Another - Starting My Pump Today Discussion

Diabetes Technology Insulin Pumps
1

I've been looking forward to this for quite a while. I leave for the doctor's office in about an hour to start my pump!

I'm super excited. Lots of thought and research has gone into this decision.

To mark the event, my body decided to start off with a low (not that that's unusual)!

I'll update this discussion as the day progresses.

One thing I did not anticipate, at all, was a little emotion this morning. I can joke about it now, but a couple hours ago...I guess we could call it separation anxiety? This morning was the first morning in 20+ years that I have not injected my long-acting insulin.

I guess that would be considered normal? Something that has kept me alive and functioning for so long, so ingrained into my life. I think I might have to pump that pen away out of sight, lest I try using it tonight out of habit.

Oh, and by the way, Mother Hen (aka my lovely wife) has taken the day off from work to hover over me, watch and worry more (not sure that is even possible).

2

Good luck

3

Best of luck; are you going to tell us what pump you got? Is your doctor doing the training, or the trainer coming to your doctor's office?

4

All the best! For me, going on the was a radical, positive change.

5

Thanks all.

I just got back home. Had a couple errands to do afterwards.

I've got the Medtronic 530G as well as the Enlite CGM. We'll be doing the CGM training next Monday.

The Medtroinc DCM met me at the doctor's office and we did the 'training' there.

It took about two hours, but about 45 minutes of that was because my doctor is 'chatty', which I love because we get to discuss recent clinical studies or research, etc. Also, since Mother Hen came along we had to talk about grand children. :-)

We had to make adjustments to the initial settings from what we all agreed on two weeks ago due to my intensive management program. I've been suffering from lots of hypos over the past 7-8 weeks and have been forced to reduce both basal & bolus amounts by about 30-35% over the past several weeks.
We also worked out how to handle further adjustments as the needs arise, which basically came down to: Whatever you want/need to change to just let us know what you did. I love that about my doctor, he trusts me to make informed decisions

The first thing I will be changing is the basal patterns, I need to add one to better handle my typical afternoon lows. But I'll give it a couple days before I make that change. (I just checked and I'm at 73, so yeah, that will be the first adjustment I'll make.)

We did have one interesting thing happen. When I attempted to insert the set, the tape somehow caught on the inside of the Quick-Serter so it did not insert fully. So we got to troubleshot that. Note to self: "Hey dummy, keep your big, fat, fingers off the big, fat, button on the top while inserting a set!"

I'm positive that the initial settings are quite conservative and that we'll be adjusting in the next several days. Basal rate is 1.3U/hr; ICR = 7; and ISF = 26. Interestingly enough, this represents a 50% reduction in TDD from where I was just 8 weeks ago!

My doctor and the Medtronic rep are already scheming about how to get me to agree to become some sort of pump advocate for their patients.

6

Twenty four hours and things are much as I expected. Yesterday afternoon and overnight was very stable. Only had a 30 mg/DL increase after dinner, and was basically flat all night long.

After eating breakfast, I spiked to 231! This, I'm pretty sure, is due to the default ICR they start you off with. I've made the proper adjustments and well see what happens after lunch!

I have a call later this afternoon with my trainer to follow-up.

One question for the folks here. When showering, do you put the pump in suspend, or simplly disconnect?

7

Good news! Of course, getting your basals set is the key.

I am a little surprised you were started at a flat 1.3U/hr, since overnight basals are typically a little lower from 11-12 until 3-4, and then raise towards morning.

8

Me too, but I was a good little patient and did not rock the boat too much. Simple enough to make the corrections today or tomorrow.

See my reply below for the events today.

9

I just disconnect.

When I was new to the pump, I would suspend, figure out how much basal I missed while showering and then give a bolus for that amount when I restarted.

Now that I have more experience, I don't worry about it too much and just reconnect ASAP. I am also pretty quick in the shower. Of course, my pump is waterproof, so it goes on the bathroom counter and gets plugged back in right after I dry.

@ 1.3U/hr, every six minutes is .1 hours, so during a 20 minute shower, you would miss approximately .4U

10

I just got the 530g about 1-month ago and am loving it. Best of luck, if you are like me, once you get the Sensor up and running you'll be checking it every 5 minutes for a while. Be patient with the sensor, it takes ~12 hours for it to get warmed up and reading steady(sometimes 6 if you are lucky).
As for the shower, just suspend your pump, disconnect, and put on the little cover clip after that. If its less that 45 minutes before I reconnect, I don't bother with dosing for the missed basal.

11

I disconnect and then run a 200% temp basal for the amount of time I was off pump. One of the perks of pumping!

12

92 after lunch, so I've got that setting pretty close. Will wait to fine tune it after we finalize the basal settings (those are pretty close too - except the afternoon low.)

Now for dinner!

13

Half way through Day 2 and I've been essentially flat all day. A 20 point bump after breakfast and only a 12 point bump after lunch, so it's looking very good! (My adjustments are right on target.) I told my trainer I made the changes and she said "Here we go! You could not even make it a full day before you started tweaking things. I'll speak with you on Monday to see what else you have changed!" :-)

I haven't seen 'normal' blood glucose readings in a long time. That is without spending an inordinate amount of time managing it.

I actually slept in until 8:30 this morning (only got up once at 3:00 to check BG.) Something I have not been able to do for years!!!

If things continue to progress, I'll be able to enjoy life instead of having my life consumed with managing my diabetes. I'm looking forward to the days (soon to come) where I do not have to test upwards of 18 times.

14

Absolutely too cool!
You've had a great startup.
Don't freak WHEN you have a hiccup with it...trust me, you will.

You're doing gr8 so keep up the good effort

15
Don't freak WHEN you have a hiccup with it...trust me, you will.

That's an absolute guarantee with me!
16

Yup...me too

17

I, too, put off the pump decision for 18 years…this past Novemebr I became a pumper. Exciting, nervous, and antipicapation. For me, it was the best thing ever…and now I wonder why did I wait sooooo looongggg? Good Luck, and I hope you like it!

18

I've yet to meet anybody who regretted the switch but every one of us regret the balk.

19

I try to learn something new every day. Today did not disappoint!

First hiccup...Well, I'll be honest...It was my first failure to pay attention to detail...Well, actually, it was an (a couple, actually) act of stupidity!

One would think it's a simple matter to remember to take the tape off the infusion set before inserting it.

Of course no one would never forget to do the exact same thing with the second set!

Thankfully I remembered with the third. DUH!

I doubt I'll ever do that particular act of stupidity again.

Otherwise I'll be out of sets by the end of my first month on the pump! :-)