So, this post-concussive thing isn't working out too good around here. I am finding Joe even more "work" as I am trying to keep him from tripping, careening, falling, or flying to the ground to smash his already damaged melon into the asphalt, dirt, wood chips... pick your poison... it is all dangerous to a concussed cranium.
As his body has slowed, interesting things have been discussed and divulged as his thoughts have time to stew. The discussions are particularly titillating on "Oscar's Business Walks".
During the "Business Strolls"...
Joe counts how many times he "marks", "squirts" (what is the difference?), and "pees", and well you know ... does the "big business". As we walk Joe continues to keep track and reports with each "mark", "squirt", and "real-business" the updated tally. I just "uhm" and "ahhh", not really listening, just waiting for the mother load of business so that we can head back home.
On our walk last night....
"So, am I to young to go to Juvie?", Joe sprang on me after a "mark, squirt...etc...tally update".
"What?" (dear God, seriously?)
"You know Juvvvie ... " (I guess the extra emphasis on the "v's" was employed to jostle my knowledge base) Joe then waits patiently for my response while he lets Oscar tangle himself on 30 feet of retractable leash.
"Ah, yeah ... too young"... I was not gonna go 'there' ... and I certainly don't wanna know why in the hell he is asking.
This morning, on another Oscar "Business" walk ...
Joe was talking about his tubing from his pump. Apparently it was giving him a "feel" in the "nether regions". I have never heard him complain about his tubing. It is all he has known since he was three years of age. So, I asked ... thinking he would answer "no"... I asked if his tubing bothered him. A simple "sometimes" was expressed in the soft-lisp-kissed-nasally voice.
Hmmm.
"Yah know, there is a pump that doesn't have tubing." I then asked, "Would you want to try that sometime?"
"Sounds nice mom ... I think so ... maybe."
Wow... Not sure how I feel about this...
Pre-Ping, I wielded the Animas Insulin Pump like a pro while keeping up with an "On-The-Go-Joe". I could check the time, IOB (Insulin On Board), and bolus while Joe ran, slid, scootered... and ice skated. Not once was a site dislodged due to my pancreating feats and prowess.
The following depicts some of my adventures with a 3 year old, a 4 year old, and a 5 year old Joe (pre-Ping) ...
Scootering down the street during a correction bolus...
The "traffic-cone-appendage-skateboard" incident....
Running down the street during an IOB check ... I didn't dislodge his site even though the tubing was as tight as my Jordache Jeans were in High School.
The seriousness of this conversation has not been determined. I am willing to look into it for Joe if he is, indeed, curious about the pod. I have heard that they get "knocked off" easily during high intensity sports like basketball. Is this true? And, I have also heard there is/was an IOB issue. Laura ... Lorraine ... Penny... anyone? I guess I am willing to think about it. Also, does anyone know if Dexcom is as close to coupling with Omnipod as they are with Animas? Another concern of mine for sure.
A day-in-the-life of wanting to lose the "leash".
26 comments:
Joe cracks me up. How do you keep a straight face??? I LOVE your graphics, they make me seriously laugh my dear.
Ahhh Podding. Grace loves her Pod and the fact that it's tubeless. She swims with it on, plays on her bike and it never comes off. A little SkinTac and all is well. It survived 5 hours of boogie boarding in the ocean. There are some great wraps out there that can be put around it too for the high intensity sports where fear of it coming off may come into play. Caleb may have something to add to this.
IOB on the PDM (remote) of the Pod registers IOB for correction boluses, but not for meal or food consumption boluses. It assumes that insulin was used by eating and does not count it on board. I know some people have problems with this and don't like it. I have had no problem with this factoring of IOB. Chime in Laura and Lorraine and let me know what you think.
As for integration, it's stalled in the FDA. The smaller pod and newer PDM are due out soon though and it is REALLY smaller, by 40%.
Worth checking out, ask on the myomnipod.com site for a sample pod and see what you think. Joe can wear the sample for a few days and see how he likes it.
And you are right, who can make this stuff up?!!!
I love Vince's pump from minimed since it has the CGM built in. I wish minimed had the same thing but tubeless. It's 2011, why are we still connecting tubes to the body lol
Sometimes I wish it had a stun option, too!
Good questions, for sure. Only time will tell, I suppose...
Love the pics, btw!
I don't know anything...but I'm sure everyone will fill you in. I just wanted to tell you your pictures rock...just like you...and Joe.
