<p>My S is a T1 diabetic and just finished his first semester. Best piece of advice I can offer is this: Make sure your child has a local doctor (or good communication set up with the home dr.) I asked S to make contact with an endocrinology practice in his college town his first month at school. He wasn’t thrilled with my demand at the time, but then a couple of months later, when his BG numbers were swinging all over the place, it paid off. He had a local diabetes team he could reach out to and work on solutions with. No long distance issues, etc. It’s helped him to be healthier and also more independent, since this is a practice with which he has the primary relationship (as opposed to his home doc, who essentially reports to me.) </p>
<p>I asked S if he had any words of wisdom for me to post here. He said: Carb counting in a college cafeteria is harder than it looks! I pass that on for what’s it’s worth ;)</p>
<p>Thanks Everyone. All sound advice. In general we have always had friends understand what signs to look for and how to react if needed, thankfully only needed once. She always carries supplies in case she runs low. I hope she is responsible. A local Dr. may make sense. As of right now it looks like she will end up approximatley 1.5 hours from home although we are still waiting to hear from a few schools. We are in CT and her current Endocrine Group is Yale, they have proposed a weekly check-in for her which would be good if she does it. As soon as she selects a school and we place deposits I will schedule an appointment with the Disability office. If it were up to D no one would know and it would be kept quiet but that is not reasonable.</p>
<p>Tmknies, you might want to pass on to your D: My S says everyone he’s spoken to regarding his diabetes has been supportive. He fielded a few inquiries in the first week of school when people wondered what he was doing when he tested before meals. (And one funny moment when someone mistook his insulin pump for a vintage pager.) But nobody makes a big deal out of it.</p>
<p>13thFloor-great suggestion. We were just at my son’s endo appointment today and I was expressing my concerns about college. (My son’s a HS junior) He said, “I don’t say this to everyone, you know that. XXX will be fine in college.” Can I just say I love our endo? He spent about 45 minutes with us today going over settings and changes since my son switched to the new Omnipod.</p>
<p>What was really interesting is that he works with kids with cancer and endocrine issues and my son said how much worse it must be for a child with cancer than diabetes. His response: “When they’re going through treatment, it’s horrible, but when they’re in remission, wham, it’s all clear (I guess some of the cancers have a 90% cure rate). When I have to tell a family that their child has diabetes and, unless we find a cure, they’re going to have to deal with it every day forever, well, it’s just so difficult.”</p>
<p>Tough disease-great to have support. I sure hope my son can find a great local endo if he goes away to college. And yes, I am sure counting carbs in cafeteria food is hard!</p>
<p>Yea, we got our kids who have a different chronic disease docs at their U, but they both refused to have any follow up with the docs until D crashed and burned, taking her grades down with her in the term she was supposed to have graduated in. Thereafter, we frantically tried to help her connect with the doc I had found her 3 years prior but she had never bothered to see. He helped make sure she was able to have the stamina to get her bachelor’s degree and also referred her to an invaluable doc that she’s seeing now.</p>
<p>It can be hard to get our kids to do what we wish they would, but if we help them know what resources are available and do what we can to connect them to the resources, sometimes we have to wait for them to reach out. Am glad D is finally reaching out. Phew!</p>
<p>@compmom, No grad school discussions yet, but S has announced he wants to go on a spring break trip with his sport team pals in March. I’m practicing my soothing meditation mantras for that week…</p>
<p>compmom, S1 had talked about doing a semester overseas but when he was diagnosed his freshman year, that went out the window. However, he did go for 3 weeks to visit a friend in Germany last May. I was nervous, but he had been stable for 1-1/2 years, and he was 20. I made him get a letter from his endo to go through security and had extra supplies (for his pump and needles) just in case. All went well, except for the fact S1 went to Germany and being met at the train by his friends, his buddies and open bottles of beer. (I don’t think he drank before then…) Grad school overseas would make me a little nervous but people are being treated for Type 1 all over the world.</p>
<p>Unfortunately she also has some other health conditions too, that can be dangerous and also impair her judgment. I have practice watching her fly off in times of high anxiety. We do think it’s okay. But it sure is tough at times.</p>
<p>Last week, when we were talking about this, her pump malfunctioned and she called me for help. At each juncture, we have to think about what she would do if I were not within driving distance, let alone across the ocean! We are going to investigate an extra pump…</p>
<p>I remember the first time she went on a school field trip by herself. It seemed amazing! I could never imagine the next step, each step along the way (she was diagnosed at 4) but here we are!</p>
<p>No matter how old they get, we still worry. And when our kids have health problems, we worry even more. Compmom I don’t know how far grad school is in the distance, but when the time comes, I am sure you and she can have a better idea whether she can handle her condition so far away.</p>
<p>Compmom, we are always able to get a loaner pump from the pump company when we leave the country. Luckily we have never needed to use it but it has been nice to have as backup. One recommendation is to set up all the basal patterns and insulin to carb ratios on the backup pump or have them written down. If main pump fails you can’t access the info easily.</p>
<p>Yes, current pump begins with M but previous pump did not and we were able to get a loaner also. Since the term will be so long there might be an option to purchase a used or older model as a permanent back-up. My D has not even started college yet but wants to study abroad for a semester so we will have similar issues.</p>
<p>My DH is Type 1. I have a daughter who just finished college.</p>
<p>I would recommend for her to register with the disabilities office, just so she is on their radar. Your DD will probably say “Why? I don’t need accomodations” and she is probably right if all goes well. But as we all know, things don’t always go well so having it on record that she has a medical issue will help when she needs some accomodation. Also, probably right now her diabetes is in pretty good control and probably right now that is because you are checking on her. Once she is the only one monitoring herself the control may be not as good. </p>
<p>I would suggest having a roommate. It would be better for another person to see her regularly to be able to note if things are out of sort. Don’t worry about her changing her pump in front of the roommate…they will get used to that very fast.<br>
You should talk to the roommate and let them know what you notice when DD is very low or very high…what are the symptoms? I.e., when she is low she is lethargic, indecisive or when she is high she gets a headache. Then based on the roommates comfort level she could offer juice to your daughter (if she suspects a low) or just go get a RA. </p>
<p>Also consider having your daughter take full care of her diabetes starting now so she can get used to it.</p>
<p>Bopper this may have worked for you, but personally, I would never ever talk to a roommate about my daughter’s health issues. Once they are in college, it is truly up to them. As I said, my daughter chose not to tell her roommate about glucagon (her diabetes is obvious and she matter of factly answers questions if asked) or involve any of her roommates in her health at all. That may have made things more stressful for me in some ways, but I can see her point of view and it really may not be reasonable to put that kind of responsiblity on another young person who is dealing with college him or herself. Others may disagree and every kid is different.</p>
<p>if you were to tell the roommate, checking with your daughter first and then casually bringing it up during move in might work. Personally I think it only in DD’s best interest that the roommate know that her drunken-seeming behavior is perhaps from a health issue and not from drinking. You could just say for them to alert the RA if they see anything wacky and DD is not responding normally.</p>
<p>My son listened to about 1/3 of the webinar and said he didn’t find it particularly helpful, though he did say he learned some things. You never know, kj; your son might learn something even if he says he won’t listen/read what you send him.</p>