Have any questions about Dexcom for Nick Jonas?

Short and simple post today...

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Tomorrow myself and a few other diabetes bloggers are getting to listen in on a conference call with Nick Jonas about his Dexcom use. I'm submitting my questions for Nick later in the day and thought I'd see if you have any that you'd like me to include.

Also, I'm doing my best to get the audio from the call so that you can hear it and I've inquired about putting the call live on Periscope (though that's not looking good)... Good stuff! Post your questions for Nick in the comment section below.

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Diabetes Blog Week Day 1: I Can...

I can...

Diabetes Blog Week begins on Monday, May 11 and runs until May 17. The day one writing prompt is, "I can...".

I realized last week while talking to the creator of Diabetes Blog Week, Karen Graffeo for the Juicebox Podcast that I can help people in the diabetes community that want to share their thoughts during blog week... but don't have a blog.

With that in mind - If you are a person who lives with diabetes, or you love someone that does and you don't have a blog... I'm excited to offer Arden's Day as a way for your words to find their way into the community. 

If you are interested in publishing your diabetes blog week writing on Arden's Day contact me by email and we'll make arrangements for your post to be featured during blog week.

I can help the diabetes community to grow...

My conversation with Karen Graffeo is available now on the podcast. You can listen to the Juicebox Podcast here, on iTunes or with your favorite podcast app. Karen's episode started out as a conversation about Diabetes Blog Week but quickly grew into a discussion about what it was like to be a child with type 1 diabetes over thirty years ago. I think you'll love hearing Karen talk about growing up with type 1 diabetes, how she imagined blog week and much more.

Share your life with diabetes today. Your transparency will help others in ways that you can not imagine. You can find out more about blog week and add your name to the participant list here.

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Dealing with a Severe Adhesive Allergy

That’s Not Just Contact Dermatitis

This is a guest post from a D-mom named Rachel Morgan who was a recent guest on my podcast. At one point we spoke about her son Henry's severe adhesive allergy and I asked her if she would be interested in contributing a blog post on the subject. I think you'll agree that Henry's situation was dire and that his mother's insistence on finding an answer that would allow him to continue to use his diabetes technology, is nothing short of impressive.

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Henry's back. Click to enlarge 

Living with diabetes means you get gut punched several times a week, whether it’s a bad low, an out of control birthday party complete with grocery store cup cakes,  chips, soda, and pizza, or simply watching your sleeping child hold out his finger for a 2 am BG check. Our three year old son, Henry, was diagnosed in March of 2014 and by late May he was on an Animas pump and Dexcom. With these tools in place, we felt some of the control diabetes had devoured starting to return. We could see what a long car ride did to Henry’s blood sugar, so we increased his basal by 30% and had perfect numbers on a 15 hour car ride. Double arrows down caught a scary low of 48 on a hot August day at the zoo. Then all the sudden, we were double and triple gut punched in October of 2014 when this happened. 

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Within 48 hours the reaction became systemic. Click to enlarge

Henry developed a tape and adhesive allergy and within 48 hours the reaction became systemic. 

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Type 1 is an autoimmune disease, and Henry also developed a severe tape and adhesive allergy. His primary care physician and Endo were worried about anaphylactic shock; he was given oral steroids (hello, high blood sugars!) and a horse load of Benadryl, and we were told to stop using devices with adhesive and go back to multiple daily injections (MDI). We took the Dexcom off but we wanted Henry to stay on the pump for the benefit of his long term health. I became that mom. I scoured the internet and made an insanely detailed power point, which I sent to every medical professional who would listen. I researched colostomy care because I felt we were really dealing with skin breakdowns and wound care. 

I found a CDE through Children with Diabetes who lectures on tape and adhesive allergies, and she called me back that night, and a few days later some of her personal T1D supplies showed up in our mailbox, and with a few more phone calls, research, and a little trial and error, here’s what we do to prepare a pump site. 

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• Wash area with warm water and antibacterial soap— Do not use alcohol
• Completely dry the area
• Apply one puff of Flonase (sweet-talking or demanding this prescription from Endo or PCP is necessary)
• Apply thin layer of Cavilon barrier cream (Amazon)
• Apply a  6cm X 7cm  layer or Tegaderm HP 9534HP (NOT Tegaderm!!) Check with your pump supplier— some insurances cover this and it’s shipped with pump supplies. You can also purchase Tegaderm HP from Amazon.
• Place inset through Tegaderm HP
• We place another layer of Tegaderm on top to secure the pump site and provide an extra layer or barrier for the adhesive of the detach inset
• When wet, blow dry site with hair-dyer on a cool setting
• Apply prescription Hydrocortisone after removing the Tegaderm HP and old site
• Remove any extra adhesive from the old site at bath time with calendula oil

A rashless, T1D strong Henry today!

