes and to go over signs and symptoms of a low blood sugar. We also wanted to make sure that it was going to be OK for us to be in the pool area for the swim lessons.

We don’t plan on being helicopter parents forever, but diabetes was still new to us and so were swim lessons.

We don't plan on being helicopter parents forever, but diabetes was still new to us and so were swim lessons. Click To Tweet

The teacher was very responsive to learning and caring of making sure to keep a closer eye on our daughter.

Dexcom for the Win

Luckily, she was using a Dexcom during the swim lessons. We were able to track her blood sugars from the bleachers and know which way her blood sugars were trending. This was huge for us.

I’ve heard so many stories (and myself included) about swimming just tanking a blood sugar. My blood sugar drops quick soon after being done swimming. It doesn’t hit me right away, but everyone is different.

We would do a finger BG check beforehand just to ensure that the Dexcom was accurate.

Monitoring Dexcom

The swim lessons were in an indoor swimming pool, so there were bleachers next to the pool. Perfect for parents who wanted to be close by and watch their kids closely during swim lessons.

Some parents just dropped their kids off and left and some stayed but weren’t really paying attention and then there was us. The parents who were watching every movement.

I wasn’t watching to make sure she was swimming properly and following directions, I was purely watching to look out for symptoms of a low or something diabetes related.

We were also monitoring her Dexcom closely. There were times in the bathtub and pool that her Dexcom would lose signal, so we were monitoring it to look for trends in case it did lose signal.

Lower Blood Sugars Later

As I mentioned above, when I swim, my blood sugar doesn’t tank immediately, but it does go down pretty quickly after I am done. I wasn’t sure how swimming would effect my daughter, so we were thankful to have the Dexcom.

Her blood sugars stayed pretty stable during swim lessons, so we didn’t have to worry too much about it. The swim lessons were at 6 pm, so we ate dinner beforehand and then went to swim.

I think that helped because instead of her spiking after dinner, we went to swim lessons, so it equalled out.

We did start to see her blood sugars slowly go down after we came back and when we were getting ready for bed and also after she went to sleep.

To not have to worry about lows in the middle of the night, we typically ended up giving her a small snack before bed.

We were not comfortable enough with temp basals on the Omnipod at that time, so we didn’t use them. Now, we are much more comfortable with the Omnipod to do it.

It was a lot of stress, but the more she swam, the more comfortable we were with it.

How do you handle swimming and blood sugars? Do you drop quickly during or after? Or both? What strategies do you use?

Please comment on this post or head on over to Facebook or Instagram to continue the conversation.

jardiance for people with type 1 diabetes

Jardiance for People with Type 1 Diabetes

I have struggled with weight problems and insulin resistance for a long time. It’s one of the reasons that my insulin to carb ratio is outrageous. It’s almost 1 unit of insulin for every 2-3 carbs.

So for me, it’s been a viscous cycle. I take a lot of insulin which makes it more difficult for me to lose weight. I don’t care what the happy go lucky people try to tell you, if you take a lot of insulin, you will gain weight

Now, the large amounts of insulin are also due to eating high carb foods and unhealthy foods and not exercising, so that is also tied into it.

When I exercise consistently, my insulin ratio jumps to about 1 unit of insulin for every 5-7 grams of carbs. A big, big difference.

Unfortunately, I’ve never exercised or ate healthy consistently.

So, I think I need some help.

One of the things that my endo recommended to me on my last visit a few months ago was to start on Jardiance. This would help with all of the issues that I stated above.

Benefits of Using Jardiance with Type 1

I know that Jardiance will help me lower my insulin needs by increasing my insulin sensitivity.

Jardiance would help me lose weight. I don’t like the way that Jardiance would help me lose weight, which was described to me as having a smaller appetite and potentially feeling nauseas. I don’t want a chemical in my body affecting my appetite. I’d much rather control it on my own, which has obviously not worked for the last 10 years.

