I got my dreaded "report card" yesterday from the Endocrinologist. It wasn't all bad, but I guess I went in knowing it wasn't going to all good either.
Love Bug's A1C was up from 8.1 to 8.7. Not great but not horrible for her age. Of course, not where I would like to see it. (considering just six months ago it was 7.7, we are definitely OUT of the honeymoon stage.) The doctor raised her basal rate to .200 up from .150, changed her breakfast I:C ratio and her ICF. Which I knew needed to happen a couple weeks ago. I'm glad my "mother's intuition" is still working. It also didn't help that Audrey grew a little over an inch in the past three months. Yikes, no wonder her jeans suddenly started to look short on her!
We also talked to our dietitian and decided, (much to my dismay) to keep a food diary for Love Bug. This way we can pinpoint what foods are making her blood sugar spike. We are also going to take into consideration the glycemic index with certain foods. I agree that it will be very helpful but I'm not looking forward to all the extra work it is going to entail. Hopefully, a combination of all these things will bring her numbers down.
Then there is the CGM. We now seriously considering it. Even though, for us, it would mean two separate devices for Audrey to "carry" around. My Doctor told me Animas has the technology, (pump integrated with CGM) they are just waiting for FDA approval. How accurate that is, I don't know but I wish they would just "hurry" up with it. Medtronic already has it integrated into their pumps so I wouldn't think it would be too hard. At least one would think..... Can you tell I am impatient about it?
3 comments:
I'm sorry about the food diary. I fear they will be requesting the same of us on Thursday. I'm all nervous about our appointment, it's our first A1C with three months post-diagnosis. Praying all the changes will work the very best for your princess. <3
I can understand your hesitation about keeping a food journal...it's not like we don't have enough to do already, right?!
That being said, I kept a food journal right after both of my daughters were diagnosed and it helped me ALOT. It was more work, but in the end it really paid off for us. I was able to notice trends that probably would have gone by unnoticed had it not been for my food journals.
Good luck with everything :)
It is hard not to view the A1C as a report card. Everyone says not to, but by golly, there might as well be a drum roll as you are waiting for it. And it is a number - a measurement - and there is a range of "preferred" results. That sounds a lot like a grade to me.
But what I read in your post was also the non-report card element of the A1C result. Taking the information and reacting to it. That really is the purpose of it. You sound like you have an amazing team to support you and so many great action steps to take.
I understand how the food diary may sound daunting. I think you may find that it will provide a boatload of useful information though, and once you get over the hump of identifiable some initial trends, it will get much easier - both tracking foods and d management overall.
Okay - I just now read Connie's response and we are almost verbatim!!! I hope that provides some encouragement, that the effort really will reap great rewards. :)
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