Jan. 22,02- I am Hannah's mom Karyn.  Hannah was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes on Feb.20,01.  I am sure you know what an awful experience that was!  We spent 5 days in the hospital and left with much uncertainty.  Hannah is now 2 years old and we are going to be part of the Riley Hospital Toddler Pump Study.  I would like to share this experience with who ever is interested.  Please feel free to email me, I am a stay at home mom and love my computer.  Our first big task is to switch to Carb-insulin ratios.  I have been given a sheet to fill out so the diabetes team can give me the right numbers to plug into a formula for corrective doses and insulin to cover meals.  As I was filling out this form (I am on day 6) I realize how much I have been over carbing Hannah!  I had no idea that she was almost eating 3 carbs for dinner.  No wonder she has been high.  I thought for sure it was my fault .  Then I checked her BG at lunch she is in the 500's again  with large keytones.  After talking to the nurse she made me feel better by letting me know Hannah is a growing girl and she just needs more insulin.  OK so now we have all new insulin doses and 2AM readings for a while.  The Pump Study has also required us to change meters.  We were using the freestyle meter which I loved and we would test Hannah in her leg or arm.  We now us the Accu-Check Complete and are doing test in her fingers.  (big Adjustment for her.)  Anyway if anyone would like the dietary sheet I am using just email.  I will keep you posted on how the Carb-insulin ratio works we should be starting in a couple of days.

March 10,02- Well, we have had a couple of weeks with Carb-insulin ratios.  I really like them and feel more in control of Hannah's blood sugar.  The diabetes team looks at Hannah's blood sugars every Sunday and determines if the numbers should be changed.  Right now the formula we use is **Blood Sugar minus 180 divided by 145**.  This number is her corrective dose.  Before her meal I take a blood sugar and put it with this formula and that is how much humalog I give her to bring her blood sugar into range.  Then I add up all the carbs she eats for her meal.  Example: 1/2 cup Mac and Cheese is 36, 1/2  piece of batter fried fish is 7.5, and 1/2 cup corn is 21.  I add the grams of carbs  for the total to get 64.5 then I divide this number by 85.  The diabetes team has given us this formula.  so my total humalog I am giving Hannah is .75 plus her corrective dose.  Then you give the regular NPH or Lente.  We also went in for our pump training session on March 7.  I found it very helpful to watch the video minimed provides with the pump.  I watched it twice.  Anyway, we were very intimidated at first but then we realized how great it was going to be.  Don inserted the pump in me first in my stomach.  I have to admit it didn't feel any worse that an insulin injection.  REALLY!  And we will be using a emla patch to numb Hannah's skin.  I felt such relief when I realized that it wasn't going to be painful.  I kept the pump on for three days and bolused for food just like we will for  Hannah.  It got easier and easier and by the third day I felt I was a pro!  We are trying 3 different types of tape on Hannah right now to see if she is allergic to any and which one holds the best.  Also it will get her used to the feeling of having tape on her.  The other thing I was concerned about was how it felt to sleep with the pump.  I didn't even notice I had it on.  After the third day I changed the pump and put it on my husband.  He felt the same way about the pain.  NOTHING!  Well, I will post again when Hannah gets her pump on the 21st of March.  By the way, our pump had saline in it if you were wondering. And, please get help from your health care provider this is just for information purposes.  Email me if you want more details or have any questions.