Soon to be pumping

[Red (aus)]

With much thanks to a very dear friend on CWD, Taylor (8 dxd @ 3) will receive a pump in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately I'm on my final Uni placement for the next 5 weeks (out of town:rolleyes: ), to be followed by my final exam, so it will be mid December before we actually get to the kick off day. Just in time for Christmas... I haven't decided if that's a good thing or a bad thing yet. I'm thinking good as in the eating side of things should be so much easier, but I guess I'm a little concerned about getting all of the tweaking etc done before we get to pig out stage:eek:

Has anyone else begun the pump just before Christmas, or other similar significant time? How did you find it? What were the pro's and cons?

I'm probably making too much out of it in my head, but our Lantus start was totally seamless even without any sort of real education or help from our d team, I can't help thinking was it too easy? lol

[sbbquilter]

Congrats on the pump - start when it works for you. I hope that your seamless Lantus start is an indicator of the pump start. Lantus was also a wonderful transition for Patrick and the pump was not that difficult- I felt very fortunate because that is not everyone's experience.
Patrick had his pump training the Wednesday afternoon before Thanksgiving and then gave the pump a real workout the next day. Remembering that he was 16 at the time - his Dad and I were going out of town for a 4 day business trip the next week and wanted him to wait to use the pump until we returned but he worked so diligently those first five days before we left doing constant testing that he continued to wear it even though he was at the house with his brother. Since he had been carb counting from the start it was not a big deal - and he had never had any "honeymoon" so his insulin requirements were as steady as one can hope for. Best of luck - I personally can't think of a better present than a pump that will hopefully make life a bit easier when dealing with D.
Take care and good luck with the exams!
Patti

[julia]

Olivia did her pump start last year over Christmas. It was fine - a bit hectic because of the holiday, but I think it would have been that way on MDI, too. I had to get up more frequently for a couple of weeks, but other than that, she had an extremely smooth pump start.

Pros: She was off school for a week and a bit, so night checks weren't as disruptive as they would have been were she in school.


Cons: Holiday foods that she normally doesn't get too often, but it helped to see how sweety, sugary foods were handled by the pump.


Good luck! It sounds like you have a lot on your plate before the pump start, so good luck with all the uni stuff.

[Red (aus)]

Thanks for your responses. I spoke to the d centre yesterday and they're going to get back to me with some possible start dates that suit them and we'll work from there, and just keep our fingers crossed and think positively:)

[Red (aus)]

All going well I believe the start date will be Monday 28th November. This would be perfect as I'll have finished placement, Taylor will still be at school for another week so that they can have a bit of practice with it before the new school year and it's plenty of time before Chrissy to try to iron everything out

[maverickmom (Kerri)]

When my daughter Shannon (15) first began pumping 6yrs ago, it was right after Thanksgiving (I think it was 11/30/99). She is homeschooled, but I personally think the holidays are ideal for pump start for public school children. In fact, another boy in our support group began pumping right after us, during the Christmas break, and it allowed them to tweak a lot before school started up again. Plus holidays allow you to experiment with a wide range of foods. ;)
The first several days were the most labor intensive for us. After that it got a little easier every day.
One thing that will help you immensely (if you haven't done it already), prior to pumping, is reading the book Pumping Insulin (3rd ed) by John Walsh.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes! :)

PS...if you are able, I highly recommend your wearing a pump yourself (with saline) to help familiarize yourself with the pump. I did this when my daughter started pumping and it really helped me learn the pump functions fast, and get a feel for what it's like to be tied to something 24/7. I "bolused", checked bgs, and changed sites like she did. Anyway, just a suggestion... :)

[laenie]

Julie will be starting the pump shortly after the holidays and the one big thing she is worried about is what to do with the pump while she sleeps. I would love to hear others suggestions.
Thanks, Elaine

[faithe113001]

I'm on the pump, and I have a clip that the pump goes on, I just clip it to my pjs while I sleep!

[munchkingirl]

I just started on the pump on Tuesday. Sleeping hasn't been a problem, I was really worried it would be, cause I don't like to sleep on top of things. I also have a clip for my pump and I just clip it on the inside of my pj's so it doesnt fall off. I sleep on my side so I make sure that my pump isn't on one of my sides and it's all good!

