Being unpredictable is the only thing that is predictable.

Thanks for the comments... There seems to be 2 categories of people reading this blog: caregivers like myself who manage their children's Diabetes and friends who want to learn more about the disease. I will try my best to discuss topics that will benefit both. The initial idea behind the blog was to share and explain what we go through on a daily basis to keep Adele alive and able to have as normal a life as possible. It was not to get anyone's pity. I am not a big fan of pity. But if it does comfort you and make you feel less isolated because you're going through the same thing, then I'm very happy to help. If you haven't been chosen to become a Type 1 gamer and it gives you an appreciation of what it really means to be a player in a not so fun game, then I'm very happy for that as well...

Last weekend at our family Easter gathering, Adele ate one bite of Turkey, one bite of a carrot, 2 big scoops of mashed potatoes and some candy (mostly chocolate) for dessert. This doesn't really seem like the best lunch for a diabetic right? The funny thing is that her sugars were perfect all afternoon following the feast. Her sugar was floating in the 7's (7.3 then 7.2 then 7.6) for about 4 hours after the meal with no afternoon snack. Now, a few days later she has a few rice cakes, a banana and some organic (no sugar added) healthy cereal with skim milk and her sugar shoots up to 19.5! So what's my point? Put her on an all-chocolate diet? I don't think so (although Adele would be all for that :-)). My point is that playing the Type 1 game is very, very unpredictable. I was actually reading that a few years back researchers had experimented with Type 1 patients living a very structured life for a week. They went to bed and woke up at the same time each day, they exercised (same workout) and ate the same foods at the same time each day and gave the same doses of insulin. Even given this unrealistic structure, their blood sugar still fluctuated. One day it would be good at a particular time, the next it would be either too high or too low. Why? Because the body is a very, very complex system. Stress, emotions, hormones, genetics... are some of the complex variables that cannot be controlled (or explained by even the best doctors) and obviously have a huge effect on blood sugar control.

The last 2 nights have required 2 blood glucose checks instead of the usual 1. We're somewhat used to getting up once but the 2nd time is tough! It would seem that we've somewhat adapted to chronic sleep deprivation. I'm not really sure what the long term effects of this is... Highlights of the last 2 nights are:

Wednesday, April 15th
10:00 pm = 7.9
10:50 pm = 9.1 (sugar was climbing a bit so I gave 0.1 units of insulin and went to bed)

Thursday, April 16th
12:30 am = 16.4 (too high, gave 0.5 units of insulin)
2:40 am = 19.5 (still way too high, gave 0.8 units of insulin)
6:50 am = 11.2 (still high, corrected and gave a head start on breakfast bolus before eating)
8:45 am = 9.9
9:45 am = 10.2 (before am snack)
10:45 am = 9.8
11:50 am = 7.9 (before lunch)
1:30 pm = 12.2 (climbing a bit but her lunch insulin bolus hasn't peaked yet, so did nothing)
2:40 pm = 14.4 (too high and lunch bolus has already peaked, gave 0.25 units before taking the bus)
3:15 pm = 7.9 (before her afternoon snack)
4:15 pm = 7.3 (playing outside at daycare, gave her 2 crackers to avoid subsequent low)
5:10 pm = 6.3 (before supper)
7:05 pm = 7.0 (before bedtime snack)
8:30 pm = 6.6 (before going to bed, going down, turned pump off for 1 hour)
9:50 pm = 6.9
10:45 pm = 7.2 (pretty stable, snack bolus is gone, so I went to bed - she should be good right?)

Friday, April 17th
1:20 am = 16.7 (way too high, why did she suddenly go up like this? - gave 0.7 units to bring sugar down)
3:15 am = 15.4 (still too high, gave another 0.6 units of insulin)
7:00 am = 6.2

Not sure why her sugar has suddenly began shooting up like that after 11 pm. Must be those complex uncontrollable variables. It's quite the game that we play...