Corporate Chairperson 2006 Americas Walk for Diabetes

Yes, I have volunteered again as the chair for the 2006 walk, so the train is now rolling. I've already set up my team for the 2006 walk scheduled October 1st. My personal page can be accessed here

We've already had two meetings, and the committee is every bit as motivated as they were last year. I've started out much earlier this year with contacting local businesses with information about how they can jump in and help out, sponsor individual walkers, or sponsor the walk itself in some form or fashion.

here are some of the steps I outlined in my open letter:

1. Route signage: place your business name on one or more signs that will map out the course of the walk.


2. Display tables: your business can lease space for a table to display your products at the registration area of the walk.


3. Prize giveaways: your business can give away goods or services to walkers that achieve a milestone, or are top in their category, i.e. a free membership at a fitness center for the top dollar earner, or perhaps a gift certificate to the captain of the team with the most members.


4. Donate: pick a team, or member of a team, and sponsor them. We can also use refreshments, and other goodies at the walk.


5. Sell Items: we can get you stars to post on the wall, gel bracelets, or magnet ribbons to sell. The proceeds can go back to the coordinators of the walk, a team, or team member.


6. Volunteer: we can always use more people on the planning committee, and of course we'll need people to help out with the walk. There are plenty of jobs to fill!


7. Form a team: make your company shine proud with a handsome traveling trophy hanging on your wall for being the top team in a number of various categories.

I'm always open for suggestions on things any of you out there have done at any events in which you've been involved. The more effort we throw at this nasty disease, the sooner we'll find a cure!

I should be sleeping...

But instead I'm waiting up late to do a retest. There is no logical rhyme or reason in my mind that lets me understand why I'm waiting up late.

After our sequence of lows last week, we adjusted Tori's NPH down by .5 units per dose, or 1 unit per day. We started on Friday, and by lunchtime she was into the 300's. She has been in the 300's all day and night ever since. Well, with the exception of Friday overnight when she was 54 at 2am, 75 at the retest, and 183 at the third retest. Saturday we were high 200's to mid 300's, with a 344 on the overnight.

Today we continued the highs, and at the evening shot we cautioned on the dosage, going with the lower than recommended dosage, and yet somehow we just got an 83 before we went to bed. This was an unscheduled test to guage whether we would need to do another overnight test, so obviously I'll be back up in another two hours to do a 2am test following the results of this retest...

151, I'm going to get some sleep now.

aargh!

1/19/2006

11:10 am, my cell phone rings, it's Tori's teacher at daycare...

"Hi, Tori was just laying around, complaining about feeling tired, and her face was flushed, so we decided to test," she says.

"Ok... What was her number?"

"She was 104, we know that's a good number, but we're going to take her temperature. Is there anything else you want us to do?"

"Given that she was 38 yesterday at lunch, I'm wondering whether she's headed down, or rebounding from already being down. Why don't you test her again in fifteen minutes, and let's see which way she goes," I instructed.

"Ok, I'll call you back after we test"

Fifteen minutes passed. The cell rang again, she had dropped down to 60, and they had given her three glucose tablets. After a brief discussion, we concluded with the agreement that she would only call if Tori continued to go down.

Another fifteen minutes passed, and yep, you guessed it, the phone rang once again. She had continued to drop and was reading 38! They had given her another 3 glucose tabs, and wanted to know what else to do. I instructed them to keep a close eye on her, and told them I would consult with Kristina and get back to them. Kristina and I discussed contacting Riley's about altering the NPH dosage. We decided there wasn't really anything more we could instruct daycare beyond wait and test again.

I called them back to find out her number had gone up to 128. Whew! We're out of the hole for now.

Fast forward to 2:30 am, we've reduced the evening NPH and need to test Tori overnight for the next three nights. She rings in at 86, technically not low, but at this time of night she should be in the 120-130 range to make it all night. One juice box and fifteen minutes later, we're back up to 114; I'll take it!