When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks.

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AZJenks

AZJenks

Member Since 2014
It feels like all of my training has led to this day, the day when everything that could've gone wrong actually did go wrong. It was quite literally the perfect storm. Outside, that storm knocked the power out for 12 hours. Inside, that storm involved no refrigeration (putting the insulin in jeopardy), no computer access, no light, and a rascally cat who chose this of all nights to go low. But.....

I saved the insulin from no refrigeration because we had a plan for that.

I confidently dealt with low numbers without a computer because I heeded the early advice to print out the important links and keep them in the hypo toolbox.

And on top of it all, I had a hot, sweaty, dark pajama party with Jenks and the civvies, which involved having to test, draw insulin, shoot, and test some more alone and in the pitch black while managing ears, a needle, a meter, and a squirmy cat with only two hands and a flashlight in my mouth!

In short, it put all of my FDMB training to the test. And I'm proud to say that I passed! So thanks to all of the awesome caregivers on here who adequately prepared me for this sort of day. To anyone else reading -- please take your contingency planning seriously! You may not need it today, or any time soon, but when that day comes (and it will, as it did here), you'll be thankful that you did.
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

Great job!!!!

I just had this happen a few weeks ago and it isn't fun. It's a really challenge so big kudos to you that you were prepared!

Thanks for sharing the lesson with everyone.....especially newer members who maybe haven't made it a priority to get their folder ready with important information.

Glad things are back to normal.
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

Thanks! Preparation was key to managing what otherwise would've been a scary night. In the past, I would've freaked out over numbers like that. Now, I was able to simply recognize that, but for the dark, this was like any other day and I just needed to closely monitor the numbers and steer them if necessary. And I had all of the tools at the ready to do just that. So my actual response was calm, cool, and collected.

I just hoped that my brief story would emphasize how important it is to keep an offline folder handy and to just be generally familiar with the protocols and how to react to different numbers. I credit this board for allowing me less OMG moments and more "OK cat, here's how it's gonna be" ones.
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

For staying calm, cool and collected during a crisis, we hereby award to you this

th


Award!!
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

haha I love it! I shall wear it with pride.
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

Excellent! Love this post. Been there once or twice too, sometime ago. It isn't fun, but as you say - thanks to all here for training me well.
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

Great work under pressure. What was the plan for saving the insulin ?
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

Kudos to you and I have the same question that Catherine has. I know an ice pack must be part of the plan but I also know you don't want to freeze the insulin.
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

When our electricity was out for almost a day a few weeks ago, I put a couple of very hard frozen ice packs, that we always keep in the garage freezer, in the cheese drawer near to but not touching the insulin. And then we didn't open the frig unless we absolutely had to and we def didn't open the cheese drawer except to get the insulin out at shot time. I keep a frig thermometer right next to the insulin and I normally keep the temp at 40 degrees. The highest it got was to 42 degrees.

I'd love to hear of any other method.
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

Like Marje already mentioned, those ubiquitous cold gel packs saved the day. I kept a couple in the lowest part of the fridge, and also some frozen in the freezer. I wrapped them all in some thin tea towels to prevent direct contact with the pen. I set the pen on the cold (but not frozen) ones from the fridge, and surrounded those with the frozen ones. Beyond that, I didn't open to fridge for the rest of the night. When power was restored, I checked the pen, and it was still nice and cool.

Had that not worked, the nearby hotel at which other human stayed the night had a mini-fridge in the room. So the alternate plan was to use that if necessary.
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

Thank you for the information. It is a good idea to keep some ice packs on hands. Thank you for your ideas :cool:
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

A Frio wallet will keep your insulin at a safe temperature using just water. It won't keep it as cold as freezer blocks in a cold chest, but it will keep it safe. If you should have a long power outage, this could be a life-saver.
http://coolerconcept.com/

Ella & Rusty
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

I saw those as I was just researching other methods of keeping insulin cool. Managing insulin during an emergency (power outage or otherwise) is an important topic. I think the mods should consider a sticky post for it where everyone can contribute useful ideas on keeping it cool and safe.
 
Re: When it rains, it pours - a cautionary tale by Mr. Jenks

When we were without power for 5.5 days after Hurricane Sandy, we had no choice but to leave Trix's insulin out during that time....there was no ice or any means of cooling to be found anywhere. We had a pen, and although leaving it out for that long isn't ideal, I do think it's important to not panic as well. I've seen a number of new folks be very upset when they realize their insulin has been left out for just a few hours (or less). During a power outage, there are so many other things to stress about (shooting and testing in the dark is no fun!) as it is, so don't forget that the insulin can take being out/non-refrigerated for a short time.

With that said, since we knew a power outage was inevitable, we froze several Ziploc gallon bags of water before Sandy hit. While they weren't enough to produce true refrigeration, they did help keep things cool enough that we didn't have to toss every single thing that was in the fridge. If you live in an area prone to power outages, keeping frozen bags of water in your freezer is a decent back up plan.
 
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