But THANK YOU to all you wonderful people who commented and whoever reposted on Twitter! I can't thank you enough.
So here is the update, since I know I haven't posted in awhile, but work has been crazy busy with some new software going live.
Insulin pump is still going great, I def don't miss multiple daily injections! My nurse I can't stand, and my BG's have went from great to not good.
To start, I do realize that finding that sweet spot is trial and error, and is going to take some getting use to, but there is also the fact that I have sleep related issues and I work days, afternoons, and sometime an occasional midnight shift. I feel that testing 4 times is great, but when my nurse is basically yelling at me like a child because I am not testing at 7 am, noon, dinner, bedtime, and then the occasional 3 am, I get a little irritated. I don't know what to tell her, setting my alarm for the 3 am and 7 am just isn't working, I am either passed out with meds, or I won't go back to sleep, and it is affecting my work. There has even been a time when I woke up at my normal time to see the BG machine sitting out, I had attempted, but fell asleep before I poked, lol! I tried explaining to her that with an afternoon shift I am testing just as much, but you have to shift the times, but it is to no end. She also made a bunch of adjustments right before I was covering someone for midnight shifts, so the results weren't going to be accurate, because I would be sleeping during the day, but she did them anyways. So yes I am taking a little time to vent here, sorry you all had to sit through it! So because of all of this, my bloods went from never being over 200, to barely being under 200, again. Same prob before the pump. So here is to another week of trying to wake up and test!
The other hard thing I am coping with is eating. I heard that the pump made it so you didn't have the restriction of eating at certain times, gave some freedom. I am finding this to be just the opposite. I am being told that I have to eat at strict times, breakfast, lunch, dinner. I am not a 3 meal a day girl, I am a 2 meal a day girl and a snack. And those times are random, depending on my shift at work, or if it is my day off. So I was just wondering what others have been told about this, with pumping?
It also just so happens that I changed my infusion set today, here at work. Hope you all feel great that I went and read all the comments over again before changing, lol! This time I went back to my upper thigh area. I was avoiding it for awhile, because it had hurt, but this time, I didn't even feel it go in. And this way I get to stay on the left side of my body longer. I am still uncomfortable with sleeping on the site. I can do it when I am not thinking about it, but as soon as it pops in my head, I think I can feel some pain, even though I can't, but it bothers me enough that I will roll over. I also don't like putting a lot of pressure on it, because I have noticed when taking it out, it has pinched my skin, and make things uncomfortable for a length of time.
So now my question for the day is, how many sites can you get out of your upper thigh/hip before you have to move to another area. Ballpark obviously, since we are all different shapes. I know that I can get more than 5. But I am still so unsure of where and where not, and my nurse at the diabetes center was not much help on the matter. I tried to google better pics of infusion sites since the good ole medtronic ones aren't the greatest, but there isn't much out there, and not much that is trust worthy, I found a site where a woman connected to her breast! Hey-Yo! I don't think so...EVER! It was awful!
Other than that I am doing good, I am sticking to my good old carb counting, doing what I have for these long 18 years (in October!) I am just really stuck on the where, not so much the how.
So after this looooong winded post, I will sum it up with a huge THANK YOU again to all who took the time and effort to help out a stranger. It is much appreciated.
Twitter is: NvisibleReality
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I'm lucky if I eat three regular meals a day. But that's just me. Pumping is supposed to give you freedom, but we're still supposed eat healthy, take our vitamins, and get exercise. But by no means does healthy mean at the same time everyday or skipping dessert for a special evening out. Pumping gives you flexibility, not a free pass to eat nothing but Hostess snacks all day.
ReplyDeleteI learn something new at every visit with my endo. @ my last appointment, she told me to check whether my boluses were half my daily totals, which is apparently another way to check if your basals are set right and to make sure you're not forgetting to bolus (which I do more often than I care to admit).
Stick with it sister! Once you get your basal rates set the way your body and your schedule needs them, you can operate on whatever schedule you want to.
ReplyDeleteHave you ever seen/heard of the book "Pumping Insulin" by John Walsh? If not, think about checking it out. It's a really good book about getting everything dialed in.
Sounds like your nurse sucks. I know it's easy to say, and hard to do, and I've not followed my own advice here...BUT she works FOR you. If she's not a good match, dump her and find someone new. You don't have to put up with being treated poorly, assuming you're trying your best to do everything. It's hard though - making changes in your health care team is a LOT of work and can be scary.
Hang in there - you can do this!
I was excited to see you're from here! It's always great to connect with another Minnesotan! :-)