Started on pump!

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Hey hun, hows it going?

Glad the basal is going ok. It must be annoying to know that when he goes back to school everythign goes to pot.....I feel exactly the same way about going to work! Are you happy with your patterns?

Its always good to evaluate things and reflect on our relationships, but I hope you arent giving yourself too much of a hard time by what you are saying. I dont have children but I am sure what you are feeling is natural in parenting and good parenting at that. Striking the right balance between being all over the diabetes thing and allowing freedom at the same time is an equation that many people would love the formula to. You do the best you can Mand, and it cant be easy. Plus (and I am bigging you up here!) you are managing a disease that you do not even have, or know how the physical symptoms feel like- such as 'warning signs' etc.....it can only make your job ten times harder! That means you deserve ten times more credit in my book!

Happy pumping! Catch you towards the end of the week! Lou xx
 
Thanks Lou. I really appreciate your words of support. It does make me feel better to read those words, so thank you. I feel like you really understand and that means a lot to me. 🙂

Things are going well still. His dsn has made some tweaks, here and there, to his settings and i also had a talk to her about my need to find a good balance between being a responsible parent/carer but allowing him more freedom. She was so understanding, gave me some good advice and now i feel i am getting the balance better. 🙂

It is so difficult for him when he is eating away from home to get the balance of carb/insulin correct but he definately needs to learn better carb counting and this would help so much. Must work on that one!

Anyway, most of the time when he eating at home, most of his readings are on target or near enough to.

When he goes to a sleepover and out for the day without me then his readings not so good for a while but i am learning to just let this go as it is important that his life is not too restricted, otherwise he will resent his diabetes. When his carb coutning improves then his readings will improve when he not eating at home, so we will get there in the end. 🙂

The good thing about the pump is the ease to correct if he has carb counted wrongly.

I have downloaded, from Mcdonalds and Pizza Huts websites, the carb values of their food and printed them out for my son to carry with him. I am going to see if any other eating places offer such excellent info. I wrote to Franky and Bennys (as they do not have the carb value of their menu available) and they have replied that they are currently working on it. Lets hope so!

This sort of info would help my son, and all other diabetics, so much.

Just wondering if Bev or adrienne have read my last post? Not heard from you guys in a while and just wondering how you are? Perhaps you are on holidays? Look forward to catching up with you soon.

Lou, hope you are doing ok yourself? Will keep an eye out for an update on your thread. Take care. Mand x
 
I think that is a great idea, downloading stuff. Have you got the Collins gems carb counter? It has some fast food stuff in there Maccy D's etc and some other eating out places. Its not right up my street so I semi-compilled my own and from their websites I have downloaded starbucks, cafe neros and pizza express. I live near a wetherspoon and eat there once in a while, they are the only place I actually can think of that freely display their nutritional info in a leaflet for you to take-AND NOT DOWNLOAD! My favourite restaurant is a small turkish place near me, and I cant for the life of me work out their carbs! I cant believe someone hasnt produced a proper combo guide on all the current places it would really useful. I have to say, I though it was kind of mandatory that these big places provide such stuff??

Glad its all going ok. I am still finding it hard work but I am still making lots of big adjustments. I have my one month pump clinic on monday so it will great to see the others and how they are doing. Like it, but still in the "hard work" phase. Im still reading the pumping insulin book slowly, which is mighty tough but they reference my actual doctor a couple of pages in! He was a big instigator in getting the pump going in england and in its inital invention before it went to america. Well wadaya know.....!

Hope you and the family enjoying this beautiful weather this weekend,
Lots of love Lou xx

PS I think Bev and Pat on their jollies! xx
 
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A scary experience but lessons very much learned!

Hi everyone. Hope you are all well. Have not updated for a while partly due to tiredness (still night testing) and partly because things are jogging along ok so not much to report. Until now!!!!!!!!!! 😱

My son changed his cannula last night at 9pm (mistake number 1 - never change cannula just before bed!). He had a small supper at 9.30pm. Checked his blood at midnight and was 12.1. I bolused a correction thinking the supper was probably still in his system causing he high.

At 3am he was 16.1 with 0.4 ketones! I bolused a correction and woke him to drink some water. (mistake number 2 - no reason for him to be so high so should have changed cannula)

At 8am he was 20.6 with ketones of 2.2!!!!! 😱 We decided to change the cannula as realised something not right. Well, the little tube that should have gone into his tummy was in an 'L' shape and had not gone in to his tummy so no insulin had been getting into him since 9pm last night!! We put in a new cannula, bolused a correction, made him drink a pint of water and phoned the hospital. My son was thirsty, needing the loo, had a headache and mild chest pains. Scary! (mistake number 3 - set an alarm clock for two hours after 3am check if all not ok).

