Guinea Pigs
Sometimes I’m in the right place at the right time. A couple months ago the kids and I went to a school district sponsored support group for kids, families, and nurses. At the event they had speakers talking about where technology is headed in the coming months and years with diabetes management. Marshall and the kids already use one of the newest forms of insulin pump: a closed loop system that makes minute adjustments based on blood sugar and insulin on board, and we love it. But it turns out the Barbara Davis Center research team is currently testing out the next generation of this pump, one with tighter algorithms that theoretically lead to tighter blood sugar control. I wanted in.
It’s amazing how someone who hides when the doorbell rings (yes, I do), and will let pretty much every phone call go to voice mail (it’s my struggle, don’t judge), will brazenly walk up to a total stranger if there’s a possibility my kids can feel better and more like a “normal” kid. I introduced myself to the woman in charge of the BDC trial study and introduced my, not one but TWO, potential guinea pigs. She handed me her business card and told me to email her and we’d start the process of trial study enrollment.
I suppose “guinea pig” is a misnomer. It’s not as though they’re testing the safety of the pump on my kids at the risk of their own health. These are simply data collection studies in order to get FDA approval. The kids get to be the first in the world to benefit from this new technology, and in turn we attend multiple appointments, phone calls, FaceTime meetings, and there’s a bit more work to collect blood sugar readings/ketone values/data downloads. It’s an amazing opportunity to live so close to the Barbara Davis Center and all this cutting edge research.
It’s also important for Marshall and I to teach the kids that the Type 1 community is a family that needs to help each other. Often times these studies involve extra blood draws (a high stress event for both kids), a few missed days from school, and other “work” on our part. That’s ok. As a family we volunteer in our school, we collect food for those with food insecurities, we make meals for our neighbors, and we allow our doctors to poke us a few extra times if it means someone can benefit from better care and ideally have that covered by their insurance.
The study will last a few months and during that time we have agreed to perform a few “challenges”; exercise and food challenges are executed in order to collect data on the pump’s ability to regulate insulin dosing and subsequent blood sugar control. We did our first of many meal challenges last week. Check back soon for an update on how that all went down….
