Diabetes Day Camp 2008

Sydney has anxiously been awaiting yesterday to come because she was able to go to the Diabetes Day Camp. This is an annual event in our community for kids with Type 1 diabetes. Sydney was the youngest diabetic there and it seems some of the older kids and volunteers took her under their wings. I dropped Syd off at 10 a.m. and then we left. Throughout the day they played, went on a little hike, learned about healthy snacks for diabetics, and met new friends. At 4 p.m. all the families came back and joined the kids. We had a little presentation about what the doctor expects at the visits. We talked about different tests such as cholesterol, kidney disease, heart disease, ect that kids with diabetes need to routinely have done. At 5 p.m there was a delicious catered dinner. Each kid got a handout with exactly how many carbs were in each of the items. That was so nice! Usually at dinners like these we end up having to make an educated guess on the carbs and also how much insulin she needs. After dinner we all got to go fishing in the little pond. We caught 3 trout and so guess what is for dinner tonight?

All in all it was a wonderful event. Sydney had such a great time. When we showed up at 4 she actually told us to go back to the car cause she didn't want to leave yet. Sydney also told us that she likes being with kids who have to check their blood sugars like she does. Then she added "But I was the only one who still gets shots. Everyone else has a pump." I told her in time she will get a pump too. Another cool thing about these events are the vendors who give away free things. Sydney got 2 new glucometers yesterday. The first one is really really cool. If you are interested you can Google it. It is called Accu-Chek Compact Plus. It is an all in one monitoring kit. Instead of having a separate vial of test strips, the strips actually come in a little roll (like a receipt roll that you put into a cash register). The roll fits in the back of the monitor and when you turn it on, it spits a little strip out. The lancet is also attached so it is all inclusive! Very cool.

The second glucometer is a MediSense Precision Xtra. It does 2 things. First, it works like a regular glucometer to test blood sugar levels. Second, it checks for ketones just like blood glucose test. You would insert a test strip esp for ketones and prick the finger and put a small sample of blood on it! Ketones are something diabetics have to check every so often, especially when they are sick. When ketones rise (like when you are sick) it can lead to a fatal condition called ketoacidosis. It is very important to know where you are with your ketones. You check ketones when you are sick or if you are having a several days of high blood sugar levels. The normal test (the way we do it for Syd) is urinating in a little cup and dipping a ketone strip in the cup and then seeing what color it changes. The darker purple the color, the higher the ketones. So you can imagine how much simpler this device will make our lives now that we can do it with a little blood test!! Yay for free stuff!!

We also got some other really cool things and we got some information on pumps. I know we are still several months (I would assume) away from a pump but it was fun to learn about them. There is this one medtronic pump called the Paradigm Real-Time pump. This is nifty! (Google it and see!) It comes with a little attachment that attaches under the skin (like a tiny IV) and it moniters blood sugar levels EVERY 5 MINUTES and records the numbers on your pump! Here is a pic of what it looks like. The "Glucose Sensor" is the part that sits inside the skin. This is separate from the pump. The pump has a similar port that attaches under the skin. It looks similar to this but is smaller. So if we got this pump she would have 2 ports in her skin.

The other cool this is it will sound off an alarm if the sugars drop below a certain point, say 85 or get higher than a certain point like 250. This is just the neatest thing! It would take a lot of worrying away in the middle of the night. Syd woke up 2 nights ago about 11 pm and said that she felt low...well she was. Her sugar was 48. What if she hadn't of woke up? So this seems like a great addition to the pump!

Well enough of reveling in my excitement about all my free goodies (as I'm sure you all were :). Here are some pics for you.

~This was Sydney as we were getting ready to go home. She got the shirt for free. On the back it says "got Diabetes?" It is cute.

-They took all the kids pictures and put them on a poster that the other kids signed. Syd took some cute photos. I scanned one in below.

~Loren and one of the 3 fish we caught. This fish was actually snagged. I threw my line in the right spot and it snagged it on the back. I reeled it in and that was that. Weird huh?

~One of Syd's pics from her poster. She is just a cutie...always loving to pose for the camera.

Here is a link to the news clip about the event. I wasn't sure how to import the video to my blog so you will have to follow the link if you want to see.

http://www.kpvi.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=2779896&h1=Portneuf%20Diabetes%20Camp%20For%20Kids&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=98067&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=57942328