Thursday, 4 August 2011

2.47 weeks of pumping: losing some old friends, and gaining new constant companions


So, I thought about writing a post after one week of pumping, and then after two weeks, but both of those time points whooshed past in a blur. So I’m aiming to do a few short posts between now and next week sometime, to make sure the three week mark doesn’t fly by unnoticed as well.

So first up: Besides the obvious change of having a pump attached to me all the time, and working out where on/in/under my clothes to put it, there’s been another change in what gets carried around with me.

A sample of the basic contents of my bag, pre-pumping:

I present you with: my oversized wallet, lipbalm, sugarfree gum, glucometer, lantus and humalog pens with pouch, and a small supply of sweets incase of low BG (circled).

Basic bag contents, now that I’m on a pump:

Note the absence of my old friends the insulin pens.  Instead, I now have: a log book and pen, spare infusion set and alcohol wipe, spare bottle of test strips, and (circled) the monster load of low BG supplies.

My initial basal rates were a little on the over-enthusiastic side. Which meant the lows were frequent, sneaky and frustrating during the first week or so of pumping. Basal rates have since been tweaked, but as you can see, I may still be a bit paranoid of those lows coming back. At least with all that sugar on me I will be prepared! My paranoia also extends in the other direction, to highs and DKA. So I’m carrying a spare cannula around everywhere. No kinked sets yet, but I’m ready and waiting…

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