Thursday, April 18, 2013

Infusion Set Inklings



Infusion Tent
FYI: I was playingwith picture saturation & word placement on the above pic - 

I knew the minute I inserted the infusion set on my abdomen on Tuesday, its days were numbered.
And yes, I know that infusion site days are ALWAYS numbered, but I mean more so than then the usual!

The cannula went in easily & didn’t hurt - I knew it was going to be a great site. But then, for some reason,  the sticky part didn’t stick perfectly flat, instead it peeked ever so slightly and made a little pup tent. 
I tried flattening it out - And for a few a second it would find, but the tiny pup tent (pump tent?) would return - because it could.
No matter what, it wouldn’t wouldn’t entirely stick  (I didn’t have skin tact and band-aids tend to rip out the infusion site quicker for me,) and I knew that I should probably change it.

But I REALLY felt like it was a site that was good absorption wise and I didn’t want to waste it. 
So there it stayed and damn if it didn’t syphon that insulin subcutaneously with the best of them - It was flipping ROCK STAR!
My numbers were great for the most part - And nothing over 140 all day yesterday. 
But last night after dinner I had an unexpected bungee pump encounter with the bathroom doorknob and not to long after that, my stomach started to itch ever so slightly. 
But I ignored it because: 
  1. I knew that an infusion site = time to change the infusion site
  2. I didn’t feel like dealing with it at that very moment  - I just felt like relaxing. 
Every now and then I’d scratch my belly - And finally, at about 10:45 I took my blood sugar  - It was 280. Maybe it was the sweet potato fries or maybe it was the door knob encounter, but it didn’t matter I had to switch out infusion sets - And only after about 30 hours. 

I stayed up until 11:30 - to make sure my numbers were heading back to normal and I woke up this morning with a blood sugar of 102. 

So have you ever had your Diabetes Spidey 6th sense kick in re:  your infusion set site right after you’ve put it in?  
Did you ever have an infusion set inkling that it was going to be a good or bad right from the get go and before you even started testing?? 

Did you change out right away or did you ever prolong the inevitable just because you felt like it??? 

5 comments:

Marie Smith said...

I decided to use the back of my arm this time because I am insane. I put my first set in, pulled out the needle and the set came with it. After saying a string of words I won't repeat, I decided to give it another try. As soon as I put it in, I was thinking, "This is too shallow. This is never going to work." I was going to remove it but #$^* I didn't want to poke myself a 3rd time. So I left it. BG's have been in the 103-150 range all day. But insulin is stinging like crazy. I'm keeping this one until tomorrow nonetheless.

Unknown said...

At $20 a pop I always try to make mine last. I usually end up applying skin tac constantly on the off chance it might last the full three days. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.

Jamie said...

I ended up changing pump site three times between two nights ago and last night - THREE TIMES! For that very reason... First pump site didn't feel right (ended up being a bleeder), second pump site again didn't feel right (just wasn't sitting right), third pump site just wasn't working (BG's over 270 ALL DAY, despite pump site changes, but was not home so couldn't change everything). Grrr....

Jamie said...

I ended up changing pump site three times between two nights ago and last night - THREE TIMES! For that very reason... First pump site didn't feel right (ended up being a bleeder), second pump site again didn't feel right (just wasn't sitting right), third pump site just wasn't working (BG's over 270 ALL DAY, despite pump site changes, but was not home so couldn't change everything). Grrr....

Jamie said...

I ended up changing pump site three times between two nights ago and last night - THREE TIMES! For that very reason... First pump site didn't feel right (ended up being a bleeder), second pump site again didn't feel right (just wasn't sitting right), third pump site just wasn't working (BG's over 270 ALL DAY, despite pump site changes, but was not home so couldn't change everything). Grrr....