Gadgets and bad guts

The MiniMed was great. Fantastic. Excellent.
Shame we only had it for a week.

Inserting the sensor was a bit of a pain. We had Emla (local anaesthetic cream) and put it on the agreed spots an hour beforehand but those places (on Eli's lower back) were not suitable. Of course not. He's a skinny little thing, and it did cross my mind that there might not be any fat in his lower back, but we did as we were told and as the Medtronic instructions stated. How stupid of me.
In the end the sensor was shot into his buttock, without Eli being warned. You can imagine the screams. And yes, the word 'shot' is quite appropriate, as some of you know. The "SenSerter", the gadget used to insert the sensor, is quite a thing to show a small child, it looks a bit like a giant insect.
But in it was and we got sent home with a huge book of instructions. The monitor itself is very easy to use so we had no problems with it. The sensor and the transmitter stayed in their place and Eli didn't mind them at all. The only problem was realising that the glucose levels in the tissue rise a lot slower, so the monitor kept alarming for a while after a hypo.

But otherwise, I fell in love with the thing. I know it's not 100% reliable but it makes things so much easier. To be able to check the glucose levels in two seconds, without washing his hands, without interrupting his playing, without gathering the strips of the bus floor. And most of all, to be able to tell what was going on with the glucose levels, were they crashing or shooting up. Shame it's so incredibly expensive to buy and use.

I know it might just be that we were more conscious of his diet and exercise (we had to keep a diary of every morsel that passed his lips, as well as record his activity levels), but his glucose levels seemed to remain more consistent and under control.

But now were back to the sameoldsameold and of course, he gets a belly bug. We could really use the monitor now. Eli threw up all morning and now he won't eat or drink anything. He was fine before breakfast, so he'd already had full doses of Levemir and Actrapid. It's been a very long day, hypo after hypo after hypo, topped with ketones. I've forced sweets and juice down him, trying to explain that if he doesn't drink we have to go to the hospital. But that sounds like a threat and I want to keep the hospital on the list of nice places, not something that is used for blackmail.

I'm crap when it comes to vomit, I have a phobia of throwing up and I'm guaranteed to feel sick when someone mentions belly bugs. I even feel queasy and panicky when someone's FB status is about vomiting. So when my children get ill, my first instinct is to run out of the door. Which is pretty much what I do when my husband gets ill. I'm a lovely wife. Last time he had a sore belly, I was fretting about my oncoming (psychosomatic) queasiness.But I've been good today and pretended it's all hunky dory. Which is what you're supposed to do as the mummy.

We were in a similar situation a couple of weeks ago when Eli had to go to the dentist. The last crappy dentist had ignored the state of his tooth (under a temporary filling) and it had pretty much rotted away underneath it. Eli had toothache for months but every time we went to the dentist, she said it was fine. After a couple of sleepless nights, I took the tired boy to another dentist, who was horrified. I had to sit and watch my little boy go through a lot of needles, drills and other noisy, scary gadgets and procedures. And pretend it was all fun and games. I hate the dentist, as do most people, but I don't want my kids to find it scary. There is no reason why it should be horrible.

So what's going on with Molly? The training is still on hold, I want to see whether she will turn into a fairly normal dog. She is meeting people and other dogs, with varying success. I'm trying not to feel bad about the training not going full steam ahead, it's been stupidly hectic lately and I'm falling asleep on my feet. She has definitely learnt to pick up on Eli's discomfort, but I suppose most dogs do that. 

Now I'm off to bed, hoping for a peaceful night. For Eli, at least. We'll have to keep a close eye on his sugars and ketones. Yippee.

Happy happy or not not..

I'm pretty good at moaning. Even when everything is perfect, I will find something wrong with the situation. My current complaint is that Eli's sugars are under control. Boo-bloody-hoo.
But this is a tad ridiculous. Eli is now on Levemir and Actrapid, NovoRapid is reserved for birthday parties and those bad parenting days. (Which we all have, so no comments, please.) So, the bg levels are great, no sudden highs or lows.

Now we have this marvellous dog and she is supposedly in training to become a hypo-alert dog. The training requires samples of highs and lows. Preferably from Eli. Thanks to Actrapid, we have none. See why I'm so stressed? Me neither.

