Limitations...

As much as Joe likes being free of the "leash", he has, at times, verbalized the pros of the Ping and the cons of the POD.  He continues to state that he prefers the POD.  However, his frustrations with the switch to the Omnipod have not gone unnoticed by me.  In particular the adhesion issues, the POD failures, and thus subsequently the added site changes.

My Dear Joe.. He rarely complains about the diabetes aspect of his life.  I'm not sure if he thought the POD would make it more like he did not have diabetes.  Granted it looks like "less" of a big deal than the tubing-ed pumps to an outsider, but "it", the POD, doesn't really take away the day~in~the~life of managing diabetes.  I think Joe is starting to recognize that.  It is difficult to watch.

A couple of evenings ago...after dinner time...

"I don't want to do a site change now ... can't you just do it at 4am?" Tears were pooling in his medial canthi.  I could hear the emotion in his voice. (Btw this is very, very, very uncharacteristic of Joe when it comes to site changes)

The POD would be expiring at 4am.  Apparently, Joe wanted me to just pop-up and change it at 4am.  He wanted to procrastinate on the POD change.  He was as close to begging, as one could be...without actually begging.

I held firm.

I explained that waiting 'til 4am wasn't a sound plan.

He rallied a bit.  We changed the POD.  He winced with the insertion.  Tears slid down his cheeks in pain? frustration?  defeat?  I'm not sure which emotion the tears originated from.

Then Joe reached for me, for an embrace.  He was silent as we hugged.

"I think Joe...I think what you are finding out...what we are figuring out...is that there is no perfect pump for managing diabetes.  No matter what pump you use, you still have the diabetes and all that comes with it...the site changes...you still have accessories in the form of bands or pump packs...you still have to check blood sugars ... count carbs ... bolus...you still experience the highs and the lows.  The technology doesn't take away the disease.  It's still there."

Joe nodded, his head still nestled into my neck.

A day~in~the~life of recognizing the limitations of technology.  It is not a CURE.

Glad To Do The 4am POD Change?

We are currently having a Schnauzer Party.

You see we have Oscar (salt and pepper) and Henry (the black one) and we are dog sitting Cooper (the party mix).

A couple of nights ago... on Cooper's first night at our house...

I woke.  It was 4am.  It was my night off from the blood sugar check.  Dave was standing at the foot of our bed saying something about us having a "situation"; I think he said we had a "couple of situations" actually. 

"Joe's POD is alarming that it has failed and Henry has *expelled fecal matter* (not in those words mind you) all over his crate ... *then something was mentioned about the stench ... Henry's crate housing Henry resides in our room*"

This is where I was somewhat glad and not resentful that I know more about the PODs and insertions than Dave.  Dave had not done a POD insertion yet.  He had only watched Joe and I do one. 

I volunteered for the POD change and left the soiled crate and canine to Dave.

A day~in~the~life of our nights with diabetes and dogs.

"Rodent-like" MacGyver-ing

Sometimes, in this life, I feel the rules don't apply to me. Like the Rule of 15's... sometimes I tweak that a bit. Or, like a month ago ... when I was going 32mph in a 25mph zone and I got pulled over by the Fuzz, I immediately asked the officer for a reason as to why I was being detained. He gave me a little guff and then let me know. I was internally eye-rolling my Lancome fringed eyeballs and internally muttering a "For goodness Sake isn't there like a 10mph grace-speed with the whole speeding thing?".
Well...

Yesterday...

I found out why, the hard way, you are supposed to use that little plug-cap that is enclosed with the box of Animas Insets. Now, don't get me wrong. I did, at one time, use them. I used them for every bath. I "plugged Joe off" for every dip in the pool or the lake. I did...years ago. Truly, I did.

When you are dealing with diabetes and the non-stop routine and management you start to cut corners a bit. Or... *ahemm*... at least I do. I count carbs down to the gram, I pop sites into Joe as sterile-y as possible, I mother bird like a pro... but apparently I cannot be bothered with this cap-thingy. Frankly, I haven't used it in years. We have never had an issue due to my plugging exclusion. No infections. No clogs. No anything. It was a corner I was fine with cutting in the grand scheme of things.

So...

Back to the story...

We are vacationing. We are visiting Cape Cod.

Yesterday was the first time Bridget and Joe have ever played on an ocean beach. There was digging. There was castle making. There was crab saving. There was a pump~site~clogged~with~beach~sand. And. Once again, managing Type 1 in Joe's life provided us with adventure and the ability to effortless-ly entertain any on-lookers ... and trust me...there were a few.

Here is how it went down:

Joe emerged from making "low~tide~crab~sanctuaries" for a blood sugar check. 5~4~3~2~1. A 156 was obtained. He wanted to munch on a few potato chips. Fine. I am not a carb~tight~wad, as many of you know. I figured I would let him have a few chips for "free", but would plug him in and crank in a couple of hours of basal before he went back to wave-jumping and crab-saving. I go to plug in the pump tubing to his site. I line it up and start to insert it...it falls short of the "click". I flip it around...try to cram it in again...no "click".

The Removed Site (note the tan color in the set)

The pump insertion site was filled with sand. Joe calls for a site change and exposed his cheek. Dave was my assistant. I needed one. Slapping in a site in the middle of a wind-swept, sandy beach requires some mad pancreating skillz. IV 3000s were blowing in the breeze...IV Prep was precariously placed on a towel ... We used the old cartridge. It still held about 36 units of insulin. And, we used the old tubing too to avoid the whole unloading, re-loading, and priming steps that the pump would require.

Once the site was in and 2 hours of basal were given, I looked in Woodchuck #2 to see if we had a plug. I did have a plug, but it was for the Contact-Detach system. It didn't fit the Inset. Dave then MacGyvered the system by using the connector off of the new set. He went all "rodent~like" and chewed off the tubing. We then plugged the new site with the connector and covered the whole set~up with the IV 3000.

The Chewed-Off Tubing MacGyvered Plug

It worked like a charm.

A day-in-the-life of realizing the rules are there for a reason... sometimes.