Naked Pancreas

Reyna over at Beta Buddies had a great post that revealed - oh my! - her son Joe's rates and settings and such. Such daring Reyna!!! I LOVE IT, so how could I not join in? I have enjoyed reading all of your posts out there about your kiddos settings and the like. So, without further ado, here is Grace's Naked Pancreas...


***Disclaimer: I'm not a doctor. I don't play one on TV. I don't even play one at home. I'm a mom trying to be a pancreas. Your child is different than mine. This is not medical advice folks. 


1. What kind of insulin management mode do you use?
Grace uses the OmniPod insulin pump. 24/7/365.


2. How often do you inject/change pump sites?
Every 3 days, like clockwork. With Unisolve.


3. What type of insulin do you use?
Novolog


4. What are your basal settings?
Ok folks, I like basal rates and I use a lot of them. I tweak. And then I tweak some more. Then I get a good run of great, fabulous basal rates and I hold steady for a good long time. Then comes time for tweaking some more. I have both weekday and weekend rates and I switch them on Friday and Sunday nights. Then she can sleep in for an hour or so more on Saturdays and Sundays. Yes, I am that tight on her basal rates. 


I should let you all know, Grace uses A LOT of insulin. So, don't be freaked by her basal rates. The girl uses a lot, as in an average of 26 to 28 units a day. I guess this means she has the 'betes real bad, huh? I thought you would get a kick out of that statement :0)


Weekday basal rates:
12a - 1a    .50
1a - 3a     .55
3a - 7a     .45
7a - 2p     .50
2p-9p      .45
9p - 12a   .50


Weekend basal rates:
12a - 1a    .50
1a - 3a     .55
3a - 8a     .40
8a - 2p    .50
2p - 9p    .45
9p - 12a  .50


5. What are your correction factors?


12a - 8a   1:90
8a - 8p    1:70
8p - 12a   1:90




6. What are your meal ratios?


These I correct after I get a wonderful basal rate that's proven through basal testing. So, my rule is that the basal rate should pass the 'Yom Kippur' test - in other words, can you not eat and maintain a stable blood sugar? If Grace's basal rates pass that test, then I tweak the carb ratios when I get crazy numbers and I already know her basal rates are good.


12a - 6:30a   1:25
6:30a - 11a  1:14
11a - 12a     1:21


7. What do you do for activity or PE?
Swimming I do a -30% temp basal rate for the duration of swimming, then also cut -30% for 4-6 hours after swimming, as she tends to tank after she is done.
PE class - I cut her basal by -40 % for one hour




8. How do you manage pizza, macaroni and cheese, or any other 'difficult to manage' foods?
OK gals, I learned from trial and error and also from the uber-fabulous Gary Scheiner, who is our CDE. The man ROCKS on things like this - he knows when to temp basal and when to extend a bolus. He knows for how long. He knows why. He tells me why and how and how to fix it. And frankly, when I follow what he does with Grace, she has stellar numbers. The man is good. And here is what I do...


Pizza - Bolus about 35 a slice (depends on size) and then +50% temp basal for 3-4 hours
McD's (Yes, we go. She gets a Happy Meal cheeseburger and fries and milk. Yes, I know. Get over it.)
Bolus 70 for the meal and then +50% temp basal for 4 hours
Popcorn - Bolus for 15g of carbs for 3 cups, then +40% for 3 hours
Mac and cheese - Alas, the girl does not eat it 
Pasta - Bolus for amount of carbs, them I give 30% of that bolus now and extend 70% over 2 hours
Over 70g of carbs at once - I give 50% bolus amount now, then I extend 50% over 4 hours
Slow digestable foods  (low GI foods like berries, peanuts, beans) - 30% now and then 70% extend 2-3 hours


Ok, does that exhaust you or what? And yes, I have a cheat 'index card' in her OmniPod case that details all this so I can easily look it up. There are more foods that I do a temp basal or extended bolus amount for, but I thought that was enough to put in the blog post. Can you tell I like temp basal and extended boluses? They allow her to eat anything and I truly mean it, everything. 


9. How do you prefer to manage your logs/data?
Oh I wish Insulet would get their act together and make their PDM software compatible with Mac!!! We are a Mac family, we own no PC. The PDM is downloadable to a PC. It produces wonderful data spreadsheets. Gary does the downloading for me and prints them for me. I see him every 3 months. So, instead of downloading, I use log books. Little ole spiral notebooks that fit into my purse and I dutifully record everything we do regarding the D. Then I circle the highs and the lows that fall out of range. And I go back at the end of each week and re-examine what is happening. 


I then write down plain English sentences to myself in another 3 ring notebook that keeps all of her current rates in it. I write 'high at 10:30 am in school 3 times this week' or 'low before bedtime once this week' and I go back and try to find the answers. Then I might make changes. Or do a basal test. Or tweak a carb ratio.  Is it time-consuming? Yeah, I guess it is. Does it show that I am a data-hound? Sure does. I like data, I like what it tells me, I like that it tells me where to go and what to do. So, time-consuming, but worth every minute in the end.


And that's Grace's Naked Pancreas!