Showing posts with label s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label s. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

"Getting A Leg Up On Scar Tissue" Revisited: 5 Weeks & 5 Days Of An Infusion Site Free Belly

On April 1, 2014 I wrote a post about “getting a leg up" on pump infusion site scar tissue and embracing new pump site locations
And for 5 weeks and 5 days ( March 29th until May 11th,) I avoided using my abdomen for pump infusions sites, until the streak was broken  3 a.m. Mother’s Day morning, when yours truly woke up with a 240 blood sugar. 
Even in my groggy stupor, I knew that I my infusion site was the culprit and I put a new one in my abdomen without even thinking until the canula was under my skin. 

Honestly, i'm not always as bright as I look, especially when I'm dog tired. So I shrugged my preverbal shoulders, primed and gave myself a correction bolus. 
And then I promptly went back to bed.

What I learned: 
1. Give The Sides A Try.
For me, the side of my thigh verses top of my thigh is the way to go because the sides of both thighs work much better than the tops of either. 
And by rotating each area of the side and almost back of my right thigh - I was able to use each site for 2 to 3 days, for a total of two weeks
Then I switched to the left side thigh and found out that it absorbed even better than the right - even though the left thigh seemed to be the one that incurred more snags during undressing. 

2. Not All Sides Are The Same
I found that re: thigh sites, the left thigh incurred more snags with clothing then the right thigh. Which is weird because I'm left handed so one would naturally think that the opposite would be true, but it wasn't. Weird.
After 2 weeks I made a detour to my right gluteus maximum and that wasn’t bad - It just wasn’t easy to achieve 
Sidebar: I definitely need to take a yoga class. 
That site lasted 2 full days before it tanked. then I went back to the right thigh for 3 days before finally going back to my abdomen. 

Another weird ironical: The right side of my abdomen absorbs better than the left. I already knew that before the belly break, but it's still the case after.
Weird.

3. I’m Still A Big Chicken. "BAWK, BAWK, BITCHES." 
I still need to not only attempt infusion sites in my arms and calve areas, I NEED to be able to successfully achieve infusion sites in my arms and calve areas. 
I did make several attempts in the my arms and even drew blood several times, but in the end I chickened out. Of course, I was using the paradigm silhouette infusions sites and they can be tricky.  
I have two boxes of unopened quick sets and I think they will be much easier on psyche re: my arms

I’m glad I gave me abdomen a reprieve and I’m hoping it will help with scar tissue. 


Embracing change in anything can be challenging, but it’s worth it.