Abbie woke up this morning with some blood in her set, so we needed to do a set change before school. Really hustled, numbing cream, got all the supplies together, new cartridge filled, pump loaded and primed, new site cleaned and while waiting for the alcohol to dry, I look over and see Abbie RUNNING A DIRTY LINT ROLLER OVER THE SITE! I started to scream at her – stop, that’s so filthy and covered with cat hair! But then decided to laugh instead, recleaned everything, did the set change. Decided since we were late to school anyway, we’d take the time to do fancy hairdos for Abbie and her sister. What started as a really stressful morning turned into a fun stolen hour with my girls.
Love it!! What numbing cream do you use? I’ve been thinking of this for my little one’s pump changes…
You are awesome! A common thread for parents and then down the road for their diabetic children is rebellion, why me, why this today! You should be incredibly proud of yourself. You are setting the tone that will show Abbie that her diabetes care is a priority and is not an inconvenience to you, (the most important person in her life) I am sure.
David was ten when he was diagnosed and then 14 when he got a pump. There were many late school starts the first two years, but not because he wanted to create unanticipated pump issues. I was lucky that his late school mornings were accepted by the fellows that I work with, as just late school mornings. I was allowed the opportunity to let it ride when things went off kilter and that has resulted in a mid teen with really good diabetes control.
Keep up the good work. For Erin, I don’t know which numbing cream you used, and David is older so he didn’t need a numbing cream for site changes, but he did participate in a study when he was first diagnosed that required a monthly monitoring of his blood, on the hour throughout the day, so he was set up with the sort of IV that allows blood to be drawn and then replaced with saline, and the hospital used emla to numb the setup.
Cheryl
we’ve used Emla, but our current prescription service sends us a generic that is a lidocaine/prilocaine mix. When we started on the pump last April, we did the first couple of set changes w/o the cream and it was tears and pain. With the cream (which we try to leave on for a full hour), she doesn’t feel a thing.
WHat a great story. Thanks for sharing.