They said there were other people having problems with the tubing bending and advised us to put cannula in fridge before inserting in future as when cold the plastic less likey to kink/bend. They said we were doing everything right to correct but to now check his blood and ketones every hour until in the clear. All sypmtoms should go as he returns to normal.

I am happy to report that at 2pm today his blood sugar was back to normal and he was clear of ketones! All syptoms gone. Phew!

I have been feeling so guilty. Why, why, why did i not respond to the 16.1 at 3am by changing the cannula instead of just bolusing a correction! Well, a lesson learned!

Well i am now thinking of this as a positive experience as he has made a full recovery and we are more knowledgable now and have learned several lessons!

How are you all? Good holidays?

How you doing, Lou? (thanks for your support recarelink and diaries. I all sorted now). x

Patricia and Adrienne, how are you?

Bev, do not want you to be worried by my experience. I know A soon to start on pump. But i wanted to share my scary experience so that it helps others to be aware of potential problems and hopefully you can learn from my mistakes!

Anyway, have forgiven myself the mistakes as all so new to me still (only been 6 weeks) but it hard not to feel guilty when it is my son that suffers if i do not get things right. :(
 
Hi Mand , Im pleased to hear your son is now ok , that must have been very scary for you !!
 
Hi Mand, to err is human! You have, as you say, learned some valuable lessons and this will help you and others reading this in the future, so thank you for posting! From what I have read often here, getting a high reading in the middle of the night isn't that unusual, so it's not surprising that you were caught out by diabetes muddying the waters! Well done for getting things sorted. I would imagine it was also salutory for your son to be fully aware of the consequences of not getting his insulin - perhaps it will help prevent future 'teenage rebellions' that we occasionally read about!
 
Hi Mand,

Really sorry to hear of this scary experience - for you and your son!
Please dont feel guilty about it - we are all new to this pumping business and at least you have learnt a good lesson and so has your son. Also, i would like to thank you for telling us all about it as it really is valuable for us to know.
I had read on the other forum that one parent wont change a set after 6pm for this very reason. Perhaps you could alter the times he changes it?

Perhaps he could do it at 4pm and this should give enough time to notice if things have gone astray? Also would fit in with school times etc.

I understand where your coming from regarding not wanting your son to hate his diabetes - but after reading accounts on the other forum - after a FFL conference - it seems the 'right' way to deal with teenagers is to 'let' them hate their diabetes! It is healthy apparently to be able to show your feelings towards diabetes and what it means to you. Also its ok to let your child know that you too hate diabetes!
The current school of thought also is that you should 'discipline' your child if he/she miss-manages their diabetes deliberately (i.e. refuse to bolus etc) - because as this chap said - if a child doesnt do its homework it gets disciplined - if a child doesnt bolus - they should learn there are consequences and they are far more serious than not doing your homework!
I have to say i agree with this line of thought - and i have had words with A on a couple of occasions for things like not sitting still when having a hypo and for not filling in his log book. If we can start their mindset to include diabetes and its management from this early age - then hopefully they wont feel so much need to rebel as its only them they are hurting!

I had heard about putting the sets in the fridge - but i thought it was to stop bubbles in the tubing? Anyway, thanks for all the updates - please keep them coming as i need all the help i can get. For some reason i feel very nervous about next tuesday - did you when it was your sons pump start?😱Bev
 
AM - Thank you. Yes, it was scary but all is well now! Phew! xx

Northener - Thank you for your words of support. I hope my experience will be of help to others. And you are right, my son took it very seriously and it has been a bit of an eye opener for him (and us). Things have gone so smoothly since his diagnosis two years ago that i think it is easy for him (and us) to become complacent. It was a bit of a reality check this morning. Although a scary and worrying experience, I am almost glad it happened because it showed him (and us) that bad things can happen and confirms the importance of taking care of what you are doing. xx

Bev - Thank you also for your words of support. Yes, it is all a big learning curve! Yes, i did feel apprehensive before my son started on pump. But this is natural so do not worry if you feel anxious. I can only speak from personal experience, but overall things for us are so much better with the pump, despite the drawbacks or odd scary experience. I hope you have a good level of success as we have done. xx
 
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Hey mand!

Firstly, of course- very glad to hear your son is well post this experience!

There are quite a few things you have done RIGHT as well as all these multiple "mistakes"! You tested for keytones, you got him drinking water, you rechecked and kept checking, you called the hospital....

Really interested to hear of the putting your set in the fridge- never heard that one! Like all things, I wont knock it till I try it!!

