Tuesday, April 3, 2007

That little plastic blue monster that suppose to save my life on a daily basis

Oh, where do I even start? Life is rushing despite of all my doctors' strict prescriptions of slowing down, apparently, according to them, my diabetes can't catch up with me and that is why it has been behaving so out-of-hand badly. I've spent almost the whole March at home, again according to my doctor's advice, and yesterday was my first day back to work, although I'm starting part-time and boy do I love it. Yesterday was also another milestone - I finally told people in the office about my diabetes (well I had to explain why I went missing for a month). It wasn't that big a deal at all.

Next Monday my mom is coming to visit for a week!!! Yey!!! I'm so excited, I can't wait to show her everything around here, she hasn't been to The Hague since we moved here. I think she'll like it here. God knows I love this city, not all parts though.

About two weeks ago, my diabetes nurse put me on a Minimed sensor to see if there is a pattern in my overall horrible blood glucose results. And what do you know, there is. I knew it before, I keep very detailed recordings of everyday blood sugars and insulin and food consumption, but it was nice to be proven right by a machine. And the pattern is ... apparently from about 4 a.m. and on my blood sugar rises with the speed of sound without me doing nothing but sleeping. It could go from 6 up till 20 in a matter of couple of hours, well and you can imagine waking up with such a number how the day starts and how difficult to bring it back without diving into a low. So that was my daily roller-coaster ride for over 3 months now.

The only solution in sight was and is a pump, which was ordered last week and now in about 4 to 8 weeks I'll finally catch up with the rest of the world in terms of actually using the benefits of technology developments. I'm very much pro-pump, don't get me wrong, but I still have no clue how is it going to work with my daily clothes, as they're pretty tight with no pockets or bulky parts to hide the pump (believe I had a week practice with the sensor even though it's a little bit bigger), and yes, yes, I know, I can wear it with the pride outside my clothes, but seriously, how do you think a bright blue medical equipment would look on an elegant work suit? Girls out there, please help if you have any wisdom and advice to share on the issue. And I've chosen the perfect time of the year to go on a pump with the summer approaching.

On the other news, I got a new hair-cut, which I'm pretty happy with.

New haircut

And our baby-kitten is growing into a handsome cat.

All grown-up

11 comments:

Lyrehca said...

Tuck the pump into your bra if you have a tight outfit and you don't want to wreck the line of your clothes. Or wear bike shorts under a skirt/dress and clip the pump to the leg of the shorts. There are many tricks to hiding a pump--you'll definitely learn them!

Kate said...

I've been on the pump for 8 years and I'd never go back to shots. I have a blue pump, but luckily the Minimed comes in gray and other colors if you'd prefer. They also have leather cases that look nice if you want to wear it on your waist band but not have it look as obvious. But my experience has been (and I'm a nurse who works and goes to school with nurses) that most people think it's a pager.

Scott K. Johnson said...

Congrats on pumping! Remember, it is a transition - and it can take some time to get things dialed in and adjusted right. Don't get frustrated if things get worse before they get better.

Great haircut, and awesome cat!

:-)

Major Bedhead said...

Whoo, look at you, aren't you cute!

The girl is pretty, too. ;)

Kerri. said...

I love when bloggers post their pictures - it's nice to see who's writing all those posts I enjoy!

And cute cat!

Anonymous said...

your cat is so cute. we're getting a cream point siamese next week and an apricot silver shaded orental. they're so cute.

as for hiding the pump, i'm a tom boy, i have lots of pockets so i can't really help! the time did wear nice clothes to a wedding was a nightmare.

Carey said...

Congrats on making the move to the pump.

Sasha said...

Hello everyone :)
Thank you all for the warm comments and advice.

Lyrehca - I heard that one about the bra but wouldn't it freak people out when I reach into my bra to bolus?

Kate - I think I will get one of those cases or a funky case for a mobile phone or something. Any excuse to buy accessories ;)

Scott - Thank you :)

Julia - the cat says thanks and the girl too :)

Kerri - I love that too, it's always so great when you can put a face to the story. I saw your pictures on flickr, you look great and it looks like you had amazing time on your vacation.

V.i.c.k.i. - Thanks! They are cute. It's always so exciting when taking new kittens home. The colors of your future cats sound awsome and very delicious :)Good luck! Did you pick out the names already?

Carey - Thank you! It's a big move for me.

Bernard said...

Sasha

That's a big dawn phenomenon you've got going there. You'll love the pump for fixing that.

Recently with the Dexcom CGM that I've been wearing I was able to tweak my early morning stuff. I noticed my BGs were starting to rise around 3:30 AM, so I changed my basal rate to be a little earlier and a little higher. It was almost too easy!

Congratulations on letting the folks at work know about your diabetes. That's a big accomplishment.

And that's a great picture of you. Let me guess, it was taken by someone you really like.

Chrissie in Belgium said...

Sasha - very nice haircut!!!! So happy that you will be getting a pump. I just could not manage my D without it. I would NEVER give it up. I hook it upside-down on my jeans belt. I do this so that any possible bubbles that occur, for example when I am out in the sun,stay in the pump and do not get into the infusion line. On my belt the pump is easily accessible. Remember it does take a little while to achieve balance even with a pump! I so hope life will become easier for you. With your humungus dawn phenomenon a pump really is the only answer and once you get the first test of the day in a good range I think you will probably notice that the bg values during the rest of day will be better and more stable. I do not know why this is, but we have discussed this on my blog and many of us have noted this.

Sasha said...

Thank you Bernard!
It was indeed a big step for me to tell people at work.
I took the picture myself, someone I really like was at work at the time :)

Chrissie, thank you!
I can't wait for my sugars to get more stable. I'm not even talking about lower, right now I'm just dreaming stable.