Sriram's type 1 adventures

This post is going to be about Sriram getting started with Loop, the open source Artificial Pancreas System(APS).  This might be a longer post as I want to touch upon a range of topics here. We were introduced to the concept of insulin pump on the day of Sriram's diagnosis.  We heard more about it in the following weeks.  Initially, every meal ended being a struggle as Sriram hates shots.  Well, who likes shots anyway.  He was ready to skip meals as he didn't want the shot.  He was willing to do as many bike rides as possible in our neighborhood in order to bring down the blood sugar. During our second month visit Sriram's endocrinologist suggested that we should get an insulin pump  as he wasn't putting on any weight.  She suggested we should attend the insulin pumps class at Stanford in order to learn more about pumping and about the various options we have. In the meantime, I saw an Omnipod add on Facebook.  Omnipod is a tubeles...

 We had our quarterly Endo follow up appointment last week.  This blog is going to be more about the run up to the appointment than the appointment itself.  Anyone who has diabetes knows that one of the main points of discussion in these appointments is the a1c result.  The a1c is the number that would estimate the average blood glucose of the past three months.  The a1c tests are the pretty much only point of reference for people without a continuous glucose monitor(CGM).  In our case, we have the Dexcom CGM.  CGM shows the blood glucose value every 5 mins.  We can also get the average blood glucose value from the reports tool of the Dexcom application.  This is only a ball park number.  Therefore, the a1c number we get in the hospital is a better assessment of the past quarter.  Of late, my anticipation of this a1c result is becoming synonymous to the exam results.  Sriram calls a1c result as mommy's report card.  He...

 Friends for Life 2018 We attended the friends for life conference this year at the Disneyland in Anaheim from May 4th to 6th.  Senthil forwarded the Friends for life email back in January.  He wanted to give it a try.  I was very skeptical about signing up for the conference as Sriram's blood sugars are always crazy when we travel.  We had to cut short the Lake Tahoe trip in December due to the high blood sugar.  I started to have second thoughts on enrolling for the conference after I heard some of the episodes in juice box podcast by Scott Benner.  He spoke very highly of the Friends for life conference.  Sriram was also interested in going to the event as he wanted to meet the race car driver Ryan Reed, who also has Type 1 Diabetes (unfortunately, Ryan Reed wasn't in the Anaheim conference).  The last straw was the casual conversation I had with my friend Prithi.  She said that we are getting a killer deal with the Disney hot...

We were planning on traveling to India in December for about 3.5 weeks during Sriram's winter break.  We met the pediatrician couple of days before thanksgiving as a travel visit and to get the kids' yearly flu shots.  The pediatrician made a passing reference about Sriram's weight by comparing it with Raghav's.  Sriram's weight was always on the lower end of the curve while Raghav was right on target since birth.  Therefore, I didn't take her comments too seriously. Sriram looked more and more agitated that week and was hardly eating anything.  I was able to notice it obviously as the school was off that week and he was at home almost all day.  I was wondering if there was some underlying behavioral condition such as ADHD.  My husband said that probably we should see the pediatrician again and discuss about our concerns as were planning on going to India the following month.  When I called the pediatrician's office I was asked the reason for...

We were totally caught off-guard when Sriram was diagnosed with T1D.  This is because his diagnosis was anything but typical.  He didn't have any of the classic diabetic symptoms like excessive thirst or frequent urination.  Most if not all of his symptoms were behavioral. We moved to Cupertino in June 2016.  As a result Sriram started his second grade in a new school.  We used to live in an apartment community in which we had lots of friends.  It was a very lively and child friendly environment with kids playing outside or in one of their friend's houses most of the time.  Therefore, the move was a huge change for all of us.  Summer was pretty uneventful.  But, I noticed a lot of behavioral changes after his school started.  He was eating less and less.  Also he started to get physical with our younger one Raghav.  I knew that this was not sibling rivalry as Raghav for almost 2 years by that time.  Therefore, I ass...

I wanted to start this blog for some time now.  But, I was procrastinating it not only due to time constraints but also because I wasn't ready to share our story to the world outside of my immediate circle.  I think that we are ready to share our stories now. My then 8 year old son Sriram was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes on November 30th 2016.  Type 1 diabetes is a relatively lesser known form of Diabetes.  The onset of this condition happens pretty early in life for most people.  Babies less than a year old could have this condition and hence, its called as Juvenile diabetes too.  The onset of Type 1 diabetes happens when somone's immune system starts attacking the insulin producing beta cells.   Once the beta cells destruction starts, the only option we have is to inject the man made insulin in order to control the blood glucose levels.  There is no biological cure for Type 1 Diabetes yet.  But, thanks to the advancement in tech...