Friday, February 17, 2006

I'm hooked

First, a little bit of bragging on Holden. His basketball team at school, (he plays JV) came in first in their conference. Now they are playing their tournament. He played last night. They beat the 4th place team by 22 points. So, we go back Saturday to play in the championship game. I can tell most of you don't care much about basketball, since I got zero comments about the Redick/Morrison post. But, I love basketball. I played it in high school. Also, Holden is very good (he is the 2nd highest scorer in high school, including the varsity team) and I'm very proud of him. Also, while I'm bragging, he's in the Beta Club and has a 3.8 GPA. Not too shabby either.

When we got back from the game last night, I was just looking at the infusion sets. They sent me a bunch of comfort (angled) sets. That's what the CDE recommended because Riley is so thin. They did send one 90 degree set with an inserter too, if we want to try it. So, I was looking and wondering what it felt like. So, I opened the package, swabbed with some IV prep, and stuck the needle into my abdomen. Riley watched, but seemed disinterested. It stung more than I thought it would, but after a few seconds it stopped. The endo. wants to use Emla with Riley for the first week or so. Probably not a bad idea. Anyway, I put the set in and thought, "Now what? Do I just pull it out?" So, then I inserted an empty cartridge into the pump and hooked myself to it. I had taken the battery out of the pump. So, it's just an empty batteryless (probably not a word) pump. But, I wanted to see what it was like to wear it. I should have asked Animas to send some saline, but I didn't. Anyway, I'm still hooked to it. I wore it to bed last night. This may be too much info. for some of you, but I don't sleep in pajama bottoms, just a T-shirt. So, I clipped the pump to my underwear. I slept just fine. It may have woken me up a couple of times, but all in all not a bad experience. It stayed put all night (and I toss and turn quite a bit.) I plan to wear it the rest of the day and then take it off. To be honest, I'm already a bit tired of it. Most times I don't even notice it's there, but when I do, I just want to take it off. Riley doesn't like me wearing it, because it means he can't wear it. I guess that's a good thing. He showed it to anyone that would pay him any attention yesterday. I guess he's not shy about his diabetes and I'm so proud of him for it. I've learned that other people tend to take a cue from you about how to act. If you act like it's no big deal they tend not to either. I hope Riley is always this way and just sees it as part of who he is.

Well, I'm going to go call the endo. in a bit and see if she got my fax and see if she's called to arrange my training yet. She doesn't like the company doing it. She has her own group that she likes to do the training. When we went to our intro. to pumping class they said it would only take about a week once the pump came to set up the training. But, the Dr. has to send the paperwork, and we know how speedy she is with that. I'm going to stay on them this time. I'm ready to get this started.

4 comments:

Shannon said...

Wow, Holden sounds like a stellar student and athlete. I would be completely proud too!

I wore the infusion set, but not the pump before Brendon started. You're such a good mom.

Good luck with the pump progress :)

Jess said...

Y'know, amazing kids usually have an amazing mom.

Your kids sure do!

prayergal said...

I am so glad you have received the pump. Riley has a great attitude about the whole thing. Having seen him get shots without batting an eye, I am sure he will adapt to the pump easily. He is a very brave little boy. He shows much more courage than I would. I am amazed at him. Tell Holden Aunt Linda said Woo-Hoo!! He is growing up so fast! Love you***

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on your little boy's Animas pump. My niece has the Animas. She just turned 9. She's been wearing it for 3-1/2 months now. My sister wore the pump and thought it only pinched a bit. But we still use EMLA for E. because she's lean. Those little kids don't have all that extra body fat that we have! So personally (endo disagrees) I would not discontinue the EMLA for quite a while. Animas sells really sturdy waist-its, one with a clear plastic front and plastic protector. That would protect him from accidentally dislodging his site if he has to quickly go to the mens's room. If he remembers its in his pocket, that's good too. Animas has great customer service so you can rest easy there.