#DAM The 9 Lives of Joe

I have many fears re: Joe and diabetes. One of them is he goes into an empty locker room while low. I worry he'll lose consciousness and no one will find him for awhile.

A week, or so, ago...

At the end of hockey practice, Joe headed into the locker room. His Dexcom picked up his signal. The CGM app alarmed 43 and arrow diagonal down.

I sat on a bench in the rink's warm room, my eyes glued to the locker room door ....hoping, wishing I'd see him any moment ..how long should I wait? Another 2, 4, 5 minutes? Then what? Send in some random guy to see if he's still conscious?

😩*Joe would KILL me* 😬

So, I waited some more. Then, finally, I saw him lumbering out of the locker room. My heart.

#makediabetesvisable #t1d

#DAM Broom Closet Bolusing

While I admired his initiative, a broken insulin pump, mid-vacation, at 7:30pm, on a weekend is not a time for amateur hour.

This past summer...during vacation...while we were eating dinner with family...

Joe's pump failed. He excused himself from the dinner table to replace the pump. He's been independently changing pump sites since he was 9. So, when I heard the 'Mom, I need help!' yelled down the stairs, I was surprised 😳.

As I entered the bedroom, Joe gave me the lowdown. He apparently tried to change his pump, but the pump had malfunctioned, gave an error message requiring a call to the company. Joe apparently looked up the pump company's number on his phone. He called the pump company where he and the representative attempted to revive the pump to no avail. 😳 I guess it was at this point the pump company rep realized Joe was a minor...🙄

'Mom, you need to call them back...they need to talk to someone over 18 to ship out a new pump.' 😑
 
🤐(*#$ #@$& $@&#)🤐

The abbreviated version of what transpired after: I called Omnipod. Pump was broken. 😑 They overnighted one to us on vacation. Which was actually two days.. because late hour on a weekend day😢. Luckily (or maybe not) I brought a 9 year old, discontinued "back-up" pump. 😟 PROBLEM...pump LED light could only be barely seen in pitch-black broom closets🤬...and piston sounded bogged down (by sand?)😵. Anyways, I decide to go the shot route for basal insulin and plug him into pump for boluses. PROBLEM...we didn't have basal insulin. Called on-call MD for Lantus order. Ran to pharmacy to get Lantus and syringes. Next two days consisted of broom closet bolusing 🤓and a shot of Lantus.
 
#omnipod #animas #makediabetesvisible #t1d #travelingw/t1d

#DAM It Is Not

12 long years ago Diabetes Awareness month became a 'thing' I think about on November 1st. He's living well. He's strong. He's grown up ahead of his years. I don't say much about it these days, in part because everyone has their 'thing'...know this, we are still here doing fingersticks, counting carbs, dosing insulin, battling highs and lows day in and out. We make it look easy. It is not.

#makediabetesvisible

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