Have a good day! :)

[Red (aus)]

My daughter is extremely restless during the night so we've modified some of her jammies. There is a hole in the inside of the pocket for the tubing to go through and the pocket has a zip put on it so the pump can be zipped inside.
A friends son sleeps on one position all night and barely moves so they just pop his pump under his pillow and it's all good.

[Red (aus)]

Disetronic H-Tron Plus arrived at 9am this morning!!!
Batteries to arrive 9am Wednesday and all going well we can start pumping the same day!!!!

[faithe113001]

Congrats!! Good luck!

[Red (aus)]

Taylor is so excited!!! We've had quite a few readings in the 2.0-3.0 range:rolleyes: It's also been hot hot hot here which doesn't help. Sunday it was 10 degrees celcius hotter than average, yesterday was only a few degrees cooler, so between the heat and the excitement and the anticipation and the fact that she's a kid it's been an interesting few days

[rock1]

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[Red (aus)]

2 DAYS TO PUMP START:D :) :cwds: :eek:

[Ellen]

How's the new pumping going Red?

[Red (aus)]

Absolutely FABULOUS WONDERFUL FANTASTIC AWESOME TERRIFIC EXCELLENT

LOL can you tell we like it!! Ready for the novel?

We arrived at the hospital at 9.30am Wednesday morning. By 10.30 the pump was all set up and Taylor was wired for sound. I did the whole set up (with much help from the step by step book lol) and then inserted her first cannula, which she took really well. They asked Taylor what she knew about the pump and could do with it. She did brilliantly. Was able to demonstrate that she could bolus, cancel the bolus if she made a mistake and turn the pump off if there was trouble.
We sat and chatted for a bit and Taylor had a snack and her first bolus etc, and we left the hospital a little after 11am.
That first day her numbers were slightly high, but that was expected with having had no long acting on board for 14 hours before the pump start, but things settled quite quickly. We went bowling that afternoon and it was sooo easy to manage everything. We spent 2 hours at bowling. The kids had some hot chips and a drink around 5, Taylor tested and was 7.0 so everything was going great guns.
We didn't get home from bowling till almost 7 so had dinner at 8pm which is the latest we've ever had dinner in the past 5 years because Taylor never would have made it before! She was 10.0 before dinner.

Overnight she was a bit high, the doctor started off with lower basals than he thought mostly so that she didn't hypo straight off the bat, but they weren't excessively high, maybe 12-17.

Day 2 we were up early, and went shopping with our Christmas money. After shopping we went to the museum where we traipsed around for 4 hours and it was so nice we didn't have to leave to eat etc. When she woke she was 6.7, morning tea 6.1, lunch 6.5 and so on. Still a bit high that night but better, ranged from 10-14.

Day 3 was Friday (yesterday) and we headed down to the strand for a bbq breakfast. (rolls, ham, sausages, rissoles, potato, pumpkin, tomato, egg) Then Taylor and I went to the hospital to do some basal tweaking and her first site change. When we arrived the educator said "Mum is very good at doing these site changes, would you like to have a go today and do your own?" I just sat quietly without expression waiting for her to come to her own decision. She replied "Well, if I could do my own injections when I was really little, I can do this, it's easy" LMAO I just sat there trying not to cry and thinking Ohhhh boyyy this could be really great, or it could be really ICKY!
She went off with the educator to wash her hands etc, and then came back and set out her gear ready. She put the set in her belly, manually and without any numbing help. She hesitated a little after she'd pricked the skin and it was probably half way in, so I had to encourage her to keep pushing until it was all the way, but she did it all herself.

For the past 3 days we've barely been home, we've eaten when and where we felt like it, without being dictated to by insulin peaks etc. We've had hot chips, coke, pizza hut, pasta, noodle bar, muffins, icecreams and bbq and everything has just been so easy. Taylors insulin - carb ratio has changed from lantus to the pump but she's even picked that up really well. We're slowly weaning out that old chestnut we call supper, that big snack that all of the kids have been having at 8.30pm every night to keep Taylor going through the night. By the time they go back to school that extra meal will be gone, and they'll all be on earlier bed times which will help Jessie(6) immensely.

I'm so pleased that we went down this road, and so very very thankful for the wonderful friends who helped us get here.

[Red (aus)]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v413/carkisser/tayloraquarium2005two.gif

[Red (aus)]

Ellen convinced me to start a blog on Taylor's pump start, check it out at: Pumping Insulin (http://www.carkisser.com/Taylor)