|
|
|
October 14, 2007 Sick and the Single Mom 
I wish I could show you a picture of my stomach right now, Dear Readers, and allow it to linger in your consciousnesses for only the duration of this post, never to trouble you again. When I switched to the new pump a few months ago, I stocked up on a few boxes of the kind of insertion sites that with the old pump could only be used in my stomach. Accordingly, that's where they have all been going. My stomach is now a mess of red marks and scars, some of which bled in impressive fountains or left noticeable holes on the way out. Not good. Not good, and possibly connected to a few weeks of high blood sugars that wouldn't respond to insulin the way I am used to: my stomach is getting 'worn out.' I ordered new insertion sites of the kind I used to use in my hips with the old pump, and put the first one in last night, intending to give my stomach some time off. This event coincided with the onset of a particularly nasty cold; I feel as if I have swallowed a bucketfull of coarse sand and gravel, my throat is so raw, and my head feels as if it is fifteen pounds. Which it actually might be, consideirng the amount of goo I'm removing from it on a regular basis. It also coincided with the return of Frances to my loving maternal care. The ideal conditions for a perfect storm of sleeplessness. 1. Take daytime cold drugs at 6 to allow one to take care of one's child. 2. Put her to bed at 7:30 3. Wait out the period until the package allows one to take night-time cold drugs, past 11, and then go to bed. 4. Cough. Sneeze. Kleenex. Repeat. 5. Sleep. 6. Wake to the dulcet tones of an alarming pump. "Blockage detected. No delivery." 7. Reset pump, assuming that you were sleeping funny and the tube was twisted. 8. Repeat steps six and 7 a handful of times, refusing to change the site because this means getting up and turning on lights and you might not be able to fall asleep again. 9. Test blood sugar. High. 10. In an hour, pump alarm reminds you to test again. Higher. 11. In an hour, pump alarm reminds you to test again. Higher still. Correction boluses having no effect. 12. When the pump alarms at 6 am, give up and change insertion site. 13. When the child alarms at 6:30, whimper, and stagger downstairs for a quality morning of hallowe'en DVDs. 14. Take daytime cold drugs, generously supplemented with hot tea, so that one does not fall asleep on the couch. 15. New site also not working. Blood sugar now very high. Contort oneself to insert angled-insertion set manually on hip. 16. Bitch to the world about one's terrible night on one's blog. I'm not sure what to do if I can't use sites on my hip with my new pump. I can't use my stomach forever--it's not absorbing insulin as well as it used to--and I have more fat on my hips than my arms or legs, so if it won't work there, it won't work on my arms or legs either. Needless to say, last night's poor sleep is not helping the cold any. (Are there any other diabetic single moms in the audience? If so, leave me a comment or drop me an email at andrea AT andreamcdowell DOT com. I'm doing a bit of research for a potential article/essay.) Posted by Andrea at October 14, 2007 6:31 AM under Decision 2007 , Pins and Needles EMAIL this entry (comments fields are below this section) Comments I'm not much help but I can offer a hug! Posted by: LauraJ at October 14, 2007 7:44 AM
This issue has been getting a lot of press here lately because a three-month-old has gone missing after her mother was found in a diabetic coma in her apartment. The police are insisting that the mother is the only "person of interest" in the case, and when the mother was interviewed in yesterday's newspaper, one of the questions she was asked was whether she had some kind of back-up in place if her health deteriorated. I found the question quite disturbing - we know already that when she wasn't heard from for a day or two her mother contacted police ... the question seemed to me like a thinly veiled suggestion that her diabetes basically disqualified her from sole custody of her daughter. The daughter's name is Abbygail Dice and I believe the mother's name is Sarah. Whatever the outcome of the case, it's a revealing look at the way our society handles these issues. Posted by: bubandpie at October 14, 2007 8:47 AM
That is both deeply terrifying and very useful. Thank you. Posted by: Andrea
Wow. I can't help you with the research, but I just want to wish you well and hope that you feel better soon. Posted by: Tania at October 14, 2007 12:12 PM
Can't help ya with the single mom part, but I feel you on the worn-out stomach and infusion sites frustration part! I've been dealing with pretty bad absorption/bad site issues on and off for a year (even took a break and went back on shots for 2 months -ick!), and the weird thing is my stomach doesn't even look bad - there's not a lot of scar tissue. But my sites are constantly going bad or taking forever to absorb the insulin. Can I ask what type of infusion set you use in your hip? I have never been able to get insulin to absorb well from my hip area, only the stomach or arms have worked for me.
