Well, Alyssa has been using the pump for a little over a month now. We've had some ups and down, highs and lows; and tears and laughs....I would be lieing if I didn't tell you there have been times I thought I had made a mistake by pushing for Alyssa to get on the pump....I'd be lieing if I said I had not thought about disconnecting it and going back to shots. But I keep reminding myself why this will be best for her in the long run.
The hardest part....the first several site changes were a nightmare. Alyssa's anxiety about them got her so upset leading up to it that it took at least an hour to calm her down to put in the new site. Fortunately that has gotten better. The problem now is that she'll only let me put the sites on her bottom....we are alternating cheeks. We have done the stomach once but she hated it. Alyssa is so petite, her bottom is the only place she has any extra meat.
We have also had a few scary high and low bgs that seem to have come out of no where. There were also a few night time lows, but I think we've worked out those kinks with basal rate changes. In the beginning I was checking her bgs every 3 hours while she slept, now I'm only checking once in the middle of the night.
I do finally feel we are getting the hang of things. There definitely are many pros of using the pump. Alyssa has much more freedom with when and what she eats....if she wants something to eat at any time, we just bolus for the carbs. Its so nice to enter her carbs and the pump figures the amout of insulin...all of this without another injection. This made Halloween and Thanksgiving a lot less stressful! One site change every 3-4 days versus 12-16 injections over 3-4 days.
Also, besides a few spikes and lows, her average blood sugars have been really good. During cheer and tumble, we disconnect and honestly have had fewer lows during exercise because she's no longer on the long lasting insulin, Lantus. Since she's given little amounts of fast acting insulin every hour through the pump she no longer needs the long lasting.
Overall, even though I've had some moments of doubt, I believe the pump will afford Alyssa more freedom and as she gets older, more independence. As with any change, adjustments should be expected.
