My Little Friend & I

March 10, 2014 ~ JodiLea

A few weeks ago I introduced ‘my little friend‘ to the world.

It was my fault that we got off to a dodgy start. Between my ignorance and nervousness, our relationship was strained. Today I’m happy to report that the ‘bugs’ in our friendship seem to be worked out. After all, practice does make perfect, or at least comfortable.

For my beloved readers who are following the “Insulin Pump Series”, I will post about this journey now and then, to keep you in the loop about my new ‘remote controlled’ life. Or however you think of it. Lord knows my family has their own way of referring to this change: The Pod person. The adventures of Robo-Grandma. My youngest granddaughter has trouble remembering the word “Pod”. She calls it a “boob”. And she likes to pat it, as if it’s a pet, instead of a medical device. (She’s so sweet, I can hardly stand it! But I digress…)

Today’s report is short and sweet. 🙂

It used to take me 30-minutes to do the Pod change because I would verify everything in the User Guide, before doing it. Since I change Pods every 3-days, I have done it 7 times now, twice without the Guide! The “remote” (its official name is “Personal Diabetes Manager” or “PDM”, but that’s boring), takes you step-by-step through the process. Although there are a lot of steps, they become easier every time I do them. I don’t dread Pod change day like I did at first.

Y’all have a fabulous week & thanks for listening!

Day’s Two & Three: Graduation & Reality

February 21, 2014 ~ JodiLea ~ 1 Comment

Yesterday, I graduated!!
My doctor sent me off with her blessings, after I completed the last class. It was exhausting. So much information, tips and rules to learn. I can call Maureen or my doctor’s office if things come up, but I HATE to do that. Not because I’m afraid to bother them, but because I am stubborn and prideful.

If my blood sugars stay high after walking and a lunchtime bonus insulin, I need to call Maureen and find out if I should increase my hourly dose. I was running low yesterday and it was decreased. Now I’m high (Oh, how I wish!). The last couple hours of scrubbing floors should warrant as exercise, as well as this morning’s walk. Right?

Apparently yes.

Wow. my BS (take that any way you like), is now 113. A good BS to have, but not when you still have 3-units of insulin on board. Since I did the math and the pump matched it, everything should be cool. The problem here is that I am human and how bodies work varies. Today, mine put off using the exercise factor until hours later than normal. Now I must call Maureen and ask her if I need to stop my hourly insulin, while the other gets out of my system.

:-{ Dammit!

P.S. Maureen said “yes” stop it for 1/2 hour if I was low again. But I was not. And here I was starting to look forward to that cupcake…

Day One: Going Live

February 19, 2014 ~ JodiLea ~ 1 Comment

Well, class this morning was early. Unlike most morning classes I had when I was a full-time student, this class was exciting. Maureen, the trainer, is friendly, and easy going. Even though the subject is life & death serious, we had fun while I learned some things I hadn’t before. And I have dealt with diabetes for 9-years. It is a complicated chronic disease.

Because I was her only student and the training center is a 2-hour drive away, and Maureen lived closer to us, we had today’s class at home. I’m so glad we arranged this because I was nervous enough about going ‘live’ with insulin without a 2-hour drive and a strange place. I did really well and my blood sugar is spot-on (so far).

The only issue I had during the practice phase was my nemesis the syringe. And guess what? I was not doing something I knew how to do with normal syringes – priming them. You need to push up and down with the plunger a few times before attempting to insert air/draw out insulin. This loosens up the plunger. Besides feeling like an idiot, I was so happy that it was an easy issue to fix.

Tomorrow’s class will have to be at the facility because I need to meet with my doctor afterwards, to go over my log book and make any corrections to my dose, if necessary.

Meanwhile… the rest of the afternoon/evening/bedtime I must test my blood sugar every 1-2 hours, and from midnight to 6:00am I must get out of bed three times to test as well. If my fingers don’t hate me now, they will after 2-days of this! I get to taper off some, but not much for the first couple months.

Now I am officially “on the pump”. The only insulin I am getting is via the little Pod attached to my abdomen. The Pod is my pancreas, and it is remote-controlled. My granddaughter’s are fascinated, especially the (almost) 4-year old. She wanted to look at the Pod, and constantly touch it. She calls it “grandma’s boob”.

🙂 This thing will take some getting used to, for everyone…