Posted by: baddecisionmaker at October 14, 2007 4:08 PM
I used to use the quickset on my hips with the paradigm and never had any problems with absorption (the adhesive never stuck, but that's a whole other issue). I used the thinset with the cozmo on my hips and both sets bent on insertion, which isn't good. I wonder if maybe it would be better if I used the inserter, but I didn't bring it with me when I moved. But yeah, my stomach can't handle constant use like this, sites used to last five days easy and are now lasting two. Posted by: Andrea
in ONE DAY last week I had 5 quick-sets tell me "no delivery." Very annoying. 6th one worked like a charm though. I use silhouettes on my arms, and quick sets on my stomach and thighs. Posted by: Christine at October 14, 2007 5:03 PM
Gah. I'm sorry you're sick and that your pump's not being cooperative. Posted by: Liz at October 14, 2007 9:34 PM
A little worried not to hear from you today. I hope you're doing better. Posted by: Jennifer at October 15, 2007 12:32 PM
That sucks beyond belief. I wish I knew more about how all that works; can you get a permanent port installed in you, the way that a lot of people with CF do? A PICC line or a mediport? Or is that what you already have? Sorry for my ignorance here - I have no head for medical info, and the capacity I do have is full of CF things. You've got my sympathy. Sleepless nights, sickness, and needles - bad combination! Posted by: Abbey at October 16, 2007 2:44 AM
Hope you're on the mend, Andrea. I cannot even imagine what being sick must do to a person's sugar levels with diabetes, let alone sick plus sleeplessness plus child plus work. Geez I hope the pump is working better for you and you've managed to get some rest. Posted by: amy at October 16, 2007 6:58 AM
Well, I am no help, either, but wishing you well all the same. I really hope you get it all figured out. To someone with no experience with diabetes, this all sounds terrifying, yet I should pay attention as I do have a genetic predisposition for blood sugar issues. Hope you feel better soon! Posted by: theflyingmum at October 16, 2007 11:48 AM
I hope you're feeling better today. O has a MM Paradigm and uses the Silhouettes. She often does them in her back, above the belt line, away from the spine, obviously. She can't do thigh sites - she always goes high. She's pretty much used up her arms. She's on a hiatus from them because of hypertrophy. So it's stomach or back right now. Can you order an inserter? If the sets you're using are angled, the serter makes it much, much easier. O's still bend sometimes, but not nearly as much as they do when I do a manual insertion. Posted by: Major Bedhead at October 16, 2007 2:20 PM
Oh my goodness, what a horrible combination. I don't know much about diabetes either, I'm afraid, but I, too, hope you are feeling better very soon, and that you are able to find a solution. Posted by: Freakazojd at October 16, 2007 9:22 PM
No help on the research - but close. I am the diabetic daughter of a single mother. Can you use Quicksets with the Cozmo? I thought that they fit, but I have only pumped MM. I am a Quickset hip user almost exclusively. Posted by: Sara at October 17, 2007 6:07 PM
Go Berserk |
Change is God (Octavia Butler, Parable Series) "The children of the revolution are always ungrateful, and the revolution must be grateful that it is so." Ursula le Guin Email Frances! frances AT athenadreaming DOT org You can email her mother too (that's me):
The Best of Beanie Baby
Recent Entries
Categories Monthly Archives Annika Info
Earn Your Karmic Brownie Points The WHOYCBE Not So Secret Spoilers These links open in a new browser window. Random Writer's Quote Once your mind is caught on the right snag, there's nothing so hard about the mechanics of writing. ~ Anne Tyler
My Burgeoning Media Empire (that's a joke)
Dwarfism Resources: Frances's Big List of Misdiagnoses and False Positives Prenatally:
Postnatally:
Blogs I'm Reading
Other Mom Sites: Green Family Library
The title of this blog was taken from the short story "The Language of Nna Mmoy" by Ursula le Guin in her collection, Changing Planes. I won't tell you why or how, because I want you to read the story and figure it out for yourself.
|
