:'(

Jeremiah broke tonight. :'( A piece of the plastic casing by the battery broke off when I was putting the battery cap back on. Now I see that there is a crack running down to a seam in the casing. None of my minimed pumps ever did this, but then again, I've had this pump for a year and a half, and none of my minimed pumps lasted that long! I'm calling tomorrow to get a new one. I'm not quite sure how it's going to work, since I'm in the dorm. I'm only here some of the time. I know they can't just leave the pump here, so I'm not sure how they will want to handle it. Now the really, big, important question is: what color should I get?? Should I still with the traditional, yet slightly boring, gray? Or should I be adventurous and get a blue or purple one? http://www.cozmore.com/default.cfm/PID=1.2
Opinions anyone?

*edit* No atomic purple for me. The lady said they prefer that I keep the same color. Oh well, it was worth a shot! (No pun intended) She also said that when a piece falls off like that, they have a higher rate of spontaneously restarting. Yikes! My new pump should be here tomorrow. So now, is the new pump still Jeremiah, or does he get a new name?

I heard of a new diagnosis today.
My mom is on the Children With Diabetes parents list, and Laura's daughter's friends roommate was just diagnosed. I can't imagine being diagnosed at my age. I've lived with it for 17 years. I am emailing her, but I'm not quite sure to say. I'm sure she must be in shock. Is there anyone out there in the OC that was diagnosed as a teen or around that age that could give me some insight? If someone had told you one or two things when you were diagnosed, what would have wanted to hear? I appreciate any help I can get! Thanks to all the OC bloggers out there! (I know you are reading, I have a stats counter now. muahahahaha! lol)

*edit* I really appreciate any input I can get. If you can remember your diagnosis at all, please help me out! Thanks!

A cure in 5 years

I don't know why, but I feel compelled to tell everyone my diagnosis story. I was diagnosed on October 3, 1988. I had all the usual symptoms, but the bed wetting was the most prominent. Before putting me to bed, my mom would put on a regular disposable diaper, a plastic liner and my pajamas. On my bed she would put a sheet, a plastic protector and a mattress liner. I would wet through it all every night. She took me to the doctor. He told me that he thought I probably had diabetes, but he didn't feel comfortable treating a child so young. He told my parents to go home,to avoid feeding me sugar, and to bring me to the hospital the next morning. He didn't realize how sick I really was. My parents could tell that I wasn't myself. Before I loved to talk. I virtually stopped talking. On the ride to the hospital, I said only one thing. I saw a billboard with a puppy on it. I raised my arm, pointed, and said "puppy." My mom still points out that billboard, even though the puppy is long gone. I spent a week in the hospital. My dad couldn't get away from his work on our family farm, so he would come every night. I would scream if my parents weren't in the room. The only time my mom could leave to eat, was when I was asleep and she was sure I wouldn't wake up. We were told the only was we could figure out how much insulin I needed, I had to eat a meal every 4 hours. This meant during the night as well. Although I don't remember it, I can't imagine waking up an almost 2 year old to eat a whole meal of hospital food in the middle of the night. My parents and I left the hospital a week later. My parents had entered the world of protein, fat, carbohydrate exchanges, insulin injections, finger pokes, and strict schedules. Technology has come a VERY long way since I was diagnosed. Blood glucose monitors now read in an amazing 5 seconds. There are amazing new insulins. No more must people deal with NPH, regular, lente and ultralente. The only insulin I haven't been on is lantus. It came out after I started on the pump. We now look forward to continuous glucose monitors. I can't wait to see what new technology they will come out with next. Oh, but wait, there will be a cure in 5 years, right?

It KNOWS!

Every night, before I collapse into bed, I make sure I have 3 things within my reach. My meter, a water bottle, and some sort of food. Last night, I was so tired, I didn't go through my usual routine, and I left my meter lying on my desk. I swear, my diabetes KNOWS I forgot to grab it. So, of course, I went low last night. I woke up confused, sweating and HOT. I reach for my meter. It's not there. I wake up enough to realize it's still sitting on my desk. I am now really annoyed with myself. Granted, my desk is about 5 steps from my bed, but still! I have to jump down from my bed (it's kind of bunked on top of my dresser. It's about 3.5 feet off the ground), and try not to trip over the stuff on the floor. I check myself.63. Not a bad low, but enough to make me want to eat, eat, eat. I first open my tiny dorm fridge and grab a juice box. Not the usual Arthur Juicy Juice (since no one seems to carry them anymore), but apple juice none the less. Then I eat a fruit snack. Then a granola bar. I know I've over done it, but I don't care. The sound of the wrappers cause my roommate to roll over, but not enough to wake her up. I take confidence in the fact that if I needed her, all I would have to do was say her name, and she would be ready to help me. After restraining myself from eating another granola bar,and wait for my pump to beep it's friendly, "Check your blood glucose. Your last blood glucose was low." I love that! I no longer have to remember what time I last checked myself, and watch the minutes tick by on the clock. When it beeps, I check again. 108. I'm happy with that, although it's a little high of a jump. Now I start the debate with myself on how much to bolus. I know I need extra insulin, but insulin also make me go lower. I do not want to end up with another low. I decide to bolus for 40 grams over 15 minutes. I decided fairly well. This morning I woke up at 181. Not bad for a food fest at 2am. Morale of the story? The one night I forget my meter, I will go low! It almost never fails! Is it irrational? Yes. But yet it seems strangely true.....
Jen
PS Thanks to everyone for all your comments. I'll reply to you sooner or later. I was blown away by all the support! I also appreciate all the responses on my medic alert symbol. I needed it for a paper I was writing.

