My Life with the Pump

Been a while

2008-03-18T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hi

I know that is has been while that I have posted anything. Now that things are slowing down I hope that I can pick this up again. I am not much of a writer but am trying here.

I am glad that I am now pumping and do not have to remember to give myself shots .
This really helped back in Jan when my dad passed away. My wife and her two sisters and three friends went on a week long cruise and I took a weeks vacation to take care of the kids for the week. They left on a sat and he past away on the following Monday. Also my brother and his family were out of town that week. So it was just my mom and I to handle all the stuff that needs to be done at a time like that. Luckily we had a long time friend to help us. Yes there was times that I forgot to bolus but at least I was getting a steady stream insulin during that time.

Also had a changed in job assignments. I work for one of the big three automakers. Over the past few years with plant closing and trimming the number of people that is needed to work and repair the machinery in the factories is getting smaller and smaller. So in Oct of 2007 I we bumped out of my job and was sent to a place to sit and collect my paycheck every week.
Then in Feb we were told to stay at home and receive 85% of our pay. So now you can call me Mr Mom and yes I do drive a mini van. So that is another change in my life but I feel that by the end of the summer I will be back to work.

Speaking of summer we are working on what to do for vacation this summer. We may go to Germany and see family or a road trip not sure.

Sat will be my first flight with my pump. We are going to a conference for the wife in Minn, MN.
Yes I know who wants to go MN in March? But is will be a week without the kids. I have been looking to see what to do and what to see while the wife is at her thing. One place that I plan on going is the Mall of America. I have some other places that sound interesting to see.

Pumping is going good for me, I like it better than have to stick my self 5 times a day. All that I really need to work on now is eating better and losing some weight. I have found that if I eat low carb meals my bs stay at a lower lever near normal for most.

With less then ten years until I retire from my current job I have been thinking about my next carrier. I will be 50 if I go at 30 years and the way things look in the auto industry I really do not want to stay there very long. So i have been thinking of going back to school and getting a degree in nutrition then become a Certified Diabetic Educator. Then after doing that for a time work on setting up a long weekend diabetic camp for adults. The reason for this is because the places that I have found for adults is out of my budget. This way maybe I can help some people get better control in a fun setting like the camps for kids. But this is down the road and something to shoot for.

I still need to figure this blogging stuff out so hopefully it will not be as long between post.

Starting the Pump

2007-11-27T08:48:00.000-08:00

Hi
Been a little busy lately with the holidays here and other stuff.
On Nov 15 I started pumping. The following steps are what I had to do to start.
The night before I did not take my last shot of Levemir and did not have my bed time snake.
My trainer wanted me to start with fasting bs to see where I was at.
When I got up in the morning I checked my bs to make sure that I would not go low on the drive into the Docs office. With me I had to bring pump, supplies, insulin, lunch, meter, and something to keep me occupied while I was there for about 5 hours.

First thing was to check my BS, then set up the pump, after that load the pump.
I did all that with the trainer watching to make sure that I did it right.
Now the fun began, insert the infusion set and start.
Over the next three hours checked the blood to make sure everything was in working order and it was.

Now lunch time. My pump has the ez carb feature which is nice. On that screen I put in the amount of carbs I am going to be eating, then what my bs is. The pump then calculates how much insulin to take, that number is put in manually push ok and then it goes in.

I have started with a base line for my basal rate and will adjust that as needed. It is stared low so we can creep up on the final rate for me.

Some of the info that is put in the pump during set up it, insulin to carb ratio, what your normal bs should be, max basal and bolus rates should be.

so far it has been nice not to worry about taking my shots and carrying around all that stuff.
Now when we go out I just put my meter in my coat pocket and I am ready to go.

I did pick up a bodyglove universal cell phone holster that fits the pump nicely. I like that better than the case that came with it. It has a swivel clip and a clear front. All that I have to be careful of is not touching any buttons when I am bolusing that stops the pump.

later

Bob

Training Day

2007-10-16T08:52:00.000-07:00

Had my first day of training on the pump. So far so good. I left wearing it filled with saline to play with it and get use to wearing the pump. Its a little different to have the thing on for 24 hours. Did ok sleeping with it but will have to take some getting use to.

I like the ez carb feature now just to remember all the steps for everything that I have to do.

Along with starting the pump I have switched shifts at work. I am now sitting around on day shift, after years on second. Less active that I was. So now have to change my eating habits along with eating.

Hope fully in a week or two I will start with Insulin. Have to get the doctors ok for that .

Its Here

2007-10-01T17:08:00.000-07:00

I received my pump on Sept 20th. I decided on going with the blue. Have checked it out and it works so far as I can tell. It is real easy to scroll through the menus. Still do not have the EZ manger software yet, note in the box said that it should be shipped in 4 to 6 weeks. So that will be nice to have something new to play with.

Right now I have been reviewing the DVD and the manual that came with the pump. Everything seems straight forward to program and set up.

On the 9th of Oct I go in for my first session for training. Should go good I hope.
After I learn how to program the pump and we figured out the my profile should be then we fill it with saline solution and I go through and show that I can operate the pump.

Then I go in for a day and we start the real stuff to see how I do. I know that I have a long way to go to get everything set right.

More in a couple weeks.

Bob

Good News

2007-09-17T17:58:00.000-07:00

After playing phone tag with the reps at Animas last Friday, I did receive a call saying that I am approved for the pump and it will be shipped this week. Should get it Thur so will have something to play with this weekend.

Blood Test

2007-09-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

Well after 2 failed attempts to make it through the night for a fasting BS. I finally dropped the amount of Levemir that I take at night and did make it through to morning.

Now to give them a call next week if I do not hear anything by the end of the week to see what I have to do next.

I know that this is off to a slow start but after I get the pump and get started I am sure I will be posting more.

Update

2007-08-24T16:53:00.000-07:00

After not hearing from Animas for a little bit I decided to call and find out what was going on. I was told that I needed to get a couple more blood test and send them in. So my doc office is sending me the paper for the lab work.

After they get the blood work I should have my pump shortly after that.

The lab they need is a fasting Blood sugar and a c-peptide.

As I find out more will post again

Bob

About me

2007-08-13T17:14:00.002-07:00

HI

A little about myself. I have been a type 2 diabetic for going on about 15 years now. After going from doctor to doctor for years I now have a good one that is part of a Diabetic center.

When I was first diagnosed I did not have the support or get the education that I needed to help me out. Now I know better but have been lucky and have not had any major complications so far.

Right now I am taking 5 shots a day. 2 of Levemir and 3 of Humalog at meal time. But sometimes life gets in the way and I do not take them like I should.

So that leads me to getting an insulin pump. After some research I have chose the Animas 2020.
It is the latest one from the company, two of the reasons that I choose that one is because its is waterproof and the color screen will make it easy to read.

I turned in the paper work for it and am now waiting for the pump. On August 18 I did receive my work book and have been going through learning what I can about what information to that is needed to help you program the pump. I also have purchased the book Pumping Insulin by John Walsh. This is highly recommend by several members of the Yahoo group Insulin Pump users. The group is a wonderful group of people that have many years of experience pumping.

My goal with this blog is to let others know what one may go through when using an insulin pump and also to help work through any feelings or issues that may arise in this process.