Youve done a great job by the sounds of it, although I completely get it was very scary and unpleasant. I expect you have been prepped like me. All the things that i have been told can go wrong, I am just waiting for them to happen.

I agree with what Bev says about the set change before bed. My DSN swears against it. I have abidied by this like the teachers pet that I am, but saying that I do need to change the set tonight before bed as Im low on the good stuff! Yes, the "alarm", dont even get me started on it...

Really nice to read your pumping updates again. Hope all is going well now on it. Still getting the good numbers?

Take care xx
 
Good to hear from you Lou. Thanks for making me feel better. Your supportive words, and everyone else's, really do make me feel better and stronger.

Part the reason i felt so guilty was that we had been told by his dsn not to change the cannula before bed. As Bev said 4pm is a good time. But it was just circumstances that led to it being that way but it will be a priority in future!

How are you getting on Lou? If you have time, please update your thread as i often think of you and wonder how it all is going. xx ps i know what you mean re the dreaded 'alarm clock'!

Bev - has just re-read your post about the latest thoughts on diabetes and discipline. It is interesting reading as i am always unsure how to handle the emotional side of things as well as the discipline. It always seems a shame for my son to be in trouble for not doing something correct re his diabetes when he didnt choose to have it in the frst place but, on the other hand, he does have it and he needs to learn good discilpine re it for the sake of his future health.

I have been trying to remember to praise him when he does well. I think it is so easy with kids to only tell them off when they do bad and to forget to praise them when they do well. Not just re diabetes but with anything they do.

I have set up a system where my son gets ?2 a week extra to his pocket money (he currently gets ?4 a week pocket money but he has to tidy and dust his bedroom each week to get this) if he has been responsible with this diabetes. eg remembered to do blood tests when not at home, tried hard to carb count well when not at home, remembered to correct if too high etc etc. It seems to be working. I do not know whether this is a good idea or not but i wanted him to have some incentive to take care of himself when he not with me.

Anyway, good luck for Tuesday Bev. I will be thinking of you and A. xx
 
Thanks Mand! I dont think we need another pump thread - so i will just comment on the odd thing that happens - which i am sure there will be lots!

Regarding incentives for good management of diabetes, i am absolutely positive that your doing the right thing by giving your son extra pocket money for following the 'rules'. I believe that if we can get the early years 'right' - then that is half the battle when they go into the teenage years. I also think it must be easier on a pump as they wont have the added excuse of not wanting to inject! I must admit i am fairly strict with all mine - i dont suffer fools gladly! But i do it for their own good - if a child doesnt have discipline in its life - they have no incentive to do well in any aspect of their lives - so by getting them to take responsibility for their diabetes (within reason of course) i think we are giving them brilliant grounding for their future.
Children need boundaries and if we can get them to understand the consequences of crossing those boundaries of diabetes then we have done a good job!

I have a niece who got everything she wanted (by way of material goods) -but nothing she needed.(discipline.,consequences and boundaries). She wasnt disciplined and came from a fairlly affluent family setting with all the material gain she ever wanted (only child). She is just 19 now and is on her second pregnancy! And she is a very intelligent girl - but lurches from one drama to another and still doesnt have any boundaries, and never faces consequences for her behaviour. Her children will be brought up the same and the circle will go on forever. It is really very sad, but if she had been mine she would have been at uni now and childless. The saddest thing about it is that my three children think its such a waste of her intelligence - but my niece thinks she is being a grown -up by having these children and she has nothing to offer them in terms of good parenting.(although to be fair she does show her daughter a lot of love).
Her mother asks me why my three are all so good - and i havent the heart to tell her that its because her daughter wasnt 'parented'. My niece would stand in front of my 3 children and eat the 5th chocolate bar - whilst mine were crying and hated me - but i knew i was doing the right thing by saying 'no'! It is the easiest thing in the world to say 'yes' to your child - but you are doing them no favours - because in the long run you will end up with a troublesome spoilt brat. Saying 'no' is very hard -but its the best thing you can do for you child in my opinion.

Sorry i got a bit carried away there! I just get so cross with lazy parents!

p.s. I am a nice mum really!🙂Bev
 
Hi Mand et al

Quickly, as so much to catch up on!: we always change our set before a meal, eg Wednesday before normally-timed dinner, and Sunday morning before lunch. This way we are more likely to catch it quickly, because we will know at the post-bolus bgl if things have gone wildly astray.

Saying that, we once had an issue with a late night high which *wasn't* a set change problem. We only knew this by doing a correction followed by a check an hour later. At that check things were coming down, so we knew the insulin was going in. We then checked two hours later, etc, and things were continuing to come down....

