maybe it's time to change the blog title...

So, K got her pump one week ago today. I wouldn't say that life is "easy" but it is SO much easier!! Here are the upsides:

• We are no longer injecting her with insulin several times a day! 
• We have given her insulin during the night without waking her up! 
• She could have cake at her birthday party without having a shot first! 
• We don't give her the long-lasting insulin every night at bedtime anymore, thus making bed time rituals more enjoyable again.(she gets minuscule drips of the short lasting insulin throughout the day to make up for that long lasting one - and we're able to alter how much she gets depending on the time of day - because her body is very different at different times of the day)
• She loves her little pump cases and enjoys showing whichever one she's wearing to friends (the advantage of her being 4, not 13...)
• Her BG levels have been awesome! she's been high; she's been low, but not as severely as prior to a week ago. 

So, we still have to check her BGs -day and night - but she doesn't mind that. and, of course, we still have to count carbs. The pump makes that easier too though because it has a food database on it of 500 food items (that I still need to configure more to her diet). The pump also does the math for us (the insulin/carb ratio) and has all the ratios programmed throughout the day (because they vary) - as well as the amount she gets (depending on the time of day) when she goes too high. We have to change the insulin and inset to the pump every 3 days. We've done it twice at home now and although it's still a two man job, it's not a big ordeal.

The only slight hardship we've had lately is that K's been sneaking food... We don't get mad at her but let her know that she can usually have the food item, but just has to tell us first so we can dose her. We know we will have plenty of challenges ahead of us, but we are just thankful for this very manageable week!!

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night...

Imagine waking up in the middle of the night, feeling pain, then looking at the source of the pain - and it's your parent giving you a shot!! That's what happens to K more often than we can count. Last night, I was the source of her pain. Her BG was 273 at midnight. She woke up a little bit as I checked her (pricking her finger with lancet; meter then reads that drop of blood, giving us that 273 number) and, as usual, never minds getting checked. (The lancing devices are amazing these days - one hardly feels the prick.) But with a 273 reading, she needed insulin and because she was somewhat awake, I let her know what was coming; other times when she sleeps through the check, we inject her as stealthily as possible and sometime she thankfully sleeps through it, sometimes she jerks her arm/leg (and then we wonder if all the insulin got in there...), or she squeals.

Sometimes I walk through our actions with regards to diabetes emotionless - it's just something we have to do: get checked, get injections, make sure she doesn't eat more or less than what she's been medicated. It's what we have to do to keep her healthy; there's no point spending much time feeling sorry for K or us. But last night, in my half sleepiness, I just felt horrible. She cried and cried about that shot, and in turn, made me cry that I was the source of that pain. It's easier in the daytime to explain that she needs it to stay healthy and to eat good food, but at night, when we're both asleep or borderline sleep - it's just plain sad.  I am so thankful that nights of injecting her are nearing an end. The pump arrived last week and we're getting her on it with a day of training on Monday!! So, from then on, when we have to give K insulin, we just press a few buttons on the meter remote and she's medicated!!! 

Here is the opened package of the pump (on the left) and the meter remote. We have a very FULL day of training on Monday; she'll be on the pump by lunchtime that day :)  . She's excited too (but was first angry that it did not come in purple) but I worry how she's going to feel wearing it with her cute leotards and similar clothing :(