Ta daaaaa  . . .

Finally! I gave in and said YES to the pump. My endocrinologist gave me the booklet and contact information for the Medtronic people and told me to contact them to get set up with a pump. They were very quick to respond. I called them on Tuesday, 9/25 and had my training class and got hooked up on Friday, 10/12/2012.

The first two nights were a little dicey while I figured it all out and tried to keep my glucose levels above 50. In the past, I've always estimated my meals at their fullest and then caught up on my sugar later, which has gotten me into some trouble with dropping sugar. The nice thing about the pump is that I can estimate the food on the low side and then if I eat more, I can just do a small bolus to cover that and it doesn't mean an extra shot. Problem solved!

The insulin pump clips onto my belt, in my pocket, on my blouse neckline, etc. It has a reservoir that I insert the insulin into and then insert the reservoir into the pump. The thin tubing that I attach to the reservoir has a catheter with a needle on the end of it. After I prime the tubing, I load the catheter/needle into an adaptor and set it against my skin. When I squeeze the buttons, the whole catheter/needle injects into my tummy area and then I pull the needle out, leaving the catheter behind. I let the pump know that it's inserted and it puts a couple of miniscule drops in to clear the catheter. All set!

I was surprised at how much an insulin pump can do for you. I have the purple mini-med, which is great. It's about the size of a pager. It came with a Bayer Contour usb glucose monitor, which plugs straight into your computer and wirelessly connects with the pump. When I first set it up, I told it what I wanted my low glucose readings before and after meals to be and what my highest glucose reading before and after meals should be. I also programmed it to give me a unit for every 15 grams of carbs that I eat and a unit for every 30 that my glucose is over my high. When it's time to eat . . .

• I test my glucose
• the monitor sends the results to the pump
• I accept the results into the pump 
• I tell the pump how many carbs I am going to eat
• the pump decides how much insulin to give me depending on how high or low my sugar is, how many carbs I'm going to eat and how much insulin is still working in my system
• I confirm the amount of insulin
• the pump dispenses the insulin (very slowly)

So far my biggest challenges are:

•   How to hold my pump when I use the restroom and have to drop my pants. The first time I did this I nearly ripped it out of my tummy because the tubing isn't long enough to go all the way to my knees (lol)
• Keeping my cats from playing with the tubing when it's exposed from under my shirt, or laying on the bed while I'm getting dressed
• Where to put it when I sleep (I hate pajamas)
• How to get another Bayer monitor so I can have one in my purse and one in my room
• Remembering when to change out the tubing (every three days)

The tubing, catheter and reservoir are supposed to be changed out every three days. To make it easier on myself, I am going 3.5 days. This way, I've been able to set two alarms on my phone. Every Monday morning at 7am and every Thursday evening at 8pm an alarm goes off on my phone to tell me to change my tubing. Hopefully, this pattern will be easy for me to remember and I'll keep it straight.

More later!