The pump trial

So on Tuesday we went to the Diabetes Center and got to experience what an insulin pump will be like. They showed us the pump (it looks exactly like a pager) and then told us what it'll do. Basically it's going to take away all shots for Alyssa! Currently Alyssa gets 1 shot of Lantus in the morning, that's her long acting insulin that covers her for 24 hours. She gets Novolog her short acting insulin after every meal and snack. She'll no longer have either! The pump will give her a continious dose of basal insulin (Lantus) and then we control when she gets her bolus insulin (Novolog). It's going to be great.

When we told Alyssa we were going to hook the pump up to her, she was fine with it until we had to put the tubing in. She was scared, and she cried. I cried along with her. She's such a brave girl and has dealt so well with all of this, I'm surprised she hasn't cried more. I've cried much much more than she has, so has David. My heart aches for my little girl.

We got her all set up on the pump, the tubing and all. The tubing isn't very big at all, just looks like a little needle point and it doesn't go too far in her. It's stuck on there really good with what looks like a circular bandaid and then she has a plastic piece protruding from it that the tubing connects to and attaches to her the actual pump. That tubing site gets changed every 3 days. We can remove the tubing and pump if she wants to swim, or when she has a bath or shower.

She kind of freaked out when it was in her belly at first, the color drained out of her face and she was breathing quite rapidly. It really scared me, but she soon calmed down. After wearing the pump for 2 days and us playing around with it (it had just saline water running through it) she told us she most definitely wants a pump! And in PINK! :)

We ordered one from Medtronic. http://www.minimed.com/index.html The people at Medtronic really got the ball rolling, got it through our insurance and it should be here maybe as soon as next week! We can't wait!!!

When we DO get it, we'll have to go 4 days in a row to the Diabetes Clinic to get everything set up and going.

I'll keep you all updated on this process, along with pictures!