The wounds eventually healed after six months. I’ve heard some people describe these wounds as burns, and the skin damage is extensive. Henry’s skin is finally healed, and we’re about to try Dexcom again, using the above preparation method, but with a hydrocolloid barrier, like Johnson & Johnson Tough Pads, sandwiched between the layers of Tegaderm HP. I’ve read about people successfully using Duoderm and blue tape, a kind of baby tape used in NICU’s, as a barrier and adhesive method, but we have yet to try these products.

Being a T1D parent is really difficult, so I’ve learned to find joy in the small victories, like staying on a pump. We’re taking it one number at a time and moving forward. 

You can listen to my conversation with Rachel right here in this post, on iTunes, Stitcher, at JuiceboxPodcast.com or with your favorite podcast app.

The insulin bottles pictured in the header of this blog post are from the first eight months of Henry's life with type 1. Rachel knitted a heart for each... If you have questions about the process Rachel described in this post, you can contact her here.

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Sometimes Your Blog Makes Me Feel Like a Failure

A long time ago on a blog far far away lived the father of a little girl who has type 1 diabetes... 

Many years ago during a conversation with a fellow diabetes parent named Michelle I learned something about my blog that I was painfully unaware of... "Sometimes", Michelle told me, "Sometimes your blog makes me feel like a failure". This was of course, not my goal.

I was crushed because it wasn't Michelle who failed, it was me

Michelle and Mason

Michelle went on to share with me that while she enjoyed Arden's Day and found it to be refreshing and honest, it felt like my writing focused more on what went right with diabetes and in fact that the lack of relatable 'diabetes fail' conversations left her feeling as if everyone was 'succeeding' but her and that she was failing her son Mason.

I took her words to heart

I spent the next few days rereading my own blog and I could see what Michelle was talking about. I wasn't purposely just talking about the 'good stuff' but my attempt to be positive for the community was definitely coming off slanted in that direction. So I changed how I share online with Michelle's brave words as my guide. The adjustment was difficult in many ways but also incredibly rewarding. Anyway, that was a long time ago and today I pride myself on how honest and completely transparent this blog is - Not only is Arden's Day now a complete reflection of my life with type 1 diabetes but I've seen the power of sharing the good and the bad and how it has helped to buoy other families in their times of trouble. 

I owe all of that, to Michelle Golladay and she is this weeks guest on the Juicebox podcast.

As you listen to Michelle and I talk about parenting and diabetes she'll spend a few moments telling me about a Parent Advisor Program that she has helped to set up at the Akron Children's Hospital - bringing the DOC IRL! I've included links here and in the show notes of the podcast, local Ohio residents and those interested in learning more should check them out.

You can listen to our conversation right here with the embedded player, on iTunes, Stitcher or your favorite podcast application. 

About Akron Children's Parent Advisor Program

Michelle's Parent Mentor Page

Mentor Program Main Page

Contact Michelle 

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Giveaway: Leaf and Love Lemonade

Enter for your chance to win 1 of 5 lemonade prizes from Leaf & Love Organic Lemonade!

My guest on episode 6 of the Juicebox Podcast (out today) is fellow D-Mom and entrepreneur, Sara Williams-Curran. I spoke to Sara about her daughter's type 1 diabetes diagnosis, how her desire to have her daughter drink a juice box without needing insulin led to starting a company and much, much more.

After we recorded the show I asked Sara if she would like to give away some of her lemonade on Arden's Day and she very kindly agreed!

There are multiple ways to enter this giveaway and some methods even allow entries once a day. The more times you enter, the more chances you'll have to win!

Prizes include:

(1) Case of 32 Leaf and Love Organic Lemonade Juice boxes
(4) 8 packs of Leaf and Love Organic Lemonade Juice Boxes
(1) Autographed copy of my book, Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Listeners of episode 6 of the Juicebox Podcast will be given a coupon code that will take $4.00 off a Leaf and Love 32 pack purchase on Amazon.com. Code Valid until April 5, 2015. Listen now

Rules: US residents only. Five winners will be picked at random. First name drawn will win a case of 32 Leaf and Love Lemonade jukeboxes and the next four names chosen will win an 8 pack. And the last name drawn wins a copy of Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal. 6 total winner. Winners will provide a mailing address that will be given by me to the owners of Leaf and Love for shipping (book winners info stays with me). Arden's Day and Leaf and Love will not retain your personal information. Winners have 3 days from notification to provide shipping information or a new winner will be drawn. Prizes do not have cash value, no purchase necessary. 

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