From Night-crawler to Nightscouter, a Diabetes Mum’s story, by Lucy Veal-Johnson – Part 2

I met Lucy and her family about a year ago, at an event organised by the local (South Hampshire area) families support group, Seahawks. We’ve spoken quite a bit, through highs, through lows and one day I offered her the chance to tell her story.
Have you already read part 1, Night-crawler to Day-walker?
Here’s part two of a three part story.

A quick introduction to technology

Sienna wearing her first Dexcom G4 sensor

We were quickly introduced to Nightscout early after diagnosis as my best friend had a childhood friend in France and her little one had T1 (small world). We got talking on Facebook first and she told me of how they use this home-made computer like box and link it with a CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) so that they could see her levels on her phone or smartwatch anywhere. She could be at school and you could be doing the weekly shop and see her levels at any given time.
Later on this was to become the beginning of an end for my immense Night-crawling,

A hard smack in the face

Sienna has an awful hypo
One reason why CGM is so useful

Having talked to the Psychologist and Diabetes team about how scared I was of losing Sienna in the night I asked about CGMs (Continuous Glucose Monitors) to be told that we were doing a fab job and didn’t need one.
As encouraging as that was it didn’t help much.
I took it as a hard smack in the face because I felt my fears and the tiredness were all getting too much for me to cope with. I started looking into funding our own Dexcom CGM as a way of seeing her sugars without having to prick her fingers, without disturbing her, without me or us getting out of bed to test her. To give us both that much needed rest.
The CGM would allow a sensor to sit underneath the skin and tests the fluid, which in turn would send her sugar levels to a transmitter, in turn sending it to a handset/receiver.
Nightscout was mentioned to us right from the start of her dx (diagnosis). I had a friend overseas to talk to about how she found it with their little one. She could see her little ones sugars on her smartwatch.

I am not going to wait

Sienna’s xDrip which I built myself

This new found technology was my way forward, I wasn’t waiting, I wanted to feel more settled and to fully be at ease in caring for Sienna but it all seemed a million miles away.
Nightscout was on the cards like a new goal I had to achieve and has now become a big part in how we care for Sienna.
I asked the team again about funding for Sienna and we were told this time that she would be funded by the NHS and that it wouldn’t cost us a penny. (How thankful are we to have an NHS system like this, but also a shame as really it does help more than they think).
But I would feel half lost if we didn’t have Nightscout.
Knowing that she would be funded we set about ordering some parts to build our own xDrip, this was the bridge between Sienna going anywhere without me and me wondering whether she was alright, say at preschool or going to see grandma, nanny and grandad, or friends and not worrying about the what if’s as I can see the what now’s.

Remotely caring for Sienna, together

xDrip fits nicely in a TicTac box

We can all be proactive in caring for Sienna as a family.
Sienna going off to preschool was a big issue for me as I felt that I would be out of control of everything. I felt that if I get it wrong I have only myself to blame, if someone else gets it wrong that would mean so much more. A mother will protect her young!! (but they are all trained in Type 1 and have a care plan).
With Nightscout I can now be sat at home knowing her sugars are fine as I can physically see them on my phone, just as good as the Dexcom, I can now leave her at total ease.
I cannot understand why the Nightscout has not been snapped up on the NHS? It should be. It gives parents that full peace of mind, it gives more than Dexcom can alone.
We waited too long to get funding to make this happen.
Parents, family, friends don’t want to wait, they have as much love for our little one as we do. It has been a massive positive for everyone and they feel more in control it’s the missing link. My advice is look into it, get it sorted, sort the levels and sort the stress that T1 as a whole brings.

Brighter days

Sienna is so brave as all our T1’s are, she makes my world a brighter place to be when I’m in her company and if she can be strong and not let it bother her then so can I. She is going to school in September and I can’t wait to watch her transition into year R and start her school Journey.
Together we will fight the T1 battle everyday but it does get easier and you start seeing the brighter side of things. Situations like how many different or unusual places have you found a used blood strip, how many times have you tried testing the wrong kid or how many times have you disposed of the food wrapper only to delve back into the bin minutes later because you haven’t checked the carbs on the back first.
But if all else fails know that you’re not alone, you really have thousands of friends all going through the exact same thing.
Thanks to all those people that made Nightscout possible for us, you really are something and beyond.