I'm a PUMPER!
I can now join the club! There's a club isn't there?!
Where to begin?
My training was quite successful. My first infusion site... totally painless! I didn't feel a thing! Tonight will be my first site change, and I'm feeling fine about it. I'm using the Cleo 90 sites, and I think they're pretty cool.
There's certainly a learning curve with this thing! I feel like I need to forget EVERYTHING I knew before and "Trust the process." I understand the theory behind the pump, but I find myself second guessing things. Old diabetes habits die hard I guess.
I've realized that my learning curve may be especially steep.
So, you've heard the theory that your basal and bolus insulin should each account for 50% of your total. That's not an exact science, but pretty close. My ratio while on Lantus was way off! I took 28 units of Lantus per day and only used 10-12 units of Humalog. That's like a 70/30 ratio! You brilliant fellow-PWD's just figured it out... I was using my basal insulin to help cover my meals. If I had done my Lantus and ate nothing all day, I'd have repeated lows! This is NOT the way basal insulin is supposed to work.
I need to readjust my thinking on the general concept of basal and bolus insulin! One factor of this is that I WAY underestimate the number of carbs in things. (Don't worry, a copy of Calorie King is on it's way from Amazon as we speak!) This weekend I underestimated by A LOT! I should have guesstimated the carbs I thought were in the foods and just doubled it. Wow.
Anyway, all in all, I'm so happy to be on the pump. It wasn't nearly the traumatic adjustment I expected :) Even with my failings, I am seeing what a wonderful tool this little pump is. The fine tuning it allows me to do is simply amazing.
This has been a good lesson for me in doing things at my own pace. The progression I took from being a "B- diabetes manger" to getting my A1c consistently in the low 6's to finally started to pump was very natural. By waiting until I was, not only ready, but excited about pumping made the transition very calm and almost, fun!
To thine ownself be true :)
Where to begin?
My training was quite successful. My first infusion site... totally painless! I didn't feel a thing! Tonight will be my first site change, and I'm feeling fine about it. I'm using the Cleo 90 sites, and I think they're pretty cool.
There's certainly a learning curve with this thing! I feel like I need to forget EVERYTHING I knew before and "Trust the process." I understand the theory behind the pump, but I find myself second guessing things. Old diabetes habits die hard I guess.
I've realized that my learning curve may be especially steep.
So, you've heard the theory that your basal and bolus insulin should each account for 50% of your total. That's not an exact science, but pretty close. My ratio while on Lantus was way off! I took 28 units of Lantus per day and only used 10-12 units of Humalog. That's like a 70/30 ratio! You brilliant fellow-PWD's just figured it out... I was using my basal insulin to help cover my meals. If I had done my Lantus and ate nothing all day, I'd have repeated lows! This is NOT the way basal insulin is supposed to work.
I need to readjust my thinking on the general concept of basal and bolus insulin! One factor of this is that I WAY underestimate the number of carbs in things. (Don't worry, a copy of Calorie King is on it's way from Amazon as we speak!) This weekend I underestimated by A LOT! I should have guesstimated the carbs I thought were in the foods and just doubled it. Wow.
Anyway, all in all, I'm so happy to be on the pump. It wasn't nearly the traumatic adjustment I expected :) Even with my failings, I am seeing what a wonderful tool this little pump is. The fine tuning it allows me to do is simply amazing.
This has been a good lesson for me in doing things at my own pace. The progression I took from being a "B- diabetes manger" to getting my A1c consistently in the low 6's to finally started to pump was very natural. By waiting until I was, not only ready, but excited about pumping made the transition very calm and almost, fun!
To thine ownself be true :)
posted by Kelsey @ 1:07 PM
7 Comments:
At 3:54 PM,
Lyrehca said…
Congratulations! The first time I did a site change, it took me a half an hour as I carefully scrutinized the instructions and doubled checked everything. Now I can do it in three minutes, tops, often while multi-tasking. Enjoy your new pump!
At 3:56 PM,
Kerri. said…
Congratulations to you, Kelsey! Welcome to the club - which was formed as soon as you posted about it and now you have been elected President. I will dutifully serve as Treasurer. :)
And I definitely agree: Old diabetes habits die hard. It was all I could do to keep myself from itching to take that Lantus shot the first week or two. "You mean I don't need that syringe?" "No." That took a long time to accept. And now, two years later, it's tough to think about ever going back on shots again.
Congrats again and I can't wait to read about how it's going!
At 7:34 PM,
Andrea said…
Congratulations... pumping can really be am awesome thing. :) I think you will be very pleased with your decision.
Best of luck & Happy Pumping :)
At 10:45 PM,
Scott K. Johnson said…
Hoorah!!! Congratulations!
Quite a process to change, but you sound like you've got an excellent handle on it.
Way to go!
At 6:34 AM,
Johnboy said…
Hey, Kelsey! Glad to here that things are going great!!
BTW, have you noticed that your carb ratio is any different now since you had so much lantus working before?
At 8:45 AM,
Kelsey said…
Thanks for the support guys!
Yes, Johnboy, my insulin to carb ratio is MUCH different. That's what I'm having to adjust to mentally. My lunch carb ratio was 1:20 or even 1:25 on days I exercised. Now, it's a normal 1:15.
Also, last night I over corrected a low, so I gave myself a unit of insulin to cover it. Woke up at 270 mg/dl! Typically my lantus would have covered that!
I definitely see the virtue of having your basal work as designed by the pump... now I just have to get used to the idea!
At 6:35 PM,
Sarah said…
Awesome! I hope that pumping opens up your world like it has for so many diabetics!
Post a Comment
<< Home