The Supplies...

The many, many supplies....

I'm not sure I realized how many supplies we needed to Savanna's T1D until we were sitting in her hospital room at CHOP and the Nurse Practitioner started writing prescription scripts for all the different supplies.  Even then, I don't think it fully registered until C went to the pharmacy for the first time and came back with bags - yes, plural - of medicines and supplies...FOR ONE MONTH!  (Well, to be fair, the NP wrote the scripts for a little more than we would need for one month so we would never run out, but still!).  I was completely shocked - and not just by the costs (that's a different post), but just by the sheer quantity of what is required to help keep our munchkin safe and healthy. 

Here's a list of everything we need on a DAILY basis for Savanna:

• Glucose Meter
• Test stripes for Glucose Meter
• Pricker thing (that's not the official name, but I'm drawing a blank - haha)
• Lancets for the pricker thing
• Alcohol wipes
• Blood wipers or guaze pads
• Syringes
• Insulin

Each of these things, she uses EVERY time she checks her blood sugars and needs insulin.  Those who know me, know I like things nice, neat, and in a little box - so, I'll admit, the first thing we did when we got home from CHOP was stop at Target for 2 bins for all the medical supplies.   A smaller one for daily use and a larger one for all the extra medical supplies. 

Here are some pictures of all the medical supplies in the smaller, everyday use bin:

And, here are our the supplies we keep in the "extra medical supplies" bin:

It still surprises me each month when I leave CVS with bags of supplies - and when we hit the end of what we have each month..."Did we really go through 150 syringes in 1 month?!".  Looking back over the last year,  I think we've used:

• 24 vials of insulin (12 of each kind)
• About 1800 syringes
• About 1800 lancets
• About 1800 test strips
• At least 6 or 7 boxes of alcohol wipes

 Lots and lots of supplies - BUT, it keeps Savanna healthy, so every single syringe, lancet, insulin vial, and test strip is worth it!

On another, brief note, November is American Diabetes Awareness Month.  Here are some diabetes facts from the American Diabetes Association website:

• Nearly 26 million children and adults in the United States have diabetes.
• Another 79 million Americans have prediabetes and are at risk for developing type 2 diabetes.
• The American Diabetes Association estimates that the total national cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States is $174 billion.

You can help support the JDRF and the Cure of Type 1 Diabetes by donating to our JDRF Walk on May 5th, 2013.  Savanna has a personal page here.

Thanks for reading!  XOXO