Penny covered it well so I won't reiterate. Really hoping that smaller version is out soon since Bean is pretty petite, though she's never had issues with the current size of the pod.
I will add that we use Skin Prep and haven't had any pods come off Bean. Now, she is a girlie girl so no 'traffic cone appendages' here. But she's bounced her heart out at birthday parties at bouncy house places with no incidents.
We, too, haven't had issues with the way it does IOB. I'm sure it would take getting used to if you're used to another method, though. :)
Thanks for the laughs...I love, love, love all your faces! :)
Hola friend.
Well Caleb played basketball this season without a single Pod issue, but he's not playing for the Nicks or anything. The only time I worry with baseball (which I realize is not a contact sport) is sliding into bases. Even that hasn't been an issue yet. I know of a young man who plays hockey with it - we met the family at camp - and they had no complaints in that area.
Penny did a marvelous job of explaining how the IOB works. I can only say that it has never posed an issue for us. Even with his current school nurse who has little to no formal D experience/training. We are able to do simple math to compensate when we need to. Although I can understand that having a tool like that upon which you have come to rely would be undesirable to lose, it is not something I have ever longed for or felt that I was missing.
I am super curious about the OP, too. I suspect that may be the pump that Jack would be the happiest with.
Your pics are hilarious. They hit awfully close to home. Jack is a wild and crazy, fun-loving kid, too. :)
You are so funny!
I suspect we will end up podding after our 4 years with Animas is up. LOVE the ping, but I think he'd like the tubeless option too. Especially since recently, he's been having issues with his tubing getting caught around, uh, his, uh...nether-regions. And when the tubing is pulled...yikes. :)
Love the pics! Looks like you've got some good answers to your questions. I've been wondering about the Omnipod lately too...I'm interested to see the smaller one. The size is what has held me back from trying it out previously. I like the whole concept of going "tubeless"!
Gosh, looks like my son and your son have been talking pods!
Love your pics, too!
Like some of the others said, I'm thinking that 2011 is too high-tech for tubes. I would assume that all the companies out there have to be weighing tubeless options...but who knows?
FFS Reyna you crack me up!
I think all the podders have adequately filled you in on the pod 411. You know that we love it and the IOB has never been an issue for us. Nate has knocked a few off here and there but I'm guessing he would have knocked a smaller site out too. He's just crazy that way.
I'm always here for you if you want to chat. I'm going to send you a PM with more info. Love! You!
Oh I am so mad! I just typed this huge comment and lost it. GRRRR!!
Because I love you and you have helped me so much, I'm going to do it again. I hope it will make sense. I'm tired......
Matthew started on the pod (our first pump) in December. He loves it. I love it.
EXCEPT.....I could not HATE the IOB feature more! Honestly, I hate it and I pray they will change it to include ALL IOB.
Here are a couple examples of what we've seen. (Keep in mind that since you have Dex, this may not be as big of an issue for you because you won't be checking sugar as often. Maybe....not sure about that...)
Okay....just yesterday at school. Matthew checked his sugar, bolused for lunch. Ate lunch. During the class right after lunch, they were having a taste test of different Texas food. Matthew ran down to see his teacher/nurse (another D-Mom). He quickly checks his sugar, gets ready to bolus...and wait! The teacher reminds him that he shouldn't be checking his sugar. It's only 1 hour since lunch....of course he will be high. BUT the pod didn't know that. The pod doesn't take into account insulin for food, so it would have corrected Matthew and he would have tanked big time.
Another example....my husband recently went on an overnight field trip with Matthew. Because of the excitement of the trip, bus ride...we knew his sugar would be wacky.
They checked his BG a lot. Several times right before a snack...which was usually just 2-3 hours after a meal. The insulin from lunch wasn't finished working yet, but the pod would have corrected.
Again, overall we are happy with the pod. Matthew loves the tubeless feature and I totally get that....I just hate the way they calculate IOB.
I personally can remember the 4 hour time frame. That's not an issue for me.
BUT...it's a BIG issue for a 10-year-old boy who isn't ready to think about diabetes 24/7.
It also makes it complicated for this teacher at school. I always have to give her the exact time I gave his breakfast bolus, so she will make sure he's not checking his sugar then and bolusing.
I hope this makes sense. Let me know if I need to explain things better or you have questions. I hope I'm not pushing you away from the pod....but you should have an understanding of what the deal is....
I use to wear Jordache Jeans :) They were pretty damn tight too!!
