Perfect Storm

So, Cat has been using the t:slim with Control IQ in the clinical trial for about a month. Here are my thoughts:

I do love the fact that it corrects a high blood sugar with 60% of our correction factor once per hour if we underestimate the carbs or don't pre-bolus early enough. That's a nice feature! However, sometimes I wonder if our correction factor is right...the pump uses the data that *I* put in, so if I put the wrong info in the pump, then she will not have a good correction for highs. Honestly it seems sometimes like it's driving her a little too low, so I'll continue to keep an eye on things. We might need to change the correction factor on our end. Also, we love the Dexcom G6 more than anything. It's SO wonderful not to have to calibrate and poke fingers to find out her blood sugar. Once we are finished with the trial, she will go back to her Medtronic 670g pump with 2-3 calibrations a day and at least 2 fingersticks per day. I really hope that Medtronic gets it together with their sensor for the next generation pump and makes it more like Dexcom. The Medtronic CGM that pairs with the 670g pump is awesomely accurate. It just sucks to have to calibrate it twice or more a day. Believe me, I know ALLLLL about it since I'm living it!

Here's just a little info..nothing to do with this particular pump or with the t:slim infusion sets: If your insulin pump infusion set needs to be changed (which is is supposed to be changed every 2-3 days), there is nothing you can do about higher blood sugars until you put in a new infusion site. (Side note: once you've had a foreign object inserted into your skin, in particular a metal needle that infuses insulin under your skin, your body naturally tries to reject it and it does what it is supposed to do to try and heal that wound. Sometimes the insulin is just not absorbing well under the skin due to the area being inflamed from having metal stuck into it.) This particular day was a one of those days for Cat. And of course it always seems to happen at the most inopportune times! Like when I promise her we will go to the frozen yogurt bar after school and get a MEDIUM cup of Fro-Yo with whatever toppings she wants!

We've been talking all week about going to our favorite used book store (The Recycled Reader) and a treat at Berri-licious Frozen Yogurt. We tried to go last Saturday, but Cat was throwing up and having diarrhea after her soccer game, so that kind of dampened our plans. Anyway, last Saturday, we were able to finally go! We both found some cool books that I wanted and we got a pic of her with her JDRF OneWalk shoes for the fundraiser that Jane and her husband Bud so graciously agreed to support!

Anyway, after her Fro-Yo (which I totally guessed the carb count because...what the heck? How can you carb count all that stuff?) and afterwards she started going up and up and up and up, but gradually, so it wasn't like off the charts crazy high.

 I gave her a correction but she still was going up. I changed her site and gave her more of a correction. She needed a site change anyway. This seemed to help.

When it was time for dinner, she was trending down, so I bolused her and hoped for the best. Now she's going down down down...it's like the insulin started working all of a sudden! Sooooo irritating. And the worst part is, the Dexcom lags behind actual blood sugars by about 15 minutes. I just checked her with a fingerstick when I got an alert on her Dexcom, and her actual blood sugar was 80. Not an emergency at all and that does not need to be treated. That lag time stresses me out!

Graph after Fro-Yo and mystery bolus

So, in the end, it wasn't a huge deal. We had a tall mountain peak of high blood sugars that came down relatively quickly and it all ended well. Still...seeing that giant spike always stresses me out. Fortunately it doesn't happen often!

Until next time....