Tuesday, June 15, 2010

The Pump Returns

Most of you probably remember my POST back in April regarding some issues we were having with Sydney's blood sugars. It was an intense time and, after visiting with her endocrinologist, decided we would pull her off the pump for a while. Her doctor wanted to go an A1C cycle on injections but, call me lazy, I didn't want to go that long. It's really difficult going back to injections after having the convenience of the pump. I decided we would work with her new insulin:carb ratios and get her numbers back where we wanted them and then start the pump up again.
For the past couple weeks her numbers have been great! Not perfect, but really good. The closer I got to starting the pump again, the more nervous I got! Being on injections and Lantus (long acting insulin), we were seeing a lot less lows! We were getting more sleep than we had in a long, long time because she wasn't dropping low at night! Theoretically we could have just decreased her nighttime basal rate to not have so many lows on the pump, and we did, but for some reason we still dealt w/ more lows. I don't know if it was the fast acting part of the insulin or not. But, bottom line, I am enjoying sleep. So, now I was torn with the pump start up. Do I do it or not?
A reason I love my diabetes online community is because of the advice I get. A couple ladies recommended starting the pump up again for boluses only--to deliver insulin only when she eats or to correct a high. And keep her on Lantus for the long acting part INSTEAD of having a basal rate. Sooo, that's what we decided to do! It has many perks, like when we are boating or swimming and she isn't wearing her pump, she still has her Lantus in her to help prevent her from going high due to lack of insulin. I will keep you all posted on how this works out for us, but I'm excited!! It seems like a good compromise. Now, for pictures!
~Some of syd's needles. She received and injection with breakfast, lunch, dinner, and bedtime. Plus a correction when she was high and if she wanted a snack above 10 carbs. This gave her an average of 5 or 6 injections a day totalling a whopping 210-252 injections. This isn't all of the needles because we didn't start saving them til we were a couple weeks into using the shots.

~So now she has her pump back in along with her CGM. So her arms look like this...

~But her face and excitement for having her pump--AKA Daisy--back look like this.

9 comments:

Wendy said...

YEAH for the pump!!!!! So happy to see that gorgeous smile :)

Let me know what you think of the Lantus/pump combo! It's something we've gone round and round with at times over here!

phonelady said...

Im sorry but I hate the pumps and I have been taking the shots so long it does not bother me anymore just dont think I could do things attached to me 24/7 . But that is me and maybe she does better than me .

Heidi / Jack's Pack said...

I hope this is the magic combination for Syd!

The bruises on her arm just got me. Ugh! Dang D!

But I love her smile with the missing teeth! So cute! :)

The Crazy Pancreas said...

LOVE that she is so excited to have the pump back! I am sure you are too! Bolusing and correcting will be so much easier for both of you!

Can't wait to hear how it goes!

Misty said...

Awesome news! She looks sooo happy. I just showed Ally the pictures of her "arm sites", I'm trying to motivate her to try new sites....we are still on the bum!
Way to go Syd!!
Looks like you have MiniMed too? We are in the process of getting a CGM...so it was good for Ally to see that "in place" also.
Hoping for good numbers for you:)

LaLa said...

What a great compromise! I am so excited for you guys. I love that beautiful smile of hers.

Keep us posted.

XOXOXOXOXOX

The Lane Family said...

Seeing the bruises on her arms makes me hurt for her...but then seeing how excited she is to have "daisy" back makes it a little bit better.

What a cute happy little girl!! I hope that the new way of using the pump and then the Lantus will be the trick!!

Mel said...

WOOHOO!! Welcome back pump!!

:) Tracie said...

Ok...pump envy!

Jessi still won't go back and we're going on 4 months!

Nice to be back to sanity, isn't it?
Wait, did I just type that?

LOVE her smile!