Finally, A Useful Upgrade

I just received the new Minimed pump. It now asks stupid questions to remind me to do things I instinctually do because I have been pumping so long. After I prime the tubing, it asks me, "Do you see drops at the end of the tubing?" I usually yell at it, "You think I would have stopped priming if I didn't?" I wish I knew how to hack into its software and program it to ask more relevant and helpful questions. Maybe questions Stewart Smalley would have been proud of. "Did you know you are a really good athlete?" "Did you know that book you're writing is going to be read and loved by millions?" Or maybe it could just make statements. "You deserve a vacation today. Take the day off and don't even think about feeling guilty for it." "All the work you do to take care of your diabetes everyday is paying off. You are a better person for it and will live a long and complication free life." Now that would be an upgrade I would pay for. - See more at: http://erinspineto.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-08-31T14:43:00-07:00&max-results=6&start=35&by-date=false#sthash.ekViUZtY.dpuf

Tip of the Day- Basal Checks

So here's the diabetes tip of the day. Make a basal check a standard procedure every two to three months. Like I've said before, I've been struggling with blood sugars all over the place but mostly up. My first thought is always to my site failing or my pump not working properly.

But rarely do I figure that maybe its my basal rates that have overstayed their welcome. The last time I checked or changed my basal rates was at least six months ago. I keep thinking that nothing has really changed since then so why change my basal rates, but when I really sit down to think about it, a lot has changed.

I have gone from working full time to ten weeks of an amazingly relaxed summer vacation and then back to work again. I have begun working out again and made some huge advancements in my overall aerobic fitness. My stress level has dropped since my kids are now going to the same school I teach at so I no longer have to fight thirty minutes of traffic while preventing fights and major meltdowns in the house and the backseat and worrying if I will make it to my classroom in time for the first bell of the morning.

And the biggest factor in all of this, my thyroid is closing in on being back at a normal level. After three years of being totally out of control, it is responding to the meds and mellowing out. Its amazing the effect it has had on my basal rates over those three years. When it was at its max my nighttime basal rates were reduced by fifty percent while still fighting off constant lows.

Now I have hesitantly brought it back up to pre-thyroid levels and even a little higher since I was in much better shape before this whole ordeal started. For the first night in weeks, last night I had a good blood sugar night. Nick didn't wake me once and the clarity of mind I have found today from quality sleep is terrific.

The worst part is that I should have figured this out months ago, if I had only done a basal check. So now along with my quarterly A1C check, my TSH, T3 and T4 check and my five minute conversation with my endo, I will be performing a basal check. -

Fine Tuning

I have recently moved my infusion sight down to my outer thigh and have been having huge problems with it. I usually rotate the site locations depending on the season. Spring and summer, when I am in a bathing suit more than not, require that I hide the site under a bikini so it goes into my upper butt between where the pocket of my jeans is and the waistband.

Fall and winter make it easier to put it into my upper thigh since I spend most of my days in jeans and skirts and the only place I get into a swim suit is at the Y to get in a workout so I am less concerned with my appearance.

After three successful years of this, I have found my system faltering. My butt has developed scar tissue which hinders the insulin from getting from the infusion set to my blood stream where I can actually use it. I thought it might be time to make the switch to the upper thigh to give my butt some time to heal.

As soon as I did I started pulling out sets when I changed clothes. I had to train myself to be careful of the new spot and then I would be fine, I told myself. After a week and ten different sites being pulled out, I got the hang of it and stopped accidentally pulling out sites. But then I started to notice that the sites would go bad after only a day.

When I first started using an insulin pump the sites I used, like mini IV's, would stay open and useful for seven to ten days at a time. I loved not having to poke myself or remember to change a set for a whole week or more. As time has worn on that period of time has been reduced greatly, mostly due to scar tissue.

I have had to abandon using my stomach due to the scarring and now my thighs and butt are both showing signs of deterioration as well. I just wonder how many more body parts are viable options. Am I, in ten years, going to have to affix this thing to my ankle?

Luckily my ankles have very little fat. But of course this means I can't use them as an infusion site. Maybe my chest will have to do, though, I am not sure how much Tony will like the looks of that one.

So what are those other sites I have been overlooking, ones that I will not pull out easily,but have not scarred up ye?. Or maybe there's some new technological advance to erase the scar tissue so I could go back to the old reliable sites?