Head East

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind.  School ended for both the kids and I and the following morning we all climbed in the car and headed east to Maine.  At 3am.  We like to think of it as "ripping off the bandaid".  You know, get it done fast and dirty.  It might hurt a bit but there's less stressing over the "what if" and after it's all said and done, 2200 miles later you're sitting by the lake in western Maine. 

For the past 4 years we have spent our summers in Maine where both Marshall and I grew up and a place in many ways we still call home.  Spending ten weeks away from our Colorado home and our doctors has its challenges, but it's something Marshall and I think is important for the kids and the values and experiences we want to pass along to them.  We get to be surrounded by family and the kids get to enjoy all the things Marshall and I loved from when we were young.  

Before we can find ourselves listening to the loons and swatting the mosquitoes we have to first endure the seemingly endless car ride.  It seems at times a Herculean feat, but as the years pass we have become more and more skilled at our trial.  I think this year was our smoothest drive yet.  Snacks were well stocked, blood sugars were kept (mostly) in range, and activities were spaced and introduced in a timely fashion.  Nobody started getting really punchy until well east of Buffalo, so I'll call it a success.  (And yes, it was Marshall and I who were loosing our minds, not the kids!). We make the trip in 2 days: 18 hours the first day, and 14 the second, with a very short hotel stay in-between.  

For anyone it's hard, but for Type 1s I think it's twice as hard for a few reasons.

1. You're sitting on your butt for 2 days and your only exercise is walking through a parking lot to a gas station bathroom.  On a typical day we are an active family and the kids' insulin requirements are calculated off this "typically active day".  When we throw in a day like our travel days, it throws off their blood sugars too.  One way to get around this is to introduce a "temporary basal", which means we can increase the amount of insulin the pump is dripping into their body on a constant basis.  When they are sitting stationary their body will require more insulin to maintain normal blood sugars than if they were outside playing.  On a travel day we usually watch blood sugars for the first few hours and make adjustments if their CGMs are trending on the high side.

2. I don't know about you, but when I'm road tripping I want junk food: smartfood, spice drops, and honey roasted peanuts are the things I crave.  This has all had to change!  It just doesn't work for the kids, and the high blood sugars aren't worth it either.  We pack two coolers of snacks because even the healthiest of options in the truck stop aren't going to cut it.  The biggest cooler stays in the trunk and is stocked with an inventory of things like carrot chips and hummus, hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, and yogurt squeezers.  We need to be sure to have things for when blood sugars are high (proteins, cheeses, and other carb-free snacks), as well as a good supply of things for when blood sugars need a boost (yogurt, apple sauce, and juice boxes).  The cooler in the front always has a small selection of all the things in the back and is easily accessible to minimize the amount of stops that need to be made.  We also bring everything we need to make our own lunches, because being forced to eat at a fast-food restaurant because there are no other options in a 100 mile radius is a diabetes landmine.  

3. Bathroom breaks are more frequent in a car full of Type 1s.  Even with the best plans, blood sugars sometimes still run high.  With high blood sugars come high urine production.  The first two years we drove to Maine for the summers we had undiagnosed Type 1s on board.  Those trips saw us stopping every hour.  EVERY.  HOUR.  Now we know and can usually stretch our breaks to every 2.5-3 hours.  Usually our bathroom breaks coordinate with gas fill-ups, but occasionally we find ourselves peeing off a guardrail on the side of I-80.  

Like I've said a million times before: Type 1s can do anything someone without diabetes can do, it just might take a little more planning.  Epic car rides are no exception.  

A little bit of everything

Carb counting to the exact gram, because when you're sitting stationary, every bit can throw off an otherwise steady blood sugar.

Off to a good start!

Spirits are good.

Breaking up the monotony with a new project.

Diabetes travel win: when the slowest part of the day is stopped traffic instead of hourly bathroom breaks.