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Pump report: 48 hours later

So the Big Day was this past Tuesday. I spent Monday night wide-eyed and trying to fall asleep - with very little success - so I met the waaaay-early wakeup call for the trip to the center with a lot of grunts and desperate clutching of my coffee during the subway ride uptown. Glutton of punishment that he is, B went with me. We arrived with very little fanfare, and the CDE asked if I was okay with an coworker observing who'd never seen a pump start before. Sure! Who wouldn't mind a complete stranger tagging along for a day sure to include a spaz-out from yours truly?

The four of us spent the next 90 minutes going over (painfully and painstakingly) stuff I'd already learned through all of my pump preparation. It got interesting, of course, when the hands-on stuff started. I am proud to report I inserted my first set perfectly. And without crying.

It has been 48 hours of some serious adjustment:

I have forgotten to hit ACT for that final okay to bolus about a dozen times.

Me: "Why isn't that showing up in my bolus log?! I know I did insulin! [Hours later....] Oh. I think I forgot to hit the button again once the dose started flashing. D'oh."

I have forgotten to do my actual insulin (the D-brain does the math, assumes everything's accounted for, and its job is done. Insulin is not injected twice, so it can't be blamed I think). I have forgotten it's attached, and gotten caught in the tubing while tossing something on the chair. I have done a second insertion to replace the set I was SURE I'd messed up by the resulting yank on it. (I didn't mess it up. It just hurt. From yanking. Unsurprisingly.) I have pulled the tubing off doorknobs and out of our kitten's mouth. I have had to relearn trips to the bathroom and how to sleep with something hanging off me by a cord. I have become the proud owner of baby socks and five more tank tops with bras built-in (aka my new "pajamas").

In all, it is both better than and just as awful as I'd expected. Relearning how to handle D - a HUGE part of any T1's life - makes your brain explode a little. Everyone keeps telling me that I'll adjust, it takes time, blah blah blah. And they're right. But I still want to smack them. I'm sure it takes time to adjust to being blind or losing a leg, too, but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck to have to deal with either of those things.

I "go live" the morning of September 8th. I imagine that's when this will all get a little more exciting. I can't wait to be able to correct for a 135 BG! Mathy, nerdy excitement...
Posted by Karen Hoffman at 7:33 AM Labels: D equipment, diabetes, Minimed pump, T1


