Mixed Meal Test Results

Andrew's pancreas performed! YEAH!

After all the trouble that we experienced at the hospital (I will blog about this later), the mixed meal test went without a hitch.

The nurse checked his fasting blood glucose and it was 68.  They had a decision to either treat him or let it go and continue with the test.  He never should have been this low to begin with, but we experienced many problems the prior evening.

They decided to continue and see what happened.  About an hour later, they checked Andrew again and he was up to 87.  We were good to go!

The test started at 8:30 when Andrew was give .5 units of insulin and ate 1 cup Rice Chex, 1 cup milk, 1 slice bacon and 1 egg white within a 10 minute window.

The nurse came in every 30 minutes and took 3 vials of blood.  I was able to record each blood glucose reading.

1/2 hour    - 188
1    hour    - 208
1-1/2 hour - 224
2    hour    - 139
2-1/2 hour - 81
3      hour  - 59 (no symptoms) - They decided to give him a recheck which ended up being 1/2 hour
3-1/2 hour - 50 (Definite symptoms! hot, sweaty, clammy, shaky)

As they confirmed the 3-1/2 hour with a 48 from the lab, the test was stopped and he was given a juice box.  We were all so excited that Andrew's pancreas didn't let us down. Andrew, on the other hand, yelled, "Hey, that's not a good number!".  We ended up laughing about it once his number came back up and the l-o-w "meanies" went away.  We obviously never want him to have hypoglycemia, but that was the only way to get confirmation from this mixed meal test.

I want to thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.  They ended up using an adult I.V. because of the amount of blood that they had to take throughout the test.  They put some numbing cream on the site before they put it in.  I can say with relief that he felt NO pain!  Praise the Lord!

We should have our results in a couple of weeks.  I will keep you all updated.  They sent us home with a plan to give Andrew .25 units of insulin with breakfast and a starch snack (no insulin) at 2 hours post breakfast.  We'll see how it goes.  Not being on a pump and having to administer .25 units in a syringe is going to be VERY interesting!

Yummy Lows

Now that we're back on insulin, the thoughts of how to treat lows are back in full swing.

In the past, we've always used a small juice box and it worked wonderfully.  The problem was that Andrew eventually got tired of drinking juice and it wasn't the easiest thing to tote around all the time.

Since Andrew is not a fan of dextrose tablets, I immediately went on a mission to find an equivilent replacement for those chalky chunks of glucose.  To my surprise, I found a lot of recommendations for Smarties candy.

Positives to using Smarties:

• good tasting
• more affordable than glucose tablets
• can easily fit in purse, glucometer pouch, sock, pocket.......
• 6 g carb per roll
• dextrose is first ingredient just like the glucose tablets
• Easier on teeth than sticky chewy candies
• GLUTEN FREE!

Negatives to using Smarties:

• Make sure you rewash your hands after handling since the powder can cause false high blood glucose reading
• Caution: chocking hazard for younger children

I also found out that Smarties carries a "MEGA" size that will fit into the glucose tablet tube.

As I was doing my yummy research, I started to have a variety of questions:

 Is it really ok to give my child candy when he's low?

Am I sending him the wrong message?

What if he starts to make himself low just to get candy?

  I'm trying to teach him the importance of a healthy diet and I don't want to send conflicting messages.  On the other hand, I think it's ok for everyone to get a treat in moderation.  For all the trouble that diabetics go through day in and day out, I think they deserve a sweet treat.

  What are all of your ideas on this?