Teen Diabetes Guide

It’s been too long since I last posted, mostly because of all this senior year stuff that just takes so much of my time. Anyway, I thought I’d share an experience of mine that always frustrates me.

Last weekend, I was out to dinner with my family. The wings had been ordered and were sitting there ready for me to eat, when I realized I was all out of insulin. Luckily, my mom was only half way to the restaurant and was able to turn around and get some more, but it just reminded me how frustrating the insulin system can be sometimes. I really wish there was a way to have spare insulin just in case, but of course they have to be refrigerated.

I suppose I could have just checked how much insulin there was before I left, but hey, I’m a teenager, I’m bound to forget sometimes. I just wish there was a better way! I guess the lesson is always check how much of your supplies you have left before you go anywhere…

The survey results that I compiled into a pamphlet were just distributed to a bunch of different schools in Massachusetts. The brochures were given to nurse leaders in Springfield, Worcester, Brockton, Fall River, Lowell, and Boston.

Thank you so much to Wendy Doremus and the Mass Department of Public Health for being an integral part in getting these pamphlets distributed. It is great to see they will be able to help so many more teens.

Thanks again to anyone who filled out the survey, which you can see at the “survey results” tab on my page. If you are interested in getting copies, just email me at tommygouldkelley@gmail.com.

With school starting a couple of weeks ago, I have hardly had any time to update the blog. With school, sports, and college applications, there is not much left. 

The good news is that with cross-country starting up, my numbers have been under much better control. While it can be tough adjusting insulin doses and correction factors, I think I have mostly figured it out at the point. It really is amazing how much exercise helps!

After a week of cross country my numbers continue to get better. The exercise is really changing everything. I’m lowering my insulin a lot, but my numbers have been pretty consistent. It’s amazing to see how much exercise helps regulate blood sugars.

We finally made it back today after a full day of traveling. Surprisingly, it’s hotter in Boston than it is in San Diego, but there are far fewer palm trees here.

I really had an awesome experience this weekend. Not only was it exciting to be able to hear from researchers who have dedicated their whole lives to studying diabetes and exercise, but it was also fun to just hang out with other diabetics. While I was one of the youngest there, I have never really been with a large group of diabetics at the same time. I never really did the camp thing, so apart from a couple of my friends who have type 1, I’ve pretty much been solo. It was definitely a good experience to have, and one that I definitely wanna have again. It’s nice to be in a room of people who won’t question you when you give yourself an injection in the middle of a presentation.

More to come on the conference later…

The two day Insulindependence conference ended today after a pretty awesome 48 hours filled with information and exercise.

I went to a bunch of different seminars over the two days, but Dr. Steven Russell’s presentation on the bionic pancreas left everyone stunned. It’s just amazing to see how far the tests have come. It’s truly groundbreaking research and I can’t wait to see the end product.

I definitely recommend to everyone that they try to make it out to the conference next year. Additionally, they run a bunch of events throughout the year that would also be fun to go to. I’ll be posting more info from the conference in the upcoming days, there’s a lot to share!

Yesterday, I went on a tour of Tandem Diabetes Care in San Diego, California. Jim Berkebile gave us a tour of the facility and showed us the pump they make. I really enjoyed getting to see where their pumps are made and Jim could not have been any nicer or more informative. The pump looks really promising. I’m still on injections now but I think if I were to get a pump this would be the one I would choose.

The pump, called T Slim, has a new delivery system and a touch screen. Tandem has clearly put in a lot of time designing the pump with the user in mind. Given the technology we have today, it is good to see a pump that uses the touch screen capability that so many phones use. Even though it’s a newer company, I definitely recommend checking out their pump.

I was pretty frustrated yesterday when I went for a hard five mile run but was still unable to keep my numbers controlled after I had ravioli. It is pretty annoying that pasta is often impossible to deal with. Exercise usually helps, but sometimes it doesn’t solve everything.