I'm sure the situation will change soon and we'll be back to the impossible days and nights. I'm actually quite confident that by next week, I'll be tearing my hair out when nothing seems to work and nothing makes sense. In other words, things will return to normal and life will be as lovely and unpredictable as it should be for the parents of a diabetic child. And I can moan, stress and complain even more. The crease between my eyes will be deep enough to hold a pound coin.


As you are probably very interested, the other possible causes for stress this month are:
                 - lack of money
                 - lack of money
                 - lack of time
                 - lack of energy
                 - lack of money
                 - mountains of dog poo
                 - there's also the lack of  
                          money



That's better, thanks for listening or pretending to.

A word or two about the Dog. She went travelling with us this weekend and behaved immaculately. Slept in the car, did her business only at allocated locations , barked twice or thrice at big people, licked the small ones. Got muddy, ate cucumber and lost a few milk teeth.
Some idiot left the clicker at home so there was no training for a couple of days. But she (Molly, not the idiot) remembered it when as soon as we got home. She tried to jump into the fridge to get her treats when I got the clicker out. The fridge is high. I think she could train herself now.

On unrelated issues, I finally got used to the Accu-Chek Mobile. Firstly I'd like to point out that when I speak of pokers, meters or anything equipment-related, I am speaking as the mother. My angle is completely different from the usual as I'm measuring someone else's sugar. And that someone else is usually doing
something else and refusing to stay still as his mind is somewhere else.... 

I think the Accu-Chek Mobile is easier to use on yourself. If you leave the pen on the meter, the flimsiness isn't such a problem. But I had to find a way of holding the giant gadget without dropping it and I think I've found a way now. It has been handy measuring with it in awkward places but I still wouldn't leave the house without a spare meter.

One final point. Even though my blog has remained untouched, I am furious to see that they are still stealing at http://www.groupstalk.com/diabetes/. The bastards. At least do it in person so you don't look like an eejit republishing all the blog posts ranting about your blatant plagiarism.

Malfunctioning mobility

Testing bg outdoors can be challenging. Especially when there's a meter of snow and you're chasing a child in it. What tends to happen is that you:
A) drop something in the snow, the lancet pen, the strips, the meter, the lot.
B) you get to the child, open the strip bottle with cold, clumsy hands and manage to chuck the strips all over the snow,
C) you get to the child, get the strip in the meter but can't get any blood out of the small and frozen fingers. And when you do, the meter has either died or complained of EEE(rror) (Accu-Chek, please notice that sometimes you just have to measure in -15 C).

Spring is on its way, I hope, but I'm still bloody tired of having only two hands. So when we were given the chance to try the new Accu-Chek Mobile, I was relatively excited. What, no strips? We've always used the MultiClix Pen, so lancets weren't such a problem, but the roll of strips sounded fantastic.

Eli was impressed by the thing. It was quite big and bulky, but it made a whirring sound and you could see the "strip roll" turning. And even though his eyesight is perfect, he was also impressed by the bleeping function for the blind. I turned that off pretty soon, fourteen loud bleeps at 2 am is enough to wake up the neighbours. And I have no intention of letting them know we can't control Eli's blood sugars ;)

The idea itself is great, but there are a few glitches.
The test roll, for example. The meter fell on the table once, maybe a 4 cm drop. The other Accu-Chek meters have been thrown about, chewed and dropped in bowls of soup and they still work fine. However, this one has a sensitive spot. The test pad area is fine paper and as we found out, it breaks easily. And when the roll breaks, you can't use it anymore. This happened to us when we were out and of course we were stupid enough not to bring a spare roll/cassette. But luckily we were at the hospital and the nurse managed to find one. That was a pretty bad day. First we looked like the worst parents ever, not having any spares on us. Then Eli had a hypo and my bag was empty bar from painkillers. Even the hospital vending machine was empty. So we had to ask the nice nurse again.

But back to the meter. Another problem is the lid/cover for the test area. I might have weak fingers or something but I have to really ram it open. And I tend to forget to close it. The meter does remind you very politely after testing, but after browsing for previous test results and setting 'flags' and reminders, you forget about it, stick it in your bag and probably break the test roll again.

The last complaint I have is the pen. It's awfully flimsy and, for some reason, the mechanism is different from the other Accu-Chek pens. My finger wants to press the button by the numbers, but you have to click the top instead. I find this makes it difficult to get the lancet end of the pen tightly on the fingertip. Also, the other night I tried to measure Eli's blood sugar in the dark and kept wondering why I wasn't getting any blood. I came out swearing to see what was wrong with the pen and realised the tip cover had come loose.

