Yesterday I started wearing a t:slim insulin pump – my very first insulin pump. Ever. The cartridge is filled with saline, so this isn’t a full-on pumping experience, but enough has happened already that deem this hastily typed blog post worth a few seconds of your time to skim over.

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Naturally, thoughts on all of this will continue to develop as my experiences increase and mature, but let’s get started. 

• No joke, 15 minutes after putting this thing on, I ripped out the site. Casually putting the pump on my desk and sitting down without fully respecting the length of the tubing and *yoink*.
• I already have a new perspective on the simplest actions, including but not limited to: going to the bathroom, sitting in my chair, sleeping, changing clothes, objects with dormant hooking abilities.
• I can’t fully appreciate the experience of wearing an insulin pump until it’s actually pumping insulin. I understand that practicing with saline is important to get the mechanics down, but knowing that I still have to take a regular injection sort of breaks the illusion. I don’t feel the same sense of purpose when it’s not the real deal.
• I’m glad I made this guy to carry backup supplies. I’m already anticipating it coming through in an emergency.
• I have a serious problem with pumping saline for a full 14 days. Walking through the process of a full cartridge and site change will be valuable, and that’s fine. But at some point the desire to step up into the big leagues will be too much, and I may just stop wearing this thing altogether until my follow up class on the 14th. I don’t want to waste supplies unnecessarily.
• Setting up an alarm on my pump 2 hours after a bolus may be the smartest thing I do during the initial weeks and months of my pumping experience. Especially as I try to understand insulin/carb ratios, correction factors, and all those other fun words, a frequent reminder to test my blood glucose values will ensure I’m using data to make informed decisions rather than hunches and guesses.
• And finally, I’m glad this is happening. Even if I have to wait another 2-3 weeks to call myself a legit insulin pumper, I have high hopes for what this will bring to my diabetes management, and my life.

Tomorrow is my Pump Start class. My goal is to come away with at least one new thing learned. I would hate for all this procedure and whatnot to be for nothing. More to come in the days and weeks ahead, naturally.

Image (linked) via giphy.com