Sunday, March 26, 2006

Basketball and pizza

Things are going better with the pump, much better. We still don't have the basals quite right, but I think we're almost there. His carb. coverage for the morning is still a little off, but he's not spiking up as high as he once was. I've gotten more comfortable decreasing basals myself for activity. I am writing down absolutely everything, so I can start to pick up on patterns. Best of all, his sets are lasting 3 days like they are supposed to.

Riley is happy. He got to eat pizza last night. Call me a bad mother, but pizza had been eliminated from our diet for the last 6 months. I had read what everyone else had written about eating pizza and I was just avoiding it. Last night after Holden's game, we went out to eat pizza. Riley was so excited. And, I must say, it really didn't do a number on his sugars like I thought it would. He may have been slightly higher than usually, but not really. Plus, it's hard to say if it was the pizza or just life. We all know that sugars vary greatly from day to day anyway. We didn't do an extended bolus. I decided I wanted to see what it did to his sugar so I would know how to extend his bolus in the future. Turns out, for now, I don't think he needs an extended bolus.

I got a call on Friday from my supervisor. I have been approved to start working 4 days a week. I will start the week after Easter. I'm glad that it was approved because we need the money, but I'm still sad that I'll be home less.

Yesterday was a long day. As a home health nurse, I am on-call sometimes. This weekend was one of those times. When my supervisor called on Friday to tell me the news about my job, she also let me know of a patient just getting out of the hospital that I would have to see and admit on Saturday. Holden's first game on Saturday was at 9:30 AM. He had to be there at 8:30 AM. So, we take Riley out of bed and put him right in the car seat with his pajamas on. He ate breakfast in the car. Then, we watched Holden's game. His game was 45 minutes away from our house. 1 hour away from the patient I had to see. After the game, I went to see my patient. As soon as I was done with the patient, I drove another hour so I could see Holden's second game. I'm not a fan of driving. But, I did a lot of it yesterday. We stopped at the pizza place on the way home. A soon as the pizza arrived, my beeper went off. I had a another patient that needed me. I ate quickly and then went to see the patient. Just made it such a long day. But, Riley's sugars cooperated. While I was seeing the patient, my husband called so I could count carbs over the phone for him. Just no getting away from this disease. Even while I'm working.

Holden's team lost their game on Friday. He won one and lost one yesterday. I think he's having fun. It is just a whole other level of play for him. It's much more fast paced than what he's used to. But, I'm impressed with how he's hanging in with those guys. He actually started in the last two games. I think he's learning a lot. And, he's meeting a lot of new people. He didn't know a single person on his team when he started. I'm not sure that's something I would have done when I was his age.

Just an update to let you know how things are going. BTW, I said I wasn't watching anymore college hoops, but right now George Mason and UCONN are in overtime. I so want George Mason to win. They are ranked 11 and UCONN is #1. I have probably just jinxed them though. It seems as if whoever I pull for loses.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hurray for Riley eating Pizza! I'm all for letting them have a normal life in any way we can! And a bit thumbs up for George Mason taking down UCONN.

Penny Ratzlaff said...

Yes, I didn't jinx them after all! Now, I want them to go all the way. It would be awesome to have a #11 team win it all.

Shannon said...

Penny,

I wrote about dosing Brendon for pizza and the technique I used worked (but it was the first time I did it).

I dosed him for 50% of the pizza carbs plus his milk at the beginning of his meal. Then, when he was finished, I subtracted what he didn't eat and dosed him for the rest of the pizza he ate. I did an 8 hour extended bolus. After 5 hours, instead of peaking at somewhere around the mid 300's as he usually does with a shorter extended bolus, he peaked at 218.

You might want to try that the next time he has pizza.

I have a link to the article where I got that technique from on the post I have on my blog :)

prayergal said...

Penny,
I am so glad it all worked out so you can continue in your present job. I am also sorry that you have a day less each week with Riley. Glad you all enjoyed the pizza feast.
Love you,
Aunt Linda