The weather is beautiful and downtown is bustling with people!
I picked up my personal copy of my thesis today. It looks so professional and perfectly bound and all that. I am very happy with it. Oh yes, did I mention I got it bound in orange!?!? I LOVE IT!
I'm sure you noticed, but I was getting very upset with my pump and infusion sets. I actually called the pump companies tech support line; I was at the end of my rope and if they didn't have a good solution for me, I was ready to go out and buy a bottle of Lantus right after the phone call.
I didn't get either, really, but I got a supportive dose of reality and a wonderfully friendly voice at the other end of the line.
I had asked my nurses and doctors what the problem was with things, but they had no answers. One nurse said she'd look into it, but I never heard back. [I'm not impressed with Ontario's Health Care, yet again.] When I explained my symptoms to the tech support nurse, she definitively told me that I must be shooting into scar tissue. She was patient with me and explained it over and over again until I understood and let down my stubbornness enough to accept it.
She explained: the reason the new sites don't work is because the insulin doesn't work in that area and it take a while for it to pool enough to spill over into a new area that accepts the insulin; steel needles vs canulas will not make a difference; site rotation needs to be my main concern. She suggested a plan that will maximize the time that areas of my body will have to heal before being injected into again.
Rather than going back and forth between left and right like I have, stick with one side of the body for a month and a half - if I can find about 15 different spots (at least 2 inches apart from each other) on each side of my body, then it will take a month and half to make it through each side, working logically like top to bottom. By the time I go through the other side of my body, each site will have had 3 months since it was last punctured-more than enough time to heal.
Her logic was impeccable and that is the best way to appeal to me. She pointed out that this is not an immediate solution; it will take a while to get into this and it won't cure previous scar tissue, but it will minimize the appearance of new scar tissue and work out for the best in the long run.
She said she would send me some samples, encouraging me to go back to the newer canula infusion sets. I was overjoyed the next morning to realize that she had sent me 30 sets... that's 3 months worth!! Now I'm in it for the long haul again. I will stick it out for another 3 months from now and see if things are any better.
Of course, I will update as we go along!
1 comment:
It is nice to get a person who understands your frustrations. Recently I have been having issues with my CGM and have called Minimed for help and the educators that I have worked with in my city. Luckily, the educators are caring and let me vent my disappointment while supporting me. Hopefully things start to go better - 1.5 monts is a lot of time to spend on one half of your body!
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