I know that Jardiance will also help prevent and lower heart disease. I am already on blood pressure medication, cholesterol medications and also triglyceride medication.

I am always afraid to add another pill into the mix.

But, I tried to stay off of BP and cholesterol meds as long as possible as well until I realized that my body just needed them. I was at a disadvantage living with Type 1, so I had to level the playing field some how.

Now, of course there isn’t just the positives when it comes to adding another medication into the mix.

Possible Side Effects of Jardiance

The first and biggest side effect is DKA. You could go into DKA without any notice. Your blood sugars could be perfect, but still be going into DKA, so it is important to constantly be checking for ketones.

I don’t know if that’s something that I would be willing to do, because I know that I won’t remember to check frequently.

Another side effect of Jardiance that I don’t even like the name of, is higher risk of yeast infections. Another thing that I don’t know if I’m willing to deal with.

So, as of now, I am torn. I don’t know if I should give it a shot or not.

Ultimately, the final decision will come down to me. My doctor can prescribe it, but I have to be the one who takes it.

So, I’m asking anyone in the community, have you taken Jardiance as a Type 1 before?

If so, what has your experience been?

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the diabetes power list

The Diabetes Power List

I’m a big guy list guy. I’ve used every kind of list method out there, but one that has always worked for me is pen and paper.

When I make a to-do list, I draw a circle then put the item next to it and once I complete the task, I color in the circle. I don’t know if this method has a name, but it’s what I was taught by one of my early marketing mentors about 15 years ago.

What is the Diabetes Power List?

Well, the Power List itself is a concept that I learned from the MFCEO, Andy Frisella, and yes the MF stands for exactly what you think it means.

Andy has a very “get shit done” and “win” mentality that I also share, so his content obviously attracted me.

His concept of The Power List is very simple. Every day, write down 5 things that you must do today in order to achieve your goals or be who you want to become. These are not your daily work tasks for that day like, “email John about vacation time” but things that you know you need to do to become a better you. These 5 items are about winning the day. *See end of post to win a FREE copy!

How Do I Use the Power List?

So, what I do is take my goals for the year and break them down into monthly goals and then what do I need to do every day in order to accomplish those goals.

For example, I want to lose 50 pounds in 2018. I’ve gotten a late start because 8 months in and I’m only down 5. Anyway, in order for me to do that I must:

1. Wake up before 7 am

2. Go for a 30 minute walk

3. Eat less than 75g carbs and/or less than 1,800 calories

My other two current items on my Power List are:

4. Make 2 point of contacts

5. Create one piece of content

Those 5 things, if done every single day, will lead me to my financial goal for 2018, my weight loss goal, my education goal (I listen to audiobooks during walk to help me reach my 25 books completed in 2018 goal).

Now that I have the 5 items for the day, I must accomplish them. If I accomplish all of them, I put a W on that day and I won the day. If I did 4 out of 5 or 4.5 out of 5, then I lost.

I don’t like to lose.

The goal is to win every single day. Every day is a challenge or competition and you must win the day.

Create Winning Habits

If you are able to complete the same task 25 days in a row, you can take it off of your Power List because by then, it will become a habit of daily life.

Here’s an example.

creating habits

I’ve never been one to floss (my teeth, not the dance). So, I put “Floss” on my Power List. If I didn’t floss that day, I lost the entire day, no matter how much I accomplished. I dont’ like losing.

So, guess what?

I floss every damn day now because it is a habit by now.

I titled this post the Diabetes Power List because there are certain items on my Power List that are diabetes related, but they are also there to help me become a better person.

For example, the 30 minute walk at 6 am every day was initially to help stop my dawn phenomenon and get some exercise in to be healthy, but it’s done so much more. It’s helped with my mindfulness and stress and has helped me accomplish so much more in the day. I wrote about this recently how walking in the morning has helped lower my stress levels.

