There is no place like home

I know that it's been a while since my last blog post, and I do apologize for that, but I have a very good explanation. A couple of days after I completed the incredible, inspiring, and just plain awesome outpatient Artificial Pancreas Project clinical trial at UVA I headed out on my first airplane trip ever to vacation with my fiancé Zach. Now the truth is, the reason the trip was even a possibility was because Zach was presenting at an important neuroscience conference in Palm Springs, and we have a lot of family on the west coast that we love dearly and very rarely get to see so we took a couple of extra days to spend some time with our loved ones. I've said it before and I'll say it again, family comes first. And boy am I grateful for the family that I have.

Before I get into that, I want to talk a little bit about traveling with diabetes, specifically an omnipod wireless insulin pump. I've been hearing horror stories left and right about how TSA has been ruining pumps, giving ridiculously invasive pat downs, and just generally being rude to people with Type 1 Diabetes and insulin pumps. But I can say with 100% confidence that traveling with diabetes doesn't have to be difficult as long as you keep a smile on your face and realize that the airports only do what they do in the interest of the safety of all their passengers. All of my equipment and supplies ran through the carry on X-ray with no problems. I traveled through a few different airports, from the major ones such as Dulles International and LAX to the tiny ones such as Palm Springs and Tucson. And with the exception of Tucson which seemed to only have metal detectors, I went through the full body scanner every time and upon telling them I had a wireless insulin pump, all I had to do was touch the omnipod with both hands, have my hands swabbed with a dry circle of paper, that swab was then sent through a computer and after about 30 seconds total I was cleared and on my way to my flight. I suppose my point is, of you're diabetic and wear an insulin pump, just remember that you are in fact a little bit different from the person next to you (but really who isn't?) and if you just smile, stay honest, and try to relax traveling can be easy for someone with T1D!

That being said, vacation clearly agrees with me. I had my basal rate practically shut off at least half of the time I was on the west coast, and if I did the full recommended amount of insulin for the carbs I was eating, I ended up sucking down glucose tabs like it was my job. As if the benefits of the Artificial Pancreas weren't clear enough already this made it painfully obvious to not only myself but to the family around me that doesn't normally get to see my day to day battle with T1D. One night at dinner we were all discussing my recent opportunity to participate in the Artificial Pancreas outpatient trials, and I had said that I can't remember a time that all of this day to day managing of diabetes wasn't just how life was, and my amazing grandmother who is bravely battling breast cancer said something that was so simply insightful that it will stick with me forever. She said "It's a new normal." And she was completely right. Something so unexpected and so life changing can come into your world and in the blink of an eye and suddenly it's just how your life is. I have no family history of Type 1, and to make a long story short, I had a blood virus that triggered an autoimmune reaction that caused my diabetes. Or at least that's the best explanation my doctors have been able to find. So was it bad luck or good luck? I would never wish what I go through on a daily basis on anyone, but I do firmly believe that it is what has made me who I am. The strong, prepared (if not overly so), dedicated, appreciative and grateful for every moment on this planet girl that I am today wouldn't exist if I wasn't presented with this challenge in life.

It only gets better

For me to say that the Artificial Pancreas will be a massive game changer for Type 1 diabetics would not be giving it enough credit. Just to be clear, the multi-fanny pack belt system is not a planned part of the finished product, and most of the components of that were running as a backup so there could be a flawless transition if something went wrong. So the end goal is in fact for the user to just carry the cell phone, but when Zach asked me if I would still want the Artificial Pancreas even if it meant I would have to carry a pouch of equipment all the time, my answer was without a doubt YES. I would have tried my best but the AP did a better job of controlling my sugars and keeping them between 100 and 120, and I didn't have to worry if I was making the right decisions. The last night that I was in the hotel, my sugar started dropping before bed. I can usually feel it when it starts to drop quickly and I definitely felt it so both Zach and I were convinced that I was going to need a juice box, but we held out because I've seen what the AP is capable of and wanted to see it do it's thing again. So I went to sleep. I knew if it started to drop too low an alarm would sound, so I thought I might as well get some shut eye in the meantime. 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep later, I woke up and had to ask if I went low and just didn't remember, because it was just that incredible. The AP knew that my sugar was dropping, and started to cut off my basal rate soon enough that I only dipped a little below 100 and stayed in normal range all night! The AP delivers insulin a little differently than the standard insulin pump. To deliver the basal insulin it gives a very small bolus every 5 minutes, and it adjusts the size and frequency of that very small bolus based on what it senses your blood sugar to be and how it is trending. With such small basal boluses it's possible for the AP to regulate the blood sugar in a human body before it becomes problematic, and if you have T1D you know that there are a million different reasons and variables that could cause your blood sugar levels to be problematic.

I returned home from Charlottesville Friday afternoon and in the two nights that I've been home, my sugar has gone low each night (last night it was all the way down to 41) despite going to bed with sugar levels that had been very stable between 140 and 150. I already knew what a difference the Artificial Pancreas could make, I had the amazing opportunity to experience it first hand over the course of both the inpatient and outpatient trials. But to experience both extremes of the spectrum in back to back nights where my sugar was perfect one night and then horribly low the next really hit home with just how important the Artificial Pancreas is. I don't know if I will ever be able to properly express how grateful I am for everyone who has had a hand in the development of the Artificial Pancreas, and everyone who has made my trial experiences so incredible. I can only hope that the data my trials provide helps to move the AP to market, because the sooner this is available, the sooner lives will change. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I have more hope than ever knowing that I won't have to do this all forever, just a little bit longer.