No strings attached

Yesterday was our typical Sunday. Wake up, go to church, go to Mom's to eat, play a little ball with Riley, head to the beach and watch Riley swim, bath, site change, bed. And, a little basal change in there also because Riley's been running high the last few days.

His overnight sugars were the best they've been in about a week. The nighttime is when he's been running high. But, last night, he actually had to run at a decreased basal for a while. Not bad.

Then, I received a call from my mom at around 10 AM. Riley's pump had alarmed and read "pump not primed, no delivery". This has happened before, so I got mom to rewind and then put the cartridge in. When she did this, instead of the cartridge stopping where it was supposed to it just kept going and pushed all the insulin out. When mom told me this, I got a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. "Oh, and the screen is all foggy. I can barely see it," she said.

Uh oh. That is not good, not good at all.

Luckily, I was in the office which is only about 10 minutes from my mom's house, so I went to check things out. Sure enough there was condensation under the screen. I checked for cracks but didn't see any. I took the battery out. It was wet and starting to corrode.

I called Animas to let them know. The lady I talked to didn't take long to say they'd send out another pump. It will arrive tomorrow.

I called Riley's endo to see what to do. She said that since he will be without the pump for just a day, she wouldn't put him on Lantus. But, if I wanted to do it that way, I could. I went with what she said. I really didn't want to start back on Lantus. We had some very scary nighttime lows with Lantus before.

So, now, we're testing at least every four hours (not unusual, we usually test more) and bolusing every four hours as needed for highs with a little extra thrown in to cover the basal.

And, man, does it suck. I forgot how hard it is to draw up 1/2 unit of insulin and 1/4, well there's just no way to do that.

Riley's sugar was 150 when I checked, not bad considering he'd just eaten breakfast 2 hours before. He ate a snack and got an injection for that.

All in all, he did OK. He was not happy about it, but he didn't cry. He picked out where he wanted the shot (right arm) and sat in my mom's lap while I gave it.

Now, I've figured up that if he goes 24 hours without the pump, that's at least 6 shots. Ugh. It makes me appreciate the pump that much more.

And, sleep tonight, that's pretty much out of the question.

After I gave Riley his shot, I turned to say something to my mom and noticed the tears in her eyes. I told her, he'd be OK. I reminded her that at least we have a way to treat his diabetes. It wasn't that long ago that if he had gotten it, we would have sat by his bedside watching him waste away. How painful that must have been for those parents, and for the children that had to endure it. I'm just thankful there is such a thing as insulin, so that my child can live.

Riley grinned as I pulled out his site. While he's not happy about the shots, I think he's enjoying being free for a while. And, it's strange to not have to think about if his site is OK or worry about him pulling it out when he goes to the restroom.

For now, I've decided we're going to enjoy living life for the next 24 hours, with no strings attached.

***edit: When I went home at lunch to give Riley his injection, my mom told me that they were out in the yard playing tennis and Riley ran to get the ball and he looked at her and said, "You know, I feel like a normal person again, without any needles or tubes." How sad is that? Who knows? Maybe he won't want to go back to the pump, but I hope he does. It really is the best thing for him. Plus, I think the shots are going to get old very quick.***