Site after site, after site, after site....

I usually change my pump sites at night right before I go to bed. I know, I know.. how can I check my blood sugar a couple hours later when I’m fast asleep?

It works for me.

A while ago I read (I think on Scott J’s blog) how he turned up his basal rate when he put in a new set. Reading that changed my life. Seriously. I started changing at night and turning up my basal rate to 150% for three hours. I didn’t have to deal with not eating carbs. I put it in, turn it up, and go to sleep, usually waking with a respectable number.

On Sunday my site was really sore in the morning. (probably because it had been in for about 5 or 6 days!) I decided that I would have to change it right then. Definitely not my favorite time to do it. I changed it and turned the rate up. I was in a meeting all day, and didn’t really eat much. I tested often, and hovered around the high hundreds. I had left the old site in, and used it to bolus for carbs. Dixie alerted everyone in the group all day. There were a couple people I didn’t know well, so I thought maybe they had a metabolic problem. (Dixie is sensitive to other metabolic problems as well as diabetes) The meeting wrapped up at 5ish, and we decided to go out for dinner. I was still hovering just under 200.

We went to dinner and I wasn’t feeling great throughout the meal. I ate about 1/3 of my meal and had a beer. By the time I got home, I was really feeling awful. (I had left Dixie at home since it was a crazy day) I tested and was 280! I decided that my site must be kinked. I pulled it out and found it to be majorly kinked.

Here’s what I don’t understand. I bolused and had basal insulin all day. The site wasn’t wet. Where does the insulin go?? It certainly didn’t go in me! Argh.

I put a new site in and monitored the rest of the night. I came down a little, but not much. Before bed I gave a giant bolus. I woke up around 2am. I felt MISERABLE! Cotton mouth, heartburn (which I always get if my b.s. is over 150), and very nauseated. I tested. 352! I pulled the set out. Kinked again. I put another one in (are you counting?? This is the 3rd one now). I tried to prime the cannula and got an “occlusion” alarm. WTF?!?! I tore the site out and it was kinked. I decided that maybe my quick serter was not working. I found another one and put a site in. (#4) Tried to prime the cannula, and “occlusion” alarm again. I ripped this site out and it was fine. CRAP! I finally had a good site and now I pulled it out. I opened a new box of quick sets and inserted again. (#5) I found a syringe and gave a whopping bolus to cover the high and the hours without insulin.

Then I puked my guts out.

I am very sensitive to high blood sugars. I will always throw up if I am over 300.

I decided that I couldn’t work in the morning. It was now 3:45 in the morning. I grabbed my computer and logged on to the substitute website. I got a sub, and then spent the next ½ hour typing up sub plans to email to my teaching partner. (so she could give them to whatever sub showed up)

I finally got back in bed around 4:30. I tried to go back to sleep. I also had a bad cold, and so whenever I laid flat, I started coughing. I finally fell asleep sometime after 6am.

At 8am, Dixie alerted. I was 29. Clearly the site was working. I had 2 gu’s and 2 juice boxes and got up. I made my way to the couch and spent the day there.

I had a little breakfast, but not much else during the day. My blood sugars hovered in the high hundreds, low 200s. I figured I was sick and needing more insulin. I turned my rate up. Around 2 I had some cereal, and bolused for it. Two hours later when I checked I was 250.

Yep, you guessed it. Another hour later and no reaction to the correction, I whipped out yet another kinked site. I gave up on stomach sites and used another inserter to put it in my hip. (#6)

Finally, around 6pm, my blood sugars stabilized. The site was working. Dixie was wiped out. She spent the entire day with her head on my lap.

I remember doing 6 changed, but there were wrappers for 9 sites in the trash last night when I counted them.

All I could think of during this unexplainable ordeal is what if this had happened when I was camping in the wilderness. I wouldn’t have had nine sets with me. I would have been really screwed.

I will be sending the box of sets that are left to minimed. Clearly, there’s a problem with them.

I will remember that inserting devices, like lancet devices, eventually wear out and need to be replaced. My Quick serters are probably all about 4-6 years old.

Dam diabetes. On Sunday and Monday, it really sucked.