Quick Update!

Sorry, I drifted off for a bit. Planning a birthday party, researching insulin pumps, waiting for CGMS results, doing school work, and cleaning have kept me very busy!

The results are in NO dawn phenomenon. They saw a slight spike in my morning numbers, but not enough to call it dawn phenomenon. The CGMS also indicated that I could use some tweaking with my insulin to carb ratio around dinner (or when I start pumping my basal rate). My doctor is concerned that there will be some sort of problem with insurance coverage if I go with the Animas 2020. He thinks that since I might be taking close to 100 units a day (based on the amount of insulin I am taking now) that the insurance won't want to cover the fact that I will have to change reservoirs and infusion sets basically every 1.5-2 days. He says that the Animas will have about 180 units after it is primed, compared to the OmniPod which will take less units to prime from its original 200. The thing is I can't see how a less than 20 unit difference will matter that much. No matter what, I will not make it to the third day. Unless by some crazy miracle my insulin needs change dramatically with a pump, which I am not counting on. Any opinions? Am I missing something here? I think I will email the Animas rep we are in contact with to see what she thinks about it all.

This is going to be a busy week for me, Wednesday is my 16th birthday, Friday is my 11th DiaVersary, Saturday is my Sweet 16 Party and also my mom's birthday. I'll be back at some point during the week with something to say. Wishing a great week all!

Jilly Jill and the Pumpy Bunch

(You will understand the title by the end of the post.)

So it’s just after 3 am. What am I doing awake you may be asking yourself. Unfortunately my seasonal allergies have kicked in and I am all stuffed up so sleeping is just not working out. Plus, I woke up at about 1 am checked in at a falling 84. So I ate a few lifesavers just to bring it up a touch, and to prevent sleeping through the inevitable low I felt coming on.
Anyway so my mind started turning as it does when I have nothing to do with myself, and what did topic did my brain decide was right for the wee hours of the morning? Pumps. What else is new? Lately if it’s not my Sweet 16 Party, it’s Diabetor knocking on the door of my brain. So what am I thinking you might ask? Which pump of course! Animas or Omnipod.
The only reason that the OmniPod is even back in the running is because my doctor suggested investigating them, and having the reps do the insurance leg work just to see what kind of coverage we could get. In the beginning I was all Omnipod all the time. NO TUBES! HECK YES! Insurance shot down our inquiries so I decided what the heck traditional pumps I could do it. My research took me to every pump possible, even ones not available in the US. After reviewing each pump pretty thoroughly, Animas was the front runner. It has what I want features wise, I like the OneTouch meter is works with, its waterproof (Yes, I know it can still flood if it has a tiny crack, but that’s what the warranty is for), I like the loaner program, the customer service has been excellent and I am not even a pumper yet. And to tell you the truth I like the look of it, and if I am going to have to live with it for the next 4 years I think that’s kind of a big deal.
As I rolled around in bed trying to fall back asleep, I thought hey I have this CGMS thing attached and I barely notice the site. I can sleep on it, without feeling it at all. Could I do that with an OmniPod? I kind of doubt that I wouldn’t notice I was laying on about a half egg sized piece of hard plastic. You can’t see the site under my clothes (for the CGMS and I am assuming it would be the same for an infusion site), so what if the wire/tubing hangs loose? With an OmniPod will you see it? Probably. I mean come on I am a teenager, I do not want some weird blob sticking out on my already somewhat pudgy stomach. Another thing I like about the infusion site with tubing is that I could move around the actual pump. Pocket, waistband, thigh thing, you name it, the pump moves! OmniPod not so much, I don’t think that makes diabetes a “smaller part of life”, I know myself it would make me so annoyed and self conscious. I also think it’s a bit wasteful? Little batteries, a crap load of plastic, and probably some insulin goes in the trash with each pod. Now I am not knocking anyone who has the OmniPod or who will choose it. But I know now that it isn’t right for me. Oh and I forgot to mention the fact that it will be extremely sad that I won't be going with OmniPod, because I really love to call and listen to the reps with Boston accents. Yeah I know weird. Blame it on Mark Wahlberg.

So if I don’t get anything else out of the CGMS study, I know I can be attached and be comfortable. Back to bed!

It's all in the numbers...

First number.

8.2 that's my latest A1c. Down from 10.5! I guess I'll have to go change that on my tudiabetes page. I was congratulated and complimented by the IE. I knew he had a heart, and he said that basically he wanted me to work my butt off so he could feel confident in putting me on a pump. Makes sense, but still it made me dislike him for awhile.

Next Number.

3 or maybe 4, number of days I will be on the CGMS system. Here is the story. First I had my appointment with the IE, we talked shop. Pumps (OmniPod or Animas), A1c, a lipids panel I could "sell on ebay". Then my mom and I left to have lunch. Went back to the office, met another diabetic boy who was a year older than me and was going on the CGMS because he hasn't been waking up during night time lows. We did a little tutorial together. I made him go first, then I went and almost passed out. I am a "passer-outer", everything and anything I get lightheaded. I think it was more the nervousness than pain or anything caused by the actual sensor. I would explain the insertion as maybe a finger prick to the surface of your stomach. A little sting that stays with you for a couple of minutes and then its gone. The tape is worse than anything. It feels all pinchy.

The process went like this, insertion,review removal, start the one hour warm up. I got home the warm up timer went off, I was supposed to calibrate. I washed and alcohol swabbed my finger got a reading, entered it. And got a CAL ERR message, I went through the clearing and re-entering process. CAL ERR again this happened 3 times, I called the help line. The guy told me to wait awhile because continuing to re-enter could cause the sensor to fail. So I waited a bit, and did it again. The rep would inserted it said after every error clear you should check and re-enter but that contradicts what the guy on the helpline said! Ugh! So I just called again and had a more helpful person. She said to just turn it off for 3 hours to get the sensor completely saturated with body fluids (um okay?), then try again. So much for this being an easy process.

Here are some pictures:

The Monitor Shower "Paks"

< Sensor and ridiculous amount of tape.

Forums!

I have a follow up appointment on Monday with my Endo, because I have been on Symlin for a month now. When I go I would really like to discuss pumping even though he seems to be not so sure about it. So I posted some questions on Children with Diabetes & Diabetes Daily, any feedback here or or on either site would be really helpful. The following is a copy of what I posted.

I have a few questions about insulin pumps, but first I will give you a little history about myself and my diabetes.

I am 15 years old and was diagnosed 2 days after my 5th birthday, so 11 years this September. I have never been on an insulin pump, always MDI, starting with R and N and only to shots a day at diagnosis (1996) to a minimum of 8 injections a day including 3 of Symlin, 2 of Levemir, and 3 + of NovoLog. I have had many doctors one of which was what I like to call a “pump pusher”. At every appointment she was pushing the pump to me (around the age of 10) when I wanted nothing to do with it. 2 years ago I switched to a doctor who is very progressive with putting younger kids on the pump and has discussed pumps with me, but I was not ready. Now I have been investigating them as he suggested and the only one I would ever use would be the OmniPod. The only problem is that he wants my A1c under 9 before he will put me on any type of pump, but unfortunately nothing we have tried (Lantus, Levemir, and now Symlin) has been able to get me to that goal. Mostly now because I am still waking up extremely high, even though using the Symlin usually keeps me in range during the day. I am wondering if your doctors had restrictions like this before putting your children on a pump? I thought that pumps were to proven to help lower A1c’s? Would a pump possibly solve my problem with long acting insulins (Levemir and Lantus) and waking up high? Any ideas and opinions about how to get my doctor more on board would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in Advance.