Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Why I Love the Pump

1. Being able to accurately dose tiny amounts of insulin.

2. Riley can eat his meal and then if he wants something else after he's already had insulin all we have to do is program it in the pump and give the insulin, no extra injection needed.

3. 2-3 needle pokes per week compared to 28-35.

4. Being able to adjust insulin levels at certain times of the day. (Riley has 7 different basal patterns in one day.) He ALWAYS went low at night on Lantus no matter what we did, corn starch, large snack, split dose, nothing worked. With the pump I can decrease his insulin at night and it works very nicely.

5. Temp. basals: I absolutely love temp basals. They make life so much easier. We mainly use them at night, if Riley is lower than I like (but still in range) I can just decrease his basal for a couple of hours and most times it takes care of it. There is no need to wake him to drink juice or eat fruit snacks (as long as he's not low, low). Temp. basals are also very handy for sports or other increase in activity.

6. Having a happier healthier Riley.

7. Having a happier mom (me).

Riley started on the pump exactly 3 years ago today. I hate that he needs it in the first place, but am so grateful that he was able to get it so early on in his diagnosis. Life is never easy when it comes to diabetes, but the pump makes it easier.

5 comments:

Jill said...

Happy Pump Anniversary!!

We're so looking forward to Kacey's Cozmo arriving within this next week (snow delays...grrrr!)

Amy said...

Yay for 3 years pumping! I'm looking forward to the day when Jada is ready for one herself!

:) Tracie said...

You're pro's compared to us! Jessi's been on the Animas pump for 8 months now. She's got the Ping now and it's great. Still haven't figured out split blous' yet...but I will.

Congrats on 3 years of some ease!

Anonymous said...

I agree! I hate that Tristan needs to have it but I do love how it makes managing diabetes easier!

Joanne said...

Penny, I would love it if you added my blog. One of these days I'll get my act together and get a list of blogs added to mine, but there's always something else to be done, isn't there? I see your son is on a pump... I can't wait to read about your experience with that. We're thinking we'll go that route one day, but we're waiting for Elise to get a bit older. Anyway, thanks for your comment and I'm looking forward to reading more of your blog!