Level: The future of evening out lows

So the other night right when I was getting ready to go to bed I had a blood sugar of 64. Of course, they always seem to happen at the most inconvenient times. Anyway, when I was at the SWD National Conference I got to meet Ethan, the creator of Level Foods and a really cool T1 diabetic, who gave us samples of his new glucose gels. So I decided to use one the other night and it was a great decision. The gels are 15g of carbohydrates and have the same kind of fast working glucose other gels and tablets have. A half hour later I was sitting nicely at 116 and I could rest easy knowing that I would be fine throughout the night. My morning blood sugar was 88 so everything worked out really well. It brought my BG levels back up without a bad spike. It just kind of leveled them out like the name suggests.

I would really recommend these glucose gels to anyone. The best part is they even taste really good. There are four flavors, which I have finally gotten to taste them all. These flavors are vanilla, strawberry banana, caramel, and mandarin orange. Right now you can only get them on levelfoods.com, but sometime in the near future they will be at stores. I'll be putting in an order for going back to college so that I'll have some good tasting glucose gels to save me from any lows I might get this year.

- Keep flying steady

(Additionally, I had an endo appointment today and my a1c was a 6.6! This is my first a1c since diagnosis 11.5 years ago below 7.0. Also, my endo was impressed with how I was handling all of this new technology (the omnipod and the iBGStar) and gave me the green light for a dexcom! I can't wait to have this new bit of technology to help further control my blood sugars.)

Brooms (and BG levels) Up at Ascendio!

Brooms down before the second game.

This past weekend I went to Orlando to take place in some demo Quidditch matches at Ascendio, a Harry Potter Convention at the Portofino Bay Hotel by Universal. It was another scorcher of a day in Florida, but we were all excited to show these Harry Potter fans how muggles play Quidditch.

Before playing the matches I checked my BG level and it came up with 301. I have recently been having problems with going high after lunch so this wasn't too bad. (I've since been fixing these problems). I did a temp basal of -50% knowing that my BG would be heading down soon after I started playing. However, after 1 game my it was up to 341. I thought this was because of the temp basal and decide to not set one for the next game. After playing that game I tested again and realized I was 565. I think that was the highest BG reading I had ever had, including right after my diagnosis. As I had been instructed by my doctor I checked for ketones next. They registered with a reading of 0.9! Trying to remain calm I gathered all of my supplies and then proceeded to first give myself a shot of fast-acitng insulin and then replace my pod. Within 45 minutes I had dropped over 100 and was headed in the right direction again.

Cruising down the field with Bridget, the ref,
giving me a weird look.

Since it was now 3 o'clock and I hadn't eaten lunch yet I went with a group to Citywalk to get some food. In order to bolus the food and the high blood sugar I was still experiencing I had to go over my bolus limit. This was one of the scariest experiences I've had with an out of whack blood sugar. I know now I must be more careful and pay closer attention to my pods when I'm playing quidditch.

To get away from all of the bad parts of the day I really enjoyed the rest of my day at Ascendio especially a part of the winning team for both games! I also bought myself a Hufflepuff sweater that is designed like the ones worn by the Quidditch players in the Harry Potter movies and an awesome bumper sticker that says "I'd rather be playing Quidditch." So overall it was a fantastic day with a bit of a hiccup thanks to the beetus, but one that I will certainly learn from.

-Keep flying steady

(I think I flew a tad too high...)

Freedom!

For almost a week now I have been released from the chains of the endo and set free into the wild with my new pump, "The Doctor." If you're a Doctor Who fan you'll probably get right away why I've named it such. When I'm changing pods it's as if it's "regenerating." Yeah, I'm a nerd, I know. But it also has the double meaning of it being like a doctor in helping me along with the beetus.

So far this has been very successful. I have had very few numbers above 200 since I've been on the pump and I used to get numbers above 200 more than I would like to admit. I have also not had too many "bad" lows either.

