Tuesday, May 17, 2011

Let me pick your brain

Better than your nose, right?

Anyway... I haven't talked about it much lately because I've been too busy whining, but our trip to Portugal is coming up in less than a week, and I have a few questions for my peeps in the DOC.

We've travelled with Elise and D before; Kansas City, San Fransisco, and Vancouver. But this is the first time we'll be so far away. Plus the flight from here to Spain (where we change planes) is 10 hours loooooooong. Kill me now!

Not to mention a ready-to-crawl-at-any-moment 8 month old. I need a Valium just thinking about it.

Onto my questions:

1. We have never travelled with the Dexcom before... can the it go through the x-ray? Do I take the receiver off of her? If she has to go through the body scan, does that affect the Dexcom?

2. I'm pretty well versed in no-carb/low-carb snacks (cheese, meats, veggies, nuts), but does anyone have some other suggestions? I'm assuming Elise will run high while on the plane, so I want to have some stuff for her to eat if she's hungry and her BG is flying as high as the plane we're on.

3. I'm still noodling the time difference + life style difference thing. At home, we like to eat at the same time as your grandma does (5:00). In Portugal, they're still finishing up their lunches at that time. Dinner happens around 8:00. Which is the time Elise usually gets her bedtime snack and shot. If anyone has experience with overseas travel and NPH (yeah, right, sometimes I think we're the only ones using it), please let me know.

Here's my thought: Elise's BG usually drops right before dinner. I'm thinking we give her a second uncovered 15g snack (first one happens around 3 pm) at 5:00. Then, when it's dinner time (we're shooting for 7:00) we'll do a combo shot of humalog and a lowered dose of NPH. The humalog will cover her meal and the NPH will hold her through the night. Since she'll be eating dinner so late, plus her dose will be lowered, she shouldn't need a snack. Thoughts? Anyone?

4. If the TSA agent wants to pat Elise down, do I kick him in the nuts, or punch him in the face? Actually, I guess if it happens, it will be a woman. Punch in the face it is.

I welcome any other advice you may have. Hit me with your tips!

5 comments:

  1. Hi...We use Flackers (raw vegan dehydrated crackers), which have only one gram of carbs per serving. Spread with nut butter, they're quite filling. I give them to Rasmus before bed to avoid a shot. Have fun!

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  2. Good luck! You are super woman for all you have conquered in the last few weeks! I hope this trip is somewhat relaxing and enjoyable.

    We were traveling just last week. We took off the Dexcom at the security screening and sent it through the x-ray maching with our other stuff. It was fine. Neither the sensor nor his pod set off the alarm at the screening (which kinda shakes my faith in the whole system), so hopefully you won't have to punch anyone in the junk or face in return for the pat down.

    DFW airport let us through with ALL our diabetes stuff in a backpack, including three juice boxes without even a bat of the eye. However, flying home, the California airport wouldn't let us take the juice boxes. I had smarties and other stuff and so I didn't worry. But as always, Diabetes proved me wrong. He went low on both plane rides. Flying home I was cursing the security people for taking my juice boxes as I tried to stuff Robby's little mouth with lots of smarties as we were landing (he was dropping like a ROCK, thank you Dexcom). The minute we got on the ground, I had the flight attendant bring us some juice. Moral of the story- if they take your juice, go buy more, even if you do have to pay airport prices.

    Good luck and HAVE FUN!

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  3. Gum...it's been a life saver for us on airplanes and car trips. Each child gets their own pack and if it's not the right time for a snack (ie BG is wonky) and they've recently eaten than gum it is. Also, we've started taking different things to make our own beverages when out - Crystal Light has small pkgs of their new all natural drinks, which are our top choice for the boys as opposed to juice, milk or what ever un-nutritive carb loaded beverage available.
    When we flew last time there was no pat down for Isaac, I told them he had an insulin pump and showed it to the guy we walked through and he wanded Isaac with me standing there and all was fine. My niece on the other hand whom has a prosthetic had to take it off completely, she was upset, and a letter has been written to the TSA about how to gently handle small children with a variety of medical needs.
    Ummm...we actually found that Isaac went LOW on the airplane only because he was jumping up and down with excitement before we left.
    And, I think that's all I've got :)
    I'm excited for you guys it'll be a great adventure!

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  4. Have a great time. Go with the flow. Enjoy!

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  5. When we have flown my son was low the whole time which meant he ate tons of uncovered carbs and had the time of his life! Maybe just prepare for that in case it happens. You never know :)

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