Monday, February 24, 2014

An Insulin Pump On The Sunny Side of My Waist ~

Living with diabetes means that sometimes we have to be aware of stuff that other people wouldn't think twice about.
And sometimes that stuff can drive us a little nuts.
Or... It might just be me ;) 
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Around noon this past Saturday, I decided to get out of the house and go to Starbucks in order to transcribe the notes of someone I interviewed for a post I'm working on. 
The day was shaping up to be a sunny one and I thought the sooner I got out of the house and transcribed my notes, the sooner I could actually go outside and play.
Sidebar: Sometimes leaving the house to write cuts down on distractions - especially when I have a deadline to meet.
So I drove to my favorite local Starbucks, ordered an iced coffee & set up at the only table available. A small two-seater in the back where it was shady and cool, but more cramped than I preferred.
I set up my laptop, got out my headset and started to turn the recorded conversation into actual notes.  
20 minutes later I looked up and noticed that the larger table in the front of the store was up for grabs and I quickly moved my things. 
I liked that I had a wall of windows directly in front of me and floor to ceiling windows on my right side. With all the crap weather we've had this winter, the sun felt so good on my face made me feel good. 
Cut to almost 2 hours later when I realized I felt hot - The floor to ceiling windows on my right were streaming with sunlight. And even though it was only 53 degrees outside, those windows magnified the sunlight and turned Starbucks into a greenhouse. 
My face and computer felt warm, and when I put my hand on pump it was warm too - Like really warm - Like to warm for comfort, warm. 
I mean it wasn't so hot you could fry an egg on it, which was good thing. But it was like sitting on the beach pm a really sunny day, warm - which could be problematic and which sometimes lead to skunky insulin.

Yep, yours truly had worn her pump on the sunny side of her waist and neglected to think of the floor to ceiling window consequences.   
I couldn't believe I'd been so silly as to keep my pump clipped to the sunny side of my waist - In this case, the right, instead of the shady side - the left. My blood sugar was 200 and I wasn't sure if was because of the sunshine or an incorrect bolus for my iced coffee.
I felt foolish and stupid. I did a quick correction bolus and tweeted about my dilemma because I needed someone, anyone who would "get it." 
               


Knowing that others "got it" made me smile and it made me feel better and I started giggling. And lucky for me my blood sugar dropped to 135 and I was able to eat lunch and go about my day.
But next time if I'm sitting near floor to ceiling windows on a sunny day, I'm keeping my insulin pump on the shady side of my waist.... just in case~
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