On Saturday I'll be going to Orlando to play Quidditch at Ascendio, which is a Harry Potter convention. I participated in a similar event at LeakyCon last summer so I cannot wait to do it again this year!

-Keep flying steady

Quidditch vs. the Omnipod: Round 1

Last Saturday was the first time since I started pumping insulin that I had played Quidditch. I had the pod on while playing Quidditch before, but I just had saline solution in then so if anything went wrong it wasn't a big deal. However, I also recently got my new band from bands4life.net so I was ready to try it out and hope for the best.

Me with my omnipod on my left arm and the band over it.

I tried a mix of a temp basal and gatorade to prevent my numbers from dropping too low or going too high from overcompensating and the temp basal seemed to work the best. I started out with a blood glucose at 160 mg/dl and after an hour of playing and an hour of a -50% temp basal I was 117. I then drank I little bit of gatorade and continued playing. I was 134 less than an hour later and 153 an hour after that. So it seemed the gatorade was bringing me up too high while the temp basal kept me where I needed to be. However, since I didn't use it the whole time and didn't extend it past the time I was exercising my bg levels dropped the rest of the night.

The best part of this day of playing Quidditch was that the omnipod never fell off of my arm. The band served it's purpose in keeping it on and I would really recommend to anyone playing sports to where it and keep you omnipod safe from contact and safe from sweating off of your arm.

I had a great 4th of July yesterday complete with fireworks and a cookout. It was one of the largest boluses I've done since starting with the omnipod, but it was worth all of the delicious food.

-Keep flying steady

Pumping Iron...err...Insulin

Today I started pumping insulin with my omnipod!

I started the day off at around 220 and after eating a lunch that they said I could go all out on (oh, I did) I was 290-something, but did not have ketones. So everything was working well and they sent me on my way home. In the appointment they started me with a basal rate of 1.4 u/hr and a carb ratio of 1/10. I expect one of those things to change because at dinner time I was 47.

Well, we'll see what happens as I get fine-tuned here with my omnipod, which I really need to think of a name for. Calling it "my omnipod" just doesn't have a nice enough ring to it.

With 2 quidditch practices/ games this week we'll see if it'll hold up and how my BG levels are affected.

-Keep flying steady

The Start of the Omnipod

So I meant to post this Tuesday night after I made it, but I was too tired as you can see from the video...So here it is now.

Also, yesterday while playing quidditch I tested the omnipod's durability. Unfortunately, I must report that it did not really survive practice. It seemed to sweat right off. So I'm going to try a few different things to help it survive practice: skin tac wipes, which are supposed to help make it a bit more sticky and an arm band from bands4life.net. Hopefully, between this two things I'll be able to keep the omnipod in place all the way through practice. If you have any other suggestions, please leave me a comment and let me know.

-Keep flying steady

(One last thing. I feel like I should explain "Keep flying steady." I was thinking about how diabetes could be compared to quidditch and I realized that you don't want to fly too high because then you're up in the clouds and not in the game anymore, but you also don't want to fly too low because then you're on the ground and also out of the game. So if you fly steady you're in the game and able to contribute. And the same really applies to blood sugars. If you're too high or low you can't really concentrate very well and it's like you're not really there. So if you keep a steady not-too-high, not-too-low blood glucose you're where you need to be and you can stay in the game of life.)

Quidditch World Cup 2011

My first appointment for my omnipod is coming up tomorrow so I don't have much to update on that right now. However, I would like to talk about my trip to New York last November for the Quidditch World Cup.

We had been preparing for this trip since the beginning of the school year in August. After many, many practices we had finally made it to our destination: The Quidditch World Cup. This years cup was held on Randall's Island in New York City. Since this was in November it was really cold. Everyone came bundle up and tried to stay as warm as possible.

