I am on Interstate 95 traveling from Gainesville FL to Annapolis, MD when I get an occlusion alert. BG has been running high for a couple days and I thought it was stress. After way too many attempts at correction boluses, I finally stopped at a rest area and changed out the infusion set in the car in the parking lot with minimal light. Anyone else have weird experiences changing infusion sets under non - optimal conditions ?
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Radio City Music Hall
airplane on my way to Korea
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While at lunch in my company truck sitting in a Sonic Drive-in while waiting for my food to arrive.
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Yes, a few times too, like you @Marypat. Once is when we were coming home from a week at Disney and had a three hour car ride home, after the flight. It was a long day, into night and it was in the winter. We had winter coats on and my pod was under a long sleeved top. I switched it out the same as you, in a rest area, under thankfully dim lighting!
Another time we were traveling with our two daughters, a son-in-law, and our grand child. My pod alarmed … the shrill filled the 7-passenger suv, causing our three-year-old grand child to say, “Nana, make it stop!” It was one of those times the pod didn’t stop with the pdm and I used a lancet to silence the alarm - poking a hole in the back of the pod. I guess their little ears are much more sensitive than ours are. I don’t like the shrill myself, but the poor child was besides themselves until I was able to silence it. And, then of course, it was another pull in to a rest area to change it out.
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Since I’ve lived with an insulin pump since 1987, I’ve changed sets in many settings. One of the more unusual ones was when I was single-handing a 33 foot sailboat on San Francisco Bay with the help of my autopilot as I divided my attention between changing the infusion set and keeping a lookout for other marine traffic.
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Yes I have done that a few times in my car while out shopping. As well as dexcom sensors which are harder to depending on what I am wearing.
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I just hate changing sites in public bathrooms. I just feel like all these germs are lurking around. So I change the out in the open. Sometimes when it is under my pants, it is a little harder. I have done many at work, just go into the bathroom to pull tape up and than sit by my locker in the hallway & put new one in. I did one on a bench at the SD zoo. Most people just don’t care. Done a few in parking lots. I just do what I need to do to stay healthy.
once while intoxicated, i put one on while fully dressed, Stick never worked and not surprisingly i pulled it right off when i pulled off my pants in retrospect, sticking it though my pants leg was likely a miscue
@Terry4, while I know this is not a contest … you WIN, in my book!
For those that are not sailers or are not familiar with SF Bay, let me tell you a bit more about what makes @Terry4’s infusion set change so impressive:
In the summer, the onshore wind from the cold Pacific to the very hot Central Valley produces consistent 20+ knot winds. When the tide is flowing in or out underneath the Golden Gate Bridge, peak currents can reach 5-6 knots … and currents are very tricky anywhere in SF Bay. Marine traffic: Oakland is, as I recall, the fourth busiest container shipping port on the west coast.
Single-handing a sailboat out there is an AMAZING feat in itself! To add a finicky infusion set change to that? Wow!!!
@Terry4, you da man! Bravo!
Stay safe all!
John
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@John_S2 - I blush and fear my comment may have implied more drama than was the actual case. You’re right that the SF Bay can challenge sailors with high winds, tricky currents, and plenty of other traffic. But it’s not always extreme on all these accounts.
There are plenty of days with more benign sailing conditions. I would not have attempted to change an infusion set under more gnarly or risky conditions. The autopilot, dependable wind conditions, and clear visibility all made diverting my attention to a safe set change possible.
I sailed SF Bay fairly regularly for 15 years and felt comfortable that I could do a set change easily and in fairly short order.
It sounds like you’re a sailor, too. Do you own a boat? I sold mine in 2016 and miss getting out on the water.
Thanks for your kind words.
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Not a sailor, but lived in SF for two years and had friends who owned a motorboat. We used to go out frequently in the summer, and I was thinking how rough it can get out there and wondering how on earth you did it, Terry4.
It would be an exaggeration to call me a sailor, but I did sail for several years aboard a friend’s boat. He owned an Express 27 which, at that time at least, was one of the very competitive one-design fleets on the Bay. Our boat spent the bulk of our time near the back of that fleet … but we did get to see a lot of very good sailors as they receded in the distance in front of us!
I also gained a great appreciation of how big the forces are aboard even a small sailboat in significant wind … particularly when things have gone “pear shaped” …
Stay safe!
John
Thank you for putting that in perspective. I grew up sailing on Lake Erie, and there was little to fear other than the sandbar that liked to unexpectedly beach boats offshore. 27 foot Catalina is the one I remember fondest.
Hi there. One time I was working as a nurse in the hospital. I was too busy to leave my desk so managed to do it right there. A doctor came by and she was impressed.
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