Well, my daughter who is 20 years old is officially on the pump since this morning and she is scared to death. It was alot of information to take in when setting the pump up and learning to fill the reservour and do the infusion set. It was almost like coming home from the hospital the first time after being diagnosed with all the needles, test strips and logs. I know in the long run this will be much easier if she takes care of herself but I felt really bad sending her off on her own today. The mother in me wanted to go with her and help her through the first day or so.
Hi concerned mom, change is scary for lots of us, particularly when it deals with our diabetes regimen. Young people are so good at adapting though that I know she'll be successful. And she's lucky to have you for support.
As a mother (my daughter is 24), I know the feeling well that you would just take all the scary hard parts that she faces and take them onto yourself in a heartbeat if you could. Take care and be strong! She'll be fine...and so will you. Come back and let us know how she's doing along the way!
P.S. My dad once told me "I always knew that I'd worry about my children and my grandchildren...but I never realized that I'd worry about the grand-dogs too". :)
You should be probably more happy than worried that you guys took the next step in managing diabetes. Usually the first few days would be tough .. but she will get used to it and will do fine..
Let her know, mom, or better yet have her come on here herself and hear that adjusting to a pump was a steep learning curve for me and I was 60 when I did it! Perhaps the only difference was that I know the foothills of a learning curve when I see one, and since I've climbed up many in my lifetime I knew I'd get up and over this one as well. Tell her one step at a time! The first several weeks I had to pour myself a cappuchino and read the directions line by line to put in an infusion set and it took 1/2 hour. Now (a year in) I throw the directions away and it takes 10-15 minutes. I have awful hand-eye coordination; hers has got to be better. I strongly recommend the book pumping insulin by John walsh and suggest she read her pump manual and refer back to it regularly. I'm assuming she has carb counting and tweaking doses already as skills. And once again, I'd love to invite her on here as well as suggest a live type 1 support group if any is available where you live.
Thanks everyone for your insight. I have asked her to go on here several times or go to a support group. She was diagnosed just over 3 years ago and has been in dka twice this year and had double cataract surgery 2 years ago. I am hoping she has matured some and will take this more seriously but I am not sure. Time will tell.
ah..and what a 'good' mom you are! yes, please have her come on here, this site is great...and can provide so much to her, support, advice, suggestions, etc...Zoe, Acid Rock, Christy, mybustedpancreas, and many other pumpers would be a huge support system for her. I'm currently doing my pump training right now and will start live on it on the 9th..I'm scared too, believe me...but, we have to try and look at this 'pump' transition as a positive, ya know. however, we're aware that it is a transition and a learning curve. Good luck to her..and you too. :)