Monday was a busy appointment at ACH for Carter.  We met with Dr. Ho for the first time and reviewed Carter's blood work from last week.

Test result highlights:

a.  His A1C was 16.5 (this is an average of his blood glucose levels from the last three or four months).  Because Carter was only diagnosed 10 weeks ago, the doctor was not surprised that his A1C was very high and said this is typical of new patients.  We hope that we'll have a much nicer number in August!!!


b.  He tested negative for celiac disease (Thank you, Lord).

c.  His thyroid is functioning normally

The doctor talked to us about trying a different kind of long acting insulin called Lantus.  Lantus is given once every 24 hours and gives the body a very low amount of insulin continuously during that time period.  We then move to giving Carter his fast acting insulin after each of his big meals (breakfast, lunch, supper).  Lantus gives us a bit more flexibility as we don't need to limit the number of carbs that Carter eats.  Rather, he is given the required amount of short acting insulin after each meal, based on how many carbs he has eaten.

Charlie also had some testing done.  Because he is Carter's identical twin, his chance of developing Type 1 is significantly higher than a non twin sibling.  The Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation provides free screening to blood relatives of children with Type 1.  Charlie's blood has been sent to the USA and there he will be screened to see if his body is developing the antibodies that fight against the insulin producing cells in the pancreas.  If he is positive, the goal would be to delay the onset of full blown Type 1 for as long as possible.  Statistically, he has 40-50% chance of developing Type 1 (that makes mama's heart skip a few beats).

We have not 'graduated' from the newcomer phase of the Type 1 Parent Program and we are not required to be at ACH until August 25th!