A big month for Ryan

In January Ryan had a big month. It first started with the science fair. He is in 5th grade and it is optional to do. He, being the achiever that he is, opted in. It sounded like a ton of fun for him until it came time to do it!! For his project he decided to test whether consumers could hear the difference in sound quality between 3 different quality headphones. We had a pair that was $20 another pair that was $50 and a third pair that was $200 (Thank you ZAGG for letting us use product!) He tested 32 different people ranging from 6 year olds to adults. He found that the kids did better at distinguishing the better headphones than the adults.
He worked so hard and it paid off. He was awarded an Einstein award. We were quite proud of all the effort he did for the project.


The next big event for him, which happened the very same week as the science fair, is that Ryan got his insulin pump!! He is so excited for this new found freedom. It is difficult in that he is always attached to his pump through tubing, but being a boy he just clips it to his pants and takes off. He can take it off to shower, play sports, and swim. He loves being able to eat whenever he so desires and by a few simple button pushes he has insulin!! So much better than giving himself a shot.
Before we got the pump I was warned that it can be pretty difficult for awhile to adjust. I knew that, but really didn't know what that meant. For the first month we were in communication either daily or multiple times a week with a care manager from the actual pump company. We had to keep track of every time Ryan tested, which he needed to do before meals, two hours after meals, before bedtime, and for the first several weeks multiple times during the night. Yes, I felt like I had a new baby. Ryan was such a trooper. When we would test him at night he wouldn't even wake up. The problem has been that his carb ratios and his basal amounts (which is how much insulin he gets spread out over the hour all day long) had to be adjusted all of the time. He was dropping way too low, and some nights that was scary. Other times he was going way too high, which has fear at night as well. We also have been struggling with changing the insulin site every 3 days. It is quite the process, but we are getting it down. The problem is we have to change the area on his body every time. We were trying different areas besides the easy ones (which are the behind and the hips...because they have fat on them). Nothing else worked. It either hurt him or the site didn't work because this kid has NO fat on his body!!
So, long story short (believe it or not, that is the shortened version), it has been a long 6 weeks, but we are coming along. His ratios are seeming to stabilize, but we always have anomaly numbers. That is just the name of the game. Ryan has been such a trooper through all of this. I really think he just loves how much faster it is for him to eat!!