I have been waiting for this day since diagnosis day, six very long weeks ago.
PUMP START DAY!!
I'm pretty sure the excitement started the night before! When I gave Princess her last shot of Levemir she got estactic, clapping and cheering. I wish I had a video recorder in my hand at the time to show you. It was PRICELESS! This morning she cheered again after receiving her last "pen shot" as she calls it. She was not the only one cheering at that point. :)
She marched into the endo's office yesterday morning like a champ. She knew exactly what to do. She took her shoes and coat off and went over to the scale and then over to check her height. She even sat right down and put her arm out to get her blood pressure checked. I could hardly believe that she had gained 2 lbs and grew a half an inch since her diagnosis! I hadn't even noticed that she had lost weight prior to her diagnosis but apparently she had! I thought maybe it was from a growth spurt but the endo was pretty sure it was weight gained back. On the other hand the .5 inch taller is a growth spurt! :)
She did pretty good when it came to getting her site changed. She wanted to sit down for a site in her tummy and she can't do that. I need her to stand up. There was a bit of a struggle but we made it through. I am pretty sure she was just being her normal stubborn self. :) She was pretty happy when it was all done. I am still amazed that she WANTS belly sites and that she doesn't even flinch when I put the site in! She sure is one brave little girl!
They did her A1c and it was higher, like I expected it to be. It was 7.2 at diagnosis and is now 8.1. (yet another reason I am glad for the pump!) Not bad for her age and I am okay with it, just I knew it would be up considering the amount of high blood sugars she has had since her diagnosis. We really couldn't do a whole lot about it though because the smallest dose we could give while she was on MDI was 1/2 unit.
I was surprised when our CDE told us we would be pumping the Novolog instead of Humalog. I guess that Novolog is a little more stable in insulin pumps then Humalog is. Interesting....not a big deal to me though, they are both pretty much the same thing just made by different drug companies. Lovebug pumps with Apidra and I might eventually change Princess over the that but since Apidra works much faster then Novolog I thought we would start out that way and then make the switch later. When my head is a little clearer then it is now.
It is interesting to see the differences and similarities in the girls when it comes to their diabetes. They are both similar in that they both have Dusk phenomenon, which happens a lot in younger kids. When it comes to carbs, Lovebug is much more sensitive. I can't do a 15/15 fix for her to correct a low blood sugar. I have do what I call a 8/20. Give her 8 grams of carbs and wait 20 minutes. Those 8 carbs will easily bump her up 15-20 points. You give Princess a 15/15 fix and it works just the way it is supposed to. Lovebug started out with just one basal rate when she had her pump start. Princess is starting out with 4 different basal rates! Can you say C-R-A-Z-Y!
Since we came home from the endo office she has been high. Like in the 400's high. I gave 3 corrections yesterday and she still wouldn't come down lower then 250. Goodness gracious! This has been going on for a few days now. I just thought maybe the pump start would lower her back down. I am going to give it a few days but I already think her basal rate needs to be bumped up just a bit. I thought she needed a bit more Levemir before she started the pump too. I just decided to leave it and tweak basal rates instead of messing with the Levemir.
This morning she woke up at a nice 133. Lovely. Now here's to hoping she stays under 200 today. (I know, wishful thinking, right?) I have to admit that I was THRILLED that it only took a few seconds to give her insulin rather then 5 minutes! Good bye hand written logs!! Good bye pen needles!! Good bye insulin cartridges!! Good bye syringes!! (for now anyway!) Good bye 6-8 shots a day!! Good riddance to you! The pump is SO much easier!!
Hello more free time!! That is just what this mama of 2 D-kids needs right now. Anything to make it all just a little easier.
PUMP START DAY!!
I'm pretty sure the excitement started the night before! When I gave Princess her last shot of Levemir she got estactic, clapping and cheering. I wish I had a video recorder in my hand at the time to show you. It was PRICELESS! This morning she cheered again after receiving her last "pen shot" as she calls it. She was not the only one cheering at that point. :)
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| Last shot of Humalog...a little blurry since Lovbug took the picture! |
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| Just a little arm hug! |
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| All hooked up and pumping!!! |
I was surprised when our CDE told us we would be pumping the Novolog instead of Humalog. I guess that Novolog is a little more stable in insulin pumps then Humalog is. Interesting....not a big deal to me though, they are both pretty much the same thing just made by different drug companies. Lovebug pumps with Apidra and I might eventually change Princess over the that but since Apidra works much faster then Novolog I thought we would start out that way and then make the switch later. When my head is a little clearer then it is now.
It is interesting to see the differences and similarities in the girls when it comes to their diabetes. They are both similar in that they both have Dusk phenomenon, which happens a lot in younger kids. When it comes to carbs, Lovebug is much more sensitive. I can't do a 15/15 fix for her to correct a low blood sugar. I have do what I call a 8/20. Give her 8 grams of carbs and wait 20 minutes. Those 8 carbs will easily bump her up 15-20 points. You give Princess a 15/15 fix and it works just the way it is supposed to. Lovebug started out with just one basal rate when she had her pump start. Princess is starting out with 4 different basal rates! Can you say C-R-A-Z-Y!
Since we came home from the endo office she has been high. Like in the 400's high. I gave 3 corrections yesterday and she still wouldn't come down lower then 250. Goodness gracious! This has been going on for a few days now. I just thought maybe the pump start would lower her back down. I am going to give it a few days but I already think her basal rate needs to be bumped up just a bit. I thought she needed a bit more Levemir before she started the pump too. I just decided to leave it and tweak basal rates instead of messing with the Levemir.
This morning she woke up at a nice 133. Lovely. Now here's to hoping she stays under 200 today. (I know, wishful thinking, right?) I have to admit that I was THRILLED that it only took a few seconds to give her insulin rather then 5 minutes! Good bye hand written logs!! Good bye pen needles!! Good bye insulin cartridges!! Good bye syringes!! (for now anyway!) Good bye 6-8 shots a day!! Good riddance to you! The pump is SO much easier!!
Hello more free time!! That is just what this mama of 2 D-kids needs right now. Anything to make it all just a little easier.
6 comments:
Such a wonderful post Heather. I love that the day finally came and that it has gone as smoothly as possible...well except for the highs, but you will have those chopped down to size in no time. AND, I love that you mentioned the Humalog/Novolog issue. Lorraine told me about it a few months ago. We were having a rough time pumping Humalog ~ site failures at hour 36. UGH.
Welcome to the next chapter of your D life! Happy to hear how well the transition has gone. Hopefully, upping her basal will take care of the highs. Give Princess a little squeeze for me and tell her that Jack and I are both proud of her! :)
Our endo is a huge fan of the Novalog too. I hope it works its magic soon!
Thank you for this post, I don't know...it just made my day seeing such a beautiful girl have her burden lifted just a bit with less shots.
Hugs to you dear mama! You are rockin this! For serious!
I feel for your struggles. The pic is like a mirror image of our house o D's. Glad you are doing well, and wish you well.
Cheers!
she is a cutie pie! good luck with everything.
What a cutie pie she is! So glad to hear that Pump Day arrived and everything (for the most part) is going smoothly! I hope her numbers stayed under 200 for you today. We just did some serious basal tweaking here tonight after downloading Charlotte's Dexie. Hope you're able to gradually get everything tweaked just right...I can remember our early pump days and trying to get it all figured out...I love the advantages of the pump over MDI though so I guess the work of the tweaking is worth it :)
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