Pink Life Support

My time has been consumed by a tiny little girl and her tiny pink pump. YES! We switched from MDI (multiple daily injections of insulin) to an insulin pump a Minimed from Medtronic and yes she got to pick the color :) I don't think she would have allowed it any other way.

Now I had mixed feeling about using an insulin pump, and sometimes I still feel that way, but I can tell already that we have chosen the best method for her. She's able to have a little more freedom and not so many bombs of insulin. Or as the pump starter nurse here said "think of it as bullets of insulin instead of grenades". Which means before we would give her a big shot of insulin which tends to sit under the skin and all be absorbed at once which caused Little Miss to have very high blood sugar levels caused from the food she consumed then low's from the big dose of insulin. Now she is able to have the same insulin but with more of a drip affect so her body absorbs it over time rather then all at once. I have noticed a big difference in just the 2 short weeks it has been and while she doesn't' LOVE getting her "sticker" aka catheter or infusion set inserted(every 3 days) it certainly is nice to be able to just push a couple buttons and not have to poke her little body with a needle 5 times a day.

infusion set allows insulin to drip in via a tiny catheter - also allows tubing to be unplugged for water sport aka bath's ;)

And on top of all those good things we also have a live log right there on the pump so we can look at how much and when her last dose was, no more guessing, HEY don't JUDGE, we are insulin giving robots and it's hard to remember when your going through the motions on little sleep....do you remember how many breaths you took at 8:08am?! Didn't think soooooooo :) so now we know we aren't missing things and if I panic I can double check.

Now with all that greatness does come some bad news....mostly I can live with it cause let's face it, DIABETES SUCKS AND I WOULDN'T WISH IT ON MY WORST ENEMY.....MAYBE JOSEPH KONY ;)So the  bad news: well, there's no long acting insulin so if the pump has a kink in the tube or something happens, tough cookies, we are on high alert when there is high blood sugars(which are still happening, we have fine tuning to do) and my daughter is connected to a machine, all be it pink and small but it is still a reminder that insulin is keeping her alive and it isn't a cure but a way to manage her disease which in the past would have caused her a slow painful death! Boy am I glad for technology. We still have to check her blood sugar FREQUENTLY and at NIGHT (There is no true rest for me/us) and Finding a place for the pump to hang out comfortably on her little body is a challenge....hence another reason I am MIA, working on a great affordable juvenile diabetes pump pouch. I always find a necessary reason to sew even in the dark cloud that is diabetes. It's in my blood like a disease ;)


So there you have it! I am missing from blog land and or my friends and family recently due to a tiny pink life saving machine!!! Which I am utterly thrilled to have in my home each and every day!

It's not bout me...

I decided at the very last minute that the family(just the 4 of us) would go to Portland for the JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes on Sunday(October 2nd 2011)I did not feel like celebrating diabetes at the moment(it's been a tough year)....however I decided to register Ava as a walker because this is about her not me and about awareness, research and a sense of belonging. Ava may never see a cure but I hope that someday no other parent has to live with this disease in their home.

We called about 6 weeks before the event to get into our Dr while we were there and they had to put us on a cancellation list. Well it all worked out they called us Friday (yes the day before we left) to let us know they had an appointment on Monday at 10! Sign me up! So glad we decided to make the trip.

The walk was fun, cold as usual and a rained at the very end. Ava and Logan had a blast we didn't meet anyone new nor did we get the chance for her to make any friends(she is only 3 after all:) but I would say it was a success....as for next year we have BIG plans....Ava's Army get ready for battle!