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First School trip since diagnosis - worried

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Amanda102

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Relationship to Diabetes
Parent of person with diabetes
Hannah is due to go away for 3 days (2 nights) with her school to Dalguise House in about 2 weeks. This is a kind of adventure/outward bound place. When we booked her place she had not been diagnosed, but now it is looming I am dreading it. I wasn't reassured when I mentioned to her head of year that I would have to come in and have a chat with her about it (she is also going) and she seemed surprised that I felt I needed to. Hannah's nurse has said they need to know how to do an injection and administer glucogel at the very least. I have just emailed the place tonight to see if they have the nutritional contents for their meals as would help her enormously and I also wanted to check if their staff are aware of diabetes and know how to treat a hypo. I am probably getting this all out of proportion, but she is going to be so far away. I know I am going to be a bundle of nerves from the moment she leaves and checking my phone every 5 minutes. At least her twin sister will be with her and she has quite good knowledge now. Has anybody got any tips of how to deal with this, what I need to do in advance, what she should take in case of emergencies.... Omg :(
 
Main issue with outdoor activities is to have sweets to hand at all times. As outdoor activities usually involve getting wet, due to rain / canoe capsizes / assault course water jumps etc, it's vital that sweets are in waterproof packets. I find that small zip lock bags, each containing approx 15g carbohydrate of midget gems, jelly babies etc are ideal, as they fit into pockets and are discrete to eat. Muesli bars are also robust food that remain edible even is squashed / melted.

I'm pretty sure that at least some PGL Dalguise House staff will have met children with diabetes before.

The problem with nutritional content of meals / food is that is depends on portion size, so your daughter will probably have to estimate carbohydrate content by sight.

Hope both your daughters have a great time.
 
Hello Amanda
I know how you feel ... William went camping with various activities 6 wks after his diagnosis and I was quite stressed about it, but he was just fine.
Has your DSN recommended a reduction in insulin over the holiday? It certainly works for William if he's doing a lot of activities but doesn't always ward off hypos, so Hannah should always have hypo treatments to hand.
I don't know how it works on a pump, but the other thing William does (he's on MDI) is take some slow release carbs every hour or so. How much will depend on the activity - for walking, 15g an hour seems to suit him but no doubt everyone is different. There's a good website at www.runsweet.com that has info about different activities and how much energy they use up. Regular testing is a must of course which is a pain but worth it!
If William's doing a lot of activity over several days, he cuts his Lantus but I expect Hannah can do that more effectively with the basal rates on her pump. He also takes about 25% less insulin with meals. If the weather is warm, that can also reduce insulin needs too.
It sounds daunting but it will probably be a great confidence booster to Hannah, to be away from home managing her own diabetes. I hope she has a fantastic time, but if you're like me you'll need a stiff gin after you've waved off the bus! 😱
 
PS. When I said walking, I meant hill walking which is pretty strenuous
 
Just a question cos I don't know - are Omnipods waterproof?
 
first School Trip

A bum bag is essential as it means that you have everything that you need. I quite often shove carb in there meaning all you have to do is grab it and go. Don't pannic as a mum, i found that it gives you much more confidence when you realise that you can manage things on your own. A mobile phone is a important piece of equipment as you can blip mum/dad if you need a quick bit of advice. Base rates i normally put on 70% of normal base rates. Pack double equipment for things like set changes as they don't always last as long due to the weather and activities.
 
Thanks for the tips! I have bought her a small bum bag and also ordered some little resealable plastic bags for some 'hypo supplies' as suggested. I was wondering how much to reduce her basal rate by for the duration. If I'm honest I would rather she ran slightly high for the 3 days rather than risk frequent hypos with the added activity. I was thinking of reducing by 10 -20%. The omnipod is waterproof. She wears each one for 3 days and it doesn't come off at all in that time whether she's swimming, showering, in the bath or whatever. It was severely tested recently in Florida at the water parks, but it stood the test. Thanks for all the advice, I am on countdown now as she goes a week on Monday.
 
I don't know what your daughter is likely to use as a hypo remedy, but just a thought, Glucotabs are in a fairly robust plastic tube rather than Dextrose tablets which are just in a tearable pack. It might be worth you buying a tube or two of the Glucotabs just for the durability.

I'm sure she'll have a wonderful time. A steep learning curve for both of you but something that needs to go ahead.

Tina
 
Amanda102 said:
I was wondering how much to reduce her basal rate by for the duration.
Click to expand...

For a walking holiday (hill walking) our DSN suggested 20 - 25%, which was pretty good for William, although he still had to have regular carbs every hour to avoid going low (and he did go low a few times even then).
I hope your DSN can give good info, as it's probably different for pump users. But I agree, better to run a bit high for a few days on balance 🙂
 
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