Pump Day!!!!

So pump day was yesterday and what an eventful afternoon!

The morning wasn’t so great; he had very high blood sugars through the night and into lunchtime following advice to only give one unit of Lantus when he usually has 3; and we had anxieties about how much insulin to give so as not to mess things up for the afternoon.

Pump training wasn’t as intense as I imagined – but having to keep a 3-year-old occupied and take everything in was nearly an impossible task.

We nearly saw some tears when it came to the cannula (same as the first Dexcom insertion) but he soon forgot about this because he told me: “orange juice will make me feel better”. Then when it came to doing a test bolus, he got to eat two chocolate biscuits which, naturally, he found really easy.

I think we have taken everything on board but I’m sure time will tell, especially when it comes to set change day on Thursday and then every 3 days going forward.

After the training session, we all went for a cheeky Nandos to celebrate and test out the pump – or Mandos as Will calls it. All I can say is: WOW! It was so much easier to be able to do multiple Basals (starter/main and then again for dessert) and much less messing about with him and asking him to sit still and wait etc.

By bedtime, he had totally adapted to having his cannula and pump attached and was excited to go back to pre-school and show all his friends – as well as the staff.

It was mainly positives that were taken away from the day; fewer injections, more accurate dosages; TBR’s & ability to set varying basal/bolus rates depending on the time of day etc.

BUT…The big BUT is that we have to go back to finger pricks for meal times. The way the Accu-Chek Insight works means it requires a blood sugar reading before each bolus, this in itself is not an issue. The issue is that this BS reading cannot be manually entered and has to be entered via the meter – therefore, a huge frustration as we can’t simply enter readings from the Dexcom. My wife is unimpressed and feels the Dexcom is now a bit of a waste of money… but I know things are coming that will end finger pricking once again.

There is a rumor that a new App may enable this option but, at the moment, all we can do is wait.