All in all, it's not a bad meter. It has loads of fancy functions and the display is good and clear, Aviva Nano style. Maybe I'll get used to it. I am quite pleased with the lack of old strips, normally they are absolutely everywhere, in the beds, in the dogs mouth, in the washing machine...

Anyone else tried this one yet? What do you think?

Grrr.

What to do when people think that 24.5 is a 'decent' reading? Somehow I disagree. And so does Eli, a weeping, pale, tired mess, begging for more water. I can't 'rage bolus' as this isn't my body but I do get the sense of just forcing it down, NOW!

Tired of the peaks and the overcompensating and measuring hourly from those poor, bruised fingertips. Eli is only four so his fingertips are tiny. And he's petrified of measuring anywhere else.
The Novopen has become the enemy, too. After hitting a sore spot a few times in the last weeks, Eli won't have any insulin unless he can examine his thighs frantically for 'the nerve spots'.

Bad day today, made worse by my dentist appointment, looming ahead :(

Molly is great, though. She's cut down on the turds and prefers real food now. Sausages drive her insane, you wouldn't think a tiny dog can jump up to the fridge. She slept in the kids' room last night and only woke them up once by stepping on their MP3 player. If you've heard 'Baby Elephant Walk',  you know it's not a lullaby.

Now she's dreaming by my feet, making a funny sound in her sleep that sounds just like a car alarm chirp.

Linking

Have a quick look at my blog list, found at the bottom of the page.
Just to mention a few:

There's Shiv, a young woman whose had diabetes since she was a small child.
http://clickofthelight.blogspot.com/

Then there's Becky, also a young woman, but only diagnosed about year ago.
http://instructionsni.blogspot.com/

Also have a peep at Waving and Drowning, written by a mother of a type 1 child.
http://wavingdrowning.wordpress.com/

There's also Sam, who was diagnosed with type 1 "after throwing up over a couple of girls in my class whilst watching Oliver Twist." when she was just eight :)
http://www.talkingbloodglucose.com

You might also want to say hello to Northerner , who is running and rhyming with type 1.
http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.com/

I would especially recommend the blogs if you're unfamiliar with the incredible hassle type 1 diabetes causes every bloody day. I am only the mother and there are days when I feel quite confident my son will have a good life. Then there are those black days, when it all seems hopeless and I can't stop mulling over all the possible complications and problems he will have when he grows up. The worst days are those when Eli keeps asking is he going to get better soon.


And for your information, nice ladies on the street, he didn't ask this before you idiots told him that he'll get better soon. He was quite happy with his dysfunctional pancreas until complete strangers pointed out that he's ill. (Insert explicative here).

Anyway, have a look :)

Must mention this

I had to write another entry today, I was so happy with the response I got in the discussion forums when I mentioned my blog. I haven't a clue what I'd do without the internet. I've been able to contact a large number of people online for support, advice and just for general ranting ;)

The internet has also been pretty much the only source of information concerning hypodogs. Organisations and private dog 'academies' are stingy with their knowledge and it can be quite disheartening trying to contact people by phone. After the 12th "I'm sorry we can't help you, but we do take Visa and Mastercard", you do start feeling like an eejit for even trying. I am only asking whether they think it's possible to hometrain a hypodog (clearly they don't...) and, if they haven't hung up by that point, do they think it's better to freeze the samples or not.

I'm really hoping the training works out and the whole thing takes off. Charities cannot provide dogs for everyone in need and if individuals have the will/the skills/the patience to at least begin training a dog, it cannot be that bad.

Hope the mothers, whose day it is today, have a fantastic day :) I still have some weeks to wait before I get coffee poured all over me in bed (not as romantic as it sounds), being in Finland, the land of awkward bank hols.

Basics

To update, this is what has happened so far.

We got a small boy. (He was followed by a small girl, who may occasionally appear in the blog, too. Usually as a distraction. A gorgeous distraction, may I add.)

The small boy got diabetes. This wasn't on our original to-do-list.

The small boy got in trouble with his lows.

