Thursday, October 9, 2008

Saline Start

Daniel started pumping saline today. We had a great session with the Medtronic nurse rep, Tonya. At the end of a very full couple of hours, I felt a little more comfortable with the pump. Tonya wanted to know what questions we had, but it seems now like the questions will come once we start using this thing.

We were sent Quickserts instead of Sil-serts (I don't even know if I'm calling them the right things, there are so many pump-related words floating in my brain right now). Daniel is pretty slim & wants to use the angled inserts. Medtronic is doing the switch for us. So far they have been very helpful on the phone & in person.

At this point I am stuck thinking about clothes. Daniel wants to keep the pump in a pocket, but I'm worried about tubing sticking out and getting caught on something. But then again, I'm not wearing the thing, he is. He has to decide what is comfortable. I'm going to have to break out the sewing machine and put pockets into pajamas. I'll probably have to deepen some of the pockets on his pants. Maybe put a little hole at the top of the pocket to slide the tube through so it doesn't have to stick out anywhere. Or... what about using one of those sporty iPod armbands? Do they fit insulin pumps? I'm going to have to do some research.

By the way, can pumping saline make you high? Wacky numbers tonight. Well, Daniel *did* have pizza.

Today we had a day off of school because of the Yom Kippur holiday. I had a long list of things to do today and have taken care of all but 2. Those 2 will have to wait. I'm tired. When will a day off be just a day off? Whew! Looking forward to the weekend.

2 comments:

Robert said...

This is just my own personal experience but it might be useful for you all. I'm just a regular guy who wears jeans and shorts most of the time. I prefer the belt clip and I tuck the extra tubing into my pants. Its not elegant but it rarely comes out, and if it does its easy to tuck back in. I wear t-shirts untucked so my shirts hang over the pump and any tubing that isn't tucked away. Its rather discrete.

I tried the 42" tubing for awhile but there was a whole lot of extra tube hanging around. The 23" tubing is a lot shorter but it works well for me.

I can wear the pump in my pocket just fine (and sometimes I do). I prefer to keep other things in my pockets though (like a cell phone, glucose, keys, wallet). So usually there isn't any pocket space left over. The only time I really wear the pump in my pocket is when I'm wearing nice clothing and dress pants and a tucked in t-shirt. I feel the pump looks awkward hanging off to my side on a belt clip. Then I reserve pocket space just for the pump.

Cara said...

Tuck the extra tubing in the waistline. I don't have any problems with that.
Also, don't worry about pockets. Use the sports clip and just clip it on the pajama bottoms. That's what I do. :)
It works great.
The only time I have trouble is when I am wearing a dress...and I don't think he'll have that problem. :)