Tuesday, October 03, 2006

pumping insulin!

I was looking at old blog entries from my other blog--which I think has died, but I hold out hope for its revival, and found this one, which reminded me of my starting on the pump just over a year ago.
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Syringes and such
It has been over 24 hours since I last gave myself a shot AND my blood sugars have been mostly normal! This has not happened in 18 years. As a matter of fact, I have given or gotten upwards of 16,000 injections of insulin in those 18 years and I've hated every single one just as much as the one before it. You never get used to it--so if I ever told you that-- well I straight out lied. Sure they don't hurt in a physical pain sense so much, but they do hurt sometimes. And they always suck internally. Now, I still have to think about what I'm doing and each time I eat there is a consequential action--however, there are NO shots :) I've thus far missed 3 injections. wahoo.
3 shots/day v. 1 shot/3 days. sweet.

Next step- new pancreas (wish it were that easy!)

:)
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My audience at the time(of maybe 3/4 readers) were people with no frame of reference outside of what they saw in me for diabetes. Which hadn't been much up until about 9 months previous to this post. I was able to drop my A1C an amazing amount (in my mind) in just 9 months and was able to do this using an NPH and Humalog regimen-just awful, but my body's allergy to Lantus did me in. So my switch to the pump was glorious! I had a few reasons to switch--some good, some were more humorous, I think.

So here's some reasons:

1. Better control. NPH really sucked.
2. No more shots. I think that's pretty evident from the above post :) In college there were nights that I would lie in bed and fight with myself on the importance of getting up and taking my bedtime shot. Most of the time I won the battle, but there were nights that I went to bed without the shot--laziness at it's best. Also a lack of desire to control the disease--it controlled me. ugh.
3. Shots in the car. Yep, I wonder how many people test while driving? Ever drawn up insulin and injected while driving? Yeah, hmm, maybe not the safest of options, but it happened.


Honestly, I think those were my driving reasons. The better control was already there... I dropped my A1C 3 points in 9 months, but the shots were just sooooo annoying.

Anywho, please comfort me that I am not the only one who ever did the things mentioned in #3 or I guess, I'd rather you don't lie to me if no one else has.

hmm.

5 comments:

art-sweet said...

so much easier to pump while driving. SO MUCH EASIER.

And yes, that means I've done all sorts of things that took my eyes off the road...

Bernard said...

mel

When I was on shots (for more than 25 years) there was times when I tested and injected while driving. Not that many. Now that I've got the pump, as art-sweet says, it's a LOT easier. :-p

What does that mean? We're human. Have you seen the kinds of things other people do in their cars? Shaving, eating a meal, reading a newspaper!

mel said...

This is true, Bernard! Although, I think I may be one of those crazy people too. Hmm :) I get a little too bored and may be slightly too comfortable with my multitasking abilities, BUT I've never caused an accident or been in one that was my fault.

I just never could talk myself into pulling off the road to take a shot--hmm. And since I was always on the go, it just seemed to become a viable option.

Scott K. Johnson said...

Yeah, I've done it too!

The thing that NEVER ceases to amaze me is when I see somebody READING A BOOK while driving!!!!

Like, literally the book is being held open on top of the steering wheel while the person is driving.

Really now - the book is NOT going to get up and run away if you set it down for your commute. I promise. Just don't hit me.

mel said...

Scott, I also wonder why people who insist on putting us all in danger like that don't consider audio books. hmm.