self-care expectations?

[Mary Lou]

I posted this in the parent's forum, but thought maybe someone over here might not go there and have some insights they would be willing to share. Thank you!

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I am wondering if anyone has been through a similar situation and has any advice:

Brian is gymnast. I always stay at the gym when he trains (currently 4 hours/week). During the summer, the boys "train up" a level and then have the opportunity to stay in this level for the next season (fall). This new level (Level 5 for other gym moms ) requires that the boys train 8 hours/week, spread into 3 different sessions.

I honestly don't see how I can expect Andrew to sit in that smelly gym lobby 8 hours a week. Right now, hubby works from home one day, so Andrew stays with him, but comes with us on the other day.

Brian is hesitant and nervous about being left alone at the gym when we've talked about it. While his coaches have always been more than accomodating with B's care, they have shown no interest or willingness to directly participate in it (which has never been a problem for me).

Does anyone leave their kids during sports training? He's been training in the gym so long he rarely goes low. I'm sure the first couple of weeks will see some lows as his body adjusts to this new level of activity, but once he's settled in, I don't anticipate any problems.

We are leaning towards injecting Regular Humalin for training sessions, just so he has some background insulin and doesn't have to hook up to replace missed basals (we currently do this for meets).

If you do leave your kids, do they have a cell phone? How do you help them to manage their care? Any words of wisdom would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[skimom]

My two diabetic kids are a bit older (12 and 17), but i do leave them alone at sports - their buddies and the coaches know what to do about lows, we keep a juice box on the side of the rink (youngest is a figure skater) and we have come up with a protocol as to when to test, what numbers to react to, which ones to leave be etc. She trains about 16 hours a week and I am there for about 4 of them.The oldest (boy) is an extreme skier and is quite in tune with his body. AGain, his buddies know what to do, carry emergency sugars etc. Both kids have access to their own cell phones at all times. They are preprogrammed with ICE (in case of emergency) as a contact entry.

I would maybe start with short times of leaving him alone, talk about how things went and then really play up the fact that he is doing so well and being so responsible. Just be sure the coaches know what to do in a worst case scenario and I think tings will be fine.

[moco89]

With regular insulin IOB is a very critical factor. If he needs to take a correction dose of insulin-he should use rapid acting insulin because regular takes forever for the blood sugar to drop. But, in order to avoid replacement basal doses, regular is ideal. He could also try the "untethered regimen" which is lantus and the pump doing a seperate potion of the basal. When he does gymnastics, he can disconnect from his pump, and not have to worry about the basal altogether (if the "right amount" of lantus is initially given to cover his basal during exercise).

I would tell him to test whenever there is a break. Also, if his blood sugar is low/high, he should at least text message you. If you really want to feel safe, you could have him text you every time he tests. This device http://www.diabetech.net/glucomon.html automatically sends the score to you without him getting out his phone. I suggest you get unlimited text messages if you have him use a phone.

Make sure he has "more than enough supplies" (glucose, pump supplies, infusion sets, glucagon, test strips) so he can take care of any problems. Also, the coaches/trainers need to be properly educated, to prevent any sort of problem. They need to be understanding and compassionate, and they need to at least be able to administer glucose gel, if not glucagon too.