Carmen said:
Hi Vicki! I am due to start on the pump on May 17th, 2004.
I already have it and have been playing around with it but
it makes me sooooo nervous! I'm only 21 so my clothes are
generally pretty casual and often just a light skirt, etc.
is what I'll wear around town. I'm worried that the pump
will be so annoying to have on my waist at all times. Can
you give me some insight as to how you are finding the
pump in regards to clothes and comfort? Thanks so much!!
And good luck with everything, Carmen
Hi Carmen!
I thought a two week wait would drive me nuts - poor you,
you have a month and a half to wait!
I'm a jeans-and-sweatshirt type, so clothing isn't a
problem. I leave the pump in its leather case and hook it to
my waistband in front. At work, I hook it to my belt in the
back so it doesn't get caught on anything. So far no
problems. It's just like wearing a cell or pager. You just
have to be aware of the tubing. I did forget about it when I
went to the bathroom once and tugged on the site a bit. It
was tender for a couple of hours when I touched it but there
was no redness, so I left it be.
When I sleep, I just hook it to the pocket in my track pants
with the pump inside the pocket. I could sleep naked in a
snowstorm, so I don't even know its there. I'll have to
devise a different strategy when the weather gets too warm
for track pants, but there's lots of options. Right now I'm
thinking I'll use the spandex knee support my hub used at
one time and slip the pump inside below my knee. I'll secure
the tubing with paper tape so it doesn't tug too much when
moving around. That remains to be seen, though. The tubing
runs free inside my pants. I use the 110cm (42"😉 tubing at
the advice of the pumpers list.
Showering was interesting. I slip the pump into a ziploc bag
and hang it on the hook that holds my loofah. My husband
howled with laughter when he saw me drying off with the
ziploc bag in my teeth :-)
If you haven't already, join the insulin pumpers mailing
list. It's quite busy, so choose the browser or digest
option if you don't want to receive 100+ emails a day. I use
my browser and it's just like reading Usenet. The advice
there increased my confidence dramatically before I started.
insulin-pumpers.orginsulin-pumpers.orgOpen ↗
Also, get the book 'Pumping Insulin - Everything You Need
For Success With An Insulin Pump'. It's the pumper's bible.
You can order it through Chapters and it takes about 10
days. It has worksheets so you can determine all the numbers
you'll need to crunch before getting started.
My endo wanted me to take a half dose of UL the evening
before training. I tossed that idea and took a half dose the
morning before (I took 2 shots/day of UL). I still had low
bgs the first night. Be prepared for this if you use UL, it
seemed to hang around about 40 hours for me.
It's more work, especially at the beginning, but if
you're on MDI and counting carbs it's easy. More work
means more freedom.
You'll do just fine, I'm sure. Keep us posted. I'll be
looking for your experiences.
Vicki