Love the pictures, and the boots! The last one looks like you are dancing : )
Umm..Mary Claire has never said if the tubing bothers her..down there. She tucks it in her pump pouch, but sometimes it's just all hanging out. We used to have fear that some kid would grab it, or it'd get caught on a door knob, but no.
I'm too scared to change! I love our Medtronic Minimed, and I'm good at it. I would be scared to change it all at this point. It's so nice of you to be willing.
Wow! I didn't know you were an artiste! We're Pingers, so no help there. Love the pics!
You crack me up! those pictures are AWESOME!!
Love your pics, my friend!
Die hard Animas fan here, so I can't offer that.
I can say that the combo pump has been sent to FDA and was ready to be released until the FDA went and made up new rules requiring that companies provide more "clinical research". As you might imagine this is quite an expensive feat. Omnipod has been left to face the decision of whether or not to proceed with the current combo model and pay for the extra "research" or renegotiate their contract with Dexcom to upgrade to the Gen4 sensors. Currently Insulet's contract with Dexcom does not include access to the newest Dexcom technology, which is also awaiting FDA approval.
The new Gen4 sensors are expected to have a wider range and improved accuracy. When Animas releases the Vibe (the name of the combo), it will be integrated with the newest Dexcom technology.
And you can read it all for yourself in the article I disuss here...
http://www.candyheartsblog.com/2010/12/dexcom-ceo-discusses-q3-2010-results.html
Love ya!
I know several Moms with teens that have D and they all use the Pod. I hear it is a dream come true :)I dont have one because I would lose the dang PDM!!
Even as the D awareness advocate that I *TRY* to be, I still HATE when people look at my tubing! I mean, they might as well stare at my breasts!! Breasts or tubing...its all my body parts!!! In fact, I hate people "seeing" Diabetes at all, whether it be me treating a low in public with shakey hands and one violent suck to the juice box, or checking my sugar, or my dang pump making noises.....Some days every little thing about Diabetes makes me feel bad about myself...I can only imagine how hard it is for kids when Diabetes is visible.
We **shouldnt** feel that way, but truth is no one wants to be "different" or stand out in a crowd. Its like being the 400lb woman that everyone stares at, or the tattooed mowhawk guy in the corner. Sometimes it sucks!! I think it depends on my mood for the day though :)Maybe the next Poderation is where I'll be too!
Haha. I wish I had words of wisdom for you, but we've only ever had the Ping. It took me a second to realize what was going on in your pics. I've always loved the remote feature, but thanks for the new appreciation of it. :)
I'd have to say, if my son ever ASKS for a different pump, especially if it was OFFERED to him, I'd do my best to at least give it a try. BUT, I have heard some horror stories about the Pod and I would be nervous.
I'm just glad it's not my turn to have this concern, no offense. ;-) I know you'll make the best decision, whatever that is. :)
Ah, Reyna! Now I have another reason to love you...your artistic genius! Seriously, you're awesome! And no, going back to sleep for your 15 does not make you cold or hard. It probably makes you smarter than the rest of us who stay awake and wait! Although, just an fyi, when I cuddle with Lily, I do doze. Never enough to forget the next check though.
Love this post...your pics rock. Lol @ the juvie conversation.
Oh I needed a laugh today, thank you so much! If I could I'd knight your site with a sparkly wand (WTF!? don't mind me...tough day)
There are a few parents on CWD that have boys in wrestling and football and use the omnipod, maybe if you went on there you could get their opinions, too. I wish I could help, but currently my life is chasing around my little boy on a tubed attached medtronic pump and sometimes I have to run REALLY REALLY FAST to catch up so that the pump doesn't boing along behind him!
Oh goodness, I'm still laughing! The animated pictures are fantastic!!!
Thanks for keeping the good times rolling.
By the way, we've had two or three pods come off. The adhesive sticks, but with a nice hit, the pod will rip off and leave the adhesive attached to the skin (he may only be two years old, but our little guy takes his wrestling matches with big brother seriously). Over all though, it hasn't been too problematic.
Late to the party here, but Ellie is on the Pod. We have known no other pump, but I like it and the IOB difference would be no problem for you to adjust to. As you know...the art of D over-rides the science anyway so if you switched over, you would adjust to it just fine!!! ((hugs))
You make me laugh so hard FFS!! Ally saw the Pod at a vendor fair that we attended and talked about it for quite some time. She did get one of the pods to try out for a few days. Like anything else it would take some getting used to, but man would it be nice not to deal with tubes!
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