Life is a Competition

100-zero scoreboardI know that some of you reading this may be saying to yourself, “life is not a competition, not everything is a competition, it’s ok to lose” and we can just agree to disagree from the beginning.

Life is a competition. If you are not becoming a better person, if you are not becoming better at your job, someone is going to take it from you. If you are not becoming a better parent every day or better spouse every day, then you are losing out on big opportunities.

I live by the 100-0 mentality (also a theme of Andy’s). And that mentality is that I want to crush my competition 100-0 every single time I step on the field.

I’m a big sports guy, so I use sports references a lot.

Diabetes is MY Competition

So, in my daily life, I live with diabetes, I’ve looked at my diabetes in so many different ways over the years. I’ve thought “well I have to live with it, so I will play nice with it” and “ughh, I hate diabetes” and “well I have to embrace it and love it”.

Well, none of those have worked.

I wake up and go to bed seeing diabetes as my competition.

Either I am going to win the day.

Or diabetes is going to win the day.

I plan on winning every day

And a lot of days ahead.

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morning walks lower stress levels

Why Walking in the Morning Has Lowered my Stress Levels

I have never been someone who could wake up early and exercise. When I wake up, I am always dehydrated. This could be from:

  1. Having higher blood sugars all night long
  2. Going to the bathroom a bunch throughout the night

Going to the bathroom a bunch throughout the night, may not actually be related to the high blood sugars throughout the night. A lot of the time, this is because I drink coffee at night or iced tea or water at night which makes me having to use the bathroom a bunch during the night.

Then, when I wake up in the morning, my muscles are cramped and I’m not able to go to the gym or workout.

Well, I’ve been making changes to this and so far, I absolutely love it.

I’ve been waking up at 6 am and going for a 1.5 mile walk in the morning. The pace is slow to moderate. It’s not just for the exercise, but it’s also a mind clearing and stress relieving walk as well.  I am able to just walk by myself, while the sun is coming up and be able to clear my mind and think about being in the moment of nature and breathe in the beautiful air and think about where I want my life to be and what are the things that I need to do to get there.

I am big on mindfulness and visualizing my goals and my life. I do this while I am walking and also at night before I go to bed.

How to Fix Dawn Phenomenon

Another reason for walking in the morning was to try and stop the morning spikes that my blood sugars do to me every single morning. As soon as I wake up and roll out of bed, the Dexcom graph and arrows just start to go up.

I thought that maybe by walking early in the morning, that this would help bring down these spikes (you know, because exercise is supposed to help reverse your diabetes).

Unfortunately, this hasn’t been the case. My blood sugars continue to spike and actually end up going up a little more afterwards. I’ve been having to still take insulin as soon as I get back and correct. I’ve yet to correct before going on the walk because I don’t want to carry more things with me during my walk.

Even though the morning walks haven’t fixed my dawn phenomenon, they have definitely helped lower my stress levels and have made me more alert during the rest of the day and become much more productive.

I will continue to try and test different ways to help fix the dawn phenomenon and get rid of these morning spikes.

Going to the Pool with a Dexcom Arm Site

Last week I went to the pool for the first time with a Dexcom arm site. This is actually the first time that I’ve gone to the pool with a Dexcom in any site.

I wasn’t really concerned about people seeing the Dexcom in my arm and being freaked out about being in the water with me while wearing it. I’m not going to lie, there are times that I get freaked out when I see people with scabs and band-aids and bandages on while in the pool. Frankly, I don’t know why they have those bandages, so I don’t know what could be getting passed in the pool.

My biggest fear was that it was going to fall off while I was swimming and that I wouldn’t feel it and then my transmitter would be lost and that would not be good.

Neither of those things happened.

I was happy to be wearing my CGM while in the pool because the pool typically drops my blood sugar quite quickly. I wasn’t doing any strenuous swimming, it was more just following my daughter around in the kid section and getting a few moments to dip my head under the water.

Blood sugar stayed pretty steady, but it’s great to be able to know that real time.