Today is my debut in the D-blogging world. Welcome to all my new readers. I hope you like it! It's really not much, just somewhere to vent. And now I need to ask a question of everyone who ventures over here from Six Until Me. (Thanks Kerri for giving the courage to "go public") Does anyone know what the technical term for the medical alert symbol is??


Thanks in advance to anyone who can help me, and welcome to my blog!

They're back!

My beloved quick sets are here!
Hurray!
Party in the streets (as long as it's not outside my window, like the drinkers last night...)
As soon as I got the shipment, I wanted to rip the stupid Inset out, right then and there. I contained myself until I got back to the dorm.
I am SO glad to have them back! I feel like I found a long lost friend. (Even though I was only without them for 3 whole days)
Thank you Minimed, for my wonderful quicksets. (That is the one and only thing I thank them for. I generally don't like Minimed as a company. There are many good reasons why I switched to Cozmo, but that's a whole other post)

Insets

Last night, I had to do a site change. I am out of quick-sets, so I had to use a Inset. I got the Insets about a year ago because everyone that I talked to that used them loved them. Plus, who can ignore a new diabetes product? Not me! Oh! And it comes in fun colors! I mean, who could resist these things? It took about 2 sets for me to realize that I HATED them. The inseter is HUGE and I found it hard to get a good grip on the buttons, which are really indentations, to insert the stupid thing. Then after it is inserted, I felt like I was going to pull the whole thing out when I pulled the inserter off. And despite what the site claims, it is not easy to disconnect and reconnect. It physically hurts each time I have to disconnect! Not cool! I'll take my quick-sets thank you! I am looking forward to see how the new cleo sets turn out http://www.cleoinfusionsets.com/. I like the idea of a slower insertion, which the cleo sets offer. We shall see! Until next time....

Not a good D week.

This week has not been the best for me, diabetes care wise.
~ Tuesday afternoon/night I was in the ER for horrible stomach pain and nausea. Actually, my numbers stayed pretty good. I had massive ketones most of the day, due to not eating. The ER doctors were all very concerned about my "wildly swinging blood sugars." My range that day was from 85 to 202. I was pretty proud of that! Another doctor told me that I should really watch my numbers, because my blood sugar was up to 160 when they checked it. I smiled, nodded, and ignored that part of their advice.
~ Last night, for the first time in my memory, I had a "HI" blood sugar. All I know is that I was over 500. This was a new experience for me. I was 366 earlier, but I thought that was from a poorly chosen temp basal and a cookie. I took an injection, not really having any idea how much to take. I ended up taking 10 units, which if none of my earlier correction had gotten in and I was only 500, not higher would bring me to 200. I when down to 430 before I went to bed, and I was up every hour after that checking. I slowly came down to 78 when I woke up.
~ Due to poor planning, a string of bad sites, and the holidays, I am running out of sites. This is not a place I want to be. I am now out of my usual quick-sets, and I will have to use some left over Insets. I do not like the Insets. I realize I am in the minority, but they just are as comfortable to me as the quicksets are. I have 6 of those left. That SHOULD last me 18 days, but I haven't had very good luck with sites lately. My supplies are supposed to be here Wednesday or so, so I should be OK. I hate the thought of going back on shots, even if for only a few days. No matter how much Lantus I take, I always end up in 400's. I know if I was on it for a few days it would get better, but that first day or so would not be fun.
Now I'm going to send this rambling post off into cyberspace where no one will read it, and I will get back to work on my nursing application essay.

PS. Blogger's spell check makes me laugh. It can't handle diabetes terms. It wanted to turn "quicksets" into suicide. Hmmmmmm...... not sure how the two connect.