We had been approaching that day with trepidation and excitement...
I had been weepy for days...let me explain.
My daughter has the appearance of being 'normal'...
I want her to be 'normal'.
With a device attached it makes her diagnosis more real...and she isn't so normal anymore.
(I should be used to this, as we have been dealing with this for 6 mo.)
I know God has a plan for her life, as he does mine, but I wont go into all that.
I want to share with you what a pump does as I feel many of you have absolutely no idea!
I know I didn't!
Its only been 24 hours, but we have already seen how much better controlled she is.
Because she is so small, she needs little insulin. Less than a half unit per dose!
That is super small on a syringe!
With the pump we can give 0.025u.
Unbelievable!
The pump has Bolus Wizard software. That means I don't have to do the math!
One feature is, after her Blood Glucose is loaded to the pump via wireless connection from the BG meter,
It gives us a suggested dose.
We than proceed and Act. So simple!
It takes into account any active insulin she may still have on board.
So I wont have that 'stacking' affect of insulin which causes her to go too low!
After she eats we tell her pump how many carbs she may have eaten and the pump gives us a dose recommendation to infuse. great huh?
Not only does the pump administer bolus doses, but a constant infusion of a low amount of insulin is being transferred at all times. And she has 8 different time frames with different amounts of basal insulin being infused. For example the amount being infused at night is at a lower rate than the amount during the midday or meal times. That prevents her from bottoming out at night, or going real high around meals.
It automatically switches between the doses according to time frames.
When she is ill and her glucose is running high , we can program the basal rates to increase by a percentage for a temporary amount of time.
It is sooo amazing what can be done with this device! We are amazed!
I'm so glad we don't have to use the 'poor man's pump' any longer!
(that was her 24 hour shots of long acting insulin)
Or give her multiple shots during the day:)
In 6 mo. she will be eligible to receive a sensor, that will give us a BG read out every 5 min!
So no more finger or toe pricking later this year:)
As far as the infusion site goes, they are like ports that we change once every 3 days.
The port is a tiny needle (smaller than her insulin syringes were) attached to a butterfly-type adhesive circle bandage. The second circular bandage is a safety. If she were to yank on it, that would release first, and seal the tube. That is also where we detach for baths or swimming. Neat, huh?
There are alot of other cool features to her Medtronic mini-med Revel pump, but I just wanted to give the basics to help educate some people who haven't any idea how it works.
