Problem Solved...

As we prepare for the One Drop Caicos Adventure in June 2017, we are doing a ton of training. These training diaries are stories from the field and things I have learned from my time in training.

After doing a good deal of research, I finally came up with a design for the Swim Sleds we will use on our swim on day 3 of the One Drop Caicos expedition. We will be hiking around 15 miles that day with short swims between islands interspersed throughout the day. Which means we will have to bring our backpacks into the water with us.

TESTING THE DESIGN

We have amazing dry backpacks made by Blood Red Clothing to keep all of our diabetes supplies and food dry. But we still needed a way to drag them across the water without creating too much drag.

What I came up with was a sled made of PVC pipe and covered with pool noodles. We will tow them behind us using a waist strap connected to a surf leash. This will allow them to travel behind us far enough so we don’t end up kicking them as we swim.

They each cost around $5 to make and are super light to carry, which is a huge consideration when we will have to carry them the 15 miles we have to hike.

I whipped up a prototype, tested its floating capacity in our pool, and this past weekend I got to try them out for real in the open water.

You know you are an endurance athlete when your kids ask you what you want to do for Mother’s day and your immediate response is to do a long open water swim.

After a lovely breakfast, we loaded up the family and headed down to Mission Bay where the kids could

hang out in the sun, and my husband, Tony, and I could get in some open water swimming.

And with all the great white shark sightings nearby, I was happy to be in the bay.

A quick test showed that breakfast had popped my sugars up to about 210 before the swim. I didn’t correct for that knowing that the swim would most likely bring it down. I took off my pump and left it on land. With only a half hour swim, and Levemir as a background basal insulin, I didn’t need to give myself a bolus to cover the insulin my pump would have given me.

With the tiki music playing from the hotel on the beach, I took off with a backpack floating on a sled behind me. I must have looked like a total weirdo, but the water was so clear that I quickly forgot anyone else was even around.

After a few quick adjustments, the sled performed wonderfully. I couldn’t even feel it behind me.

And after staring at a little black line on the bottom of a pool for so long, getting into the open water made the yards fly by. Before I knew it, the mile was over and I was done.

By the time I got out of the water, my sugars had dropped to a stable 160. Finally, a diabetes success during a long training day.

BUILDING THE DESIGN

Now that I had tested the prototype, it was time to build two more for Erika and Kati. After a quick nap in the sun, I set up my tools to build in the front yard.

Moments later, I felt a low coming on, so I had to stop my build to test.

65.

That swim earlier was starting to show up in my blood sugars.

I downed a Gu Energy Gel and was off to build again.

I cut all of the pieces of PVC and assembled them, only to realize that I had forgotten to put the pieces of pool noodles onto each section of PVC before I connected it to the next. A quick adaptation of the design fixed that problem.

When they were finished, I threw mine along with its waist strap and surf leash into my suitcase, only to realize that it was too big for my suitcase. The sled won’t do much good if I can’t get it to the islands to use.

But PVC is forgiving. I will have to cut it down a little to fit the suitcase after another trip to Lowe’s.

ON TO THE NEXT PROBLEM...

With the swim sled problem solved, I now am left with only one more logistical problem to solve; How to come up with 12 gallons of water for our two-day paddle on an island that has no taxis and the nearest grocery mart is a two-mile hike away. With 50 lbs of gear including a twelve-foot paddle board, that is a long two miles...

Looks like I will have to keep on thinking...

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You Will Never Be Alone Again...

This is Part Three of a four-part review of the most amazing One Drop diabetes phone app and will focus on One Drop Premium Experts. Part One focused on Blood Sugar data analysis. Part Two focused on food recording.

The One Drop App is free to use and absolutely amazing on it’s own. But it really starts to shine when you join as a Premium member. With Premium you get a beautiful meter and unlimited test strips which will be in part four of the review. You also get access to two methods of education.

ON TRACK

The first is a 12-part series of lessons called On Track. These cover the basics of diabetes and are perfect for someone who is just starting out or who simply needs to be reminded of some of the simple parts of diabetes care.

They get delivered as messages within the app every few days. And the new message shows up right on my home page. They cover topics like setting goals, testing frequently, and being active. Each one comes with a challenge like logging all of your meals or logging physical activity.

It was nice to open up the app to check in and have a new lesson waiting for me. But even better than that, were the messages from my Expert right on my home page in the app. Experts are all Certified Diabetes Educators who are available to chat.

One of my hesitations in starting the lessons was having to talk to a real live person. I am a shy girl and having to carry on conversations with strangers can be intimidating.

But there was never any pressure. I would get a question from my Expert, Rachel, after I had time to read my lesson. I could answer whenever I found time. And she would follow up with another pertinent question about 12 hours later.

I didn’t feel pressured to answer questions. It was just like having a concerned friend in the app who actually cared about me and my diabetes story.

I really wish I had this when I was first diagnosed and didn’t know a single other person with diabetes. The knowledge that there is someone else out there with diabetes is amazing. And to have a person who checks in with me about my diabetes story could be life changing for so many who are still isolated.