So from then our system has been to correct an unexpected high and then check about an hour later before thinking we need to change the set. Fingers crossed we've never had to change a set -- but no doubt will some day.

Saying all THIS -- I'm sure we would have responded the same way you did with the timings...We would probably not have got up at 4am to see if he were coming down -- enough is enough. The only thing I can see is what you've already said: the cannula change was prob just too late in the evening to make sure all was on target! Live and learn...

I'm sorry to hear it happened, Mand, but it's all a learning experience, as everyone says! We encountered many 'learning' situations over the holiday...so much of it is about planning, and about ingraining certain types of routine (eg don't go to x without y; don't do a set change later in evening, blah blah) -- though the list does sometimes feel a little endless, and like we'll *never* get on top of it!

On another note: bev, just to keep me from chasing through the threads -- are you all set for Tuesday?! When did you find out? Let me know! (sorry for hijacking...)

Finally: Mand, we are now letting E estimate all over the shop when out and about, and it's not doing much harm....We pick up whatever highs later (and they've not been bad). As for exercise and lows, we use temp basals like nobody's business: he now turns them on and off himself when out with friends and feeling low...So last week out in town and walking around, he felt low (4.5) and turned on a temp basal for two hours. Then went to friend's house via bus, had lunch, all fine, but then they went to park to meet other friends and again he felt low (4.1) so turned on another temp basal for another couple of hours. This seems to do the job for him in most situations, 75% of normal basal covers most circumstances...Try experimenting? Then your son can really get hold of a little more freedom without the lows...?

For now!

xxoo
 
Missed more posts while doing mine! Argh.

Just to say re discipline: completely with bev on this. My kids are 'good' ones too, for same reasons. And incentives work well for E -- esp financial ones. He gets pocket money for housework too, and earns extra money when he can for car and garden work etc. Re diabetes though thus far he is his own worst critic, so we tread carefully there. He berates himself for 'missing' things and will become cross with self easily if he doesn't catch things. So we try to be quite light with him. Slowly he takes more responsibility without being reminded, so okay so far. This will change we know...

For now again!
 
Bev, I have no doubts that you are a lovely mom! Hehe! I totally agree with you re discipline. I do take a fair bit of grief from my two because they think i am too strict at times and that i nag at times but it is only in their best interests that i do it. I am glad that you agree with my money incentive idea as i was unsure about it. I only give ?2 so it is a treat rather than throwing money at him to be 'good'. It seems to be working so far and perhaps i can increase the amount a little over, in line with his age, time if it continues to work. 🙂

Patricia - Good to hear from you. Thanks for your words of support re our scary experience! Lessons have been learned and that is the positive outcome of it. Yes, i do need to get my son to use the temp basal. I think this would deal with the lows he gets at times when out and about with friends. I also need him to carb count better. I like your attitude that you let your son do his best when out and about then correct any highs when he returns home. This i must learn to do.

Feel free to hijack my thread anytime to ask other pumpers and pumper parents questions. It can be difficult to keep track with so many threads. Perhpas we should consider joining up and having just one pumping thread that we can all use? Just an idea? What do you think Patricia, Bev, Lou and others? 🙂
 
Thats an interesting idea Mand, I have stopped my thread a couple weeks back anyway.

I messaged Northener about this theme actually. I wandered if him or admin could consider a section on pumping (like books/pregnancy/sport etc) so that we dont feel like we are dominating the message board on pumping threads. I feel it is easier to ask a question on a thread about pumping than it is on the main message board for that reason. Also, I think this forum is growing and growing and a pumping section might attract other pumpers in the UK. Quite likely this change (if admin was happy to go ahead with it) will be a while off. I have started using another US forum with more pumpers on that I really enjoy in the mean time.

Anyhow, Mand that is a good idea about combining but I am still enjoying yours! Im still learning new things, as I expect we all are. My giving sets are in the fridge today because of what I read on your thread yesterday!

I am happy to go with whatever people feel is right. Bev, I am very excited to hear all about alex going on the pump, not long now!

Love to all
Lou xx
 
I think a combined thread is an interesting thought too -- was beginning to think mine was all 'up at the top' and feeling a little embarrassed about it...Also, keep having to chase down other pumping threads...

I agree too about risk of dominating -- don't want this!

Do you think people who frequent the general messageboard would also go to a separate pumping section? Because I really value what people who *aren't* pumping say too! I personally rarely visit anywhere but the general board -- but that may be my quirk....

What do others think? Northerner, Sofaraway etc, any solutions occur?!

I agree though that it's hard to ask a question about pumping on the main board -- feels too specific sometimes?
 
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