Pump day

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LaughingHyena

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Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Today is the day, in half an hour I will be heading up to the hospital for my first training session with the pump.

Nerves are setting in now, I've found it hard to settle and concentrate much today. I keep telling myself I would probably have been the same way about injections had I had any warning before starting them but I didn't and got over that hurdle so....

Mind you, the thing I am most worried by at the moment is finding a space to park at the hospital, the car park is awful. 😱
 
Hope you find a space OK! I'm sure you will be feeling much better about things once you are in there. Good luck, and let us know how things go! 🙂
 
good luck 🙂
 
phew, found a parking space OK. :D

I was expecting a group of us but it was just me this week. Apparently there will be a few more next week but the rest of the group are already pumpers, just new to the annimas.

Went through most of the menus and stuff with the pump rep before working out my starting rates and setting up the pump. Then had a go at filling the cartridge and a trail run of inserting the set into a sponge before going for the real thing.

The inserter is not as bad as I thought it might be (while I was OK with injections quite quickly it took me a lot longer to get used to the finger poker!) and while I am concious of it, it's not uncomfortable.

Came home with quite a collection of user manuals and all the other bits and pieces. Plus a free bag to carry it all in 🙂.
 
How have you found your first night?
 
First night was OK. I put the pump in a sock (an old phone one which has been hanging round since I bought a new phone) and just put it next to me in bed.

No major problems, I did pull on the cannula at one point when I rolled over as I'd got the tubing wrapped round my arm, and I forgot to pick the pump up this morning. Ouch again.

The area around the cannula is feeling a bit sensitive, no sign of redness or itchiness, just feels a bit bruised. I'm hoping it's just from those times it's got pulled.

I've been experimenting with different places to put the pump, still some work to do there.

The clip which comes with it seems reasonable secure on the waistband of my trousers but it's not very comfortable and the pump digs in when I sit down.

The pouch that came with it holds it horizontally so less digging in but the clip doesn't feel very secure.

It's OK in my pocket, but means I'm struggling to find places to put keys, phones and all the other bits which are usually in my pockets. For now this is where it is though.

Haven't tried the spibelt yet or found a comfy way to put it in my bra.
 
Move it round your waistband until you find a place where it's comfy then!

If you get a skin for it, you can then bung other stuff in a pocket with it, without it getting harmed.

Or get a bra hanger! - Roche do one that has a flat clip on it you can hang on the front or side of your bra and the pump then hangs against your ribs about 2inches down from the bottom edge of your bra - no good for anything with a skin tight bodice but excellent where there is slightly more room for manoeuvre.

If I stick in IN my bra anywhere I would either have a monoboob (if it's in the middle) or 3 of em if it's at the side!
 
Move it round your waistband until you find a place where it's comfy then!
Click to expand...

I know, I'm hoping as I become less concious of it in general I can just stick it on the waist band.

If you get a skin for it, you can then bung other stuff in a pocket with it, without it getting harmed.
Click to expand...
It's more a case of capacity, there is only so much my poor pockets can take.

I'm reasonably handy with a sewing machine so now I have the pump to measure I can probably sew something to fit.
 
LH,
To stop your cannula being pulled put a bit of tape on the tubing a couple of inches from the cannula.
This stops it hurting when tugged and also pulling it out 🙂
 
First cannula change today.

No problems with the actual insertion but filling the cartridge was quite an experience. Covered everything in saline the first time round and had to start again. I've kept the cartridge and the open saline for a few more practice runs later on.

I was told at the training session that the filling from the insulin vials is easier then plastic saline ones though so hopefully that plus some more practice runs and all will be well.
 
Oh yes, the vials are much easier to fill from, as the reservoirs/cartridges are designed to fit onto them. 🙂
 
Well the trial week is nearly over, so far so good. The canula changes have been OK apart from covering everything in saline. I did end up doing one on Saturday evening as I managed to bump the site during the day and it was feeling sore (Ironically I was on a first aid course when I did it!). That one did look a bit pink when I took the sticky off but the others have been fine.

So it's off to the hospital this afternoon to start with the real think, just collected my prescription this morning.
 
Good luck!

Hope your transition goes smoothly 🙂
 
Still going well at the moment.

Had a little wobble overnight when I dropped down to 3.4, but a couple of jelly babies and I was fine. No huge rebound either, at 7am was around the 6 mark. Result.

Rang in for my catch up with the DSN this morning and we agreed to give it another 24 hours or so before tweaking the basals as we're expecting there to still be a bit of the last dose of Levimir affecting things.

Also a nice bit of freedom this morning. We went for a school visit in the morning which took longer than expected so stayed out for lunch with hubby. Since I only tended to carry pens when I was expecting to eat out I wouldn't have been able to do that last week. Another result.
 
Glad to hear it's going well 🙂
 
Please you are seeing the advantages of a pump. FREEDOM (braveheart) 😎
 
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