Dex the Halls

Our school system’s PTA groups hold a Festival of Trees as an annual fundraiser. Local businesses and organizations pay a small fee to enter a tree. Students, teachers, and school groups can decorate a tree for free. People pay a $5 for a ticket to come view the trees and vote for their favorite. If they bring canned goods for our local food pantry or hygiene items for our Veterans Association, they receive a ticket for each item, which they can then use to vote for their favorite tree. We have some precious and creatively decorated trees on display! Preschool and kindergarten classes decorated with handmade ornaments, the high school science classes decorated with handmade clay models of body parts, several neighborhoods decorated trees, and organizations around town celebrated with ornaments representing their areas.

For people unfamiliar with the day-to-day life of type 1 diabetes, the ornaments on this tree may seem scary, sad, or distasteful. For those living with type 1 diabetes, this tree is a celebration of life!

Our Diabe-tree is a tree of life, decorated with used T1D supplies courtesy of Grasshopper and local T1D families. Without the insulin that came in these now empty vials, they would not be here to celebrate Christmas. With these supplies, people with type 1 diabetes manage a tricky chronic life threatening condition that requires training, patience, persistence, constant vigilance, and support.

I called our diabetes supplier and our pharmacy to get the cash price for each item on the tree and under the tree. The cash price is what a person pays if they aren’t using health insurance for the purchase. The cost Insurance plans can vary widely, so it seemed best to get the cash price as a baseline.

Under the tree:

• $162 for 1 box of 10 MiniMed Mio Infusion Sets for Medtronic Insulin Pump
• $28.80 for 1 box of 10 MiniMed Insulin Pump Reservoirs
• $52 for 1 box of 100 BD UltraFine Needles
• $553.18 for 1 box of 2 Baqsimi glucagon nasal powder for severe low blood sugar
• $149.95 for 1 box of 10 AutoSoft XC Infusion Sets for TSlim Insulin Pump
• $28.80 for 1 box of 10 TSlim Insulin Pump Cartridge
• $405 for 1 box of 10 OmniPod Insulin Pumps
• $500 for 1 box of 3 Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitor Sensors
• $600 for 2 vials of Novolog Insulin at $300 each
• $15 for 1 box of 102 AccuCheck FastClix Lancets
• $275.22 for 1 box of 5 Aspart FlexPen Insulin
• $321.46 for 1 box of 5 Basaglar QuickPen Insulin
• $311.18 for 2 boxes of Contour Next Blood Sugar Test Strips, 100 strips at $115.59
• $43.59 for 1 box of AccuCheck Guide Blood Sugar Test Strips, 100 strips
• $17.78 for 2 boxes of OneTouch Delica Plus Lancets at $8.89 each
• $276.59 for 1 Glucagon Kit, rescue injection for severe low blood sugar
  • Total: $3,740.55

On the tree:

• $7,500 for 25 Novolog Insulin Vials at $300 each
• $1,333.33 for 8 Dexcom Inserters at $166.66 each
• $254.83 for 17 AutoSoft XC Inserters at $14.99 each
• $23.04 for 8 TSlim Cartridges at $2.88 each
• $231.16 for 4 cans of ContourNext Blood Sugar Test Strips, 50 strips at $57.79 each
• $526.50 for 13 OmniPod Insulin Pumps at $40.50 each
• $300 for 1 Dexcom Transmitter
• $3.62 for 2 Glucose Tab Tubes at $1.81 each
• $354.33 for 3 Fiasp Pen Vials at $118.11 each
  • Total: $10,526.81

The total for this whole display, both on the tree and under the tree is $14,267.36

There were beautifully decorations this year at the Festival of Trees. I have no doubt that ours was both the most expensively decorated tree if you consider the cash price for these items, and also the least expensive because all of the items had already outlived their usefulness.

While I am passionate about bringing awareness to the difficulty and expense of living with a condition no one asked for or deserved, I am also extremely grateful for these lifesaving medications and devices. Without them, I would not be celebrating with my son!

T1D Car Wash

Friday is car wash day. I vacuumed up at least 20 test strips and ALL the raisins. Dealing with a chronic condition like T1D means the highs and lows happen anywhere, anytime. It doesn’t stop for car washes. Thanks to the noise of the water and then the vacuum I couldn’t hear the Dexcom low alert and for some reason it didn’t show up on my watch. Grasshopper said he felt low. Yep. 55 on the meter, 50 on Dexcom.

Blue November Prep

While I am still getting ready for Halloween, I’m also looking forward to our diabetes awareness efforts for November. We participate in Project Blue November by wearing blue on Fridays and posting on social media. Last year I painted a craft pumpkin with the international symbol for diabetes, a blue circle. We collected all of Grasshopper’s used diabetes supplies and empty packets of Annie’s Fruit Snacks in the pumpkin to show all of the supplies and low blood sugar treatments he used.

20 Minute Poop Storm

In the space of about 20 minutes on Tuesday evening, the following happened:

• I dosed Grasshopper for a 40 gram weight piece of cinnamon roll for dessert. That is a sliver of a roll, not a whole one. It was a 20 gram carb treat. I sent him to put on his pjs so the insulin could have a little time to work.
• He walked out a few minutes later holding his insulin infusion site… that was supposed to be attached to his body. I tried to hide my instant anxiety. When did it come off? Did it come off before his 24 gram carb dinner? Did he get any insulin for dinner? Did it come off after dinner but before I dosed for the cinnamon roll slice? Did he get any insulin for that???

T1D is a Beach: 7 Tips for Your Summer With Type 1 Diabetes

by Erin

Summer is almost over (officially) for us, and I have been taking notes and pictures all season long. But let’s get real. We live in Alabama and it will be hot through October! So these tips and products are relevant for us most of the year.

Dosing & Daffodils

by Erin

Spring has come to Sugar Rush Survivors land. The daffodils are coming up in our front yard. Life springs anew, life moves on.

Magic School Bus

by Erin

Grasshopper’s class went to the zoo the week before Thanksgiving. It was his first field trip as a kindergartner. He was thrilled to go to the zoo with his school friends but he was absolutely beside himself about going there on a big yellow school bus!

Magical T1D ModSquad

by Erin

There is a group on Facebook to which another mom of a child with type 1 diabetes added me shortly after Grasshopper was diagnosed 4 years ago this year. If you had told me 5 years ago that I would regularly ask the advice of 10,477 people on the internet of whom I only personally know about 7, I would have thought you were nuts.

Rock On

This November, for Diabetes Awareness, we are saving all of Grasshopper’s used type 1 diabetes supplies in this pumpkin decorated with a blue circle, the international symbol of T1D. Shown here are the results of four insulin infusion site changes, one Dexcom change, five AccuCheck FastClix lancet drums for poking Grasshopper’s fingers, Annie’s Fruit Snacks for low blood sugar and a lot of One Touch Ultra Blue Test Strips, each one marking one finger poke.

by Erin

Gabbing with Grasshopper

Celebration comes on Kid’s Place Live radio (channel 078, Sirius XM) in the car.

Me: Hey!

Grasshopper: It’s our song!

Me: Remember, if you decide to get married I want to dance with you at your wedding to this song.

Grasshopper, nodding: Uh huh. No, wait. Actually, “We Will Rock You.”