That's MR. Dibaleeteez to you.

Howdy!
We have news, sports, and even fashion from the land of D!

News:
We just finished up another round of Children's Hospital visits, one for Gray and one for Logie, and we have some great news.... and some waiting to do.
First for the great news: Loganberry Jam is doing so, so well on his pump! Dr. Sanda said Logan is in "the sweet spot" with his blood glucose levels, meaning, he is in a good place for his age.
He also told us that Logan is the youngest person in his practice to use an Omnipod, and we were the only family that has sent his downloaded information from his PDM stores about his blood sugars, carb intake and insulin use..
I was proud of us!
(We asked the Insulet corportation to send us the infrared "reader" to download Logan's PDM onto our computer, then just emailed the info to the Endocrinology Dept. at Children's Hospital, so it was super easy and made us look good, apparently.)

Logan's weight is up to 44lbs, (he was a skinny 37lbs at diagnosis) and he has grown at least an inch- so his body is rocking and rolling with his new program.
One of the main goals for the clinic visit every three months, is to measure and record Logan's "A1C level", which is... measured in percentages, and his is now down to 7.7, from 9.1 at diagnosis. Is it just me, or do I feel an afterschool special about A1C numbers coming on?

Fade in to middle American kitchen, fruit bowl on counter, tousle haired boy walks into the kitchen, and grabs an apple.
Boy: "Hey Mom, what gives? You said my A1C was down, isn't that bad?"
Mom gives a smile, kneels by the boy, and puts her arm around his shoulders: "No, Jimmy, having a low A1C number is GOOD.. you see,a nondiabetic person will have an A1c between 4% and 6%. The closer a diabetic can keep their A1c to 6% without experiencing excessive hypoglycemia, the better.
Jimmy: "Huh?"

I know, it's hard to make this crap interesting, but since I am going to be reporting his A1C numbers to y'all, I thought you should know what it means. I will try to make this as painless as possible...
A1C roughly translates into "what's your sign" for the diabetes world. It is an indicator of how well you are managing your 'betes. It is a blood test done that measures the average blood glucose experienced by your blood cells over the last three months. It's a very important test for two reasons:

1. The A1C never lies. Teen diabetics can lie,or manipulate glucose monitors (have non diabetic friends test their blood, thereby inputing perfect numbers into a glucometer.. smart, huh?) But the A1C test will tell the truth of the matter over the last three months.
2. The closer your A1C number is to a "normal" person, the lower your chances of diabetes related health complications. The goal is to keep blood glucose levels as close to normal as possible. This helps to minimize the complications caused by chronically elevated glucose levels, such as progressive damage to body organs like the kidneys, eyes, cardiovascular system, and nerves. Ew.

The thought is, the more you love yourself and are aware of diet, exercise, insulin, stress, hormones, ratios, pod failures, etc- the "better" your A1C will be and THE BETTER OF A PERSON OR PARENT YOU ARE!
"Hey baby, what's your A1C?" is a totally played line in diabetic bars, and is what all the diabetic soccer Moms are busy comparing notes over.

Mom #1: " My son just scored three goals in one game!!"
Mom #2: "Yeah, it's too bad about his A1C though- MY JOHNNY has an A1C of 6.2!!"

This is the subculture of diabetes that I am getting to know, and for some people, asking about their A1C is verboten, and considered a very private matter.
Anyway, Logan's is 7.7, and Dr. Sanda says that it is just perfect, it is still coming down, and we have his whole life to get it closer to 6, but while we are learning about diabetes, it's better to be a little higher, so you run less risk of low blood sugar problems (passing out, etc). I think it's so cute how my kids call him Dr. Santa.. he is the farthest thing from a roly poly white man.. he is Indian, very slim, young, and very intelligent. He is also very warm and supportive of parents.. I feel so lucky he is our "Endo" as they say in the world of D.

Now to the waiting part: Graybug has been complaining of lots of tummy aches, and we had to get a blood draw from him to rule out a yukky disease called Celiac Disease, which basically means he is highly allergic to gluten. We will find out in a week or so- and if it's positive, we move forward with that, if it's negative, I will take him in for allergy testing, to see if his stomach aches are caused by food. It could be anxiety, too- I just had to rule out the worst possibility first, since siblings of kids with Type 1 are at high risk for this disease, as it is another autoimmune disorder. The good news is, I was able to contact Trial Net, and have a researcher meet us there with tubes to fill, so we can find out how many (if any) markers Gray has for Type 1 Diabetes.

So yes, I took an anxiety pill. I was fine after that. It did take me, my mom, and two nurses to hold Gray down for the blood draw, so it was fairly traumatic (for me) but he got a beanie baby from a nurse, and promptly announced "That didn't hurt!" at which point I couldn't decide whether to faint from relief or kill him for his dramatics. I decided to kill him later. Muah ha ha :) I was relieved just to have it OVER WITH.

We won't get results from that one for about 8 weeks, so you can bet I will be posting as soon as it comes in.

SPORTS:
We went to a "Diabetes Community Event" at Pump Planet, where all the kids got to jump on huge bouncy things, we all were served lunch and snacks and there were all kinds of information tables set up with diabtes specific info, and trade slingers passing out new finger pokers, new kinds of pumps that come in colors, etc. I chatted with the Omnipod rep and found out some great new news:
In 1 year, the pod will be 40% smaller! Wahooooo!
In 2 years, the PDM will be able to read signals from a seperate Continuous Glucose Monitor.
In 3 years, the pod itself will have a CGM right in it.. so no need for two "sites" on the body!!

I love LOVE LOVE Omnipod! I can see now how things will just keep getting better for Logan, and I am so happy and grateful. Logan slept in our bed the other night, and I kept waking up and seeing him smiling in his sleep- just to be sleeping between Mom and Dad, while Gray had a special night with Honey and Papa. I don't have to have my heart break for him each day now, I get to see hope in his future.

FASHION: Okay, there is no real fashion, other than the pirate wrist band that I use as an arm band around the pod to keep it protected on his arm. Maybe I should design some cute arm bands for kids using pods?

That's all the news that is fit to print as we go to press- I will be checking back in as test results come in, and updating you on the absolute cuteness of the boys!