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Arden's Day Blog

Arden's Day is a type I diabetes care giver blog written by author Scott Benner. Scott has been a stay-at-home dad since 2000, he is the author of the award winning parenting memoir, 'Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal'. Arden's Day is an honest and transparent look at life with diabetes - since 2007.

type I diabetes, parent of type I child, diabetes Blog, OmniPod, DexCom, insulin pump, CGM, continuous glucose monitor, Arden, Arden's Day, Scott Benner, JDRF, diabetes, juvenile diabetes, daddy blog, blog, stay at home parent, DOC, twitter, Facebook, @ardensday, 504 plan, Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal, Dexcom SHARE, 生命是短暂的,洗衣是永恒的, Shēngmìng shì duǎnzàn de, xǐyī shì yǒnghéng de

Filtering by Category: School Blog

Holy @#%&*$% A1C

Scott Benner

Seven years in dog years is what, 49? Well in A1C years, it's 28. Arden has had twenty-eight A1c tests since she was diagnosed and most of them didn't go too well. As I've shared in the past, Arden's A1c began it's journey above nine and drifted lower over the years as I learned how to better manage diabetes. It wasn't until recently that we've made real strides in decreasing that elusive number.

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What have you always wanted to say to your child's teacher

Scott Benner

Is there something about type I diabetes that you always wanted to say to your child's teacher but just couldn't? A fact or maybe a personal story? Have you ever dreamt of telling the administrator (that looked at you cross when you asked for an addition to your child's 504 plan) that you haven't slept through the night in countless years? Have you even once considered telling someone to go $%#@ themselves but instead smiled and nodded?

Tomorrow I will be giving a workshop at the Hamilton, NJ Barnes & Noble to fifty teachers about 504 Plans from the families perspective. We'll be talking about why I think that forming good relationships is so vital for not just the child, but the family, the school and the educator.

If you have something that you'd like me to pass on into the world, something that you think would help an educator to better understand our lives - I'd love to carry your message to them. 

I genuinely believe that if the school could just get a glimpse into the world that we live in, they would become better partners in our children's education... and not just for children with type I diabetes.

There are so many families that would benefit from that understanding. Tomorrow I'm hoping to send a message that will reverberate beyond the few districts that will be represented. I want to leave them with a story that they will be touched and informed by, one that they will want to retell.

 

More information about the event is here on Barnes & Noble's website.

Readi Pak from Sanofi (GiveAway)

Scott Benner

 



Did you know that Sanofi recently launched a multi-purpose bag venture? I didn't either. The entire thing seemed a bit odd to me at first, so I reached out to them with a few questions. 

 

Was Readi Pak a company that Sanofi took over/rebranded?

Sanofi US designed Readi Pak after recognizing a need for a convenient and discreet way for people living with diabetes to carry around their diabetes supplies.


What made Sanofi get into this business? What is the goal?

Sanofi strives to help people manage the complex challenges of diabetes by going beyond the molecule to develop and deliver best-in-class innovative, integrated and personalized solutions that address real needs people have in managing their diabetes every day. We designed the Readi Pak after recognizing a need for a convenient and discreet way for people living with diabetes to carry around diabetes supplies. To make this a relevant solution, we wanted input on the design and usability of the bags from those newly diagnosed with diabetes and shared our early prototypes with a small local student group (many of whom have type 1) for their feedback and opinions. We are pleased to offer new products such as the Readi Pak in order to help people manage their diabetes every day.

 

Are there plans to expand with other products?

At this time, this is a pilot program and we do not have any plans to expand or other products under development.  However, our vision is to serve as a valued partner to the diabetes community by listening and engaging in a dialogue directly with people living with diabetes, and these conversations help us identify new opportunities to provide diabetes solutions that are truly relevant.

 

Now it makes sense to me why the company that makes Arden's insulin got involved in the D-accessory business. I've seen and used a Readi Pak and it's a solid product, appears very well made and was designed with diabetes in mind. It comes with a removable kit for your more often touched supplies and has plenty of room for all of the rest. It even has a reusable ice pack. 

Enough of all that, let's get to the fun part.

I have three Readi Paks, one Camouflage, one Blue and one Pink Swirl (that I used to evaluate the bag (it's clean/new don't worry) to give away. I don't have many giveaways so please don't expect an elaborate system to be put in place to choose the winners. What you can expect is this... I'll be putting names in a hat and then asking Arden to draw them out. I assume no liability and offer no warrantee for the bags. If that sounds good to you... read on.

Anyone living in the U.S. (and that's only because I'm paying shipping) that is interested in winning a Readi Pak should comment below "Please Enter Me". Be sure to leave your email address in the provided place so I can contact you for a mailing address if you win. The drawing will be, let's say, Saturday, December, 22, 2012. Entries arriving before 9 AM on that day will be included in the drawing. Please include your color choice in the comment and I'll do my best to get it to you. There is only one rule, please just one entry per physical mailing address. 

To learn more about the Readi Pak and to see the other colors, go to https://www.readionthego.com

I was not compensated by Sanofi/Readi Pak for this post. I'm even giving away the bag that was offered to Arden.

Emojis for texting DexCom data: A New School Plan Update

Scott Benner

We are three weeks into the 2012 school year and I am back to report some amazing news. I'm not even sure I believe this, but Arden has yet to visit the school nurse for anything diabetes related. Not once, nada, zero times!

189_DexCom_Arden'sDay.png

Our New Plan is working even better then I imagined due in large part to how smooth technology has made the transition. Apple's latest upgrade to the iPhone software included the addition of an emoji keyboard and we are making good use of it in our conversations about type I.

We try to keep our interactions as short as possible to minimize the time Arden is distracted from her school work. I estimate that our plan saves Arden from missing between forty-five minutes and an hour each day of class time, but there is always room for improvement. So when I noticed that our texting conversations were taking more time then I thought they should, I wondered why. Arden and I spoke and it turned out that she was struggling to spell some of the words that we use to discuss her DexCom CGM data. Words like, diagonal and horizontal. Other issues were less to do about spelling and more about word count. For example, "189 diagonal up" or "143 straight across". That's when I thought, "if there is an emoji of a heart, dress, shoe and dog pooh there must be arrows".

and there was...

So now we are speaking to each other with even more economy of time and our texting conversations have been trimmed in half, which makes more time for learning.

Emoji can be activated on Apple devices running iOS 6 like so. Settings>General>Keyboard>Keyboards>Add New Keyboard>Emoji. If you talk to your child about their DexCom data via text message this is more then worth your time to set up.

imessage read_Arden's Day.tiff

Another nice feature to check out is 'Send Read Receipts'. This one is great not just for diabetes, but for every parent/child texting conversation. Send Read Receipts allows you to see when the person on the other end of your conversation has read your message. It looks like this...

Text arrows for DexCom_Arden's Day.PNG

This setting is accessible by taking these steps. Settings>Messages>Send Read Receipts. Changing the setting to on "Allows others to be notified when you have read their messages". No more wondering if the person you are texting with has seen your message. Turning this feature on is a no-brainer for parents, but if you are trying to avoid someone... that's a whole other consideration.