We got a puppy. Not an easy task. After declining offers to buy mixed breed puppies straight from the airport in the middle of the night, we found a good breeder. She was willing to sell us one of her Havanese puppies a bit cheaper as the pup had a strong underbite, making her less likely to be the Crufts Supreme Champion. This was fine by us, as we're not really into shows anyway. Even if Molly would have been presentable enough, we would have been kicked out of any shows for being scruffy and untidy. We're students. Poor students. Poor students with children. Poor students with children and no sense of style. Enough said.
We chose this particular breed as I have some experience of Havaneses. They are also known to be extremely social, good with children (!!!!) and fairly intelligent (?). They are small dogs and relatively easy when it comes to grooming.

We searched for more information on D.A.Ds, or hypo-alert dogs, or hypodogs or diabetic assistance dogs, or whatever you want to call them. There is a lot of unofficial information online, news on research projects and discussion forums. DAD's are common in the States and considered as official assistant dogs. In the UK there are some hypodogs and experienced trainers. In Finland, the country we've managed to get stuck in, there is all of one official dog that is being trained as a hypodog. That dog is being trained in an institution and then handed 'ready' to a family of a small diabetic boy.

Concerning the training , the Americans are very quiet about their specific methods, which are supposedly 'groundbreaking' and 'unique'. This probably means they are fairly simple and executable by dog owners with the help of a trainer. But that would be quite unprofitable for the companies.
If you are considering training a hypodog, a good place to start is http://www.diabeticalertdog.com/forum/. There are a lot of opinions on methods and particularly on the scent acquirement.

We searched for a dog trainer. And found a brilliant professional, experienced in scent training. She came to meet Molly and was greeted by a scared, shaky mess. It didn't look good. Molly was petrified of other people. Strangely, she was comfortable with children, even when there was twenty of them piled on top of her "stroking" the poor creature. But adults were huge, smelly and unpredictable. So the next step was to socialize Molly so we could at least leave the house without nervous vomiting by the post boxes.

It took a few weeks but now we have a pretty normal dog. She is comfortable with people, though a little cautious at first. She is so comfortable on public transport (we don't own a car) that the snoring begins as soon as she's curled up on the bus. I got her a carry bag which opens. It's easy to bring along and lift it on the seat next to me or on my lap, creating a safe haven anywhere. We also use it in cars, whenever we can get a lift somewhere. I secure the bag with the seat belt and the dog is safely tucked away, not pestering the driver or chewing on the handbrake. Nor would she fly through the windscreen if there was ever an accident.

Molly had her first private lesson on Friday and it looked promising. We had already begun clicker training before the lesson so she was familiar with it. I got a new clicker from the trainer, with a softer click, a lot nicer for the ears. With the help of the spanking new clicker and Molly's favourite treats, we've got as far as getting her to smell a jar. Which will eventually contain a saliva sample. Which will be collected from Eli. Who will happily stick cotton sheets in his mouth when he's hypo. Yeah, right.

We are only in the beginning and it's a loooong way before we can trust our loyal mop to wake us up in case of hypos. But there is no harm in trying. The worst case scenario is that Molly doesn't learn a thing and we end up with a pet. A pretty cute one, who loves the kids and who love her back. So it's not that bad.

Here it goes.

This is Molly, a four-month old Havanese puppy. She is pretty daft, being a puppy and all. Hopefully she will grow up to be the next Lassie, though smaller and dirtier. At the moment she is enjoying her own turds and generally, any piece of crap she can wolf down before we get to her. Despite her disgusting taste, our intention is to train her to become a hypo alert dog. This would mean that, in the future, she could smell low blood sugar - also known as hypoglycemia - and alert us about it.

This is where we come to Eli. He is four, too, but in years. And he has type 1 diabetes. Which he dislikes occasionally, asking when it'll go away. 'Never' is not the answer you want to give to your child. But hopefully the future will bring better treatments and more options. Until then, all we can do is make it easier for him.

One problem with type 1 in children are the lows and not spotting them. When a small boy is engulfed in his pile of Lego, no amount of shakes, sweats, headaches or hunger will get him out of there. Combined with sudden crashes in blood glucose levels, this can have disastrous results. The lows often happen at night so we, the adults, have to get up to check the levels to make sure Eli will still wake up in the morning. As horrible as it sounds. This is where Molly steps in in all her stinky glory. If she can A) learn to smell the lows and B) learn to alert us when the lows occur, then C) we can fix them. Easy peasy. Hopefully.

The purpose of this blog is to record Molly's training and hopefully give information to others considering training their own DAD (=the acronym sometimes used for 'Diabetic Alert Dogs').
Whether the blog will be updated on time, or at all, is another question.
Wish me luck.