Gym Win

Out of all the anticipated diabetes challenges of high school, gym has been the biggest thus far.

Marching band's 14 hour days, including an outdoor week in the August heat? We handled it.

New nurse? She's great.

An intense and stressful academic schedule? Intense and stressful, but managed.

Gym? A disaster since day one.

I wrote about it in the fall. Gym is always in the morning but that's where the predictability ends.

Gym class happens three out of every four days. At 8 or 9 or 10 a.m. Some days are 'fitness days' with sprinting or other heavy cardio. Some days they play volleyball which my kid enjoys playing at a moderate pace. Some days feature floor hockey, during which the senior boys apparently dominate the puck and give nobody else a chance to play. Some days gym is preempted by 'peer leadership,' which can involve either active or sedentary group bonding activities. All we can be certain of is that the whole thing is totally unpredictable. Therefore, adjusting basal rates didn't help. And changing the breakfast bolus was useless. Our next best hope was this:



Squeezy Applesauce!

Toddler applesauce has greatly reduced trips to the high school nurse's office. It's fifteen carbs provide slightly more nutritional value than a straight juice box. It's easier to consume while changing into one's gym clothes than a clementine or a handful of grapes. It's even sort-of fun? And, most importantly, it's working.

She makes the decision whether to consume a pouch before gym based on three factors: what her blood sugar currently is (usually based on the Dexcom, inclusive of arrows), what the day's anticipated activity is, and what time it is (she's more likely to drop fast if there's still a bunch of breakfast insulin on board). There are occasional problems, like when an anticipated floor hockey day becomes an unannounced outdoor running day due to good weather, or when she's had an unusual breakfast and the 'insulin on board' factor is harder to predict. But overall, this tactic is (thus far...knock on wood...fingers crossed) a winner.

Also a plus? We won't be running out of squeezy-sauce anytime soon due to today's 5/$9 sale at the grocery store. She's not sure about the new 'applegrape' flavor, but if you're sucking it down in three gulps, how much does flavor really matter?