ON CALL

The other method of education is the 24/7 access to a diabetes expert. You can contact your Expert at any time through the app. So if you’re confused about some recent highs you’ve been having in the afternoons, you send out a quick text to your Expert and within the next 12 hours you will get a message back.

And the best part is the Expert can access all your logged data so she can quickly analyze it and give you some tips or tricks to try out. You won’t have to explain all the details of the problem because they are hopefully already logged into the app.

NEVER ALONE

Although you should be checking in with your doctor every three months, it can be hard to wait for that time to get advice when you’re having a problem now. With the Premium Subscription you can get that advice and you don’t have to feel like you are wasting your doctors time with smaller fine tuning of your diabetes care.

Just Another Diabetes Fail

As we prepare for the One Drop Caicos Adventure in June 2017, we are doing a ton of training. These training diaries are stories from the field and things I have learned from my time in training.

With only eight weeks left until we take off for the One Drop Caicos Adventure, my weekend training sessions are starting to max out. Sunday’s paddle was three and a half hours and, at that length, things start to change with my diabetes.

The morning started off great. My overnight blood sugars were hovering right around 100 all night. I woke up and had a bagel and two veggie sausages.

I halved my bolus for the meal thinking that I didn’t want too much Humalog firing off while I was paddling, but I forgot to take into account that it was early morning and I am more insulin resistant in the mornings.

Most of my long paddles have been in the afternoon, which requires a different plan. But the wind was supposed to be unruly that afternoon and I wanted to get some time on the water before everyone showed up.

By the time I got to the lagoon I was already 211. I didn’t correct for it for the same reason as before, which was pretty dumb.

I had planned on bringing my pump with me in a waterproof bag in case I needed to correct over the three plus hours, but forgot in the midst of collecting all of my other gear. I left it neatly wrapped up on the car seat.

The lagoon was just as I had expected, calm and nearly vacant. Only a few hard-core paddlers out that early.

My nutrition plan while on the water is to stop every hour for a Gu Stroop Waffle. They have 23 carbs and a few grams of fat and protein. On land I would bolus a unit for one, but while paddling I usually don’t have to.

Two hours into my paddle and I was still hovering around 220 which isn’t too bad. But, after two hours, things start to get a little wacky.

On a normal cardio workout my blood sugars will trend downwards. So I do the usual things to keep them up; cut my basal, reduce my bolus for carbs and drink plenty of Gu Roctane.

But if I am pushing hard for over two hours, they often will start to rise. So after two hours of hard paddling they began to climb. And my insulin was in the car.

I wasn’t about to cut my workout short. I had to get in my hours. And it was the first day where the weather was perfect summer weather.

I woke to a bright and clear sky beckoning me to get on the water. By the time I dipped my feet in the salt water, it was in the mid-seventies. Perfect practice for the type of weather we will have in the islands.

The wind was calm, which I never get to experience. I typically paddle on weekend afternoons, after my husband has finished his multiple-hour triathlon training in the morning. By that time of day the winds have picked up to ten to twelve knots and make it a struggle to even keep moving forward.

The lagoon that morning was perfect and I was determined to enjoy every minute of this paddle. I planned to finish up and then correct once I got back to the car.

After completing four loops of the lagoon, I picked up my board, limped back to my van, and strapped the board onto the roof rack. I checked my blood sugars and was so disappointed. 402.

Not exactly the payoff I was looking for after killing myself with exercise for over three hours. And feeling that high on top of feeling completely obliterated from paddling is not my idea of fun.

I grabbed my T:slim to get some insulin into my system to fight off that ugly high, and got a message, “All Deliveries Stopped.” My pump had overheated.

Just like if you leave your phone in the sun and it gets to temperatures where it won’t function, the T:slim will notify you if it is too hot. The good thing about that is if your pump is too hot to function properly, you also know the insulin is too hot.

With my old pump, I would have had no indication that things had gotten too hot. I would have tried to correct with the bad insulin and seen no results. Then I probably would have changed my site, corrected and waited. Then, finally, four or more hours later, I would have changed the reservoir.

Now, I knew right away my insulin was shot. I headed home to refill and then correct. Just one more reason I am stoked to be using the T:slim now.

After a quick cartridge change on the pump, I was off to my favorite post training food spot, Veggie Grill, with Tony. All the plant-based food you could hope for, and it actually tastes good. And to top it all off, it has a patio in the sunshine.

I fought off the desire to lay down on the table’s bench and sleep long enough to stuff down a chicken sandwich and fries. And then I was off to take a nap in the sun in my backyard while the insulin did it’s thing.

The ride back down to normal blood sugars after a super hard workout takes a few hours. The cortisol released when I pushed so hard takes a while to clear out of my system, and while it is still in there, I am insulin resistant.

By the time I woke up I was back in the normal range and ready to eat again. And ready to learn a few things from my mistakes.

I need to remember that morning workouts need more insulin. I need to get a Humalog pen to take with me on long paddles. And I need to keep my pump in a cooler on warmer days.

I’ll make sure to store those tidbits in the back of my mind so that next time will be better. Because every out of range number is not a judgment of your ability to do diabetes. It is just a result of one more scientific experiment that can better refine out tactics to defeat an ever changing enemy.