I was also very happy with the sensor tape that held up. There were no issues with it peeling or coming off at all.

In fact, that was day number 10 or 11 and it was still holding on tight.

All-in-all, it was a great first experience wearing my Dexcom to the pool and it was even better with it being on my arm.

Diabetes in a Cave

Even though the title may sound like I was trapped in a cave with type 1 diabetes, that’s not the case. Although, that would be one hell of a movie, if Hollywood could get it right of course.

Anyway, we decided to take a family trip to Crystal Cave out near Kutztown, PA with myself, wife, daughter and my brother’s family, including my niece who also lives with Type 1 Diabetes.

I have never gone into a cave before, so I was not 100% sure what to expect.

I was told that the tour would take about 45 minutes in total, so I assumed a lot of walking. Because of that, I wanted to keep my BG at about 200 before entering the cave that way I would hopefully not have to correct while I was on the tour.

Start of the Tour

We were starting the tour around 12:45 and I did not eat lunch yet, jut breakfast and decided to have a few of my daughters chips before heading into the cave for the tour.

The tour started with a 10-15 minute video explaining the history of the cave and how the cave was formed and what some of the things we will be looking at inside the cave are. Once the video was over, it was time to head into the cave.

I knew going into this that the cave was going to be cold, and it was. It was a constant 54 degrees, which that’s actually not cold to me, that’s perfect temperature.

For me, the heat drives my BG straight down, so I knew the cool, damp climate inside the cave would not be effecting my blood sugar.

The tour was slow, meaning that we walked about 20-30 feet and would then stop at the next station for them to explain what we were seeing. During this time my blood sugar was staying around 200-220 and pretty flat and steady.

The walking part of the tour lasted about 20-25 minutes and when I walked out of the cave my BG actually went from 200 to about 245, so there was no drop at all from the activity of walking through the cave. Grant it, there really wasn’t any steps or much walking uphill. There was only one section that we could opt-in to walk up to the highest point of the cave, which was maybe 30-35 feet high.

As soon as we got out of the cave, I asked my sister-in-law what my niece’s blood sugar did while in the cave. Her answer, “stayed flat”. Exactly the same that my blood sugar did.

Lunchtime

It was then time for lunch and I was hungry and started eating before I took my insulin. Actually, I finished my entire meal before I took any insulin.

What happened next… I’m sure you can guess that.

A straight shot up like the mountain we were standing on. And that BG of over 350 lasted for several hours and made me feel like crap.

Luckily, after the cave, we went to pick strawberries and it was getting hot, so that helped bring the BG down a bit too.

I’ve been doing much better at pre-bolusing and this was an example of exactly why the pre-bolus is so important.

All in all, the cave adventure was fun. Check out some of the photos below.

Diabetes at the Farmer’s Market

Amanda and I have always been fans of local farmer’s markets. For me, I love the fresh food and small businesses that are out there hustling. I am a huge fan of homemade items that are usually sold at farmer’s markets, such as pickles, jellies, pepper jellies, baked goods, fresh veggies, etc.

Our local farmer’s market is located right next to the intracoastal waterway so it is a beautiful site as well. We had not been there in a while, so we decided to check it out and see if there were any new vendors. There were some new ones there and I knew it was going to be time for a BG check and some insulin because I saw some great free samples.

That leads me into what I wanted to talk about. During this time, I was taking an insulin pump vacation for the weekend and was just using a syringe and vial. Walking around eating free samples and not knowing exactly what I am going to be eating never worked out well for me when I was on MDI. When I am pumping, it is not a big deal because every time I decide to eat something, I just bolus for it with the pump and that’s that.

When I am on MDI, my strategy is a bit different. And in the comments below, or on Facebook, I would love to hear your feedback and your comments on how you handle situations like this.

