To pump or not to pump – that is the question we asked ourselves back in November before we started down the path of an insulin pump for our daughter Allison. We had time to decide, we had to take a test and pass three classes before the doctor’s office would allow us to get one, so we went forth with the classes and decisions and thought we would decide after we passed everything.
We have now been on the pump with insulin for a month and I ask myself why did I question this path?
Well there were reasons to not pump:
1. It is technology – SCARY stuff!
2. It cost more to have an insulin pump – the pump itself is not fully covered by our insurance and the supplies are not fully covered – but needles cost us nothing so our monthly cost increased quite a bit.
3. It is attached to our daughter day and night – how would she handle that?
4. It is attached to our daughter at school – how would she handle that with her friends – her diabetes it more noticeable with a pump.
5. It is technology – SCARY stuff! (Yes that deserves to be said twice in a negative!)
We had our pros too and obviously since we are now on an insulin pump we decided it was worth it at the time. My reflection of the past month reminds me of some crazy things though – we have had some serious highs and a ton more lows than before. One night the pump wasn’t working properly and Allison’s blood sugar was over 600 – our meter doesn’t register over 600 it just SQUEALS at you in a very LOUD AND URGENT listen to me tone! We had to wake Allison up at 3:00am have her pee on a stick and change her site and then Chris and I were up for the rest of the night checking her every hour. It was a long night! We have had more lows than we used to – and the question of keep the pump on, take the pump off, etc, etc, etc and the second guessing creeps in more and more during those times.
As with most things in life there is no perfect way to manage type 1 diabetes with a child – all kids are different and all kids have growth spurts, bad days, active days, lazy days and sicknesses randomly – so managing it sometimes feels like a full time job in itself – add in TECHNOLOGY to that crazy mix and you can get some SCARY stuff running through your head! BUT……
I love it and so does Allison (which is the most important thing!) I will take the 3am site changes or stressing constantly about her numbers (I already did that anyway) or changing her information every day into the technology that scares me any day because it also gives us a much better peace of mind. After all I said how is that possible? It is so full of INFORMATION!
The insulin pump is full of information – the meter is remotely attuned to the pump and can help us and we download everything to a website that shows us charts and graphs and highs and lows and trends – it is AMAZING to actually see what is happening to my daughter. Pare all this information with what she is or has eaten, her activities or issues on any given string of days and you can see how her body is reacting to things so much better. The first time I saw this it was like a light bulb went off in my head – I have a better understanding – and therefore a better comfort with my daughters disease – what a HUGE and WONDERFUL thing to feel!
So I will continue to be stressed about the technology until I fully understand all it can do (and am certain as soon as I figure this pump out a new and better one will be available – gotta love technology) but I will also appreciate that technology can give me INFORMATION that I never really understood before. Thank you inventor of the pump – I appreciate you – not as much as the discoverer of insulin but you are right up there!!
Until there is a cure,
Jennifer Holdgreve
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