My son was diagnosed 11/10/11, three weeks before his 10th birthday. The month has been filled with tears, confusion, anger, thankfulness, hope, and worry. We have a wonderful school nurse and team of doctors, not to mention a few moms I know and have recently met with children with Type 1 who offer amazing support. I am looking down the road at our next set of decisions, and am hoping to have your advice. We will be taking our pump classes in January and I'd love to hear which pump you chose and why, and also any suggestions for navigating this decision. William does not mind testing and does that himself, but he is not interesting in injecting himself. We think the pump will be great for him, as does he, because he will be able to manage his insulin by himself without injections. The other issue I'd like advice on is sports. He is currently between sports but indoor soccer begins again soon, and ski season is approaching. These are his two main interests. The skiing, frankly makes me very nervous. Any suggestions or advice for how to prepare for these sports would be appreciated. Thank you for any information you can pass along! Rosemarie
Welcome to the forum! My daughter spent her 11th birthday in the hospital and gave herself her first shot that day. Not a milestone we ever wanted, but life goes on. She's healthy and thriving. This morning she made me/us breakfast in bed for Santa Lucia; everything was completely carb-counted and she had pre-bolused. We did MDI for 15 months before switching to the pump. Puberty was making control harder, and my daughter needed different basals at night and during the day. We got the Medtronic Revel 723 because we wanted the integrated CGM. She didn't want any extra devices to be responsible for. Enough is enough! The other day, she commented, "How can anyone want a pump break? I LOVE my pump." She'd been very resistant to the thought of being tethered, but she doesn't mind it most of the time now.
Do you mind explaining the integrated cgm? Does that mean the cgm and pump are one device? I didn't know that existed!
There are three main pump brands: Omnipod (untethered), Animas (has a remote Ping) and Medtronic. The Medtronic pump has a CGM integrated into it; their Guardian CGM can also be purchased separately. The other CGM brand is Dexcom, and Animas/Dexcom will be coming out with the integrated Vibe in the future, but our CDE said to buy for what we want now, not what will be eventually coming through the FDA. The sensors for the integrated unit are purchased separately (like sets and reservoirs) and need insurance approval. But, it is ONE device for my daughter to wear, not two, and it's tethered to her, so she won't lose it. That was a big sales point for her. The warranties on the pumps are 4 years, so choose what will fit your lifestyle for that period of time. We bought the Revel 723 rather than the 523 in anticipation of how much her insulin needs could increase in the next few years. Right now, she's on 26 units per day, so we would be fine with the 523's 180 units, but we didn't want to HAVE to do frequent set changes in the future if/when her needs skyrocket.
There's this guy with Type 1 diabetes, Sean Busby, who runs a snowboarding camp for kids with Type 1. http://www.seanbusby.com/. Haven't checked if he has any camps coming up, but he teaches the kids how to manage diabetes on the slopes.
Oh my gosh, Ivy this is exactly what I was hoping for!!! And there is one in MA in March! Thank you!!
Not that my girl snowboards, but we do play in the snow for months. Keep them overly warm!!! It is better for them to be sweating in thier layer than shivering and burning BG points. It is fankly SCARY how fast their BG can go down in the cold. I would recommend the compression sports pants/tights instead of regular thermals, under their insulated gear. Unless it is "expedtion" weight. I would recomend the Animas Ping, he can test and bolus without ever touching the pump. But would need to access it if needing to change a basal pattern or temp basal, and to change any settings. good luck!
We went with the Ping. We wanted the Revel but, our insurance wouldn't cover the CGM portion. It was more expensive than the Ping and if we couldn't have the CGM, the part we wanted the most, it didn't make sense to spend the extra money. We also tried the Pods. They were Connor's first choice. A severly bad reaction to a sample Pod had me sending them back the day we received our much anticipated order. Connor is 10 and he loves the Ping. He tests and can dose himself very easily. He has been very eager to learn how to put in his own sites and only needs supervision now. He even helped the school nurse put in a new site after one was accidentally ripped out. No one knows how it happened, and Connor said it just came out. Ummm no. As for skiing, we have never gone. My kids would love to learn. Not many mountains in Indiana lol!