We got into New York two days early so that we could see some of the city while we were there. We ventured through time square and a very small portion of central park. We went to the zoo. We went and saw Avenue Q off-broadway. We went to the 9/11 memorial site. We went shopping at various stores, even one that had a Harry Potter/Quidditch section! To say the least, it was a lot of fun.

Through these two days in the city I always had to make sure that I had enough insulin and test supplies with me at all time and, since I'm a guy and don't have a purse, I had to carry a backpack around in which to carry this stuff. This was my first trip to a big city with just a group of my friends so it was exciting and yet a bit scary since I wasn't sure what would happen if my blood sugars went to high or too low.  However, the first two days of the journey passed without incident.

The next day we were up early for breakfast and then off to Randall's Island for the start of the World Cup.  We were all very excited and nervous since we really had no idea what to expect. Our first game of the day was versus the University of Ottawa. It was a morning game so I knew my bg levels were still good from breakfast but I had snacks in my bag just in case. We started off the world cup with a win over Ottawa. Our next game wasn't for a few hours but I had to referee a different game soon so I took off to grab some lunch before heading to that. However, this was the lunch line of doom because it went on for miles it seemed. Luckily, my blood sugar wasn't low and I didn't need the food right away. 

Our second game of the day was against the State University of New York (SUNY) Geneseo. We again won in a well fought battle and my blood sugars seemed to be behaving. With two wins under our belt we were feeling good going into the final game of the day that night versus Arizona State University (ASU). After having a dinner of Hamburgers and chips (not the best meal for a diabetic, but it was probably better than the waffles), I was ready for this game. This was the hardest opponent we had faced and they really held their own against us. At one point I managed to wrestle the quaffle enough out of the opponents hand that the ball was awarded to me. We ended up beating ASU after our seeker's third consecutive snitch grab. We were ecstatic having gone 3-0 on the first day. Back at the hotel my numbers were starting to decline from all of the activity. I got some food into me and went to bed.

Our first opponent of the second day was the final for our pool: The Delaware Valley Dragons. They had gone 0-3 on their first day and knew they could no longer advance. They were out for blood. However, we would not stoop to their level and easily destroyed them. I scored twice myself and had two other goals that should have counted but did not due to poor refereeing. It was a good start to the day. While we waited to find out our seed going into the finals we found time to relax a little bit and eat some food. We found out that we were seeded second.

Our first team to play was Ohio State University and then we would keep playing through the bracket, game after game until the semifinals. We beat Ohio State and then McGill and then University of Pittsburgh. We were on a roll. We had made it into the semifinals. My blood sugars were somewhat good and we couldn't be happier. There was one problem though. The food place had closed and relocated to the stadium for the semifinals and finals. This meant that I had no access to food really. Luckily, while they had us waiting I was able to eat some of the snack food I had brought as my meal. I then took a much reduced insulin shot and prepared myself for our final games.

Our opponent in the semifinals was the University of Minnesota. They were the underdogs of the cup at this point having been ranked very low coming in. After a very close game we ended up winning on the snitch grab. Our seeker was now 8-0 on snitch pulls. He had won us some of our games, but we knew going into the finals that we could not rely on this fact. Our final opponent: Middlebury. They were the undefeated champions of the world cup. We were the first time participants of the world cup. The stadium cheered for both sides. It felt amazing to have a stadium cheering for you.

The game started with one final "Brooms up!" The game up early for Middlebury. Then we started to come back. I came in and scored twice with quick passes to me as I waited by the hoops. But, alas, we were not quick enough in scoring when the snitch was caught be middle bury we were only 10 points ahead of them and then succeeded in winning yet again with a final score of 100-80.

My blood sugars and I had survived a tumultuous day (and weekend) that ended with with me being a part of the second best team in the International Quidditch Association's league. We were proud of ourselves for making it so far, but we hungered for more as we knew we would be returning to the next cup.

(On a side note, traveling to and from New York I had no problems with TSA so I'm very grateful for that.)

- Keep flying steady