It’s Like Riding a Pump

Errr… bike?

Have you ever switched back to your old pump?  For various reasons, well one really (I ran out of supplies waiting for the New Year), I decided to go back to my trusty Medtronic Paradigm 722.

I haven’t worn Gidget since… October of 2013?  And I have to tell you, going back was amazing.  I thought I might have trouble priming.  Figuring out how to insert the infusion set.  Or change the old basal rates to my current ones.  Nope.  I did it all at 6am, groggy with sleep, no coffee.   When I finally got up for the day around 8, Gidget was chugging, or clicking away, and my sugars were around 110.  What, what!?

I thought it would be a roller coaster of trial and error trying to figure out what I did wrong.  Did the insulin make it through the tubing?  Did I bend the cannula?  Is my carb ratio still the same?  After years of being turned off will all of the settings still be in there?  All was there, all worked out in my favor.  Neither one of us forgot.  It was like riding a bike.

So fret not my fellow pumpers.  The day when you need a backup pump that you haven’t used in years, it will be waiting for you, ready to jump into action.

$*!%&#@(#$*%^&@

I’m frustrated.  Expletive frustrated.  My blood sugars have been wildly out of control this week.  I keep waking up to sugars in the 300’s.  I bolus and it drops but only slightly.  I take injections usually around 10 units just so I can see a dent in my sugars.  I use increased basal rates while I’m sleep which I hate to do but I am so over being woken up by my Dexcom I don’t care anymore.  I’ve changed out pod after pod thinking maybe it’s faulty.  My insulin is fresh, my skin is clean, I’m not eating outrageous things that make me spike.  Argh…  I don’t want to blame the Omnipod but I swear I haven’t had problems like this with any other pump so I once run out of insulin in this pod (which at this rate won’t take too long) I am going back to my Animas.  Or hell… maybe even my Medtronic.  I am beyond frustrated and just want to see a number below 170 (my green line on Roxy) and stay there for more than an hour.  BLERG!  That is all. Carry on.

Wordless Wednesday: That’s a HUGE Inset

I’m in a study wearing a Medtronic pump.  I’ve worn one before but usually my insets were only 6mm.  When I pulled this set out I was very surprised.  I was given 9mm insets and damn is it long!  (but my sugars have been superb so this may be a full time thing. )