Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Pumpy the 7th and WDD

There seems to be a theme emerging here.

This morning was a site change morning. I was kind of glad considering the night Riley had. He clocked in, in the 300s twice in the middle of the night, then down to 219. He awoke this morning with a sugar of 173.

After I changed his site, he continued to eat breakfast. Then, I gave him his bolus.

A few minutes later I heard "Fer Elise" coming from the living room. Uh, oh. That is the song that Riley's pump plays when it alarms.

Michael checked the pump and it said "Low Battery". OK, that was something I could handle.

I got a coin and unscrewed the battery cap and removed a very wet, corroded battery. What?!? How in the world did that happen? I knew the battery wasn't old. We've only had this pump for 3 months.

The rest of the pump looked fine. So, I cleaned out the battery compartment as best I could with a q-tip and popped in a new battery. Then I went through the routine of rewinding it, loading the cartridge, and priming the tubing for a second time.


Then, I sent him off to school praying that it will work OK. And, so far, it has.

But, I called Animas and told them what had happened. Pump number 7 will be delivered tomorrow. I'm just glad that Animas has such good customer service.

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Also, I received an email this morning about World Diabetes Day on November 14. I just wanted to share some of it with you.

"This year we are asking every city, town and village to acknowledge World diabetes Day and recognize diabetes as "a chronic, debilitating and costly disease associated with severe complications, which poses severe risks for families."

We need monuments of local and national importance from the village hall to the tallest tower to light up in the colour blue of the UN flag (Pantone 279 or as near as possible).

Among the monuments involved we can count the Empire State Building in New York, the Citadel and Library in Alexandria, the Blue Mosque in Turkey and the London Eye.

An up-to-date list of the buildings that have thus far agreed or declined to join the celebrations can be found on the World Diabetes Day website.

We need your help in adding monuments to the list. Let us know the monuments you are pursuing and those that have declined. "

Go
here to check out a list of monuments that are participating.

If you know of a monument or site that is willing to participate you can let WDD know at the link above also.

Also World Diabetes Day has a new website: "The site provides a central location for all World Diabetes Day materials and information." It can be found at
http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/.

I went to the site this morning and it has a lot of great stuff there. It details ways you can get involved in promoting this day.

There is a page outlining events that are scheduled for that day.
Check it out. There may be one near you.

And, if you have a blog and haven't added a WDD banner, what are you waiting for? Go
here to get the code for your banner.

This is an opportunity for us to make a difference. We are always talking about educating people about this disease. Thanks to WDD, here's a chance to do it on a grand scale.

6 comments:

Carey said...

Wow! 7 pumps. Hey, Charlie's pump doesn't play tunes. It just beeps.

A couple of the kids told the teacher that "Charlie's beeping!" Teacher said it was very cute. I hope it's going well these days at school for Riley.

Donna said...

Thanks for the reminder about the banner for World Diabetes Day. I had been meaning to add one to my blog & to my pump pack website for a while, but kept forgetting. Thanks for reminding me!

I hope things are going well for Riley at school.

Penny Ratzlaff said...

Carey and Donna,

Thanks for asking about school. Things have been going fine. That is, until today.

Riley was 304 at snacktime. Then, an hour later, he was 384. Yikes!!

So, I did what any rational mother would do, I ran right to school and picked him up and took him home.

Ok, Ok, I paniced. But, I was worried that maybe his pump had played out. Or, that the site change I did this morning didn't work.

By lunchtime he was 166. I guess I jumped the gun. But, we had a good time playing knights in a fort in the backyard. I think we needed that.

Penny Ratzlaff said...

And, Carey,Riley's pump not only plays tunes, it vibrates. When it does that Riley says, "My pump is tickling me."

scott said...

Hey, I stubled across your blog. Thanks for teh education. I would problaby have been one of thsoe who pre-judge your managment of your son'd D. I now know to judge less, ask questions, and have humble mind!

Thanks

Penny Ratzlaff said...

AQ,

Glad to know I've at least changed one person's mind.

Thanks.