Day Four...

I decided that I am no longer allowed to blog on the days that I am struggling.  I just begin hating everything and it probably isn't the best time to write. But honestly it helps me and I hope that it is helping someone else out there who is feeling the same way I am about diabetes.

 Today, I am in a much better place.  Diabetes is just part of life and I CAN do this. Probably a good thing because we did our first infusion change today. Rose was not excited. She cried and  begged not to have it changed. The funny think is that when we actually poke her with the needle she doesn't even feel it. Rose is just afraid of the thought of pitting the infusion in. I do not balmae her one bit but is nice to know that it doesn't hurt her when we do it.

 I will walk you through it because it is very interesting how the pump goes together.

Here are all if the supplies you need to change the infusion set and to load the insulin cartridge for the t-slim.

First you have to stop all insulin delivery and disconnect the pump from the old infusion. This is Roses old tubing and part of the infusion that we disconnect to take baths. I don't know if you can see it or not but if you look closely you can see a small needle in the middle of the plastic connector.

Once Rose is disconnected then we take the old insulin cartridge out and replace it with the new one. It kind of looks like where the batteries would go. You slide the old cartridge out and put in the new one. Then it is time for the pump to start pressurizing the cartridge. This take a couple minutes but you can hear the pump working. 

 Next, you feel a syringe that comes with your cartridge replacement. I started doing this but then I let Rose actually draw the saline into the syringe. She thought that was pretty cool.

After the syringe is full you insert the needle into the cartridge where the tiny white dot is. It is just like the top of a vile of insulin.

Once the insulin cartridge is full you have to fill your tubing with insulin. I always thought the tubing was empty but it is always full of insulin. So this pink thing is the insertion applicator. It comes in a container that kind of looks it would hold head phones. You connect the new tubing to the pump and unwind the tubing. Then you press a button and the pump will start pumping insulin into the tubing. You let it pump almost 20 units of insaline until you see a small bead at the end of the infusion.

 This is the top of the infusion applicator once you have taken of the lid. If you look closely you might be able to the needle and the catheter that stays inside rose.

To place the insertion on Rose you remove the adhesive around needle and catheter. Pull back on the white center piece and place it on the new freshly cleaned skin. Then when you are ready you squeeze the pink side of the applicator. Then you pull the pink part back, put comes the needle, and the insertion is in place. 

It is really neat process and I am so grateful for the engineers and scientist who have made this so much easier for us.