In a situation like this where I am eating random items that are free samples, they typically are not large enough that I need to worry about a bolus. If I eat 3-4 free samples from different vendors and I feel like it was a significant amount of carbs, then I will simply stop and take a shot. If I know that I am going to eat something that is not a free sample, but an actual item (New England Clam Chowda at this farmer’s market is amazing!) then I will bolus directly for that.

The other issue is that depending on what you are eating (sweet pickles, pepper jelly) it is difficult to guestimate how many carbs are in a specific food. I honestly do not get mad if the vendor does not have that information. I just ask what they put in it and I do my best to guestimate. If I am wrong, then I correct, simple as that.

Usually after the amount of walking that we do at the farmer’s markets we go to (at least 2 miles altogether) the exercise helps burn off some of the food that I ate and helps balance out the blood sugar. Please note, I am not saying exercise is going to lower my blood sugar and I don’t need insulin, so diabetes trolls, stop right there.

Like I said above, I’m curious as to how MDI-ers handle situations like this? Would love to hear your feedback.

It Took Yardwork to Understand How Out of Shape I Am

I moved from a traffic filled, noisy, hustle and bustle city to out in the country with dirt roads and tractors about 6 months. It’s been something I’ve wanted to do since I was young. Living out here does however come with an acre of land and a lot of yard work to do. Once every two weeks I have to go around and pick up all of the palm fronds that have fell in the yard, along with the hundreds of pine cones that have fell from the 20 pine trees I have in my yard. I pick up the pine cones because I don’t want the tractor mower riding over them. What does this all have to do with diabetes?

Well, one day I decided to do the yard pickup, cut the grass, weed whack, and use the blower to blow leafs off of the roof, and about halfway through I had to sit down and relax and felt like my heart was about to pump out of my chest and I started to feel a little nauseous. I knew at that time that if I can’t even handle doing yard work, how am I supposed to live a long healthy life for my daughter? It took some yard work for me to realize how bad it has gotten. No exercising, no controlling what I eat, just put it on a plate, shoot up some insulin and go back out and eat more. Then as soon as I’m done, just sit on the couch and watch sports because I’m too tired from sitting in my office chair all day long.

Typing this out makes me understand how pathetic that sounds and how many excuses I have given over the years and that every day that goes by that I continue to give an excuse, is probably another day I’m losing out on in the end.

My problem is that I don’t have a gym anywhere near me (closest store is 20 minutes away). So, I need to do things on my own at home. I hate going for walks outside during the summer because it feels like 95 degrees even at 3 a.m. down here in south Florida. Wait, I feel like I’m making another excuse. I used to have an exercise bike, but I rode that till I broke it, literally. The batteries went dead and leaked and ruined the electrical so now there is only one level that works, and I don’t see the point in that.

My goal is to purchase an elliptical machine, which is exactly what I use when I do actually go to a gym. Only problem is that they are so damn expensive, but the investment in my health is well worth it.

Belly Fat Filled with Insulin

Over the last few months that I have been off my insulin pump, I have really enjoyed it.  My A1C came down a few decimal points and I see fewer high blood sugars.  One negative that I have seen though is the amount of fat around my lower belly has increased, a lot.  I take 90% of my shots in my stomach.  Since I use so much insulin, it’s easier to take the shots there than in my arms or legs.  Plus, I usually take insulin at the same time that I’m eating, so in my legs takes too long and I end up with spikes after eating.  I have definitely seem the increase in the amount of fat in the injection areas though.  And that, I don’t like.

I’ve been trying to take smaller doses of insulin since I read an article that Scott Johnson posted a couple of weeks ago.  Sorry, I don’t have the link, but if you have it, please add it.  This means that I can take my full amount of insulin, but take half in my left arm and half in my right arm and then there’s not as much sting or pain because of the large amount of insulin being injected there.

I’ve been losing weight overall and have been really trying to do some ab exercises to get rid of this extra belly fat, but as of now, nothing has been working. But, just like anything in life, I will continue to work hard at it and not give up.

Whether you are on MDI or wear a pump in your stomach area, have you found this to be the case?