Monday, August 13, 2007

I'm Live!

I FINALLY have my new pump on & working! Woo-Hoo! This has been a long time in coming. I asked my provider last fall (October) about getting a new pump. I thought of just upgrading the current one I had. Instead she showed me a brand new type that was wireless!

This photo is similar to what I was wearing.

The blue thingie there is called an "inserter" & that is how I put the cannula in to me. There is a needle through the middle of it. The trick to this is you have to push two buttons - one on each side of it - at the same time to insert it properly. I could never, ever manage to do that. So I would push one button first, then just push the other to insert. Nine times out of ten this worked. However, when it didn't, it really HURT & I would have to take it off & do it all over again. The reason being - it hurt as it was in sideways. Youch!

You can see the tubing in the photo. That attached the pump to me. The small reservoir fits inside the pump & holds my insulin. Then there is a cannula (i.e. a very small IV) that inserts into my skin. I just push the buttons to tell it how much insulin I need when. There is also always a small amount going in to me as a background rate. This is really a false pancreas & the hope is that it will work in a similar fashion.

This is what it would look like when I was wearing it. This is a different pump, but the "button" on the skin is the same. Oh & this is NOT my belly - trust me - that is not going to be showing up on the blog any time soon. LOL

When I needed to do something such as showering, then I would just unhook the pump from me & the pump & tubing would sit off to the side & wait for me to finish. They were sometimes patient - sometimes not.

This is the pump that I have been working for since October 2006. I finally received approval about three weeks ago after two denials & two appeals! Praise the Lord!

The white "pod" is what I wear on my skin. It holds my insulin for me but I no longer have a separate reservoir I have to fill. This comes with a syringe & I fill that & then use it to inject the insulin in to the pod. It's been a while since I've had to handle a syringe! I felt a tad out of practice today. Notice one of my favorite features - no tubing!!!!

The pod isn't all that big but it is bigger than I am used to. I've had this on now for about five hours & I still know it's there & I am still making compensations for the tubing. It's sort of funny! I couldn't find a photo on the net that showed someone wearing a pod. I did find this cool photo that shows a size comparison.

It's not big, but it is bigger than the button I used to wear. I know I'll have to be careful where I place it. I sleep on my side & I may have placed it too far to the side for me to sleep comfortably tonight. I'll have to wait & see. I am a bit more free as to where I can place it. I can put it on the back of my arm, my backside, & my outer thighs. I could really only place on my stomach before. It will be nice to give it a bit of a break.

I'm very excited about this new pump & I just pray I get used to it quickly & use all the features to their advantage. Thanks to everyone who prayed for me about getting this.

4 comments:

  1. I'm so glad you have this now!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I know I've said this before, but I'm so very happy that you have this new pump!

    ReplyDelete
  3. So does this do the blood testing for you? Am I reading that right? Or are you having to test constantly. Dh could really use a pump, but, I was reading that with some pumps you constantly have to test and I know he hates that!

    Anyway, so happy for you! I know it must make life loads easier!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the praise report, Lisa. I'm so glad you finally have the new pump!

    ReplyDelete

Oh thank goodness! I'm not here all alone. Thanks for leaving me a comment. It helps that I'm not always talking to myself. Right? Hello?