Camp Sweeney Tx.

[Kris60]

This was our first year at Camp Sweeney, right outside of Gainesville Tx. It is the first ever diabetic camp, on top of that it is a "camp med/club med" so to speak. ( they are very hi-tech there, not to mention air conditioned cabins) All I can say is wow, the best money we ever spent sending Lauren there.

It was a 3 week session and Lauren's first time being away from home for that long, her record was 1 week. The ages are from 6-18. I would highly recommend this to anyone who has a diabetic child, and their non diabetic siblings can go too.

It's summer camp at it's best with a full medical staff. They have their own band that comes in for their special events. Lauren loved the first session so much that she signed up for the third session too. The best part is there is a huge discount for going more than 1 session a summer.

It gives the kids somewhere that they can enjoy being a normal kid, doing normal things, but with the supervision and teachings of diabetes. They are just like everyone else there, which helps build their self esteem. It also gives the parents just a small break, which everyone knows is needed. It isn't selfish, and there's no guilt, cause the kids are having a better time than you are.
here is the link to their site http://www.campsweeney.org/ you can request a brochure even.
how we found out about it was from our Endo and Lauren's reg Dr. because her son is T1 also and went there.
If anyone has any questions please holler :D

[Debbie]

Hi-
I just want to second your comments about Camp Sweeney. Adyson has gone to the three week session for 2 years and the mini-session one year. Evan has gone with her to the three week sessions. They were at third session this year. They both always have a great time. The med-staff is is wonderful. Evan had asthma problems last year and they took excellent care of him. I'm glad your daughter had a f-u-n time.

[Kris60]

heehee gotta love the F-U-N , makes me sing sponge bob all the time
did you get the video? If so, on the main menu page when they show them at the welcoming night campfire the girl in pink on Scott the counselor's shoulders is Lauren, she was a Bonner babe. not to mention one of the ones getting launched off the blob (your kids should know what that is)

[Debbie]

We did get the video. Next time we watch it, we will watch for Lauren. Adyson is in the pool with Maggie in the video and Evan is the crazy kid hanging off the back of the banana boat thing. Adyson moved up to Lenard this year, but Ev stayed back in Brown--even though they are the same age....and technically he is the big brother. Adyson got a few miles out of that. I just love the way everyone is appreciated for who they are. Adyson made friends with girls very different from herself and some very much like her. One of her best friends was a little girl, her age, who also has a non-d twin brother. You don't see that everyday. They have also built some very strong bonds with some of the counselors. They look forward to going all year long.

[Amy C.]

My son attended the third session of Sweeney as well. Camp is as the previous posters described. My son had a great time for 2 of the 3 weeks. He loved his classes and made some good friends. He wasn't ever homesick.

Because nothing is ever 100% rosy, I should tell you about some of the down sides of Camp Sweeney.

In speaking with other parents of children who attended camp from my town, if the child gets homesick, the camp becomes a prison. They really work hard to keep kids at camp no matter what.

Unless your child has been away from home for a week or more, I wouldn't have them go to this camp first. There are a lot of kids who absolutely love Sweeney and go back year after year.

I do wish they would take advantage of children's pump features. All pumpers were told the insulin to give and not allowed to use the wizard feature at all. If the child changed any settings or gave extra insulin without authorization, the pump would be taken away and they would need to go on shots.

I will give them credit: Basals were adjusted for lows appropriately.

They did not demonstrate good management of blood sugars when a child is sick, nor do they let parents know of all Tylenol given for a fever. Philip developed a cough with a fever along with the high sugars and ketones the last week and needed his basals raised, but was not instructed to do so. He had to do a shot for almost all his boluses because he was above 250. The pump would have worked fine if the basals were raised, but it would seem that no one caught on that he was sick.

At checkout, I was led to believe that Philip had a fever for one day and stayed in their infirmary for a few hours and then, because he returned to classes, he was better. (This was right before we picked him up.) He wasn't better and found it hard to go to classes when he wanted to lie down.

When I picked him him up, I thought he was on day 3 of an intermitant fever and cough and continued with travel plans up north. He was acutally on day 5 of a fever and horrendous cough. Two days after camp, he was dx'd with double pneumonia.

It seemed to me that ketones were treated with drinking water, rather than extra insulin. I couldn't tell that he received more insulin for his ketones.

My son ranks this experience as a "Been there, done that." and will not return.

[Laura]

Wow Amy I'm so sorry to hear about your son's experience. I'm glad it was different for Jonah.


We flew down for Camp Sweeney's mini session in May because my Aunt went there in the 1950s and my dad has wanted to send Jonah since the day he was diagnosed. When we were checking in they specifically asked us if we wanted to be contacted if he was homesick. I said yes. Also, his counselor called me once and emailed me every time I emailed him and told me how Jonah was doing. There was even a day when I saw him on a podcast eating a cupcake with his group and I freaked out because I thought for sure they forgot he needed gluten free. I emailed them at 11pm and within the hour had a response that it was indeed gf. Although, I don't know if I could miss him for 3 weeks, the one week session was awesome for him.

BY THE WAY! His birthday was last week and he got a bday card in the mail from camp sweeney signed by his counselors. It was sweet.

[Mymommymommy]

that looks GREAT! my babe is to young for that yet, but one day MAYBE. it's kinda far and that scares me BAD! hahaha